Journalists and civil society activists caught up in new wave of threats
Journalists and civil society activists caught up in new wave of threats
Published on Friday 2 March 2012.
Not a day has passed since the start of the year in Honduras without a journalist, local media owner or social commentator receiving a phone call to say his or her life is in danger. This daily reality of threats and intimidation applies as much in the militarized region of Aguán, scene of a violent land dispute, as in the Copan department which borders Guatemala and acts as a conduit for drug smuggling, and also in the main towns and cities, as recorded by a representative of Reporters Without Borders who was in the country between 17 and 29 February.
The climate of fear that began with the crackdown that followed the coup on 28 June, 2009, was rekindled when police launched a security operation codenamed “Relámpago” (“Lightning”) last November.
It has continued since the tragic fire at Comayagua prison during the night of 14 February, in which 361 inmates were killed. Meanwhile, the murders of 24 journalists over the past decade, 17 of them in the aftermath of the 2009 coup alone, remain unsolved and unpunished.
This impunity also extends to the murders in recent years of civil society activists, human rights campaigners, trade unionists and lawyers.
More:
http://en.rsf.org/honduras-journalists-and-civil-society-02-03-2012,41987.html
