We issued the following statement today in response to the murder of Honduran journalists Bayardo Mairena and Manuel Juárez, who were shot by unidentified gunmen aboard a vehicle, in the department of Olancho in eastern Honduras, according to local press reports…
“Since the beginning of March, five journalists have been shot to death in Honduras, a devastating and unprecedented toll,” said Carlos Lauría, CPJ’s senior program coordinator for the Americas. “Authorities have failed to conduct thorough investigations, perpetuating the climate of impunity that leaves the news media wide open to attacks. We urge officials to put an end to this cycle of vicious violence by bringing those responsible for killing Mairena and Juárez to justice.”
Unidentified attackers gunned down Honduran journalist Nahúm Palacios Arteaga in the city of Tocoa on March 14. On March 11, radio reporter David Meza was murdered in the city of La Ceiba, in the Atlantic coast, under similar circumstances. On March 1, reporter Joseph Hernández Ochoa was slain in Tegucigalpa in a shooting that left another journalist seriously wounded. CPJ is investigating whether the killings are linked to the journalists’ work.