A 25-year-old Colombian journalist, Mateo Perez, was found dead on Friday night in the country’s northwestern region, President Gustavo Petro said. The area is contested by guerrillas, drug trafficking groups and illegal gold miners.
Perez’s body was recovered in a zone where members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and drug traffickers linked to the Gulf Clan operate. He had been missing since Tuesday after working in a rural part of the mountainous Antioquia department, roughly five hours north of Medellin.
President Petro publicly blamed guerrilla leader Jhon Edison Chala Torrejano, accusing him of seeking control over illicit gold mining in the area. Petro said the Red Cross humanitarian commission and the ombudsman’s office, with government support, were able to enter the area and locate the body. He added that the National Police have been ordered to bolster their presence there and to coordinate with the army to remove armed groups from the region.
Perez ran the online news outlet El Confidente de Yarumal, where he reported on crime, security, politics and corruption. The Colombia-based Foundation for Press Freedom (FLIP) said he had faced legal pressure related to his investigations into illicit economies tied to armed actors.
FLIP urged the government to stop what it called indifference toward attacks on the press and to implement effective protection measures for journalists at risk, saying the killing of Mateo Perez must not go unpunished.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said Perez was detained by FARC members at a roadblock on May 5, citing FLIP. Cristina Zahar, CPJ’s Latin America program coordinator, called for a prompt, thorough investigation and for those responsible to be brought to justice, stressing the state’s duty to ensure safe conditions that allow journalists to work without fear of retaliation.
FLIP has recorded 387 attacks on the press by armed groups since 2022, with threats and forced displacement the most common tactics. Since 1977, the organization says 170 journalists have been killed in Colombia for reasons linked to their work; 22 of those homicides occurred in Antioquia, making it one of the deadliest departments for reporters.
Colombia has seen a rise in guerrilla-related violence as the country prepared for presidential elections scheduled for May 31.
Edited by: Roshni Majumdar