2009 Dart Center Ochberg Fellow Hollman Morris, an investigative reporter in Colombia, has received his visa from the U.S. State Department.
The visa, which Morris had requested to participate in the 2010-11 Nieman Fellowship program at Harvard University, was initially denied on the grounds that Morris presented an international security threat.
Here’s the official announcement from Nieman.
And here’s a story by 1999 Ochberg Fellow Frank Smyth on the CPJ Website.
The Progressive first published the news of the State Department’s decision within days of the farewell gathering for Morris late last month at the studios of Contravia. The Open Society Institute-funded television series was created by Morris and documents the guerilla wars.
2006 Fellow Jenny Manrique, who attended the gathering, said she was struck by Morris’s ability to inspire and calm young journalists in Colombia, even as he and his family have endured death threats and political attacks. (She intends to produce a post in Spanish about Morris’s departure ASAP.)
Outgoing Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, who has called Morris an accomplice of terrorism, has been characterized as Washington’s closest ally in South America.
In the days after his visa was denied, Manrique and other Dart Society members reached out to Morris. He was terribly disappointed and sad, Manrique said.
The Dart Society and Dart Center have joined with journalism organizations working with Nieman to appeal the decision to deny Morris’s visa.
