Guzmán Quintero Torres was a Colombian

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

and

reporter A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

from the city of

Valledupar Valledupar () is a city and municipality in northeastern Colombia. It is the capital of Cesar Department. Its name, ''Valle de Upar'' (Valley of Upar), was established in honor of the Amerindian cacique who ruled the valley; ''Cacique Upar''. The ...

. He was assassinated on 16 September 1999 after writing a series of articles two months before his death in which he denounced the involvement of some members of the

Colombian National Army The National Army of Colombia () is the land warfare service branch of the Military Forces of Colombia. With over 361,420 active personnel as of 2020, it is the largest and oldest service branch in Colombia, and is the second largest army in the ...

in the erroneous assassination of two women (one of them pregnant) and wounding some eight children after confusing them with

guerrilla Guerrilla warfare is a form of unconventional warfare in which small groups of irregular military, such as rebels, Partisan (military), partisans, paramilitary personnel or armed civilians, which may include Children in the military, recruite ...

s in the

corregimiento ''Corregimiento'' (; , ) is a Spanish term used for country subdivisions for royal administrative purposes, ensuring districts were under crown control as opposed to local elites. A ''corregimiento'' was usually headed by a '' corregidor''. The ...

s of Patillal and

San Juan de Rioseco San Juan de Rioseco is a municipality and town of Colombia in the department of Cundinamarca with a population of about 10,000 people. It lies in mountainous terrain in the coffee land at an altitude of about 4,000 feet, high above the Magdalena ...

.Plantón por 20 años de asesinato de Guzmán Quintero - El gremio de periodistas exigió justicia por este crimen declarado de lesa humanidad
16 September 2019. Accessed 11 June 2025. By the time Quintero Torres was assassinated

paramilitary groups A paramilitary is a military that is not a part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the use of the term "paramilitary" as far back as 1934. Overview Though a paramilitary is, by definiti ...

, mainly the AUC were in the middle of a fight for territorial power and control against the guerrillas

FARC The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People's Army (, FARC–EP or FARC) was a Marxist–Leninist guerrilla group involved in the continuing Colombian conflict starting in 1964. The FARC-EP was officially founded in 1966 from peasan ...

and ELN. Both sides persecuted civilians who they thought supported the other group. Paramilitaries targeted any guerrilla supporters and aiders, human right

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

's that expressed any criticism, sometimes done along with active members of the Colombian National Army, ties that Quintero had also denounced in his articles. Quintero consistently denounced parapolitical assaults on union leaders, peasants, politicians, and think tanks ever since the assassination of peace advocate Amparo Leonor Jiménez Pallares who worked for an NGO called ''red de Iniciativas por la paz'' (Network of Initiatives for Peace; REDEPAZ). Jiménez Pallares was assassinated on 11 August 1998 in

, Colombia.Journalists Killed in 1998 - Motive Confirmed: Amparo Leonor Jiménez Pallares
refworld.org. Accessed 11 June 2025.

References

People from Valledupar Colombian male journalists 1999 deaths 20th-century births Assassinated Colombian people 20th-century Colombian journalists 1999 murders in Colombia {{Colombia-writer-stub

See also

References