Fredy Muñoz

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Fredy Muñoz Altamiranda (born in Cartagena) is a Colombian journalist who works for Venezuela-based TV network teleSUR as correspondent in Bogotá, having worked in the profession for 12 years. In November 19, 2006, he was arrested while arriving back in Bogotá airport on the grounds of an alleged "connection with terrorism". The Colombian attorney-general office says Muñoz was allegedly implicated by former FARC guerrilla fighters currently in jail, while teleSUR sustains Colombian judicial authorities are suppressing press freedoms by stimulating false accusations through their "awarded treachery" program.

Muñoz has been working on stories which relate blasts against public services (such as power lines) in rural Colombia to military and police forces, instead of FARC-authored attacks on which they are usually blamed. According to his superiors in teleSur, this has raised discontent against him among Colombian authorities, who would have made up ungrounded accusations.

The credibility of Muñoz has been compromised since the outlets for his writings have very close connections with the FARC and the government of Hugo Chavez who has blocked press establishments opposed to his positions in Venezuela.

The Reporters Without Borders organization has denounced the prison as an attack to press freedom. The International Federation of Journalists issued a communiqué on similar terms, signed by regional director Gregorio Salazar, demanding Muñoz's immediate release.