#MeToo movement brings wave of harassment claims across Colombia

Female journalists’ accounts of harassment trigger avalanche of allegations reaching as far as government Juanita Gómez was reporting on an international assignment for Caracol, a Colombian television channel in 2015, when an older colleague attempted to forcibly kiss her by inside a lift. She only managed to break free from him by pushing him away several times. Fearing any complaint would come down to the word of a “girl” against that of a senior presenter, she did not report the incident. But when news broke last month that Caracol had suspended two journalists after sexual harassment allegations against them, Gómez decided to publicly share what had happened to her 11 years ago. Without naming her aggressor, she wrote in a social media post that the fact that others were now able to report cases of abuse gave her “what feels like a sense of divine justice”. Dozens of other female journalists in the country have also reported that they had been victims of sexual harassment at other media outlets, using the #MeTooColombia hashtag and sharing each other’s reports with #YoTeCreoColega, or “I believe you, colleague”. A few days later, Caracol announced it was terminating the contrac