The Organization of American States (OAS) asked U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to reconsider her department’s decision to deny Colombian journalist Hollman Morris entry to receive a journalism fellowship at Harvard University.
OAS Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression Catalina Botero “respectfully” asked Clinton to “reconsider the decision to deny the visa of the journalist as his going to Harvard with his family allows us to guarantee his protection against threats he has received for his journalistic work,” reported Spanish press agency Efe on Wednesday.
Botero — who is Colombian — praised Morris’ work and stressed that the journalist already has been a victim of illegal wiretapping by state intelligence agency DAS. The journalist himself had denounced that the denial of his visa had worsened his security situation.
The decision to refuse Morris’ visa also led to fierce criticism by the Inter-American Press Association, several U.S. scholars and Harvard’s Nieman Foundation, who had granted the Colombian journalist the fellowship.