Nery Adalberto Recarte, journalist and owner of Canal 34 television and La Popularísima radio station was attacked on November 11 by two unidentified assailants who shot him several times as he was getting into his car outside the building where the broadcast stations are located.
Protective measures requested by the Inter-American Human Rights System for a Honduran journalist victim of a recent attempt on his life were supported today (November 18, 2013) by the Inter American Press Association (IAPA).
Ramón Custodio, Honduras national human rights commissioner, asked the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to implement protective measures for Nery Adalberto Recarte, journalist and owner of Canal 34 television and La Popularísima radio station located in Siguatepeque, Comayagua province.
He was attacked on November 11 by two unidentified assailants who shot him several times as he was getting into his car outside the building where the broadcast stations are located. Both he and his driver were uninjured. They filed a formal complaint about the incident with the Criminal Investigation National Office.
Claudio Paolillo, chairman of the IAPA’s Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, said the organization supports the commissioner’s request, partly “because we recognize the lack of safety that Honduran journalists are exposed to, especially in the interior of the country.”
Paolillo, editor of the Montevideo, Uruguay, weekly Búsqueda, added, “in addition, we should remember that the government of President Porfirio Lobo has not created any protective measures, nor the special prosecutor’s office it promised in order to investigate and reduce the violence against journalists and impunity of such crimes.”
The IAPA has been following the investigation into the murder of journalist Aníbal Barrow committed on June 24, for which Héctor Noé Baquedano Galindo was arrested during the weekend. This is the sixth person to be indicted for allegedly having carried out the murder.
Paolillo declared that Barrow’s murder and the attack suffered by Recarte “should require the government and the new authorities taking office following presidential elections, to leave the promises aside and take immediate action to guarantee freedom of the press and the public’s right to information.”
