Public Security Minister Óscar Alvarez rejected the claims made by Amnesty International and other non-governmental organizations that point to the existence of an organized group that seeks to silence the Honduran press, Spain's El Mundo reports, with information from news agencies.
Óscar Rubio Cárdenas, 75, was killed in his apartment in Bogotá, apparently by two people who attempted to rob him, EFE reports.
The Inter American Press Association has invited readers of almost 400 papers throughout the Americas to sign a letter to President Porfirio Lobo Sosa asking him to take actions to confront and stop violence against Honduran journalists. Six journalists and one broadcaster have been killed in the country since March 1.
Secretary of Security Óscar Álvarez said authorities were close to solving two of the seven killings of media workers in less than two months (six journalists and one broadcaster), including last week’s shooting of TV journalist Jorge “Georgino” Orellana, La Prensa reports.
President Porfirio Lobo is arranging for Spain and Colombia to help solve the crimes committed in the last two months against six journalists and one radio announcer in Honduras, El Heraldo reports.
Jorge Orellana, known as Georgino, died Tuesday night, April 21, after being shot by a gunman seconds after he walked outside the offices of Canal de Televisión Honduras, where he produced the TV program "En Vivo con Georgino" (Live with Georgino) in San Pedro Sul, El Tiempo reports.
Arsenio Zambrano Ocampo, a well-known independent photographer, died last week after he was stabbed in his home in Ibagué, in Tolima department, the Colombian Federation of Journalists (Fecolper) reports. Citizens and colleagues were shocked by the news, El Tiempo says.
María Isabella Cordero, former anchor of the morning news on Televisa, was shot to death Friday night in the city of Chihuahua, while leaving a restaurant parking lot, La Jornada and El Diario report. A friend who was in the car with her was also killed. See EFE's report in English.
Mauricio Medina, founder of a community radio station for the Pijao indigenous people, was stabbed more than 20 times at his home Sunday in Ortega, Tolima (central Colombia), Reuters reports (Spanish). See a story in English by Colombia Reports.
Mexico's National Commission for Human Rights (CNDH) condemned the killing of newspaper columnist Enrique Villicaña Palomares and demanded investigation and punishment, La Jornada reports. Villicaña, a commentator for La Voz de Michoacán and former official in MIchoacán state, was found over the weekend in the western Mexican state, EFE and the Associated Press report.
Security Minister Óscar Álvarez offered $5,200 for information that helps to capture the killers of five journalists and other crimes against prosecutors, judges, and attorneys, La Tribuna reports.
Evaristo Pacheco Solís, a reporter for the weekly “Visión Informativa” (Informative Vision), was found shot to death Friday near the state capital, Chilpancingo, Guerrero, in southern Mexico, the Committee to Protect Journalists reports.