Honduras: Opposition media criminalised, two journalists arrested while covering eviction

[Judi Lynn]

Honduras: Opposition media criminalised, two journalists arrested while covering eviction
Date published: December 19, 2010 • Author: Newswatch Desk
Violation: Harassed Subject: State Persecution Country: Honduras

Elba Yolibeth Rubio and Elia Xiomara Hernández, two reporters for community radio La Voz de Zacate Grande, were arrested in Honduras after covering a family’s eviction from land on the southern island of Zacate Grande by police and marines on December 15, according to Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF).

Around 20 arrests were made when the family, with the support of neighbours, protested against their expulsion from land in the locality of Coyolito that is claimed by influential agro-businessman Miguel Facussé Barjum. The two journalists were also arrested despite identifying themselves as reporters.

They were all taken to the police station in the nearby city of Nacaome, where they were due to be brought before the prosecutor-general. But deputy police chief Ramón Banegas subsequently denied being aware of the arrest of the two journalists, and there has been no news of them for the past two days.

RSF held the judicial and police authorities responsible for the journalists’ physical safety. Honduran officials often try to cover up violence of a political nature when the basic freedoms of the population are flouted. La Voz de Zacate Grande has repeatedly been targeted in recent months because of its stance in land disputes involving Facussé. Police and soldiers shut the station down during a major operation last June.

More:
http://www.newswatch.in/newsblog/8443

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