Telesur Journalist Arrested and Accused of "Terrorism" in Colombia

“Hundreds of journalists from throughout the world, just as myself, have experienced this accusation, after US unilateralism decided to accuse to be terrorists those who oppose it with reason and arguments, and to exalt those who lower their heads, omit the crimes, and submit to it.”

Venezuela’s Union Radio summarizes an interview on Venezuelan state television with Telesur president Andrés Izarra.

The president of Telesur, Andrés Izarra, did not discount this Tuesday the possibility that the arrest of its correspondent Freddy Muñoz Altamiranda was due to “something against Telesur,” and said that he will be watching the process that he hopes will be carried out transparently, in accordance with the law and respecting the well-being of the detained journalist.

…

“It would not surprise me that this were something against Telesur, that is, I don’t have proof of that assumption, and up to now we have been examining every kind of hypothesis. In the moment that the detention was ordered, Freddy was here in Caracas in a correspondents’ workshop that we had all last week.”

Izarra explained that “the worst attacks against Telesur have come from Colombia. They have come since the network was born. When we had the Tieta ad they tried to link it to the ETA*. Or the documentary on the assassinations of the leaders of the Patriotic Union party that had a reference to (FARC** founder Manuel) “Sureshot” Marulanda so they said that this is Sureshot’s channel. From then on the attacks from Colombia against Telesur have been very hard, very aggressive.”

The Telesur president said that the arrest warrant was signed more than 10 days ago, and that Muñoz was here in Caracas for a week. Upon returning they detained him in Bogotá’s El Dorado Airport. Izarra does not believe that the correspondent’s arrest has to do with any particular report, because “he has been covering everything that has to do with the paramilitary penetrations at the highest levels of the Colombian state, but many other Colombian and international journalists have done the same there. I could not attribute this to any specific work of Freddy’s.”

The Telesur president added that there is conjecture in the international press as to whether the detention is a response to interviews with (FARC spokesman) Raúl Reyes, or with investigations into the peace process that the ELN*** is pushing forward with the government, “but Freddy Muñoz did not do those interviews, those interviews were done by people on special assignment from Caracas.”

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He said that Muñoz is a career journalist with more than 12 years in the business, and that his work at Telesur has been ethical and of great quality. “It is difficult for us to believe that Freddy Muñoz could be an explosives expert or member of a subversive group. We are assuming his innocence, just as he has stated, and in that sense we are acting to guarantee his rights, his well-being and that he have a fair trial.”

* Euskadi Ta Askatasuna, armed Basque separatist movement in Spani and France
** Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
*** National Liberation Army (Colombia)

In a column for the online publication Argenpress.info, Colombian Historian Apolinar Díaz-Callejas shows that Muñoz’ arrest is not just an attack on freedom of the press but a serious threat against the journalist’s life:

The arrest of journalist Freddy Muñoz Altamiranda, correspondent in Colombia for the Latin American network Telesur, brought me to remember the case of Alfredo Correa de Andreis, university professor from the Caribbean coast imprisoned in Cartagena under a false accusation by a reinsertado of being a FARC ideologist. On the coast and throughout the country there was a general and unanimous protest, that finally won his release. Unfortunately this government could guarantee his life and freedom. He was murdered in Barranquilla by “assassins on motorcycles.” I hope my fears are unfounded and that Freddy Muñoz is released and that his life is protected.