Extra Quindío
September 28, 2013, in Caicedonia, Colombia

Unidentified gunmen shot José Darío Arenas, 31, multiple times in the town of Caicedonia in the western province of Valle del Cauca, according to news reports. Arenas had been selling copies of Extra Quindío, a regional daily based in Armenia, the capital of nearby Quindío province, news reports said.

The top story in Extra Quindío on the day of Arenas' murder, which was written by reporter Andrés Mauricio Osorio, was about complaints by relatives of inmates who said they had been mistreated by guards at the Caicedonia prison. Osorio told CPJ that Arenas had pitched him the story idea, helped him find sources, and had taken photographs for the story. Arenas served as the paperboy and had collaborated on the story for the daily since the paper had no permanent reporter in the town, Osorio told CPJ.

Osorio said that José Daniel Ocampo, a vendor on the prison guards who had been quoted in the story criticizing the guards, received a threatening phone call after the murder with the message: "First one down." The story also cited Ocampo as saying that he knew about other kinds of wrongdoing by the guards.

Juan Carlos Pérez, a photographer for Extra Quindío, said he believed the killing was directly related to the story on the prison guards and that it may have been a pre-emptive strike to scare reporters from digging any deeper. Pérez said Colombian prisons have been plagued by problems, such as prisoners trafficking drugs, extorting businesses, and ordering kidnappings and murders from behind bars, as well as guards facilitating lavish parties for inmates. Over the years, such scandals have forced the resignation of numerous prison wardens as well as directors of the prison administration.

Two police officers in Caicedonia refused to speculate to CPJ about the motive for the killing, citing the ongoing investigation. A spokesman for INPEC, the Colombian prison authority, did not respond to calls from CPJ seeking comment.

Arenas is survived by his wife and three children.

Media Support Worker: In 2003, CPJ began documenting the deaths of vital media employees such as translators, drivers, fixers, and administrative workers.

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