Mr. Julio Lopez is a citizen of Colombia. After graduating from college, he worked for several news organizations. He became a reporter for a television company. His reports about current events and politics were very popular. He became famous during the 1980s and 1990s. At the same time, the situation in Colombia was taking a turn for the worse. Many factions fought to control Colombia. The government, the drug cartels, and the guerrillas fought many battles. Mr. Lopez started reporting about the violence.
In 2000, Mr. Lopez directed a documentary about a group of guerrilla fighters called the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (or FARC as they are known in Spanish). This is one of the most powerful guerrilla groups in Colombia. The documentary showed that the FARC were kidnapping young people from the rural areas of Colombia. Then, the young people were forced to be servants and soldiers for the group.
A television network showed the documentary in November of 2000. The documentary was very popular, but was perceived as an attack on the guerrilla group. Mr. Lopez started to receive threats at his home. The voices on the telephone and the notes on his door said that the FARC were going to kill him. Mr. Lopez and his wife fled Bogotá and tried to hide in the countryside. The threats continued.
Mr. Lopez contacted the police, but they couldn’t do anything to help him. In many ways, the guerrilla group was more powerful than the police and the government. Finally, Mr. Lopez began to believe that the FARC would not stop until they killed him. Mr. Lopez and his wife started to make plans for their escape. In February of 2001, Mr. Lopez and his wife flew to Minnesota. He asked the government of the United States to accept him as an asylum-seeker from Colombia.
Like countries all over the world, the United States has agreed to accept those that seek asylum within its borders. The United States government accepts those that have been persecuted because of their nationality, religion, race, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group.
Today, the persecution of journalists in Colombia continues. In 2002, 10 journalists were murdered, 75 were threatened, and 12 were kidnapped. Many have left Colombia for other countries such as France, England, Canada, and the United States.