UPDATE

July 29, 2010

After many national and international calls to reconsider, the U.S. State Department reversed its decision this week to deny Colombian journalist Hollman Morris a visa so he could complete a yearlong fellowship at the Nieman Fellowship for Journalism at Harvard University. NAHJ had urged that Morris be allowed to enter the United States. (See stories and original NAHJ press statement and letter below.)

Nieman Foundation Press Release on Reversal of Decision

AP Story on State Department Reversal

Latin American Herald Tribune story citing NAHJ

 

NAHJ Asks U.S. to Reverse Denial of Visa to Colombian Journalist

July 12, 2010

Hollman Morris Accepted Prestigious Fellowship; Known for Work on Human Rights

 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 Administration was influenced by Colombian President Alvaro Uribe’s government, a frequent target of Morris’ journalistic work. Human rights groups say Colombia’s intelligence agencies have started a campaign to discredit Morris by tying him to the Revolutionary Armed Forced of Colombia (FARC), the country’s largest rebel group.

“Mr. Morris is a distinguished 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. Ambassador in Colombia William Brownfield and Assistant Secretary of State Janice Lee Jacobs in a letter signed by NAHJ President Michele Salcedo.

“His television program “Contravía” documents the suffering of victims of human rights abuses committed by all parties, whether they be left-wing guerrillas, Colombian armed forces or paramilitary units,” the letter stated. “To accurately 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 Morris’ investigative journalism 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 chosen for this prestigious fellowship. Colombia’s President-elect Juan Manuel Santos was a Nieman Fellow in 1988. And there is precedent for U.S. government officials 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.

Click here for a copy of the NAHJ letter to U.S. State Department officials

Click here for a related story on this issue

Click here for another related story on this issue

About NAHJ
Founded in 1984, NAHJ’s mission is to increase the percentage of Latinos working in our nation’s newsrooms and to improve news coverage of the Latino community. NAHJ is the nation’s largest professional organization for Latino journalists with more than 1,400 members working in English and Spanish-language print, photo, broadcast and online media. NAHJ is a 501 (c)(3) tax-exempt non-profit organization. For more information, visit www.nahj.org. 

Contact: Iván Román, (202) 662-7178, iroman@nahj.org