Colombian war reporter Catalina Gómez Ángel wins Gabo Prize for Excellence

Catalina Gómez Ángel, a freelance Colombian war correspondent based in Tehran, received the Gabo Prize for Excellence from the Fundación Gabo. The award was presented by the foundation’s director and co‑founder Jaime Abello Banfi, who praised her “unwavering independence and fierce vocation” in covering complex conflicts with a human‑centered perspective.

The council highlighted that Gómez Ángel is the third Colombian journalist to earn the honor, joining Javier Darío Restrepo (2014) and Jesús Abad Colorado (2019). During the ceremony, the Fundación Gabo and the Fundación para la Libertad de Prensa (FLIP) also paid tribute to murdered Colombian journalists Cristian Herrera Nariño and Mateo Pérez Rueda, underscoring the risks faced by reporters in Ibero‑America.

FLIP’s director Sofia Jaramillo said, “The murder of each journalist leaves an unfinished story and deprives a community of its reality,” reaffirming the commitment to defend press freedom despite violence.