Rafael Moreno: The Journalist and Social Leader Murdered for Investigating Corruption in Córdoba

Rafael Moreno was shot dead in October 2022. He had been investigating cases of corruption involving local elites in the south of Córdoba.

*Article written by Alisson Abello, Oscar Ladino & Javier Navas.

Colombia has been experiencing a systematic assassination of social leaders which is occurring throughout its territory. These killings have become all too common in recent years and represent a serious threat to Colombia's fragile presence in rural areas of the country. Córdoba is one of these areas and Rafael Moreno is one of these victims. Rafael Moreno was a journalist and social leader in Montelibano, Córdoba, who dedicated his life to generating an impact and improving his community by exposing corrupt practices and the control and consequences of the presence of illegal groups in his municipal town. Unfortunately, Córdoba, where he executed his activities, is one of the most dangerous zones in the country for social leaders due to it having one of the highest amounts of social leaders killed for defending human rights and the interest of their communities; actions which affect the interests and illegal economies of illegal groups in the different municipalities of this department, and also threaten those involved in practices of corruption such as local political elites.

Rafael Moreno served as director of a digital news media service, Voces de Córdoba, in the department and was also a community leader in the municipality of Puerto Libertador. According to Quesada (2022), this journalist and community leader was widely recognized in Puerto Libertador, where he ran the media outlet until he was cruelly shot dead on October 16th, 2022. Rafael Moreno, 37 at the time of his murder, was born in a remote hamlet in Córdoba, perhaps an unlikely birthplace for an investigative reporter. This department had been historically disputed by guerrillas and paramilitaries, and it continues to suffer from the presence of illegal groups to this day. After his parents divorced, he moved with his mother to a modest house in Puerto Libertador. He grew up in an unpaved neighborhood, with precarious construction, where on stormy days rivers of water threatened to wash away everything in their path. He dropped out of school and returned to his father to work in a mine in search of gold nuggets. During that time, he married and had three children (in addition to a child he had from a previous relationship). Rafael also participated in the collection of coca leaves, a common undertaking for marginalized rural communities in the south of Córdoba. Since the signing of a peace agreement between the Colombian government and the FARC guerrillas in 2016, many social leaders who represented communities of coca growers wishing to transition to legal crops have been murdered in this sub-region. However, in the case of Rafael, it seems that it was his later work as a journalist which saw him targeted.

It is important to address the danger faced by journalists in Colombia. Free speech is usually a threat in the country when the opinion or thoughts that are expressed are seen as a threat to the interests of an individual, entity or organization. This is a situation that many journalists live daily, not only in the country but also internationally, since these cases have been increasing and, in the process, gravely threatening the free speech that the Colombian Constitution promotes. Rafael Moreno, besides being the director of the departmental news, was also a social leader in Puerto Libertador, Cordoba. According to local media, a few months ago the protection scheme he had been assigned by the UNP (Unidad Nacional de Protección), which had been granted due to the death threats he had received on different occasions, was removed. As mentioned, if you are a journalist in Colombia who questions the influence of illegal actors, raises awareness of corruption scandals or queries the social and political choices made by those in charge in the country, you face a range of dangers. Precisely, Rafael Morenos’s case highlights this risk and danger that they face in Colombia. Journalists in the country are constantly threatened by different armed and illegal groups in Colombia such as paramilitary groups or drug cartels. In the particular case of Rafel Moreno, it seems that the forces who decided he should be murdered were unable to totally silence his voice despite ending his life. Days before Rafel was murdered, he had contacted the French non-profit organization Forbidden Stories and signed up to the SafeBox network, a system whereby threatened journalists can share their files so that their investigations can continue in the case they are murdered. As a result, over 30 media outlets around the world, including The Guardian in the UK, corroborated and shared the findings of Rafael’s investigations; practices of corruption carried out by local political elites and illegal extraction of resources for public construction works from a protected area. In carrying out these investigations, it seems that Rafel made some powerful enemies. Politicians and public actors may use legal measures to silence journalists who disagree about their choices or actions. However, it is a much worse and more precarious situation for journalists who cover social and political issues in rural areas, where armed groups have a significant presence. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (2022), Colombia has been listed as one of the most dangerous countries for journalists, making it one of the deadliest in the continent.

There are very similar cases to that of Rafael Moreno. One such case is that of journalist and social leader Wilder Córdoba. Wilder was murdered by hired killers who shot him dead in the Colombian town of La Unión, department of Nariño, on the border with Ecuador. Despite being in a department very far away from Córdoba, we can find some similarities in the contexts; the department of Nariño is experiencing a situation of violence because of the presence of FARC dissidents, drug trafficking groups and the National Liberation Army (ELN). In addition to the above, we also found a case that particularly catches our attention because of its impact on the population and it is about the political and peasant leader Milton Rocha Peña, who was murdered in the municipality of San Sebastián de Buenavista, in Magdalena in February 2023. According to the Indepaz Foundation, this would be the 16th social leader killed by that stage in 2023 and number 1,425 since the signing of the Peace Accords between the FARC and the Colombian government in 2016. These killings have led to constant complaints on behalf of organizations representing journalists in Colombia.

Rafael's case is not the only unpunished case in the department of Cordoba because according to the Consultancy for Human Rights and Displacement (Codhes), 86% of the cases there are unpunished. In fact, the Foundation for Press Freedom (FLIP) strongly condemned the threats suffered by Córdoba journalists Rafael Gómez, Édgar Astudillo, Organis Cuadrado and Rafael Moreno. FLIP called on local and national authorities to take effective measures to protect journalists and carry out thorough investigations to identify those responsible. But these appeals were in vain. FLIP learned of a pamphlet signed by the Gaitanista Self-Defense Forces of Colombia in 2021, sometime before Rafael Moreno was murdered, in which the illegal group (formed following the demobilization of right-wing AUC paramilitaries between 2004-2006) threatened to kill eight people, including two journalists from the department of Córdoba: Rafael Gómez and Édgar Astudillo. Gómez, who physically received the pamphlet in his office, because he had been covering in the newspaper and the radio network La Piragua the activities of illegal armed groups and the alleged irregular management of public funds in the municipalities of Montelíbano, Tierralta and Puerto Libertador. Furthermore, Rafael Moreno and Organis Cuadrado, also from Voces de Córdoba, had also informed FLIP that they were not the first threats they had received. Moreno had said that on June 17th, 2021, in Puerto Libertador, an unknown person approached him while he was having lunch and warned him that he had been orders that he was to be killed, after the journalist published information about the murder of a young man in the municipality. For his part, Cuadrado reported to FLIP that on June 13th, 2021, he was intimidated by a man in Montelíbano, who told him that "it would take its toll," after the communicator denounced irregularities in the management of a former mayor of Puerto Libertador through his journalistic work. It is crucial that the UNP and the Attorney General's Office work together with the Ombudsman's Office, the government of Córdoba and the mayors of Puerto Libertador and Montelíbano to assess the context of violence in the region, as well as the vulnerabilities and risk factors of the press in this area. This context is fundamental to determine the level of risk of journalists and apply the most efficient measures to safeguard their life and integrity. Departments such as Córdoba require concerted efforts to reduce the risk factors encountered.

Córdoba is a department in Colombia that has had a historic presence of armed groups, which has led to an alarming security situation, especially in the municipalities of Alto Sinú and San Jorge and the south of the department, where illegal groups have a strong presence. In this context, it is worrying that journalists are exposed to risks related to complaints about public order, corruption and criminal organizations. These threats against the press generate an atmosphere of fear and silence among journalists in Córdoba, which affects the flow of information in the area on issues that impact the community. Of course, journalists are not the only civilians affected by this worrying scenario. According to the Human Rights Watch report (2023) the Ombudsperson’s Office reported 182 killings of human rights defenders throughout Colombia between January and October 2022. One of the most affected departments is Cordoba with an affectation of 77% of paramilitary activity and besides that, more than 90% of the municipalities in the department affected by paramilitarism (Indepaz, 2022). Because of this high presence of illegal groups, social leaders have suffered persecution and systematic murders due to them being perceived as against the interest of those groups which want to consolidate and materialize their objectives in the department. In addition, political groups, or as they are frequently known in certain regions in Colombia “Clans”, are families who belong to political groups with a long tradition in public administration positions. In departments such as Córdoba, many of these used to collaborate with, or at the very least turn a blind eye to, the activities of paramilitary organizations because sometimes those activities coincide with their own interests, or those groups assist them in maintaining their power within local governance. The parapolitica scandal shed light on the links between politicians and paramilitaries in departments such as Córdoba. However, despite the AUC paramilitaries long being demobilized, it seems that these sorts of links between local political elites and illegal groups are still a reality. This is just one reason why the work of social leaders is so precarious in departments like Córdoba. As evidence of the above-mentioned problem according to the Observatorio de DDHH, Conflictividades y Paz (2023), in the first two months of 2023, two social leaders, Jorge Luis Jaraba Plata and Alfonso Arteaga Cuadrado, were assassinated in the region. They were farmers in Córdoba in the municipality of Tierralta who had both been involved in voluntary crop substitution programs. These two cases, in addition to that of Rafael Moreno, are but three cases of the 62 murdered social leaders in the department of Córdoba between 2016 and April 2023.

In conclusion, Rafael Moreno was a journalist and social leader that was killed due to the dangerous reality which exists in many corners of Colombia due to the presence of illegal armed groups, the propensity for corruption among local elites and the negligence of the government in terms of addressing topics such as the importance of defending free speech and protecting the lives of social leaders in Colombia. As a result, Colombia is nowadays one of the deadliest countries for social leaders and journalists with the threats coming from a large range of sources such as illegal armed groups, private actors and even political elites. Such a scenario leaves them in a very precarious situation. Social leaders and journalists in Córdoba are just two of the many groups who face risks in their efforts to advocate for justice and equality. The impunity of these cases alarms the population and increases the insecurity for social leaders. Despite this, social leaders and journalists continue their work to achieve a better awareness of the dangers and the issues that the country faces daily, highlighting the importance of respecting free speech for the press in Colombia.

References

Committee to Protect Journalists. (2022). Colombia. Retrieved from https://cpj.org/americas/colombia/

How a Colombian Reporter Predicted his own Murder. (2023). The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/18/rafael-moreno-colombia-journalist-murder

Human Rights Watch. (2023}. World Report 2023: Events 2022. Retrieved from https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2022

Indepaz. (2022). Desafío a la Paz Total: Lo que recibió el gobierno de Gustavo Petro. Informe sobre la presencia de grupos armados en Colombia 2021-2022(1).

Observatorio de DDHH, Conflictividades y Paz. (2023). Líderes sociales, defensores de DD. HH y firmantes de acuerdo asesinados en 2023. Retrieved from. http://www.observatorioddhhecp.com/informes/asesinatos-lideres-defensores-2022/

Quesada, J. (2022). El asesinato que silenció a Rafael Moreno, el periodista que nunca llegó al Festival Gabo. El País. Retrieved from.https://elpais.com/america-colombia/2022-10-29/la-verdad-del-crimen-del-periodista-de-investigacion-rafael-moreno-un-sicario-tres-tiros-y-mucha-corrupcion.html