[HNA] [Fwd: Seven Honduran broadcasters slain since March 1]

[Tom Loudon]

*Seven Honduran broadcasters slain since March 1*

A friend of television journalist Jorge Orellana looks at his coffin.

A friend of television journalist Jorge Orellana looks at his coffin. 
(Edgard Garrido - Reuters)

 

	

 

/y Anne-Marie O'Connor/

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Honduran television reporter Jorge Alberto "Georgino" Orellana had just 
left the station where he hosted his own show when a man stepped from 
the shadows, shot him dead and vanished.

On Tuesday, Orellana became the seventh Honduran broadcaster to be 
gunned down since March 1 in a country where complaints about human 
rights abuses have increased since a military-led coup in June.

Most of the victims had reported on organized crime in the northern 
coastal region of Honduras, a key transshipment point for U.S.-bound 
cocaine.

Reporters Without Borders recently declared Honduras "the world's 
deadliest country for the media."

"This is unprecedented," said Carlos Lauria of the New York-based 
Committee to Protect Journalists. "Journalists are being targeted, and 
the state is almost absent. It's a green light for these people."

Lauria said the killings appeared to be "the work of hit men, very 
professional."

Jose Miguel Vivanco of Human Rights Watch said the government of 
President Porfirio Lobo has shown little willingness to solve a pattern 
of threats, harassment and attacks 
<http://www.hrw.org/es/news/2009/08/25/honduras-rights-report-shows-need-increased-international-pressure> 
on grass-roots leaders, unionists and priests since the coup.

"Lobo just recently woke up and realized this could become a serious 
obstacle on his agenda to rejoining the international community," 
Vivanco said. "But it's not good enough. It's too little, too late. They 
need to investigate and prosecute those responsible for threats and 
abuses. They need to prosecute those who are in bed with organized crime."

Lobo has been trying to persuade the Organization of American States to 
reinstate Honduras, which was suspended after the ouster of President 
Manuel Zelaya in June. OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza said in 
December 
<http://www.oas.org/OASpage/press_releases/press_release.asp?sCodigo=E-405/09> 
that the reinstatement of Honduras "will only be possible when this 
country reaches a true restoration of its democratic regime and the 
outcome of the coup of June 28 has been overcome."

Lobo, who was elected in November, insists that democracy has been 
restored in this country of 7 million. "There is no just reason to 
punish Honduras," Lobo said Thursday, when he announced that he had 
requested assistance from Spain, Colombia and the FBI to solve the 
killings.

Honduran media watchdog groups say that finding a single motive in the 
killings is difficult but that the modus operandi in each case is similar.

Two of the journalists, Jose Bayardo Mairena and Manuel Juarez, were 
driving through eastern Honduras when assassins riddled their car with 
bullets on March 27 and then shot them at close range, according to 
media reports.

...Both men worked for a radio program that has reported on 
under-the-table logging contracts awarded to private enterprise in 
violation of national environmental codes. Mairena had covered organized 
crime and a contentious land dispute.

Nahum Palacios Arteaga, who had reported on the same land dispute, was 
driving in the northern town of Tocoa on March 14 when gunmen in two 
cars fatally shot him with AK-47 assault rifles. Palacios had complained 
about death threats, which he believed came from the military.

During the coup, troops raided Palacios's office and home, confiscated 
his car and equipment, and held his children at gunpoint, according to 
the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, which had urged officials 
to provide him with security.

After his death, the commission lamented "that the state did not 
implement precautionary measures to protect his life."

David Meza, a reporter for El Patio radio station, was shot to death 
from a van March 11 as he drove in the lush seaside town of La Ceiba. 
Meza, who had reported on organized crime, had received anonymous calls 
warning him to be "careful," according to the media groups and local 
reports.

Joseph Hernandez Ochoa, 26, an entertainment show host, was shot to 
death as he drove home from work March 1. A radio show host who 
supported the coup, Karol Cabrera, was wounded in the attack and 
believes she was the target. Three months earlier, gunman had killed her 
16-year-old pregnant daughter.

Luis Antonio Chavez, 22, who hosted a children's radio program, was shot 
to death April 13.

Alexis Quiroz, the executive director of the Committee for Freedom of 
Expression in Honduras, said professional killings have been used in a 
variety of disputes since Mexican organizations began recruiting 
Honduran gangs to transport drugs.

"Assassins for hire are very common now," Quiroz said. "What we are 
trying to determine is the motive."



 

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