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By Matthew Russell Lee, CJR Letter PFT Q&A

UN GATE, Aug 3 – Colombia was presented as one of the only successes in the three desultory years Antonio Guterres has helmed the UN, censoring Inner City Press to conceal his links to UN bribery by CEFC China Energy. While banning Inner City Press for the 760th day and refusing to answer its questions about Coronavirus, UNsexploitation and Ghislaine Maxwell and lack of transparency, Guterres' spokesman Farhan Haq on Aug 3 issued this: "We are deeply saddened by the death of our colleague in Colombia, Mr. Mario Paciolla, and we reiterate the expressions of condolences that have been extended to his family and the Government of Italy, as well as our gratitude for his service to the Verification Mission and the cause of peace in Colombia.       We reaffirm that the United Nations is cooperating fully with the Colombian authorities responsible for determining with certainty the cause of death.  The Verification Mission, with all necessary support from UN Headquarters, has responded to all requests for assistance. This has included the lifting of immunities to permit interviews with colleagues of Mr. Paciolla and through facilitating all requests to review personal effects and work equipment as part of the investigation.       We have also been in close communication with the Government of Italy, through its Embassy in Bogota and its representation at the United Nations in New York.  We have coordinated on matters including the discrete transfer of Mr. Paciolla’s remains to Italy in respect of the wishes of the family, and the delivery of his personal effects.  The United Nations has also assured the Government of Italy of the UN’s cooperation with requests arising from investigations that may be undertaken by Italian authorities.       It is through this cooperation with the relevant investigations that the UN can best contribute to what all concerned wish to see, that the circumstances of Mario Paciolla’s death are fully clarified. While awaiting the results of those investigations and cooperating fully with them, we do not intend to comment about details of the case or speculate about the outcome of the investigations as it would be inappropriate to do so.       Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General   New York, 3 August 2020."

 This while the UN sends its "colleagues" in Somali to the deaths at the hands of Al Shabaab, then refuses all questions about it, not only from Inner City Press but also Somalia elected officials, see here. Guterres is corrupt.

 As to the ever more corrupt UN, on November 23, 2019 after the UN cursorily acknowledged its sexual exploitation of Colombia but refused Inner City Press' questions about Colombia, this from Guterres as he sped away in pollution vans: "The Secretary-General follows developments in Colombia closely. He acknowledges the largely peaceful spirit that characterized the 21 November marches and welcomes the expressed willingness of the Government to engage in dialogue, as demonstrated by the announcement of the President to embark on a national conversation.     At the same time, the Secretary-General is concerned by incidents of violence and vandalism, including an attack late yesterday that claimed the lives of three police officers in Cauca Department and injured others.     The Secretary-General calls on all actors to refrain from violence, exercise maximum restraint and engage in peaceful dialogue.      Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesman for the Secretary-General  New York, 23 November 2019." Total B.S..

After its  reporting on the United Nations as a resident correspondent for a decade, exposing war crimes and UN scandals from Sri Lanka to Yemen to Cameroon, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres had Inner City Press roughly ousted and banned from the UN since 3 July 2018.

  On 24 August 2019 Inner City Press applied to  Guterres and his new Communications and media accreditation chief Melissa Fleming to be admitted like hundreds of others to cover the upcoming UN General Assembly. After receiving from Guterres' Security chief Gilles Michaud an ill-informed response passing the buck to the Department now run by Fleming, past 4 pm on Friday, August 30 the UN issued a denial of accreditation with no reasoning other than that accreditation had previously been revoked:

"From: malu <malu@un.org>
Date: Fri, Aug 30, 2019 at 4:23 PM
Subject: U.N. eAccreditation request for Matthew Lee Ref # M5413398 has been declined
To: Inner City Press:

Greetings Matthew Lee from Inner City Press,  Your media accreditation request, with reference no: M5413398, has been declined for the following reason: Media accreditation was withdrawn on 17 August 2018."

  This is Kafka-esque, and corrupt. We will have more, much more, on this.

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