(PFC/IFEX) – On the night of 24 February 2003, journalist Germán Antonio Rivas survived an assassination attempt at his home in Santa Rosa, Copán department, near the Guatemalan border. Rivas is managing director of Corporacion Maya Vision and the Channel 7 television station. Rivas had returned home after finishing that day’s edition of the news […]
(PFC/IFEX) – On the night of 24 February 2003, journalist Germán Antonio Rivas survived an assassination attempt at his home in Santa Rosa, Copán department, near the Guatemalan border. Rivas is managing director of Corporacion Maya Vision and the Channel 7 television station.
Rivas had returned home after finishing that day’s edition of the news programme “CMV Noticias”. He was parking his car in front of his garage when an unidentified individual fired a gun at him. Rivas was not hit by the shots.
“I saw the flash and heard the shot from close range. I immediately ran into the house and called the police,” Rivas told journalist Félix Molina, a member of the Freedom of Expression Committee (Comité para la Libertad de Expresion, C-Libre).
The police dispatched two cars to the scene, but found nothing, since they were only equipped with a flashlight. They suggested that Rivas file a complaint, and offered him protection.
“I went to the Criminal Investigation Office (Direccion General de Investigacion Criminal, DGIC ) to file my complaint, but when I left there was nobody to protect me, as I had been promised,” Rivas said.
On 25 February, in the morning, the journalist searched for evidence around his house, which is surrounded by vacant lots. With the help of a neighbourhood security guard, he found a rifle, with a second bullet in the chamber, in a cardboard box in a ditch. “They tried to kill me or they tried to scare me, but that is the weapon they used, [it is identifiable] by the noise it makes,” Rivas told the C-Libre reporter.
Rivas is convinced that the attack was connected to his work, but would not assign responsibility to any particular person or group. Nevertheless, it is possible that the incident was linked to his station’s reports on two recent news items.
The station reported on the ecological damage caused by the Minerales de Occidente (MINOSA) company, particularly on the recent cyanide spill in the Lara River, a tributary of the Higuito River, the source of drinking water for the city of Santa Rosa. Channel 7 reported that the Natural Resources Ministry fined the mining company one million lempira (approx. US$58,000) following the spill. “I don’t dare to confirm [that I was targeted because of this coverage], but I don’t discard the possibility. To say it would put my life and that of my family at grave risk,” Rivas admitted. In a similar case, Marisol Tábora, a member of the non-governmental coalition Asonog, was threatened with legal action in early February for conducting research into the death of fish and other species following a cyanide spill near a mine in Copan’s La Union municipality.
Alternatively, the attack may be linked to a series of reports that Rivas assigned journalist Xiomara Orellana to carry out on coffee and cattle smuggling across the Honduras-Guatemala border. Three months ago, Channel 7 aired a television series that included footage of trucks moving coffee and cattle illegally across the border.
Rivas is a well-known journalist in the western part of the country. The attempt on his life was condemned by the municipal authorities of Santa Rosa and Mayor Juan Carlos Elvir issued a statement in support of the journalist.
In a letter to National Human Rights Commissioner Ramon Custodio Lopez, PFC asked that the attack on Rivas be investigated, and that the authorities provide him with protection.
For PFC’s letter, appeals and other information, see: http://probidad.org/honduras/libexp/2003/006.html
Recommended Action
Send messages of support to the journalist:
Germán Antonio Rivas
Managing Director of Maya Vision Corporation, Channel 7
Tel. +504 662 0939 / +504 662 2000
Cellular: +504 998 2805
Fax: +504 662 1356
Send appeals to authorities:
– calling for an investigation into the attack on Rivas, so that those responsible are identified and punished
– asking them to ensure that Rivas is protected and further attacks against him are prevented
Appeals To
Dr. Ramon Custodio Lopez
National Human Rights Commissioner
Fax: +504 221 0536
E-mail: central@conadeh.hn
Lic. Oscar Alvarez
Security Minister
Fax: +504 220 4352
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
