Honduras

Freedom of expression and the press have suffered an alarming reversal in the midst of a polarized society. The murders of 11 journalists in the past year and a half continue to be unpunished; attacks against the media have not ceased; aggression, intimidation, and threats against reporters and media executives have continued, as a consequence of the political crisis of June, 2009 and the surge of organized crime and narco-trafficking. International pressure has obliged the government to announce through its Minister of Security, Oscar Alvarez, the formation of a special team to investigate the murders of journalists, but he has not explained or detailed its operation. In March, the state made a commitment before the Office of Human Rights of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, to fight against impunity and protect journalists. However, the Vice Minister of Security, Armando Calidonio, assured that none of the murders in 2010 was related to the practice of their profession. By the end of 2010, the following events had been recorded: illegal detention of three communicators; aggression against a graphic reporter; a threat of abduction of a reporter; a death threat against a radio journalist and a group of communicators from the Honduran Press Association (APH); two acts of censorship; and a petition before the Inter- American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) demanding protection from the state for a communicator. This year community radio stations have received greater threats. Also, of note are the closing of access that journalists had to a public office on the part of the National Congress, a judicial ruling that orders a city hall to turn over public information, and a threat against a defender of human rights. The chronology of the most important violations of freedom of the press: On October 14, journalist Oscar Calona of radio station HRN, denounced death threats before the National Commission on Human Rights (Condeh), threats which had begun as soon as groups of followers of deposed president Manuel Zelaya accused him of having suggested to businessman Adolfo Facussé that he “have killed” the polemical reporter José Luis Galdámez. On October 14, Facussé and Galdámez had a verbal faceoff in the halls of the Presidential Palace. On October 18, journalist Catherine Izaguuirre, who works on the program “En foro” broadcast over Globo TV, denounced that on that day various armed subjects had held her for more than an hour, threatened her, stole her camera, and abandoned her in an alley of a neighborhood in Tegucigalpa. On November 26, the National Congress passed a motion that attempts to regulate the publication of news about police matters which would reveal the names of victims of violence. The motion was presented by Representative Midence Oquely Martínez Turcio, and Congress appointed a special committee to seek approval of the measure. On November 26, the intolerance of the government of Porfirio Lobo Sosa was made clear when the Department of the Interior and Population cancelled the naturalized Honduran citizenship of Federick Alvarez, ex-president of the Central American Bank of Economic Integration (CABEI), who had been living in the country for more than 40 years. Although the Minister of the Interior and Population, Africo Madrid, justified the decision by citing inconsistencies in the paperwork submitted by Alvarez, the decision had another connotation, that of limiting his freedom of expression. Alvarez has a column in a newspaper in the capital in which he has expressed his opposition to certain positions taken by the present government. According to Act No. 2-2020 of the Department of Governing and Justice (today the Department of the Interior), in the city of Tegucigalpa on January 26, 2010, Alvarez and other new citizens were naturalized after having sworn “to be faithful to the Republic, obey and enforce its Constitution and laws, and comply with duties as a citizen.” In spite of the fact that the paperwork was completed, the Minister of the Interior assures that Alvarez, of Costa Rican origin, never completed the procedure and that the documents that he submitted were not properly supported. Diverse sectors considered that this action is nothing more than a demonstration of intolerance because Alvarez was part of the Democratic Civic Union (UCD) that has questioned presidential decisions. As a resident foreigner, Alvarez now has limited expression in politics, in spite of his having received recognitions and awards from various Honduran administrations for his contributions to the country. On December 14, journalist Gilda Silvestrucci and her colleague Danilo Osmaro Castellanos, who produce the Radio Globo program “En la plaza,” denounced the fact that they had been censored. Through an operator, the owner of the station, Alejandro Villatoro, ordered them to stop criticizing the lack of transparency of the National Congress in the awarding of bonuses. On December 14, the Sociedad Mercantil Teleunsa, of entrepreneur Elías Asfura, submitted to the Supreme Court of Justice an appeal of unconstitutionality against legislative decree no. 161-2010, which confiscates the frequency of Channel 8 to be used by the President of the Republic. The appeal was accepted in February by the Constitutional division of the Supreme Court of Justice and it is in the process of a decision. On September 9, the National Congress took away the right from Teleunsa to operate on the channel 8 frequency, by passing of that decree, although it had been given the right to operate by a firm judicial decision. After admitting the appeal, the Constitutional division asked the National Congress to submit a report on the antecedents of the process of approval of that decree. The legislature was given a term of five days to submit the requested documentation to the Constitutional division. After completing this step, the Constitutional division had expected to ask the Prosecutor’s Office of Defense of the Constitution for an opinion on whether or not to proceed to declare the unconstitutionality of the decree; however, that measure did not take place because of a writ of request for a personal appearance before the secretariat of that division. The process is following its course and it is unknown when a decision might be handed down. On December 15, police officers verbally and physically abused Marlin Herrera, a photographer for the newspaper El Heraldo, in the southern part of the country. The event occurred while the gendarmes were removing a group of people who had taken over a public roadway. On December 15, Elba Yolibeth Rubio and Elia Xiomara Hernández, correspondents for the community radio station La Voz de Zacate Grande, located on the Pacific Island, were arrested during an operation to expel a family from a piece of land under the direction of the Preventive Police of the Navy. Early in January, a court ruled that journalists must ask court permission to move out of their area and may not participate in public demonstrations. On December 22, the IACHR asked the State to protect the life and physical integrity of journalist José Luis Galdámez Álvarez and his family. On December 22, journalist Eduardo David Ardón stated before the Committee for Free Expression that three heavily armed individuals had tried to abduct him. Ardón, who has a program, “Análisis y reflexiones,” on Radio Uno en San Pedro Sula, said that on December 21, as he was arriving home from work, three men “attacked me and stole cash and 15,000 lempiras in checks from me” and told him that “we don’t want to hear you on the radio anymore.” On December 28, journalist Henry Suazo, correspondent of the capital city radio station HRN in San Juan Pueblo, was shot at as he left his home in the city of La Masica, department of Atlántida, by two persons who were on bicycles. Besides being as a correspondent for HRN, Suazo also worked for the Cablevision del Atlántico cable network in La Masica. The event occurred in the neighborhood of Mario Ayala during the morning. Suazo had reported on the media where he worked that he had received death threats. On December 29, the Honduran Press Association (APH) reported death threats to the Prosecutor’s Offices made by Mario Francisco Coto Arce, assistant manager of the National Port Company (ENP) in Puerto Cortés. The members of the APH were at a meeting in the barracks of the fire department when Coto entered and leveled insults against the journalists. “He shouted to us that we were dogs as he hit the table, and he shouted that ordering a journalist killed was the easiest thing for him to do,” reported Mario Alberto Cano, president of the ANH in that city. On January 5, two individuals dressed in uniforms of the National Electric Metering Service of Honduras interrupted the Civic Counsel of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras in La Esperanza, Intibucá, northwest of Tegucigalpa. Threatening those present, the attackers cut off the power to the place, thus taking community radio stations Guarajambala and La Voz Lenca off the air. On January 14, radio station Radio Faluma Bimetu--Radio Coco Dulce, owned by members of the community of El Triunfo de la Cruz, Atlántida, went off the air temporarily in the face of threats from local authorities and police. A delegation from the municipality of Tela, in the company of the police, wanted to impose new ownership. Finding opposition from the people, the visitors threatened to burn the station down, which began to broadcast again on January 26, twelve days after its self-closure. On January 27, the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ) decided to stay the appeal of support against a resolution from the Institute of Access to Public Information that had been brought by attorney Carlos Enrique Ortiz Osorio in favor of the Municipal Corporation of Oropolí, El Paraíso. The determination by the Constitutional division left in place the resolution of the Assembly of Commissioners of the IAIP that establishes the requirement that the mayor of Oropolí, Juan Carlos Chávez, hand over the public information requested on May 17, 2010 by the Social Auditing Committee of the community On February 4, the National Telecommunications Commission (Conatel) posted a draft resolution on its website which contemplates suspending the granting of licenses and permission for the operation of low-power radio stations, as reported by Alfredo López, coordinator of Communication Projects of the Negra de Honduras Fraternal Organization (Ofraneh). On February 18, the National Congress refused to carry out a request for public information that the digital edition revistazo.com (http://revistazo.com) had requested. This media outlet had asked the legislature for the names, amounts, and projects on which the representatives had utilized the money that had been provided as subsidies between 2006 and 2010 Faced with the refusal, the petitioner filed an appeal for reconsideration before the Institute for Access to Public Information (IAIP), which was declared as valid. The IAIP ordered the National Congress to submit the requested information, but legislative authorities did not comply. The event occurred a few days after the IAIP itself had given a rating of 90% to the National Congress, placing it among the most transparent of institutions, although it is one of the institutions of government that works under the greatest opacity in managing its budget. On February 23, the Minister of the Interior and Population reported the creation of a special unit to investigate the murders of journalists, women, and members of the gay community. Alvarez, Minister of Security, stated that the unit would be made up of 150 investigators and a group of judicial assistants. On March 7, the Supreme Electoral Court (TSE) ordered that journalists would no longer have direct access to the interior of the building. The police officers who guard the institution explained that they have precise instructions not to let anyone enter without being authorized by the judges.