A Honduran journalist said that he is requesting asylum in the U.S. for himself and five family members after being threatened and being attacked, according to the news agency AFP.
José Encarnación Chinchilla, correspondent for the Christian radio station Radio Cadena Voces, reported that two unknown individuals shot at his house repeatedly and injured one of his sons on the night of Friday, Aug. 3, in the city of El Progreso, according to Reporters Without Borders. Currently, the journalist's son is in the hospital and in stable condition, according to the same organization.
The journalist said that he fears for his life, since this is the third attack against him. The journalist survived two other similar attacks in 2009 and 2010, according to the newspaper La Prensa. As of yet, none of the crimes have been investigated by Honduran authorities, according to Reporters Without Borders.
The attack may be a type of reprisal against Chinchilla's journalistic work, as the journalist reports on land and gang conflicts, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
After the coup d'etat in June 2009, Honduras became the second most-dangerous country for practicing journalism in the western hemisphere, and it is considered the country with the highest homicide rate in the world, according to the United Nations. For more information, see this map by the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas about attacks against the press in Central American.
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.
