This article needs to be updated. (September 2022) |
William Eduardo Parra Jaimes (b. 1966[1] ) is a Colombian journalist.[2]
Career
editHe has worked for Caracol Radio, Reuters,[2] and RCN TV,[citation needed] and in the 1990s was press secretary for then-Colombian President Ernesto Samper.[3] He worked for TeleSUR full-time from 2006 to 2008, and subsequently as a freelance journalist.[4] Parra currently has political asylum in Venezuela, after being charged in Colombia with links with the FARC rebels.[citation needed] Parra denies the accusations, and said in September that his lawyers had received death threats.[5][6]
Parra was kidnapped for 10 days in December 1997,[7] by men claiming to be members of the Medellin cartel.[8] Arrests were later made of members of Jaime Bateman Cayon's rebel group.[9] In 2000 he fled to Spain following death threats, and in 2005 he was attacked and seriously injured near Bogota.[1]
On 25 September, he interviewed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.[10]
References
edit- ^ a b (in French) Le Nouvel Observateur, 25 May 2005, Un journaliste de Reuters attaqué et blessé (archived)
- ^ a b (in Spanish) Semana, 11 September 2010, ¿Periodista guerrillero?
- ^ Associated Press, 10 September 2010, Colombia orders arrest of reporter in rebel case
- ^ CNN, 8 September 2010, Colombian journalist wanted for rebel ties
- ^ (in German) amerika21.de, 12 September 2010, William Parra: Morddrohungen gegen Anwälte
- ^ (in Spanish) EFE, El Espectador, 10 September 2010, "La inteligencia militar busca asfixiarme profesionalmente" William Parra
- ^ Washington Post, 14 December 1997, Rebels Release Colombian Official[dead link]
- ^ Manila Standard, Dec 7, 1997, Presidential press secretary, radio journalist kidnapped
- ^ Florida Sun-Sentinel, Dec 25, 1997, Kidnap Suspects Arrested[dead link]
- ^ Cubadebate, 26 September 2013, Entrevista del canal Telesur a Bashar al-Assad (in Spanish)