24 May 12 | Americas, Index Index, minipost
Arrest warrants were issued this week for five suspects in the kidnapping and murder of Honduran radio journalist Alfredo Villatoro. The suspects are reported to have been in possession of the chip of the mobile phone used to call Villatoro’s family. Testifying before a judge on Tuesday, three of the suspects said they had found the chip on the street. On 17 May Honduran authorities also launched an investigation against two prisoners, with the country’s National Police confirming a call was made to the Villatoro family from a jail cell while the journalist was still captive. Villatoro was a director of HRN radio, one of Honduras’ major broadcast stations.
11 May 12 | Americas, Index Index, minipost
A senior radio journalist has been kidnapped in Honduras, outside the country’s capital Tegucigalpa. News presenter on HRN Radio Alfredo Villatoro was abducted on the way to his office on Wednesday morning. The journalist’s captors contacted his family, and it is believed they will seek a ransom. Three people have been arrested in connection with the kidnapping. The abduction comes three days after journalist and rights activist Erick Martínez Ávila was found dead at a roadside.
10 May 12 | Americas, Index Index, minipost
A journalist and human rights activist has been found dead in Honduras. Erick Martínez Ávila, who worked for the Honduran LGBT group Kukulcán, was found dead in a roadside ditch on 7 May. The journalist was reported missing on 5 May, and had not been seen in public since he attended a demonstration with the LGBT community on 1 May. The motive for the murder remains unclear, but it is believed the journalist was strangled.
27 Apr 12 | Americas, Index Index, minipost
A prominent Honduran TV presenter was murdered on Monday morning. Noel Alexander Valladares, host of popular show El Tecolote (“The Owl”) on Maya TV, based in Tegucigalpa, was shot as he left the station. Eyewitnesses report that four men jumped out of a white van and opened fire on the journalist and his companions. Valladares was accompanied by his uncle and bodyguard, who were also killed in the attack, and his wife and co-presenter was seriously injured. Valladares is the third journalist to be killed in Honduras this year.
