Honduras

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Press freedom still faces great challenges because of both direct and indirect threats from the government, and from organized crime. In recent years, a hostile environment for journalism has developed. Actions have included intimidation, threats, public insults, manipulation of government advertising and defamation cases in the courts. The killing in October, 2007 of journalist and humorist Carlos Salgado, who produced and hosted a program on Radio Cadena Voces of Tegucigalpa, still has not been resolved. The courts still have not ruled on at least ten complaints by public officials against journalists and publishers. President Manuel Zelaya constantly makes public appearances to threaten, berate and attack the media when they do not cover events as he would like and to accuse them of being spokesmen for economic groups. While the country now has a Law on Transparency and Access to Public Information, a valuable tool for journalists, its implementation has been left to the discretion of some public officials who obstruct access to official sources. For example, those in the president’s office have blocked information about trips, advertising expenses and salaries. After a complaint by group of journalists from the daily El Heraldo to the Transparency and Access to Public Information Institute, an official at the Casa Presidencial was reprimanded for her attitude. In April, businessman Elías Asfura reported that the government had refused to accept a court ruling that he be granted the frequency of a television channel. He said the National Telecommunications Commission, which regulates the radio electric spectrum, had granted the frequency to another businessman who has a lot of influence with the government. At least four journalists and photographers were injured by police breaking up an anti-government march organized by grass-roots groups on April 18. Three armed and hooded men entered the offices of Telemaya, channel 12, at the entrance to Copán in the western part of the country early in the morning on April 18. They tied up and gagged a worker and a visitor and left a death threat against reporter Carlos Chinchilla and his cameraman. On April 22, a group of journalists left the government weekly Poder Ciudadano, which is charged with praising President Manuel Zelaya. At least three reporters resigned and one was fired. The government’s agency that regulates frequencies warned that television stations that transmit obscene content will be fined and could lose their frequency. In May, Sandra Maribel Sánchez, news director of Radio Globo, reported that she and her family had been threatened. “I had not wanted to report the persecution and threats that my children and I have experienced.” Journalists Jackeline Aguilar and Jerry Carbajal of the news show “TN5” and María Estela Martínez of “Hoy Mismo,” were attacked and beaten by supporters of prosecutors who were on a hunger strike in the basement of the National Congress. On May 12, the news show “Telenoticias,” broadcast by Corporación Televicentrao, a group of several national channels, was harshly criticized by President Zelaya, who was unhappy with a report on his policy to fight poverty. In May, Renato Álvarez, director of the program “Frente a Frente” of Corporación Televicentro, received intimidating messages against himself and his family. On June 30, the National Anticorruption Council (CNA) urged the Access to Public Information Institute (IAIP) to lift the 10-year classification of information in the finance office and tax office. In July the Accounting Court began an investigation of the Zelaya government’s expenditure of more than 38 million lempiras (about US $2 million) on the official weekly El Poder Ciudadano. According to the publication Proceso Digital, the accounting office began the investigation after receiving a report in June of alleged irregularities in the administration, printing and distribution of the publication and the management and use of advertising funds. The investigation, based on the Law of Transparency and Freedom of Information, disclosed several inconsistencies ranging from confusing expenditures to padded payrolls. In August, journalist Óscar Reyes Baca, a victim of the repression of 1982 in Honduras, demanded that the government pay him $26 million in compensation. Reyes Baca, an Honduran who became a U.S. citizen, said that he presented the claim at the Defense Ministry in Tegucigalpa, for “severe pain and suffering” caused to him, his wife Gloria Flores and other relatives “by the Armed Forces and related agencies.” An international report called “The Price of Silence” disclosed that the Honduran government uses advertising as a way to censor, punish and reward media outlets and journalists. On August 25, a group of Honduran journalists who were covering the arrival of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez to Tegucigalpa said they had been physically attacked by his security forces and the Venezuelan leader himself. Cristóbal Sauceda said he was hit by Chávez’s security guards who also took away his press pass. On that same day, Chávez attacked the media at a public appearance. He called those who oppose the ALBA (Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas) “little Yankees,” and said, “a good part of the media is in the hands of the ‘little Yankees;’ they lick the Yankee’s hand, in fact, they lick….you know what.” In September, editors of the daily El Heraldo, reported to human rights organizations that they have been subjected to an intense campaign of intimidation and death threats on their cell phones. El Heraldo has been reporting irregularities, abuses and corruption in the public sector.

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