Journalist flees Colombia amid death threats

Source: Colombia Reports

Journalist flees Colombia amid death threats
Wednesday, 24 August 2011 07:39
Travis Mannon

A Medellin-based journalist from newspaper El Espectador was forced to leave the country after months of receiving threats on her life, the newspaper announced Tuesday.

Mary Luz Avendaño had been covering a story about the ties between drug gangs and members of the Medellin police. She began to receive death threats from a drug trafficker, alias, "Mi Sangre," of La Oficina de Envigado drug cartel.

"I began to get warning messages, especially from the sources that gave me information. They told me it was serious, that I should take care of myself, that they had heard comments and that I could be hurt," Avendaño said in June 2011.

The El Espectador main office began to receive phone calls asking for personal information and the residence of Avendaño. After several months of providing protection to Avendaño, authorities determined that the threat to her personal security was still very high.

Read more: http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/18520-colombian-journalist-flees-country-amid-death-threats.html