AP: May 19, 1998
Tuesday, May 19, 1998; 4:40 p.m. EDT

Gunmen Kill Reporter in Colombia
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BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- Gunmen shot to death a television reporter in the 
southwestern city of Cali on Tuesday, a day of nationwide protest against 
mounting political violence.

Bernabe Cortez, 42, was killed while getting into a taxi, apparently by 
gunmen firing from another car, police said. The taxi driver also was killed, 
and both bodies were found slumped in the taxi's front seat. 

Cortez, who covered police and military affairs for regional broadcaster 
CVN television, was the fifth Colombian journalist killed since October and 
the 74th since 1988.

``I think they killed him exactly so that on this day of a march for peace, the 
news would be one of war, once again,'' said CVN news director, Monica 
Meneses.

The journalist was killed by at least two bullets, one of which hit him in 
the chest, said colleagues at CVN who went to the scene and found both 
bodies.