Letter by National Association of Hispanic Journalist
Washington — The National Association of Hispanic Journalists called on the U.S. government to reverse its decision to deny a visa to Colombian journalist Hollman Morris so he can join this fall’s class of the prestigious Nieman fellowships at Harvard University.
With this request, NAHJ joins the chorus of human rights and civil liberties organizations and fellow journalists throughout Latin American and the United States who have raised concerns about the denial of a visa for Morris. The veteran journalist, whose work has been praised by U.S. State Department officials, received the 2007 Human Rights Defender Award from Human Rights Watch.
Morris was denied a visa under the USA Patriot Act’s “terrorist activities” section. Some human rights groups question whether the Obama Administra- tion was influenced by Colombian President Al- varo Uribe’s government, a frequent target of Morris’ journalistic work. Human rights groups say Colom- bia’s intelligence agencies have started a campaign to discredit Morris by tying him to the Revolutionary Armed Forced of Colom- bia (FARC), the country’s largest rebel group.
“Mr. Morris is a dis- tinguished journalist who, at great personal risk, has strived to report in an unbiased fashion o the bloody conflict tearing apart his country,” NAHJ stated to U.S. Ambassa- dor in Colombia William Brownfi eld and Assistant Secretary of State Janice Lee Jacobs in a letter signed by NAHJ President Michele Salcedo.
“His television pro-gram “Contravía” docu- ments the suffering of victims of human rights abuses committed by all parties, whether they be left-wing guerrillas, Co- lombian armed forces or paramilitary units,” the letter stated. “To accu- rately report the facts he – as would any reputable journalist – had to establish links with representatives of all those groups.
In the letter, NAHJ acknowledges that Mor-ris’ investigative journal- ism has bothered some in the government and “it is well documented that he, his collaborators and his family have been the targets of orchestrated harassment, surveillance and threats.”
Other colleagues from Colombia have been cho- sen for this prestigious fel- lowship. Colombia’s Presi-dent-elect Juan Manuel Santos was a Nieman Fel- low in 1988. And there is precedent for U.S. govern- ment offi cials to rescind a similar type of visa denial. Eight years ago, Stanford University successfully appealed the denial of a visa for Alberto Molano, a columnist for Bogotá’s El Espectador, chosen to be a Knight Fellow.
“Mr. Morris has been granted visas to visit the United States in the recent past to attend academic and journalistic events. He should not be denied one now,” NAHJ stated.
