Honduras

A cloud still hovers over the work of journalists in Honduras. Every day reporters and publishers face direct and indirect threats from the government as well as organized crime and drug traffickers. The government has created a hostile atmosphere against media outlets, journalists and publishers, and in many cases this is directed by President Manuel Zelaya. Intimidation, threats, public insults, manipulation of government advertising and warnings of court cases for defamation and “calumnia” (false accusation of a crime) are chronic and usually occur when scandals of public corruption come to light. The president threatens, berates, insults and attacks media outlets because they do not cover government actions as he would like. He accuses them of being spokesmen for economic groups, or orchestrating political campaigns for the opposition and of being responsible for violence and poverty in the country. The government has refused to comply with a Supreme Court ruling granting the Channel 8 frequency to Elías Asfura. So far in 2009, the owner of a radio station in Santa Barbara, José Fernando Gonzáles, has been killed, and journalists Carlos Chinchilla of Channel 12 in Entrada, Copán, and Oscar Morán Méndez of Radio América in the capital have received death threats. The killing of journalist and humorist Carlos Salgado, producer and host of a comedy program on Radio Cadena Voces of Tegucigalpa, has not been solved. The crime was committed by hit men on October 11, 2007. Honduras has had a Law of Transparency and Freedom of Information since 2006, and it is a valuable tool for journalists that has brought about greater accountability. However, it has many gaps and often its enforcement is blocked by government information officials themselves. On October 21, President Zelaya said that although media outlets had reported and informed the world of damage caused by heavy rains, they did not describe government actions or the good things officials had done. On November 8, reporters Carlos Mauricio Flores and Fernando Berrios of the daily El Heraldo, reported to the Human Rights Commission that they had received threats and intimidating messages at their homes and on their cell phones after reporting official corruption. The Freedom of Information Law had been in effect for 14 months on November 9, but most of the population was unaware of it, and very few people--only 1,500--had made use of it. Of the 1,500 requests for information from several state agencies, 33 have been challenged. On November 15, President Zelaya insulted the press again when he had a little argument with Elmer Iván Zambrano of Radio América, whom he repudiated because he did not want to answer questions at an event in El Salvador. On November 26, Raúl Valladares, president of the National Telecommunications Commission (Conatel), challenged the ruling of an appeals court on the use of the frequency of government television Channel 8 and demanded that the courts modify the decision. On December 4, the Honduran journalists’ colegio rejected the government’s intention to establish supervision of media outlets, a suggestion that was criticized by IAPA. On January 9, Public Works Minister Rosario Bonano, attacked radio reporter Abraham Ardón solely because he asked her about transparency in the management of the agency’s budget. On February 3, Martín Ramírez, reporter for the daily La Tribuna, reported that he was attacked physically and psychologically by the National Police while working as a reporter and photographer at the scene of a traffic accident early in the morning of February 1. On February 21, President Zelaya repeated that El Heraldo and La Prensa are responsible for the crime wave in the country. At the end of February, El Heraldo photographer Estalín Irías reported that he was attacked physically and verbally by the bodyguard of retired general and director of the National Anti-Drugs Office, Julián Arístides González, during an operation against organized crime in the villages Los Planes de Santa Lucía in Francisco Morazán.