Opposition media criminalized, two journalists arrested while covering eviction

Reporters Without Borders calls for the immediate release of Elba Yolibeth Rubio and Elia Xiomara Hernández, two reporters for community radio La Voz de Zacate Grande, who were arrested while covering a family’s eviction from land on the southern island of Zacate Grande by police and marines on 15 December. 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. Reporters Without Borders holds 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. The criminalization of opposition and community media has become common since the June 2009 coup d’état. One of the regions where the repression is concentrated is Aguán, which is under army control. It was after reportedly being threatened by soldiers that journalist Nahum Palacios Arteaga was murdered on 14 March. In all, nine journalists have been killed this year in Honduras, three of them in direct connection with their work. The Honduran government gave the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) an undertaking last month to take whatever measures were necessary to guarantee free speech and the ability of journalists to work freely. Nonetheless, armed individuals claiming to have judicial authority raided Canal 36-Cholusat, a Tegucigalpa-based TV station opposed to the coup, and threatened its employees on 26 November. And the government has never complied with an IACHR order to provide protection for the staff of Radio Progreso and its director, Father Ismail Moreno. Photo: AFP