During this period, the legal system has failed to ensure justice and accountability for crimes and threats to the safety of journalists, social communicators, and human rights defenders. Meanwhile, those in power often attack journalists and media outlets that report on President Xiomara Castro's administration.
Reporters' and other media personnel's traditional and digital work is more complex and risky due to the intolerance and hostile behavior of various government officials.
During her official visit to the country, UN Special Rapporteur Irene Khan said, "Hondurans working on issues related to land, the environment, corruption, organized crime, and agrarian and mining conflicts remain at high risk of violence, online and gender-based attacks, intimidation, smear campaigns, and judicial harassment."
The Protection Mechanism is not functioning, and journalists feel compelled to self-censor to protect themselves and their families. Others have chosen to flee the country.
The Protection Mechanism, created in 2015, has become disjointed, with long delays in response or lack thereof, risk assessments that do not consider the context and environment, and a lack of consideration of gender and sexual orientation.
During a visit to the country by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in 2023, the National Protection Mechanism (NPM) issued a report on 185 active cases. However, six cases with precautionary measures granted by the IACHR absorbed 83% of the budget.
A well-known environmentalist, Juan López, who had IACHR precautionary measures, was murdered on September 14. Many organizations demanded the president improve the protection mechanism following this assassination.
On September 24, the closure of the news program and analysis forum "Interpretando la Noticia" on Radio Globo was announced due to government pressure and threats against the owner to take it off the air, according to its hosts. The program was owned by journalist David Romero Ellner, who died in 2020 after contracting COVID-19 in prison, where he was serving a 10-year sentence for slander and defamation against a former prosecutor.
