Honduras

HONDURAS Nothing has occurred in Honduras to cause serious concern with respect to freedom of the press. There is some preoccupation, however, about an ordinance adopted by the municipality of San Pedro Sula, in the Department of Cortes, on August 24, 1994. The measure states; "The Municipal Corporation AGREES; To approve a Motion presented by the municipal mayor and establish as a policy of this Corporation that the officials of the various municipal divisions, in their capacity as superintendents, directors or heads of departments, are reqUired to turn over only what the municipal managers need to in response to written request, with a copy to the mayor or the acting mayor in the former's absence, and nobody will give out information who is not a municipal manager, unless authorized to do so by the mayor." The edict was seen a clear violation of the right to information, but some journalists and media have quietly gone along with it. Journalist Hector Rodolfo Montoya Espinoza, in a complaint filed with the Committee for the Defense of Human Rights in Honduras, declared that he received a death threat as the result of a story that he wrote on September 28 criticizing the confiscation of automobiles from the owners of a customs agency.