One of Colombia’s most prominent and outspoken investigative journalists, Claudia Lopez, said Tuesday that she had fled the country after receiving death threats.
Lopez, famous for publishing articles exposing politicians receiving aid in public elections from illegal armed paramilitary groups and for criticizing newspapers of giving unequal attention to different political factions, allegedly received death threats from a northern Colombian mafia group led by “Marquitos Figueroa.”
Late Tuesday night, she tweeted that she had left the country Monday as a “preventative measure” and asked that the government do their job and find these perpetrators.
Ayer salí del país como una medida preventiva. Espero regresar pronto cuando @PoliciaColombia y @FiscaliaCol hagan su trabajo y verifiquen
— Claudia López (@CLOPEZanalista) October 1, 2013
Lopez and other prominent journalists and analysts such as Leon Valencia have sent letters to the new Minister of the Interior, Aurelio Iragorri, regarding death threats and demanding justice against those who threatened their lives.
“We cannot let our lives be a Wheel of Fortune,” Lopez said Tuesday.
Ni somos ni pretendemos ser héroes. Hacemos trabajo investigativo con seriedad y rigor, no podemos dejar nuestra vida a ruleta de la suerte
— Claudia López (@CLOPEZanalista) October 1, 2013
Lopez said that she hopes to return to Colombia soon.
“Marquitos Figueroa’s” criminal gang operates in Colombia’s northern Guajira Department.