Barely a week after Honduran journalist Francisco Medina Polanco was killed, Luis Mendoza – the owner of the Canal 24 TV station – was gunned down by masked men on May 19, 2011, The Associated Press reports.
According to La Tribuna, at least three armed men shot Mendoza to death in front of Canal 24’s offices in the city of Danlí, El Paraíso.
While the motive is not yet known, the police say the nature of the “well-planned” attack leads them to believe that Mendoza, also a major coffee grower in the region, was likely targeted by organized crime, El Heraldo explains.
The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) and the International Press Institute (IPI) condemned the killings, which took place the same week as the violent deaths of journalists in Venezuela and Guatemala.
Mendoza is the second journalist this year of the as many as 17 media workers who have been killed in Honduras since January 2009.
Other Related Headlines:
» Christian Science Monitor (Honduran journalists face increasing threats)
Note from the editor: This story was originally published by the Knight Center’s blog Journalism in the Americas, the predecessor of LatAm Journalism Review.
