Ex-rebels at TV network trade combat for cameras
BOGOTA, Colombia — In a tiny restroom, Marilu Ramirez prepares for her segment in a recording studio by brushing her long black hair and covering her lashes in another coat of mascara, small luxuries in a life no longer being spent behind bars.
Sentenced to 27 years in jail for her role in a car bombing at a military school, Ramirez was released as part of Colombia’s peace agreement with leftist rebels and is now the host of an online debate show.
The live program is produced by Nueva Colombia Noticias, a new network started by former guerrillas with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia that aims to offer an alternative to what some see as a media landscape crowded with biased, traditional outlets.
One year after the signing of the accord, the excombatants are living in a hotel paid for by the Colombian government, teaching themselves how to operate cameras and gearing up to launch a daily newscast.
Their audience is still minuscule, but they hope to attract a large, loyal following by focusing on stories from the places they know best: remote parts of Colombia long neglected by state and establishment media networks alike.
“We want to give a voice to those who have been living for decades in silence, but experiencing firsthand the state’s neglect,” Ramirez said after a recent taping of her debate show, “La Mesa Caliente” (“The Hot Table”).
The story of Nueva Colombia Noticias is in many ways a microcosm of both the successes and challenges of reintegrating former guerrillas into Colombian society. Reporting on the streets, the ex-combatants are coming face-to-face with a Colombian populace reluctant to embrace them after five decades of bloody conflict. Many Colombians are also wary of the network’s continued ties and unabashed support for the former guerrillas’ new political party.
“They still have a long way to go in becoming independent and not appearing like propaganda,” said Fabiola Leon, the Colombia representative for international advocacy group Reporters Without Borders.
The channel currently has 25 reporters in Colombia’s capital, nearly all of whom are former rebels living off monthly payments that the Colombian government agreed to pay as part of the peace accord.