The assassination of journalist Eudoro Galarza Ossa is a symbolic case in
Colombia. He was the founder and director of ‘La Voz de Caldas’, a newspaper
that circulated in Manizales for 13 years and 3 months. The case of Galarza
Ossa is emblematic for two reasons. The primary one is that he was the first
journalist killed in Colombia (on October 12, 1938) for doing his job. The second
reason is that the Justice Department declared Lieutenant Jesús María
Cortés Poveda innocent for the homicide of Galarza. This was achieved by the
liberal candidate for the presidency of the Republic of Colombia and criminal
defense lawyer Jorge Eliécer Gaitán Ayala, the night before his own murder.
Gaitán Ayala argued the legal hypothesis of the legitimate defense of military
honor. In the present constitutional framework of Colombia, such a hypothesis
would be unacceptable, in the light of international protection of freedom of
expression.

The assassination of journalist Eudoro Galarza Ossa is a symbolic case in
Colombia. He was the founder and director of ‘La Voz de Caldas’, a newspaper
that circulated in Manizales for 13 years and 3 months. The case of Galarza
Ossa is emblematic for two reasons. The primary one is that he was the first
journalist killed in Colombia (on October 12, 1938) for doing his job. The second
reason is that the Justice Department declared Lieutenant Jesús María
Cortés Poveda innocent for the homicide of Galarza. This was achieved by the
liberal candidate for the presidency of the Republic of Colombia and criminal
defense lawyer Jorge Eliécer Gaitán Ayala, the night before his own murder.
Gaitán Ayala argued the legal hypothesis of the legitimate defense of military
honor. In the present constitutional framework of Colombia, such a hypothesis
would be unacceptable, in the light of international protection of freedom of
expression.