On the night of January 28, 2024, Luis Alonso Teruel was traveling in a vehicle with his 11-year-old son when two unidentified assailants intercepted him, took him out of the vehicle, and shot him multiple times in the northwestern town of Atima, according to news reports.
Police took Teruel, who hosted a political program on the local channel Pecaligüe TV, to a local health center but he died within minutes, those sources said.
Pecaligüe TV’s owner Osvin Vega told Honduran news site Proceso that he attributed the attacks to the journalist’s reporting on deforestation in the area.
Amada Ponce, director of local press freedom group C-Libre, told AFP news agency 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.
Honduras has long been one of the world’s deadliest countries for environmental activists.
CPJ’s email requesting comment from the Honduran security secretariat, charged with overseeing the police, did not receive any response.