Source: ResistenciaHonduras.net.
by Ida Garberi, 30 December 2010.
Then Number of Slain Journalists Reaches 10 for the Year in Honduras. The journalist Henry Suazo was assassinated December 28 in the carribean community of La Masica bringing to 10 the number of journalists shot to death this year in Honduras.
Suazo was 39 years old and a correspondent for Radio HRN and also worked for Cablevision del Atlantico. He was attacked by unknown individuals as he left his home. The motive for the crime is still unknown according to Jorge Abilio Diaz the owner of the television channel. Honduran communication media condemned this new crime that has put their members in mourning and they demand that the authorities find and punish those guilty of the crime.
After Mexico, Honduras is the most dangerous country for journalists in the hemisphere. The ten victims in 2010 are:
- Joseph Ochoa, Channel 51;
- David Meza, Radio El Patio;
- José Bayardo Mairena and Víctor Manuel Juárez, of Radio Súper 10;
- Nahum Palacios of Televisión del Aguán,
- Luis Chévez, of station W105;
- Georgino Orellana from a station in San Pedro Sula;
- Nicolás Asfura, radio journalist;
- y Luis Arturo Mondragón, news director for Channel 19 in El Paraíso.
The journalists worked in diverse media and in different regions of the country, the only point in common is the impunity for the crimes against them. The press has been one of the most affected sectors since the coup d’etat in June 2009, suffering aggressions ranging from murder to abuse, intimidation and the shutting down of media.
Even though the motives and the intellectual authors are unknown, organizations of civil society believe that the objective of the attacks is to silence the exposures related to violations of human rights, corruption or narcotic traffic.
