By REUTERS

          BOGOTÁ, Colombia -- A journalist at El Tiempo, Colombia's top
          newspaper, has fled the country after receiving anonymous death
          threats and being branded a guerrilla "mouthpiece" by a senior army
          commander, the daily says.

          Carlos Pulgarin, a regional correspondent formerly based in the northern
          city of Montería, a stronghold of the country's right-wing paramilitary
          groups, left for an undisclosed destination on Wednesday.

          He was the latest in a string of Colombian journalists threatened or killed
          this year. In the last 10 days alone, three local television reporters have
          been shot and killed in war zones in the north and southwest of
          Colombia, where guerrillas and paramilitary gangs are vying for territorial
          control.

          Drug traffickers and combatants in the country's long-running civil conflict
          are increasingly attacking the news media, making Colombia one of the
          most dangerous places in the world for journalists, according to
          international press organizations.

          In its lead editorial Thursday, El Tiempo, widely regarded as a staunch
          supporter of the establishment and the military, appeared to lay the blame
          for the threats against Pulgarin squarely on state security forces.

          "How can our correspondent expect safety and protection in carrying out
          his job when he was branded 'the guerrillas' press secretary' by Col.
          Miguel Ángel Cárdenas?" El Tiempo asked, referring to a senior officer
          of the army's 11th brigade. Colonel Cárdenas did not immediately
          respond to calls.

          The newspaper added that it would not give "blind and unconditional"
          support to the security forces. "Forcing a journalist into exile is a clumsy
          attempt to silence the free press, one of the pillars of true democracy," El
          Tiempo added.

          Earlier this year, Pulgarin reported on alleged complicity between the
          army and an ultra-right paramilitary gang in fighting against Marxist
          rebels. He also published a report denouncing the killing of Indian leaders
          by suspected paramilitary gunmen in an area close to a controversial
          hydroelectric project.

          El Tiempo said Pulgarin received a series of threatening phone calls in
          June and July telling him to "prepare your funeral cortege."