The Miami Herald
8/27/10

Honduran radio reporter Israel
Zelaya Díaz was found dead Tuesday night on the side of a rural road in
San Pedro Sula, making him at least the eighth journalist killed in that
country this year.

If past killings are any guide, his
murder will go unsolved. A Committee to Protect Journalists' examination
of the cases shows a ``pattern of botched and negligent investigative
work'' -- that's if you consider exhuming a body three months after a
murder to conduct an outdoor graveside autopsy an ``investigation.''
That was the treatment given to Nahúm Palacios Arteaga, a TV reporter
killed in March.

That month proved to be the deadliest for
Honduran journalists: One died each week. Disc jockey Luis Antonio
Chévez was killed a month later, a murder that -- if linked to his work
-- would raise the death toll to nine.

This string of senseless killings comes at an awkward time for
Honduran President Porfirio ``Pepe'' Lobo. Just seven months on the job,
Mr. Lobo is struggling to achieve international acceptance for his
country. Rival truth commissions are running parallel investigations
into the 2009 coup that preceded his election, and activists are still
waiting for justice in murder cases linked to last year's crisis.
Living under a cloud
Mr. Lobo is eager to peddle the public image that Honduras is back in
business after the June 2009 upheaval crippled the nation's economy for
seven months.
As long as that nation's journalists continue to
live under a cloud of fear and uncertainty, Mr. Lobo's hopes for his
country are bound to remain unfulfilled.
To his credit, Mr.
Lobo has taken important first steps. He appointed a human rights
minister to his cabinet and invited a Spanish judge to review the
investigation into the reporters' killings.

The FBI has been
called in to help, a welcome move if only for symbolic reasons. Honduran
investigators were so desperate for evidence to show U.S. federal
agents, that they scrambled months after the murders to collect clues
and compile crime scene photos, CPJ found. Hence the graveside post
mortem.
Although warrants are out in several cases, only one
arrest has been made. A businessman charged in one reporter's death was
released Wednesday for lack of evidence.
If Mr. Lobo really
wants to improve Honduras' image, he should start by making the
journalists' killings a priority and end Honduras' shameful record of
sloppy investigations. Inept investigators must be re-trained and
provided adequate resources.

Human Rights Minister Ana Pineda
suggests the murders are a natural byproduct of the ``climate of
insecurity created by organized crime and common crime in Central
America.''
While Honduras has the highest per capita murder rate in the
world, such comments by top ministers suggest the government may want to
sweep the cases under the rug.
Don't downplay the deaths
There's no evidence that the journalists were victims of a government
death squad, Pineda stresses. Without a rigorous investigation, such
blanket statements lack credibility. And even if true, that's no reason
to downplay the killings.
The unsolved murders suggest a
deeper breakdown of law and order and undermine Honduras' desire to put
last year's political violence behind it. Several countries in the
region have yet to recognize Mr. Lobo's presidency, and at this rate
they're not likely to do so.
Putting a stop to the murders of
journalists and resolving the pending cases should be a condition for
acceptance in regional groups such as the Organization of American
States.
The international community should demand no less.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/08/27/1794359/stop-killings-of-honduran-journalists.html