Colombia: spying on reporters shows army unable to shake habits of dirty war
More than 130 journalists – including at least three US reporters – surveilled in a country where media has long been targeted
Joe Parkin Daniels in Bogotá
@joeparkdan
Tue 22 Sep 2020 06.30 EDT
María Alejandra Villamizar has had a front row seat of Colombia’s civil conflict. Over a 25-year career, she has reported from rebel-held jungles to territories controlled by violent drug cartels. She also worked as an adviser to several presidents during successive attempts to make peace.
But she recently discovered that her work had put her in the crosshairs of the military.
An investigation by the local news weekly Semana found that the Colombian army gathered intelligence on Villamizar and more than 130 of her colleagues – including at least three US reporters.
Soldiers had trawled through information on social media in order to build “profiles” on each target, with comprehensive lists of their contacts, families and friends. Their political leanings were deduced from their posts and connections, and logged in a database.
The scandal revealed that despite a peace deal which led to the demobilization of the country’s largest rebel group, Colombia’s US-backed military are still unable to shake habits from a dirty war in which the rules that usually bind a democracy’s armed forces are non-binding – and journalists and opposition members are considered fair targets.
More:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/22/colombia-spying-scandal-military-journalists
