Radio W105 presenter Luis Antonio Chévez Hernández was gunned down in San Pedro Sula.
(RSF/IFEX) – 13 April 2010 – Journalists are continuing to be murdered in Honduras. Radio W105 presenter Luis Antonio Chévez Hernández was gunned down in San Pedro Sula, the country’s business capital, on 11 April 2010, following a particularly violent month of March in which five journalists were slain.
Aged 22 and nicknamed “El Huevo” (The Egg), Chévez and a cousin were getting out of a car outside Chévez’s house when they were shot by unidentified gunmen, who fled the scene. The motive is still unknown but the police have ruled out robbery as a sizable sum of money was found in the victims’ belongings. Witnesses said they had seen strangers lurking near the house prior to the arrival of Chévez and his cousin.
“We cannot stand this wave of violence any longer,” a member of the journalist’s family said. No one has been brought to justice for any of the murders, physical attacks or threats against journalists since the 28 June 2009 coup d’état. The repression since the coup has compounded the already high level of violence of a criminal nature.
Reporters Without Borders is meanwhile also concerned about the impact of a military deployment in the Aguán region where journalist Nahúm Palacios was gunned down on 14 March after being threatened by soldiers.
