Press groups denounce Honduran journo murders

On Monday radio host Luis Antonio Chévez became the sixth Honduran journalist to be killed over the past two months. The precarious situation members of the media have faced in that country has been denounced by several international press groups.

“In a month (Honduras) has fallen to become the worst country in terms of security for journalists”, said a statement emitted earlier this month by Reporters Without Borders (RWB). The RWB communiqué went on to denounce a climate of impunity and a lack of effective investigation in the murders of several Honduran journalists in the early part of the year. Citing the dangers against the press since the ouster of Manuel Zelaya last month, the group urged Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero to withdraw Honduras’ invitation to a May summit.

Other groups have expressed their dissatisfaction and disappointment with the violence against the press:

"We call on Honduran authorities to put an end to this unprecedented wave of violence against the press," said Carlos Lauria, senior program coordinator for the Americas for the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

"These attacks are seriously restricting freedom of expression and undermine citizens' right to be informed on issues of public interest," he said…

Such despicable crimes against media professionals undermine the fundamental right of freedom of information, cornerstone of a democratic society," said Irina Bokova, director-general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the U.N. agency that deals with press freedoms.

Honduras hasn’t been the only Latin American state denounced by press groups. The Inter-American Press Association denounced the recent arrest of Globovision president Guillermo Zuloaga in Venezuela while the RWB has called on Colombian authorities to investigate more deeply into the death of a local journalist.

Image- Clarin (A Honduran protestor holds up the image of slain journalist Joseph Hernández Ochoa).
Online Sources- AFP, LAHT, CNN, Milenio, AP