Honduras

New York, December 30, 2010--Honduran radio reporter and cable news presenter Henry Suazo was shot to death Tuesday morning as he was leaving his home in La Masica, a town in Atlántida province, according to news reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Honduran authorities to conduct an immediate and thorough investigation into the killing. 

At least 42 journalists are killed in 2010 as two trends emerge. Suicide attacks and violent street protests cause an unusually high proportion of deaths. And online journalists are increasingly prominent among the victims. A CPJ special report

With another journalist murdered in Honduras on Tuesday, bringing the total killed since March to eight, the country's press is understandably jittery. In a new documentary jointly produced by the Inter-American Press Association and the Video Journalism Movement, Carlos Mauricio Flores, the executive director of Tegucigalpa-based El Heraldo newspaper says, "We journalists are living in uncertainty and fear."

In a letter to the editor published Sunday in The New York Times, Honduran minister on human rights Ana Pineda took issue with the findings of CPJ's recent special report on the murders of seven local reporters this year. Our report, which the Times detailed in a July 27 story, found a pattern of botched and negligent investigative work by Honduran authorities, which has fostered a climate of impunity in attacks on the press. In her letter, Pineda asserted that "all cases have been fully investigated," but her claim appears to be flawed.

New York, June 15, 2010—An unidentified attacker gunned down TV journalist Luis Arturo Mondragón late Monday night in the city of El Paraíso, eastern Honduras, according to local news reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on Honduran authorities to fully investigate Mondragón’s killing, the seventh in the country this year.

New York, May 4, 2010—The Committee to Protect Journalists urged Honduran authorities today to thoroughly investigate death threats against two television reporters who covered the March murder of colleague Nahúm Palacios Arteaga in the region of Aguán. 

New York, April 21, 2010—The Committee to Protect Journalists voiced deep concern today at the killing of Honduran television anchor Jorge Alberto Orellana, the sixth journalist killed in the country since March.

New York, April 1, 2010—Honduran journalist José Alemán fled the country on Sunday after threatening attacks, including the break-in of two unidentified gunmen at his home in the rural municipality of San Marcos de Ocotepeque, near the border with El Salvador, the local press reported. The Committee to Protect Journalists called today for Honduran authorities to provide protection for Alemán that would allow him to return to the country and continue his work.

New York, March 29, 2010—The Committee to Protect Journalists urges Honduran authorities to fully investigate last week’s murders of two journalists, part of a month-long wave of lethal violence that has resulted in the slayings of five reporters over all and led to widespread self-censorship in the local media.

New York, March 12, 2010—Unidentified gunmen killed radio journalist David Meza Montesinos on Thursday as he was driving in the Honduran city of La Ceiba, local press reports said. The Committee to Protect Journalists urged authorities today to fully investigate Meza’s killing and bring those responsible to justice.

New York, March 5, 2010—Honduran authorities must investigate a shooting of two journalists on Monday, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Unidentified gunmen in the capital, Tegucigalpa, killed a reporter and seriously wounded a colleague, according to local reports.

Joseph Hernández Ochoa, who hosted an entertainment program on TV station Channel 51, was driving his colleague Karol Cabrera home around 8 p.m. when two unidentified gunmen in a car shot at them in a Tegucigalpa neighborhood known as El Chile, the Honduran press reported.