Global Issues
Murder of Prominent Honduran Journalist 'Sends a Terrible Message'
A few short hours after Honduran President Porfirio Lobo said he had seen evidence that Alfredo Villatoro, a radio reporter kidnapped May 9, was alive, the journalist’s body was found in a residential neighbourhood on the south side of the capital.
The prominent reporter’s kidnapping and death have shocked Honduras, one of the most violent countries in the world, where journalists are frequently among the victims of attacks. The body of Villatoro, who was news manager at HRN, the country’s most influential radio station, was found by the roadside with two gunshot wounds to the head.
He was dressed in the uniform of the Cobras, an elite police force, and was blindfolded with a red scarf. The initial forensic reports indicate that he was killed shortly before the president announced at noon on Tuesday that Villatoro 'is alive; we have seen videos that the kidnappers sent the family.' 'We hope they will release him soon,' the president added. A few hours later, Security Minister Pompeyo Bonilla confirmed to the TN5 television news programme that Villatoro was dead.
Speaking with TN5 by telephone, the president lamented the reporter’s death and said he had announced the news that he was alive 'to give hope. We had that information (the videos) since Saturday, but sadly the outcome was fatal. My condolences for the family and for all journalists.
'I cannot say whether this is a message for my government or for the press; I would never reveal anything that could hurt someone. I don’t think that what I said had anything to do with how this ended. I can only tell you that we must not allow ourselves to be intimidated. I hope the investigation will come up with answers very soon,' he added.
In a brief message on Wednesday, the president offered a 150,000 dollar reward for information that leads to Villatoro’s killers, and once again repeated his promise that he would make Honduras a safe country. Honduras has one of the highest homicide rates in the world: 82 per 100,000 population, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), compared to a global average of 6.9 per 100,000.
Villatoro’s death brings to 20 the number of journalists killed in the last two years, and to 27 those murdered in the last decade, according to figures from the National Human Rights Commission. On Tuesday night, shocked reporters, civil society and political leaders, and human rights activists crowded the city morgue, in a vigil that lasted into the wee hours of the morning.
HRN reporter Lucía Alvarado said that 'we have been living in anguish for the past week; we thought he would come back. He was my boss for 20 years, and every day, when I passed his chair in the sound booth, I imagined myself saying to him ‘how’s it going boss!’…but they killed him,' she added between sobs.
Police spokesman Héctor Iván Mejía said 'everything humanly possible was done to rescue him safe and sound, but we couldn’t find them (the kidnappers).'
© Inter Press Service (2012) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service