Pass this along! There is no mention of ANY of this in the media. Nothing!
This comes as no surprise to me (the reports from the Gomez or the media
cover-up), but it is horrific nonetheless.
Andrew
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.american-reporter.com/2016W/70.html
Vol. 9, No. 2016W - The American Reporter - January 12, 2003
COLOMBIAN REPORTER TELLS ALL - TO U.S. PRESS
by Lucy Komisar
American Reporter Correspondent
New York, N.Y.
NEW YORK -- Colombian journalist Ignacio Gomez told a roomful of America's
most influential journalists Tuesday how Washington-supported Colombian
president Alvaro Uribe is connected to drug traffickers and how U.S. military
trainers helped organize a massacre in his country.
Among the 1,000 guests at the Committee to Protect Journalists' annual dinner
at the Waldorf-Astoria grand ballroom were NBC's Tom Brokaw, CBS's Dan
Rather, Time-Warner's Walter Isaacson, Reuters CEO Thomas Glocer and
executives and reporters from the nation's major TV networks, newspapers and
newsmagazines.
Gomez, 40, has twice gone into exile after death threats. The media "stars"
applauded him for his courage. But did they put his revelations into print or
on air? If you didn't see the stories he recounted in the American press,
don't be surprised.
As they do every year at the CPJ event, "leading" U.S. journalists lauded the
courage of people chancing death for telling the truth, but continue to pull
punches in their own news organizations for fear of endangering their
multi-million-dollar salaries.
Here's more of what Gomez unveiled for colleagues.
After he investigated a 1997 massacre in Mapiripan, in which 67 people were
decapitated, Gomez reported in 2000 that the Colombian military officer
accused of masterminding the crime had been accompanied "at all times" by a
dozen U.S. military trainers. He also linked the massacre to paramilitary
leader Carlos Castano.
Gomez has written frequently about the role of Colombian military and
paramilitary in massacres though Washington downplays their connection.
Several months after the report was published in the Bogota daily El
Espectator, Gomez was almost kidnapped while entering a taxi. He was forced
into exile.
Last year, as director of investigations for a public affairs television show
"Noticias Uno," he reported that U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)
had discovered an airplane belonging to then-presidential candidate Alvaro
Uribe and his brother at a drug lab belonging to the Medellin cartel.
Uribe, eschewing peace talks in favor of a military response to Colombian
rebels - something the Bush administration wants - suffered no Washington
displeasure. But Gomez and the station news director got death threats, and
Uribe declared ominously that "a free press is one thing, and a press at the
service of ... shady deals is something else."
As he accepted the CPJ award, Gomez told the audience that "Colombian
journalists first exposed the corruption of the war on drugs, but because of
an information monopoly tied to the current government, truth is dying in
Colombia. We are no longer allowed to be heard." He said that one of the two
national papers and 23 TV news shows had been shut down.
"The picture of war," Gomez said, "is getting blurry - and Americans, whose
taxes and whose drug consumption fuel this war, should be concerned." He said
that seeing the audience, he felt Colombians were not alone, that they could
"still prevail against the powerful forces who want to keep us mute."
Brokaw, Rather, Isaacson and other media chiefs readily showed up, in black
tie, to support the CPJ fundraiser, and their conscience money is needed. But
their commitment might be taken more seriously if they stopped being "mute"
in print and on air about stories - by Gomez and others - that challenge U.S.
policy and actions in Colombia.
Copyright 2003 Joe Shea The American Reporter. All Rights Reserved.
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