MIAMI:
THE INTERNATIONAL Press Association (IAPA) regrets the release of Luis Carlos Molina Yepes, one of the accused in the murder of distinguished Colombian journalist Guillermo Cano Isaza, and called this a setback in the fight against impunity.
Cano was killed on December 17, 1986. The head of the Medellin drug cartel, Pablo Escobar, considered him and the newspaper he managed, El Espectador, as his main enemies for denouncing drug trafficking and favouring the extradition of drug traffickers to the United States. Molina Yepes was ordered by Escobar to pay the two hit men that fired eight times into Cano's chest.
In early October, Molina Yepes, sentenced in 1995 while he was a fugitive to 16 years and eight months in prison for conspiracy in the commission of a crime, was released after serving six years behind bars.
OUTRAGE
The chairman of the Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, Rafael Molina, expressed that "without questioning the court's decision, we regret and express our outrage over what we believe to be a setback in the fight for impunity and specifically Cano's murder, one of the most symbolic in Colombia and whose investigation also resulted in the killing of two judges and an attorney."
Molina Yepes was apprehended at a restaurant in Bogota's on February 18, 1997, days after an IAPA international delegation met with President Ernesto Samper requesting a push for due diligence in tracking down those involved in the journalist's murder.
Although the IAPA expressed its satisfaction and called Molina Yepes' capture a positive step, one month later it submitted a complaint to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), stating that the legal process in the Cano case was marred by irregularities and a denial of justice. The IAPA held the Government of Colombia accountable for violations against human rights and the case was accepted by the IACHR becoming Case number 11.728.
The hemispheric organisation insisted before the Colombian government and the IACHR that this murder be solved, since it is believed that Cano's murder marked the beginning of a wave of violence against the media and journalists that criticised any action by drug traffickers in Colombia.
