The wave of violence costing the lives of Honduran journalists continues unabated. A Honduran TV host was shot and killed minutes after ending his entertainment program, on Monday, April 23, reported IFEX.
Noel Alexander Valladares Escoto, TV host and producer of the program El Show de Tecolote , was shot several times while he was just steps from the Maya TV headquarters, reported the newspaper Tiempo. During the attack, the host's two bodyguards were also killed. His wife, Nelly Yorleni Pavón, also was injured.
The host was a victim of extortion, according to the newspaper La Prensa.
In addition, on April 18, Amnesty International warned that another Honduran journalist's life was at risk.
Dina Meza, who writes about human rights for the website Defensores en Línea and does communications work for the Committee of Relatives of the Detained and Disappeared, said that she received a threatening phone call and text message, said the website Frontline Defenders.
The journalist said she was even photographed while walking with her children in the neighborhood where she lives, reported the organization C-Libre Honduras.
In 2006, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights granted protection measures to journalists, but, until now, authorities have not protected media professionals, reported Amnesty International.
Honduras, where someone is killed every 74 minutes, is the country with the highest homicide rate in the world, according to the United Nations. In addition, it is the second-most dangerous country in the Americas for journalists. For more information, see this Knight Center map about attacks on the press in Central America.
