On the night of Sunday, January 28, Teruel was traveling in a vehicle with his 11-year-old son when two unidentified individuals intercepted him, took him out of the vehicle, and shot him multiple times in the northeast town of Atima in the department of Santa Bárbara.
Teruel, who hosted a political program on the local channel Pecaligüe TV, was still alive when police responded and took him to a local health center but died minutes later, those reports said.
Osvin Vega, the owner of Pecaligüe TV, told Honduran news website Proceso that he attributed the attacks to the reports Teruel and Pecaligüe’s team were doing on deforestation in the area.
“Honduran authorities should thoroughly investigate the killing of Luis Alonso Teruel and determine if it was related to his work as a journalist,” said Cristina Zahar, CPJ’s Latin America and the Caribbean program coordinator, in São Paulo. “The Honduran government must end the impunity that has prevailed in the killings of journalists for so many years by conducting a swift and credible investigation that identifies all of those responsible and brings them to justice.”
Amada Ponce, director of local press freedom group C-Libre, told AFP that the journalist was part of a family of “environmental defenders,” and he had been appointed two weeks prior as a peace judge in Atima, a role aimed at resolving disputes through non-formal means of conflict resolution. At least three environmental activists have been killed in Honduras since 2016, including Goldman Environmental Prize winner Berta Cáceres, according to a report by Reuters.
CPJ’s email to the Honduran security secretariat, charged with overseeing the police, did not receive any response.
Since 1992, at least eight journalists in Honduras have been murdered in connection with their work.
]]>In the morning of October 10, unidentified individuals dressed in police uniforms kidnapped Andino from his home in Comayagüela, northwest of the capital of Tegucigalpa, and later shot and killed him, according to a report by the Honduran free expression group C-Libre and news reports. Andino’s body was found on the street near his home, with his mouth taped shut and gunshot wounds to his face.
The journalist’s father, Edwin Emilio Andino, whom assailants took from the same home hours before, was found shot and killed in a different neighborhood of Tegucigalpa, according to those reports.
Andino, 23, graduated from journalism school in 2021 and worked as a producer for afternoon shows on the national La Tribuna TV (LTV) station, according to news reports and a statement from the outlet. LTV director Raúl Morazán told AFP that Andino had worked for the channel for two years and was unaware of any threats against the journalist.
“Honduran authorities should thoroughly investigate the killing of Edwin Josué Andino and his father and determine if it was related to his work as a journalist,” said Natalie Southwick, CPJ’s Latin America and the Caribbean program coordinator, in New York. “The Honduran government must end the impunity that has prevailed in the killings of journalists for so many years by conducting a swift and credible investigation that identifies all of those responsible and brings them to justice.”
On October 12, police said two cars used by the shooters, which were found in a warehouse with plastic handcuffs, tape, and traces of blood, were taken to the forensic examiners, according to news reports.
On October 15 and 18, police arrested several people with alleged ties to the Barrio 18 gang, including four who are allegedly connected to the killing of Andino and his father, according to multiple news reports.
Police chief Gustavo Sánchez told media outlets that mobile devices confiscated from the suspects included “technical and scientific” evidence that at least three of the individuals were involved in killing the pair, according to those reports.
Security Minister Ramon Sabillon told CPJ via messaging app that police investigations were still ongoing.
Since 1992, at least eight journalists in Honduras have been murdered in connection with their work, according to CPJ research. CPJ is investigating the killings of 28 other journalists to determine if they were work-related.
]]>On May 22, Juan Argueta, a landowner in the municipality of San Jose, filed a criminal complaint against Pérez, a correspondent for the local broadcaster Radio Progreso, accusing her of trespassing and damage to private property, according to news reports, a report by Radio Progreso, and the journalist, who spoke to CPJ via phone.
In the complaint, which CPJ reviewed, Argueta alleged that Pérez had trespassed on his property while covering the eviction of dozens of Indigenous people from the area on May 18, according to those sources.
A criminal court in the municipality of Marcala, in the western department of La Paz, held an initial hearing in the case on June 19, Pérez said. In a subsequent hearing on Thursday, July 28, prosecutors asked for the case against Pérez and her co-defendants to be dropped, citing a lack of evidence, according to Radio Progreso, which said a court decision was expected on Friday.
“Land rights are an issue of fundamental concern to Indigenous and rural communities in Honduras and across the region, and community journalists must be able to cover these stories without being treated like criminals,” said CPJ’s Latin America and the Caribbean program coordinator Natalie Southwick, in New York. “Honduran authorities should drop the criminal charges against Sonia Pérez, allow her to work freely, and stop prosecuting journalists for doing their jobs.”
During that June 19 hearing, the court prohibited Pérez from leaving the country or approaching Argueta, and ordered her to report to the judiciary every 30 days while the case was ongoing, the journalist said.
Argueta’s complaint alleged that Pérez was a member of the Nueva Palestina Indigenous council, a group representing the leadership of the Lenca community, whom police had evicted from that land on May 18. The complaint accuses 30 members of the Lenca Indigenous community of trespassing and damaging property.
The Honduran prosecutor’s office also issued a statement claiming that Pérez was part of the council after “being found among a group of people who claimed to own the land in 2020.”
Pérez told CPJ that, while she is a member of the Lenca Indigenous group, “I’m not a council member. I was there reporting as a journalist.”
If convicted of trespassing, Pérez could face up to four years in prison, and damaging private property carries a prison term of up to five years, according to the Honduran criminal code. Argueta’s complaint also accused the journalist of “changing boundaries,” or attempting to change a property line, which can carry a prison term of up to four years, according to the criminal code.
When CPJ emailed Honduran judiciary spokesperson Melvin Duarte for comment, he responded with a document repeating Argueta’s allegations and declined to comment further. CPJ was unable to find contact information for Argueta.
Radio Progreso broadcasts to a national audience from the town of El Progreso, near the northern city of San Pedro Sula, according to the outlet’s website. Pérez started working for the outlet in 2018 and covers local issues, including social movements, politics, and corruption, according to the coordinator of the broadcaster’s press department, Iolany Pérez, who spoke to CPJ by phone.
In 2011, Radio Progreso manager Nery Orellana was shot and killed by unidentified assailants in the western department of Lempira.
]]>Around 5 a.m. on May 26, an unidentified person shot Ávila in the head while the journalist rode his motorcycle in Santa Cruz village near the department capital Choluteca, according to a report by C-Libre, a Honduran freedom of expression group. Ávila was taken to a hospital in the capital city Tegucigalpa where he died on May 29, according to a report by the U.S. Congress-funded broadcaster Voice of America.
C-Libre director Amada Ordoñez disputed the Honduran police comment that Ávila had been the victim of a robbery, telling CPJ by phone that the journalist’s belongings, including his money, cellphone, and motorcycle, were found with him, and adding that “C-Libre has confirmed that it was not a common robbery.”
“Honduran authorities should thoroughly investigate the killing of cameraman and TV host Ricardo Ávila and determine if he was attacked for his journalism,” said Carlos Martinez de la Serna, CPJ’s program director, in New York. “Honduras must end the pervasive impunity for the killings of journalists and conduct a thorough investigation to bring the killer to justice.”
Ávila, 25, worked as a camera operator and hosted a weekend news show for local independent station Metro TV. He covered social movements in Choluteca and protests against controversial economic development zones, known as ZEDEs, Ordoñez told CPJ. Metro TV is the only local outlet to cover these protests, Ordoñez said, adding that C-Libre believes the attack was in retaliation for Ávila’s reporting on these topics.
Since 1992, at least eight journalists in Honduras have been murdered in connection with their work, according to CPJ research. CPJ is investigating 27 additional cases to determine whether their deaths had any connection with their reporting.
CPJ messaged the Honduran security minister via a messaging app and messaged Metro TV on social media but did not receive any replies.
Editor’s note: The title of Carlos Martinez de la Serna has been corrected in the fourth paragraph.
]]>At about 3 p.m. on March 7, a man on a motorcycle fired multiple gunshots at the broadcaster’s office in Tegucigalpa, the capital, according to news reports and Radio Globo Director Hector Amador, who spoke to CPJ in a phone interview.
Amador said that he was in the station’s parking lot when he heard the shots, which destroyed several windows of a neighboring shop but did not hit the office itself, which is on the building’s second floor.
No one was injured in the attack, Amador said. He added that police arrested one suspect on the night of March 7, and a second suspect, the alleged gunman, on March 8. Police have accused both men of being members of a local gang, according to those news reports.
“Honduran authorities must fully investigate the recent attack on Radio Globo, determine its motive, and bring all the perpetrators to justice, including whoever orchestrated the attack,” said Natalie Southwick, CPJ’s Latin America and the Caribbean program coordinator, in New York. “Radio Globo staff members were fortunate that nobody was hurt, but they must be able to work without fearing for their lives. Honduran authorities must show that such a brazen attack in broad daylight carries real consequences.”
Amador said that he called an emergency number run by the National Protection Mechanism for Journalists immediately after the attack, but no one answered. He then contacted Security Minister Ramon Sabillon, who sent a police team to open an investigation.
Radio Globo is a Tegucigalpa-based radio station that covers national news, politics, and sports, and produces the TV news channel Globo TV. Amador told CPJ he believed the attack may have been retaliation for the outlet’s coverage of extradition proceedings against former President Juan Orlando Hernández. Hernández was arrested in February and faces possible extradition to the United States on drug trafficking and weapons charges, according to news reports.
Amador said that the former head of the national police threatened legal proceedings against him in 2019 over the outlet’s coverage of his alleged links with drug trafficking.
When CPJ contacted Sabillon via messaging app for comment, he said he would respond to questions but did not do so by the time of publication. CPJ also messaged Danilo Morales, the director of the protection mechanism, but did not receive a response.
In 2019, Radio Globo Director David Romero was sentenced to 10 years in prison for allegedly defaming a former prosecutor; he died of COVID in detention in July 2020.
]]>On December 19, in the southern city of Dulce Nombre de Culmí, an unidentified individual on a motorcycle approached Canelas’ car while he was parked outside a convenience store and shot him, according to news reports and National Police spokesperson Jair Meza, who spoke to CPJ in a phone interview. Canelas was transferred to a local hospital, where he died hours later, according to reports.
Canelas owned Radio Bambi, a radio station where he also worked as a news presenter covering local politics and social issues, according to Javier Orellana, president of the Catacamas Journalist Association, a local press organization of which Canelas was a member.
Meza told CPJ that a police team has been sent to Dulce Nombre de Cumbí to investigate the case, and that authorities have not yet determined a motive for the killing or arrested any suspects.
“The killing of radio journalist Pedro Canelas is the latest reminder of the dangers faced by members of the press in Honduras,” said CPJ Central and South America Program Coordinator Natalie Southwick, in New York. “Honduran authorities must undertake a credible investigation to determine if his killing was related to his reporting, and ensure that those responsible are brought to justice.”
Orellana told CPJ in a phone interview that Canelas was a well-known journalist in Olancho department, and had more than 30 years of experience working for outlets including Radio Catacamas, television channel HCH, and the newspaper El Heraldo.
Canelas founded Radio Bambi about 10 years ago, when he moved to Dulce Nombre de Culmí, Orellana said.
Orellana told CPJ that Canelas never mentioned receiving any threats, either personally or to the journalist’s association.
Since 1992, at least eight journalists have been murdered in Honduras in retaliation for their reporting, including two in 2020, according to CPJ research.
]]>December 22, 2020
NEW YORK
The number of journalists murdered in retaliation for their work more than doubled in 2020, as criminal gangs and militant groups targeted reporters working in violent but democratic nations.
Globally, at least 30 journalists were killed in 2020; 21 of those were singled out for murder in retaliation for their work, a jump from the previous year’s 10 murders, while others were killed in combat or crossfire or on another assignment that turned dangerous. One media worker was also killed. Mexico, Afghanistan, and the Philippines had the most retaliatory killings.
CPJ is still investigating the deaths of 15 other journalists worldwide to determine whether journalism was the motive. The numbers reflect the period from January 1 to December 15, 2020, and the total killings compare with 26 journalists killed with a confirmed motive in all of 2019. Last year’s number was the lowest total killings in CPJ’s records since 2000.
While murders rose in 2020, the number of combat-related deaths—three—dropped to the lowest level since 2000, as the intensity of conflicts in the Middle East abated and the COVID-19 pandemic dominated media attention and made it difficult for journalists to travel. All three of the journalists were killed documenting the continuing conflict near Idlib in northern Syria, and perished in airstrikes by suspected Russian forces allied with the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
In Mexico, at least four journalists were targeted for murder in 2020, and one more was gunned down while reporting from a crime scene; CPJ is investigating the motive in at least four other journalist deaths. Mexico has long been the most dangerous country in the Western hemisphere for the press, which operates amid a complex web of criminal, drug-trafficking gangs and entrenched official corruption.
When he took office in December 2018, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador pledged to take concrete steps to end violence against the press and impunity for journalist murders. Yet this cycle continues unabated, as CPJ found in its most recent Global Impunity Index, which highlights countries where journalists are murdered and their killers go free. In the vast majority of murder cases, no suspect has been convicted, according to CPJ research, and the masterminds remain free. López Obrador has only rarely engaged with CPJ and other press freedom and civil society organizations, and has denigrated Mexico’s media in his daily early-morning press conferences, taking a page from the playbook of U.S. President Donald Trump—an attitude viewed with dismay by the country’s journalist community in light of the dangers they face.
At least two of the journalists murdered in 2020 were enrolled in the Federal Mechanism for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists, a program to provide safety measures to journalists under threat, and in both cases, their assigned bodyguards were also killed—highlighting the weaknesses of the mechanism. In 2020, Mexico’s Congress moved toward eliminating the federal trust fund through which the protective measures are financed, and transferring control of those funds directly to the Secretariat of the Interior, leaving them vulnerable to political whims and the trading of favors.
One of the journalists enrolled in the protection mechanism was Pablo Morrugares. Following his August murder—in which he was gunned down with his bodyguard, inside his own restaurant in Iguala, in the southern state of Guerrero—an organized crime group sent threats to a large group of journalists in the city. In October, the journalists wrote an open letter to Mexican authorities, including López Obrador, detailing the threats and pleading for protection. One of the journalists told CPJ, “I’ve never before seen [them] attack and harass the media the way they do now.”
In the Philippines, at least three journalists were murdered in retaliation for their work in 2020, despite the efforts of the Presidential Task Force for Media Security, a state body that President Rodrigo Duterte created four years ago to solve media killings. Duterte and his government claimed to have made progress in combating impunity, but in reality have fallen short, failing to prosecute the masterminds of murders and—like López Obrador—undermining the press with hostile rhetoric, most notably by Duterte himself.
In Honduras, where violence and threats to the media from organized crime and weak rule of law have led to a climate of fear and self-censorship, at least two journalists were murdered in 2020, and CPJ is investigating the motive in another killing.
Despite the reduction in crossfire-related killings, countries in conflict remain extremely dangerous for the media. Militant groups targeted at least four journalists for murder in retaliation for their work in Afghanistan, a significant jump after no killings were reported in 2019. In early December, Malalai Maiwand, a reporter at Enikass Radio and TV in Nangarhar province, was gunned down on her way to work, along with her driver, Mohammad Tahir. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack, which came as representatives of the Afghan government and the Taliban militant group agreed to a framework to move forward with peace talks in Qatar.
In a case of direct and public killing of a journalist by a government, on December 12 Iran executed journalist Roohollah Zam by hanging after sentencing him to death. Zam’s website and Telegram channel, Amad News—which he ran from exile—had reported critically on Iranian officials and shared the timings and locations of protests in 2017; Telegram shut down the channel in late 2017, but the account later reemerged under a different name. CPJ classifies Zam’s killing as a murder, based on methodology that defines murder as the targeted killing of a journalist in direct reprisal for their work. Iranian intelligence agents detained Zam in Iraq in October 2019 and took him to Iran, according to CPJ research; authorities aired a video of him apologizing on a state television. He was convicted and sentenced to death in June on 17 charges including espionage, spreading false news abroad, and insulting Islamic values and the supreme leader; the sentence was confirmed on December 8. In announcing his execution, Iranian state media referred to Zam as “the leader of the riots,” referring to protests in the country in 2017, according to The Associated Press.
Iran has long used harsh prison sentences to censor the press, and had 15 journalists in jail, including Zam, at the time of CPJ’s December 1, 2020, prison census. CPJ’s records count four other journalists killed in Iran since 1992; three of those died while in government custody or of injuries suffered during detention.
The global climate of impunity and dangerous anti-press rhetoric comes amid the U.S.’s abdication of global leadership on the defense of press freedom under President Trump. Instead of defending journalists and press freedom in principle, the Trump administration’s approach is opportunistic: speaking out about Iran’s actions but glaringly failing to condemn the Saudi government and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for their role in the 2018 murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi is the most egregious example. Last month, CPJ published a proposal to the incoming Biden administration on restoring U.S. leadership, including appointing a special presidential envoy for press freedom who would be empowered to speak out about violations around the world; rebuilding State Department institutions that have traditionally supported press freedom; and sending a directive to U.S. embassies that press freedom is a foreign policy priority.
The year 2020 also saw widespread global political upheaval, and journalists faced violence covering these events. In Iraq, Dijlah TV reporter Ahmed Abdul Samad and camera operator Safaa Ghali were shot dead in January while covering protests in the southern Iraqi city of Basra against lack of basic services, unemployment, and government corruption. And Nigerian journalist Onifade Emmanuel Pelumi was killed while reporting on unrest in Ikeja, in southwestern Lagos state. A record number of journalists were jailed because of their work in 2020, as governments cracked down on coverage of COVID-19 or attempted to suppress reporting on political unrest, according to CPJ research.
The COVID-19 pandemic also forced journalists to constantly adapt to evolving safety advice and restrictions on travel and movement set by local authorities. In addition to the impact on the way reporters and photojournalists do their jobs, as CPJ has documented, the virus posed extreme health risks to those arrested because of their work. At least two journalists died after contracting the coronavirus in custody—David Romero in Honduras and Mohamed Monir in Egypt—while a third, CPJ’s 2012 International Press Freedom Awardee Azimjon Askarov, died of illness his family suspected to be COVID-19 while serving a life sentence in Kyrgyzstan. CPJ’s list of journalists killed does not include those who died of illness.
Other findings from CPJ’s research include:
● Criminal groups were the most frequently suspected killers of journalists in 2020, while politics was the most dangerous beat.
● Two of the journalists killed, Maria Elena Ferral Hernández in Mexico and Malalai Maiwand in Afghanistan, were female.
● One media worker was killed, when Enikass Radio and TV driver Mohammad Tahir, was killed along with Maiwand in Afghanistan. CPJ first began documenting the killings of these vital industry employees, who also include translators, fixers, and administrative workers, in 2003.
● Photojournalist Christoff Griffith, who was killed in June while covering a crime scene by the suspected perpetrator, was the first journalist CPJ recorded as killed in relation to his work in Barbados.
Methodology
CPJ began compiling detailed records on all journalist deaths in 1992. CPJ staff members independently investigate and verify the circumstances behind each death. CPJ considers a case work-related only when its staff is reasonably certain that a journalist was killed in direct reprisal for his or her work; in combat-related crossfire; or while carrying out a dangerous assignment such as covering a protest that turns violent.
If the motives in a killing are unclear, but it is possible that a journalist died in relation to his or her work, CPJ classifies the case as “unconfirmed” and continues to investigate.
CPJ’s list does not include journalists who died of illness or were killed in car or plane accidents unless the crash was caused by hostile action. Other press organizations using different criteria cite different numbers of deaths.
CPJ’s database of journalists killed in 2020 includes capsule reports on each victim and filters for examining trends in the data. CPJ maintains a database of all journalists killed since 1992 and those who have gone missing or are imprisoned for their work.
Jennifer Dunham is CPJ’s deputy editorial director. Prior to joining CPJ, she was research director for Freedom House’s Freedom in the World and Freedom of the Press reports.
]]>At about 6 p.m. on September 27, in the central Honduran city of Comayagua, two unidentified individuals on a motorcycle shot Almendares, a local freelance journalist, three times and then fled the scene; bystanders brought the journalist to a local hospital, and he was then transferred to the Escuela Universitario hospital in the capital city of Tegucigalpa, where he died yesterday morning, according to news reports and a report by Honduran free expression organization C-Libre.
Almendares posted his local news reporting to his Facebook page, where he identified himself as “The Voice of the Comayaguans.” He had more than 40,000 followers, and frequently reported on alleged corruption and mismanagement by local officials.
In a meeting with the press yesterday, Carlos González, chief of the National Police in Comayagua, said that an investigation was underway and that he hoped the case would be resolved shortly, according to audio of that press briefing reviewed by CPJ.
“Honduran authorities must do everything in their power to conduct a credible investigation into the killing of journalist Luis Alonzo Almendares, determine whether it was related to his work, and prosecute those responsible,” said CPJ Central and South America Program Coordinator Natalie Southwick, in New York. “Violence against journalists is happening with terrifying frequency in Honduras, and impunity prevails in almost all cases. The government must act urgently to show that the killers of journalists will be held to account.”
After the attack, Almendares streamed a brief video on Facebook live, where he can be heard saying that he was shot and asking for help from passersby.
According to C-Libre representative Cesario Padilla, who spoke with CPJ in a phone interview, Almendares had repeatedly contacted the press freedom group about various threats he had received in response to his coverage since 2017, including death threats.
A local journalist who knew Almendares and who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity, citing security concerns, said that Almendares “denounced acts of corruption from various local authorities in Comayagua, and was very critical about how the COVID-19 aid had been distributed.”
The journalist suggested that the attack may have been connected to a video that Almendares posted to Facebook on September 23, which showed an alleged killing committed by someone driving a car with police lights. The Honduran Journalists Union, a local press association, tweeted a link to that video, saying that it should be “a starting point” for the investigation into Almendares’ killing.
Earlier this year, on July 1, two unidentified individuals shot and killed German Vallecillo Jr., a host for the local privately owned TV station Canal 45, in an attack that also killed Jorge Posas, a camera operator and technician at the station, while they drove in the northeastern Honduran city of La Ceiba, as CPJ documented at the time.
Since 1992, at least seven journalists have been killed in Honduras in direct relation to their work, according to CPJ research. CPJ is investigating more than 20 other cases to determine if journalism was a motive in the killing.
Reached via messaging app, National Police spokesperson Jair Meza told CPJ that the investigation was ongoing and no suspects had been detained as of today.
]]>“We are shocked and saddened by the news of the death yesterday of Honduran journalist David Romero, who should have never been imprisoned for his reporting,” said CPJ Central and South America Program Coordinator Natalie Southwick in New York. “As CPJ has warned for months, authorities who continue to imprison journalists in unsafe conditions in the midst of a global pandemic are effectively allowing these convictions to become a death sentence.”
Romero was the director of the media outlets Radio Globo and Globo TV. In January 2019, Honduras’ Supreme Court unanimously upheld a lower court’s conviction and sentencing on charges that Romero defamed former prosecutor Sonia Inez Gálvez Ferrari in his journalistic work, as CPJ reported at the time. In March 2019, Romero was arrested and began serving his 10-year sentence for slander and defamation.
CPJ emailed the Honduran Secretariat for the Protection of Human Rights asking for comment on Romero but did not receive a reply.
In its #FreeThePress campaign, CPJ and more than 190 groups earlier this year urged world leaders to release all journalists imprisoned for their work because of the threat of contracting COVID-19 in jail.
]]>On July 1, two unidentified individuals shot Vallecillo Jr., a host for the local privately owned TV station Canal 45, and Posas, a camera operator and technician at the station, while they drove in the residential area of El Naranjal, in the northeastern city of La Ceiba, according to news reports.
According to German Vallecillo Sr., the victim’s father, who spoke to CPJ in a phone interview, the two journalists were returning to the station after lunch when the two individuals shot them and ran away. Both journalists died at the scene, according to a report by Honduran newspaper La Prensa.
On July 4, police arrested five suspects in the attack, including Ramón David Zelaya Hernández, according to another report by La Prensa. Police later released the other suspects but held Zelaya, and named him as a prime suspect in the case, according to that report. Authorities also issued another arrest warrant for a suspect whose name was not released, according to La Prensa.
“Honduran authorities should thoroughly investigate the killings of German Vallecillo Jr. and Jorge Posas and determine if they were attacked for their journalism,” said CPJ Central and South America Program Coordinator Natalie Southwick, in New York. “The Honduran government must put an end to the pervasive impunity that has prevailed in the killings of journalists and ensure a swift and exhaustive investigation that brings those responsible to justice.”
Rossel Posas, Jorge Posas’ uncle and a colleague of both journalists at Canal 45, told CPJ in a phone interview that the attackers fired 12 shots at the car, mostly aiming at Vallecillo Jr.
“One of the bullets hit Jorge, who was next to him,” Posas said.
According to German Vallecillo Sr., his son was a well-known TV host who mostly covered local news for Canal 45 and was also the director of the radio station Sterero92. Vallecillo Sr. told CPJ that although his son had received threats about his work in the past, they had stopped in recent months.
Rossel Posas told CPJ that his nephew had worked at Canal 45 for 16 years and that he did not believe he had received any threats.
Juan Carlos Palacios, head of the Directorate of Police Investigations in La Ceiba, told La Prensa that police had found an eyewitness who named Zelaya as one of the shooters. Palacios told the paper that investigators are considering various motives for the attack, including Vallecillo and Posas’ work as journalists.
Vallecillo Jr. had also recently announced his intention to run as an independent candidate for mayor in La Ceiba, his father told CPJ.
Jair Meza, a spokesperson for the National Police of Honduras, told CPJ yesterday via phone that authorities have issued two more arrest warrants for suspects in the killings.
“At the moment, we are not following just one hypothesis, but we are working with a witness to find the culprits. The investigation is progressing, and we are working with the Public Ministry to present the evidence as soon as possible,” Meza said.
Since 1992, at least six journalists have been killed in Honduras in direct relation to their work, according to CPJ research. CPJ is investigating more than 20 other cases to determine if journalism was a motive in the killing.
[Editors’ note: This article has been changed in its second and third paragraphs to correct the time of the attack against the journalists.]
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