Posts Tagged ‘Honduras’

Honduras: lawyer murdered after police torture accusations

January 20th, 2012

Honduran lawyer Jose Ricardo Rosales was shot dead by three hooded gunmen on 17 January, three days after he was quoted in newspaper Diario Tiempo, accusing police officers in the northern town of Tela of torturing prisoners. The Honduras College of Lawyers claim that 74 lawyers have been killed in the past three years in the country.

Honduras: “Journalism for life” demonstrator receives death threats

January 12th, 2012

An independent journalist and human rights campaigner in Honduras has received several death threats following her involvement in a free expression march last month. Itsmania Pineda Platero was told “We’ll skin you alive, bitch!” in one of four death threats over three days. During one of the calls, there was the sound of a gun being loaded in the background. Platero walked at the forefront of the “Journalism for life and free expression” march on 13 December, which was violently dispersed by soldiers and members of the presidential guard.

Honduras: Radio journalist murdered

September 12th, 2011

Medardo Flores, a Honduran radio journalist who supported former President Manuel Zelaya, was gunned down on the night of 8 September, joining the long list of journalists who have been killed since Zelaya’s forced exile from the country in a June 2009 coup. Regional finance manager of the pro-Zelaya Broad Front for Popular Resistance (FARP), Flores was shot just two days after another leading FARP figure, Emo Sadloo, was assassinated. Flores’ death brings the number of Honduran journalists killed in the past 18 months to 15.

Honduras: Radio station director killed

July 15th, 2011

A 26-year-old radio station director was killed yesterday in Honduras. Nery Jeremias Orellana was stopped and shot in the head by masked gunmen as he rode home from work on a motorcycle.  He died soon after he was taken to a local hospital. A supporter of recently ousted President Manuel Zelaya, Orellana was head of Radio Joconguera de Candelaria and was a member of the National Resistance Front.  

Gunmen in Honduras target media: kill one, wound another

May 27th, 2011

Three gunmen killed Channel 24 television owner Luis Ernesto Mendoza Cerrato last week. Gunmen also wounded newspaper manager Manuel Acosta Medina two days as he drove home. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 11 journalists have been killed in Honduras since March 2010, at least three weer murdered in retaliation for their work. Although police are investigating whether the two crimes were assassinations, a CPJ report in 2010 found consistently poor and negligent investigative work into the killings.

Honduran radio station board president shot in leg

March 17th, 2011

The board president of a Honduran radio station was shot in the leg on 13 March by two people who disagreed with his editorial policies. He was hospitalised but his condition has been described as “stable”. Franklin Melendez is the president of the board of community radio station La Voz de Zacate Grande, which has been targeted for supporting local peasant groups in a land dispute. It is claimed that the identity of his attackers is known, but neither the police or the judicial authorities have taken any action in response. The police asked the station “not to make a fuss”.

Honduras: Radio journalist survives assassination attempt

September 17th, 2010

On 14 September Luis Galdámez, a radio journalist working for Radio Globo in Honduras, was targeted by unidentified assassins. He was ambushed as he returned home from work with his children in the car. However he and his son were able to repel the gunmen using the firearms they had bought after a similar attempt on his life was made in 2005. He is widely known for his criticism of the new government of President Porfirio Lobo, and regularly reports on government corruption and human rights abuses allegedly committed by law enforcement. Eight journalists have been killed since March in Honduras.

Honduras: Radio station stormed by 300 soldiers and police

June 8th, 2010

La Voz de Zacate Grande, a community radio station was closed down by 300 soldiers and police officers, on 3 June. The station which began broadcasting on 14 April, defends the cause of the Association for the Development of the Zacate Grande Peninsula (ADEPZA), whose representatives are accused by agro-industrial tycoon Miguel Facussé Barjum of occupying “his“ land and “tax fraud. Yellow tape bearing with the words “crime scene” now surrounds the small station.