Politicians and media urged not to try to exploit journalist’s murder

Reporters Without Borders offers its condolences to the colleagues and family of journalist Joseph Ochoa of the privately-owned Canal 51 TV station, who was shot dead in Tegucigalpa on the evening of 1 March in an attack probably targeted at fellow journalist Karol Cabrera of the state-owned Canal 8 TV station and the privately-owned radio station Radio Cadena Voces (RCV). Cabrera was shot and seriously injured but she is out of danger. The motive of the shooting has yet to be established but Cabrera is a very outspoken journalist who openly supported President Manuel Zelaya’s removal in a coup last June and is often involved in media controversies. The host of a discussion programme on RCV, Cabrera was being driven home and was connected with the station and talking on the air when gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire on her vehicle. RCV’s listeners were able hear her cries for help during the shooting. A total of 36 bullet impacts were found in her car. Her daughter, Katleen Nicole Rodríguez Cabrera, was killed in similar circumstances on the same road on 15 December. The shooting has highlighted the danger of violent crime to which the Honduran media and the population as a whole has long been exposed. Three journalists were killed in 2009. Reporters Without Borders hopes that investigators will quickly identify those responsible for this attack and bring them to justice. The press freedom organisation also cautions the authorities, the political class and the media themselves against trying to exploit this shooting for political ends. Porfirio Lobo Sosa’s installation as president on 27 January has not been followed by any improvement in the situation of press freedom or human rights. After the ransacking of community radio station Radio Coco Dulce, two young Globo TV journalists who worked at the president’s office before the coup were kidnapped and tortured in February. They fled to Nicaragua after being released. Four human rights activists and opponents of the post-coup regime have been murdered in targeted killings since the 29 November elections. Photo : Tiempo.hn