Claudia Julieta Duque [Photo: Henrik Halvardsson, LWF/DWS Colombia]

Claudia Julieta Duque O., journalist and correspondent in Colombia for Radio Nizkor

Journalist Claudia Julieta Duque subject to threats and illegal wire-tapping for investigating the murder of comedian Jaime Garzón.

PBI came into my life for the first time in February 2004, when the police carried out a «technical» inspection in order to check whether my telephones were being illegally intercepted. I had already reported threats and harassment to Jorge Noguera1, the Director of the Department of Administrative Security (DAS).  This led to a petition to the Ministry of the Interior’s Programme for the Protection Journalists, of which I have been part since December 2003.  The backdrop to these actions was the investigation that I was conducting into the August 1999 murder of the journalist and comedian, Jaime Garzón.

This work began in 2001 after convincing Alfredo Garzón, Jaime’s brother, to grant a power of attorney to Alirio Uribe, a lawyer with the José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers’ Collective (CCAJAR).  Alirio Uribe represented him as the claimant in criminal proceedings relating to two people in prison accused of being the material perpetrators of the assassination. Until then I had dealt with one kidnapping, several cases of harassment, threats, constant surveillance and one trip into exile. In previous years Alirio and I had revealed the existence of an intricate set-up that diverted the investigation of the Garzón case, the principal architects of which were DAS officials from Antioquia and Bogotá.

PBI was in my home that afternoon, as was Soraya Gutiérrez, also of CCAJAR, the NGO that I had been working for since August 2003. We witnessed yet another mockery of my situation: after examining my telephone connections with a voltmeter, a Police captain concluded that my line was «clean». Two minutes later, when the Police had barely left the building, I received a call in which a man with a shrill voice shouted at me «I stole her, I stole her», alluding to my daughter, who during this whole time had been the common denominator in the acts of terror against me. It is not without reason that the archives of the Special Intelligence Group 3 (G-3) 2 describe her as my «biggest weakness» and my «weak point».

My telephone was not «clean» and the voltmeter was not an appropriate instrument to carry out this test. Amongst the G-3 materials found by the Public Prosecutor’s Office are, in addition to countless emails, several telephone conversations of mine prior to February 2004. One of these refers to the visit of the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Shirin Ebadi. This was a conversation I had with a colleague and friend from Semana magazine, whose privacy was also violated because of this case. Today he laughs about this saying «you’re no good for me». It is difficult for me to laugh. 

2004 was perhaps the worst year of my life.  There were days in which I would receive as many as seventy threatening telephone calls.  Sometimes they would play me funeral music, or distressing shouts about torture and suffering, or insults describing me as «gonorrhoea», «damned», «stupid» and «big-mouthed expletive», amongst others.  A floral arrangement was sent to my home with the flowers buried upside down and with a giant putrefied cheese full of maggots. There were also the taxis and vehicles that used to park around my house. I was followed on foot, by motorcycle and by taxi. All this made many of my friends and colleagues dismiss me as paranoid, and some of them stayed away from me.

But PBI was always there to save my daughter and mine’s lives. Its members became my guardian angels, my friends and essential company. If I was able to smile during that period it was thanks to them. It was thanks to these foreign nationals, so concerned for our situation, who worked with dedication and deep respect.  I was fully aware that without their presence the threats might turn from words into actions. PBI was with me the day that I went to make a statement to the DAS as part of an «investigation» being carried out by Carlos Alberto Arzayúz, today prisoner due to the systematic persecution that this entity carried out against, amongst others, CCAJAR, journalists, members of the opposition and Supreme Court justices.

PBI came to my home in the early morning hours of insomnia and threatening calls.  They stayed with us one night in November when we had to move urgently because a man telephoned to inform me that my daughter «would be raped, mutilated and tortured using unimaginable means because I had got involved with the wrong person». PBI was there 24 hours a day every day until we were forced into a second exile. PBI accompanied us in the sad walk towards Immigration and went with us as far as the door of the plane. One of its members had to literally push me onto the plane whilst I cried uncontrollably.

Today, PBI (and risk) continue by my side. The brigadistas are my friends. Nevertheless, we both wish that their presence was not necessary. But it is, and my gratitude is boundless.

1  Jorge Noguera is currently being investigated for his ties to paramilitary organisations. «Acusación de la Fiscalía contra Jorge Noguera por tres homicidios mantuvo la Corte Suprema», El Tiempo newspaper, 8 September 2009

2  «CIDH expresa preocupación ante operaciones de inteligencia sobre actividades de la Comisión Interamericana en Colombia», CIDH, Press release no. 59/09, 13 August 2009