Honduras: Ongoing Attacks Foster Climate of Intimidation

[Judi Lynn]

Honduras: Ongoing Attacks Foster Climate of Intimidation
Little Progress on Human Rights after Six Months of Lobo Government
July 29, 2010

(Washington DC) - Six months after President Porfirio Lobo took office, Honduras has made little progress toward addressing the serious human rights abuses since the 2009 coup, Human Rights Watch said today. Threats and attacks against journalists and the political opposition have fostered a climate of intimidation, while impunity for abuses remains the norm.

"Violent attacks on journalists and political opponents have had a profound chilling effect on basic freedoms in Honduras," said José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch. "When journalists stop reporting, citizens abandon political activities, and judges fear being fired for their rulings, the building blocks of democratic society are at grave risk."

Human Rights Watch called on the Honduran government to provide protection to journalists and members of the political opposition, prosecute people responsible for human rights abuses, and restore the independence of the judiciary.

A Climate of Intimidation

At least eight journalists and ten members of the National Popular Resistance Front (FNRP)-a political group that opposed the 2009 coup and advocated the reinstatement of the ousted president, Manuel Zelaya-have been killed since President Lobo assumed power on January 27, 2010.

There has also been a significant increase in threats against journalists and opposition members during this period, according to justice officials interviewed by Human Rights Watch.

For example, José Oswaldo Martínez, a journalist with Radio Uno in San Pedro Sula, told Human Rights Watch that he had received repeated death threats in phone calls, text messages, and emails, including one in July that said: "Because you won't stop talking about that dog Zelaya, we are going to shut your mouth with a bullet."

More:
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/07/29/honduras-ongoing-attacks-foster-climate-intimidation