Investigation: Project Rafael

Colombia: "Since Rafa was killed, no one dares to speak anymore"

The Rafael Project, a survey by the "Forbidden Stories" consortium. © Forbidden Stories

Text by: Aabla Jounaïdi Follow

3 min

RFI is joining forces with the international investigative consortium Forbidden Stories to take over the work of Rafael Moreno, a Colombian journalist murdered six months ago in circumstances that are still unclear.

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On October 16, 2022, a man was shot dead in his restaurant in Montelíbano, a city in the department of Córdoba, northern Colombia. The latest in a long series of assassinations in a region marked by indiscriminate violence by armed groups. Except that the man shot that day is also an investigative journalist.

Rafael Moreno, 37, had been running a Facebook page for six years where he revealed numerous scandals involving the political and economic elites of his region. With his experience as a local political activist, he practiced committed journalism, multiplying requests for public information to obtain answers to his questions.

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I see him secretly taking this video of the Cerro Matoso nickel mine. He took every risk for his job," recalls his friend Enyer Nieves Pinto, a human rights activist.

Relatives of Rafael Moreno pay tribute to the journalist killed in Montelíbano, Puerto Libertador, Córdoba, on October 26, 2022. © Diego Cuevas/El País

Many threats

Questionable public contracts, fraudulent mining, violation of the law by powerful private companies, control of criminal groups: Rafael Moreno did not shy away from any subject, despite the many threats he had been subjected to in recent years.

In southern Córdoba, the climate of violence and impunity is such that no direct witnesses to his murder have come forward to investigators. "Since Rafa was killed, it's as if everyone has become honest in Cordoba, because no one dares to speak out and denounce anymore," said Rafel's cousin, Yamir Pico. Also a journalist, he ended his investigations.

In the weeks leading up to his murder, Moreno felt more unsafe than ever. He doubted the personal protection he had. This was also lacking on the day of his death. Rafael Moreno had joined the "SafeBox" network of the Forbidden Stories consortium to secure his many documents and emails. The objective: to allow other journalists, including those of RFI, to continue his work.

Rafael Moreno was the "voice" of communities affected by the mining industry. © Aabla Jounaïdi / RFI

A former miner himself, Rafael Moreno was sensitive to the plight of workers and communities affected by the activities of large mining groups active in the region.

In his articles, he pointed to the damage that continues to be caused by the continent's largest open-pit mine, Cerro Matoso S.A., a subsidiary of global giant South32. In 2017, the Colombian justice had however ordered the group to act to limit this impact... in vain. This is the investigation that RFI decided to continue in a series of reports with the communities surrounding the mine.

► Next: Colombia: A mining giant above the law?

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