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Hollman Morris was honored by Human Rights Watch for his work. In New York recently, he met with members of the OPC Freedom of the Press Committee to thank them for a recent letter urging Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe to guarantee Morris's safety.
Two years ago, Hollman Morris's babysitter walked out of his front door and found a funeral wreath on the front steps. It was one of many specific and implied death threats Morris has received in the past decade. His investigative television show "Contravia" (Countercurrent) fearlessly exposes human rights abuses by all sides in Colombia -- the leftist guerrillas, the government troops who try to suppress them, and the right-wing paramilitary groups whose abuses rival the guerrillas but who somehow escape the attention of the government troops.
![]() Morris, 39, is being honored by Human Rights Watch this fall for his work. In New York recently, he met with members of the OPC Freedom of the Press Committee to thank them for a recent letter urging Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe to guarantee Morris's safety.
Attending the lunch at Club Quarters were committee co-chairmen Norman Schorr and Larry Martz and members Bill Collins and Minky Worden, who is also media director for Human Rights Watch.
Morris said he has personal protection while he is at home and working in Bogota, Colombia's capital. But the stories he pursues are mainly in rural areas, many of them remote, and to get candid information he travels with just one cameraman. His sources tip him off about such events as the discovery of mass graves or a paramilitary attack on a village, and he and his cameraman head out to report the story. But he is not focused solely on stereotypical atrocities; "Contravia" also chronicles drug-running, landmine injuries, abuses of indigenous people, the killings of trade unionists, and the recruiting of child soldiers for both guerrilla and paramilitary groups.
Morris had to leave Colombia briefly seven years ago because of death threats, and his phone is routinely tapped. President Uribe, who has been attacking journalists and human rights defenders by name, recently accused Morris of having links to the leftist guerrillas. The president later withdrew the statement. But in its letter to Uribe, the OPC committee said that a video making similar allegations was still being circulated by right-wing groups, which could put Morris's life at further risk.
Minky Worden said Human Rights Watch is trying to connect Morris with people who could finance his program, guaranteeing it will stay on the air and freeing him from constant fund-raising. Morris himself said that no matter what threats he receives, he is determined to go on with his work. "I’m convinced that we have to build this," he said. "We have to strengthen this democracy, we have to create a more inclusive country, and this requires the help and sacrifice of everyone."
Morris's Human Rights Defender Award honored him for "courage and unfaltering dedication." The press freedom committee was honored by his visit.
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