Two journalists shot and killed in Colombia: police
August 29, 2022, 8:15 am

Two journalists shot and killed in Colombia: police

The two journalists were identified as Leiner Montero Ortega, 37, and Dilia Contreras Cantillo, 39. They both worked for a news website called Sol Digital based in the northern town of Fundacion on the Caribbean coast - Photo. Twitter account

Colombian police said Assailants on a motorcycle shot and killed two journalists Sunday (August 28) as they returned from covering a carniva.

According to Andres Serna, police chief in the department of Magdalena, the two journalists were identified as Leiner Montero Ortega, 37, and Dilia Contreras Cantillo, 39. They both worked for a news website called Sol Digital based in the northern town of Fundacion on the Caribbean coast.

Serna said that the reporters were driving back to Fundacion from the town of Santa Rosa de Lima, where they had covered a street festival, when the attackers shot them.

He said another person was wounded, but did not specify if this was a journalist too.

Police said they think the shooting stemmed from some kind of argument or altercation at the carnival.

According to Reporters without Borders, Colombia is the third most dangerous country for journalists in Latin America after Venezuela and Mexico - Photo. Pixabay

But the Free Press Foundation urged police "to take into account Leiner and Dilia's work as journalists" as they investigate the crime.

The foundation said that last year 768 journalists in Colombia suffered some kind of violence, including killings, the AFP reported, the Anews said.

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Serna convened an emergency meeting of police officials in Fundacion, which the government says is among the worst in Colombia in terms of violence, poverty, black market economic activity and weak government institutions.

Since a peace accord with leftist FARC rebels was signed in 2016, 10 reporters in Colombia have been killed.

According to Reporters without Borders, that makes this country Latin America's third most dangerous for journalists, after Venezuela and Mexico.

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