• By Silvia Higuera
• June 10, 2026

The murder of Colombian journalist Cristian Herrera on June 6 highlighted the dangers local reporters continue to face, the flaws in the country's protection mechanism and the consequences of high impunity rates regarding the investigation of any attacks on journalists, including threats.

For more than 20 years, Herrera covered the crime and public order beat.

“I know the criminal dynamics of both the city and the department,” he told LatAm Journalism Review (LJR) in January 2025 for an article about the dangers faced by journalists covering a region of the country known as Catatumbo.

The Catatumbo region—comprising 11 municipalities located primarily in the department of Norte de Santander—has experienced major waves of violence since the late 1980s, driven largely by armed groups, such as guerrillas and paramilitaries, vying for control. Cúcuta, the departmental capital, also exhibits its own criminal dynamics, partly due to its status as a border city; in recent years, criminal gangs from Venezuela have begun operating there.

“Cristian was truly working against real power structures, criminal networks and enforced silences,” Fabiola León, a Latin America investigator for Reporters Without Borders (RSF, for its initials in Spanish) and a friend of Herrera’s since 2004, told LJR.

Both shared a commitment to the fight for freedom of expression and the press, and for securing the guarantees needed to practice journalism. Herrera experienced this firsthand: he lived under threat for more than 20 years and was even forced into exile at one point. Yet, León said, exile was never a permanent option for Herrera. For the journalist, it made no sense to be away while so much was happening in Cúcuta, and that is why he returned.

“We are talking about a journalist who lived at risk for 20 years, who practiced journalism under threat for 20 years—a job that involved reporting from territories plagued by war, corruption, organized crime, and, obviously, state neglect,” León said. “And amidst all this, his decision was always to pursue journalism.”

When he spoke to LJR about the violence in 2025, he said he was taking precautions to cover the topic. At that time, he did not travel to Catatumbo because he was informed that armed groups “were not respecting anyone.” Three years earlier, when he visited the area, he was detained for hours by armed men—and at one point even had a gun pointed at him—he told LJR.

But he was convinced of the need to report on what was happening. He worked for the newspaper La Opinión de Cúcuta for 23 years. In October 2024, he retired to work as a freelance journalist. He founded his own media outlet—a Facebook page called Cúcuta al Rojo Vivo—but also maintained a network of crime reporters in the region to continue covering these issues in Cúcuta and Catatumbo.

“He refused to stay silent,” León said. “When he saw that the alternative wasn't the traditional media, he founded his own outlet.”

Herrera told LJR how he was training his digital team to cover the region—specifically, to understand that in an area controlled by so many armed groups, information had become a strategy of war.

“Confirm that it is true, confirm that the person who sent it is a social or peasant leader, and verify whether the group sending it is truly credible,” Herrera said at the time.

He was under the protection of the National Protection Unit (UNP) due to the threats he constantly received. However, on the day of the crime, his bodyguards had the day off, the UNP reported. A hitman shot him several times as he was getting out of his vehicle in front of his mother-in-law's house.

The Cúcuta Police commander announced a reward of 100 million Colombian pesos (approximately US$29,000) for information leading to the masterminds and actual perpetrators of the crime.

On June 9, authorities announced the arrest of three individuals (two men and a woman) allegedly involved in the crime against Herrera. One of the men is believed to be the hitman who took the journalist's life, while the other two individuals reportedly coordinated the logistics of the murder.

According to authorities’ investigations, the alleged hitman belongs to a criminal gang operating in Cúcuta known as "Familia P." The Attorney General's Office plans to charge them with aggravated homicide and the manufacture, trafficking, carrying, or possession of firearms, parts, accessories and ammunition.

Allegations of corruption and organized crime

The Foundation for Press Freedom (FLIP)—an organization on whose board of directors Herrera served—described the crime as a “devastating blow” and demanded a timely and diligent investigation to identify those responsible. It called for his journalistic work to be included in the scope of the investigation.

“Furthermore, it deals a severe blow to FLIP, depriving it of one of the members of its governing bodies and placing the organization’s work defending the rights of the country’s journalists and audiences at risk and under intimidation,” the organization wrote in a statement.

According to FLIP, Herrera had recently reported on acts of corruption and public order issues in Cúcuta. On his X account, minutes before his murder, Herrera spoke about a senator from Norte de Santander whose U.S. visa had allegedly been revoked and who was reportedly facing asset forfeiture proceedings.

Days earlier, also on X, he published information regarding other asset forfeiture proceedings and the arrival of officials from the Bogotá Prosecutor's Office in Cúcuta to carry out these processes.

The publications mentioned both politicians and criminal organizations operating in the city.

Since 2014, FLIP has recorded at least 17 threats against Herrera. He also survived an attempted murder in 2017.

“Cristian—even when you greeted him and asked about the risks he faced at the time—would say, ‘As always: things that are always there, situations that take a toll.’ But he didn’t let himself be overwhelmed by the risk; he didn’t let himself be overwhelmed by the difficulties he was facing,” León said.

Called to protect other journalists

“Cristian’s murder was a massive shock for all of us; it is a devastating blow because it means they are never going to leave us in peace,” Claudia Julieta Duque—a Colombian journalist and victim of psychological torture who has faced threats since 2001—told LJR.

Duque also knew Herrera through their shared struggle for freedom of expression and the demand for protection for journalists. They shared the “sad affinity” of being among the journalists who had faced threats for the longest time and of having “experienced firsthand” years of a lack of government protection, Duque said.

“For those of us who have faced threats for a long time, we become part of the scenery,” said Duque, deeply shaken by the crime. “It’s easy to write—just a phrase: ‘journalist threatened for over 20 years’—but actually living it, suffering through it, facing it, surviving it... That is impossible to describe or put into words, because it encompasses an entire life.”

With each new administration, Duque said, Herrera believed that conditions for journalism might improve. Duque sharply criticized President Gustavo Petro, who has not commented directly on the crime except to post about the capture of the suspects; instead, she noted, just hours after the killing, he published a post on X “lambasting the press.”

She also points the finger at the UNP for its constant failures. She herself gave up her protection four years ago due to a lack of adequate safeguards.

Herrera had given his bodyguards the day off, but Duque questioned why no other security was provided.

“The UNP should already be explaining why there was no replacement driver for Cristian’s bodyguards, why he had to be left alone, and why they didn’t have a replacement person to protect Cristian,” Duque said.

Norte de Santander is one of the most dangerous regions for journalism in the country. Cúcuta is the city with the highest number of threats against journalists, according to the FLIP. In 2024—a year in which three reporter murders were recorded—two of them took place in that department.

This article was translated with AI assistance and reviewed by Teresa Mioli