Colombia: Journalist Felipe Guevara Dies after Gun Attack

Colombian journalist Felipe Guevara, 27, Wednesday died after being shot by hitmen in the Cali city, Valle del Cauca Department, on December 21.

RELATED:

Ex-FARC Members March Over Selective Killings Against Them

Police reported that the Q'hubo local outlet reporter was shot four times, twice in the stomach, once in the chest, and once in the left leg.

Guevara spent two days in the intensive care unit of a Cali clinic, where he had two emergency surgeries for the shots he received in the stomach.

"He couldn't stand the severity of his injuries. The death of our colleague and friend, leaves us a huge void," Q'hubo stated.

Colombia's Press Freedom Foundation (FLIP) denied that the police ruled out in advance the relationship between these events and Guevara's journalistic activity.

"Authorities have to conduct a serious and impartial investigation into these events. The premise is to find the relationship between this terror act and his work as a journalist," FLIP urged.

"Those responsible will be apprehended. The exercise of journalism needs to be free and safe," Valle del Cauca Governor Clara Roldan said. 

The police informed that the young reporter, who graduated from the Western Autonomous University in 2017, received no threats against his life. Preliminary information shows that he was on vacation at the time of the attack.

However, Guevara's fellow journalists told FLIP that he was threatened a couple of years ago because of his journalistic work.