State Department Denies Visa to Leading Colombian Journalist and Nieman Fellow

[Judi Lynn]

State Department Denies Visa to Leading Colombian Journalist and Nieman Fellow
By Matthew Rothschild, June 29, 2010

His name is Hollman Morris, a highly acclaimed investigative reporter and TV journalist in Colombia. Among many prestigious awards, Morris received a “Defender of Human Rights” award from Human Rights Watch in 2007.

“A journalist and human rights activist, Morris has dedicated his career to uncovering the truth about atrocities committed on all sides: by right-wing paramilitaries, left-wing guerrillas, and government authorities,” said Human Rights Watch in granting him the award. “Morris has faced serious harassment and death threats for his work. . . . Human Rights Watch honors Morris for his courage and unfaltering dedication to exposing Colombia’s most egregious human rights abuses.”

On October 30, 2007, Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs R. Nicholas Burns met with Morris and congratulated him personally for winning this award. Burns expressed “great admiration for his valiant work,” the State Department said.

That was then.

Now the State Department won’t deign to let him into the United States.

On June 16, the U.S. embassy in Bogotá denied his visa, Morris reports.

“Visa records are confidential,” says a State Department spokesperson, who refused to comment further on this case.

The Nieman Foundation at Harvard had selected Morris as one of its International Nieman Fellows for the next academic year in Cambridge, Mass.

More:
http://progressive.org/mc062910.html