Honduras should conduct a prompt, thorough, and impartial investigation into a recent wave of killings and threats against journalists, Human Rights Watch said today. Three journalists have been killed in March, and five others have been threatened. “It’s impossible to know the exact motive of these attacks without an adequate investigation,” said José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch. “But the murders and threats are generating a climate...

Six months after President Porfirio Lobo took office, Honduras has made little progress toward addressing the serious human rights abuses since the 2009 coup, Human Rights Watch said today. Threats and attacks against journalists and the political opposition have fostered a climate of intimidation, while impunity for abuses remains the norm. "Violent attacks on journalists and political opponents have had a profound chilling effect on basic freedoms in Honduras," said José...

Judge Jesús Fernández arrived Saturday, July 10, in Honduras for a special mission to help the government of Porfirio Lobo in its investigation into the deaths of at least seven journalists this year, reported El Heraldo. In May, President Lobo asked Spain for help to investigate these crimes, which according to Honduran authorities have nothing to do with the journalists practicing their jobs, and the government insists public institutions are not involved, reported Europa...

Amnesty International has accused the Honduran authorities of failing to address serious human rights violations that followed the coup d’etat of 28 June 2009, when ex-President Manuel Zelaya was forced from power. Since new president Porfirio Lobo took office in January, police and military officers responsible for mass arrests, beatings and torture in the wake of the coup have not been brought to justice. Meanwhile, concerns about freedom of expression increased, as seven...

Honduran Foreign Minister Mario Canahuati criticized President Hugo Chávez for his "intent to influence" and his "intervention" in the domestic policy of other countries, according to statements published on Monday by Colombian newspaper El Espectador. "We do not share the intention to influence the domestic policy of other countries. He (Chávez) should not promote interventionism as part of his policies," said the Honduran Foreign Minister when...

Honduran authorities should ensure that recent killings and other attacks on opponents of the 2009 coup are promptly and thoroughly investigated, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to Attorney General Luis Alberto Rubí. Human Rights Watch has received credible reports of multiple acts of violence over the past month targeting members of the National Popular Resistance Front (Frente Nacional de Resistencia Popular), including killings, rape, torture, kidnapping, and assault....

Amnesty International on Thursday issued a series of recommendations to newly elected Honduran President Porfirio Lobo to repair the damage done to human rights since the June 2009 coup d'état, which left hundreds seeking justice. The 13 recommendations include issues relating to investigations into the human rights abuses committed by security forces, rejecting amnesty laws for those responsible for the crimes, training judges on international human rights legislation and setting...

Amnesty International on Tuesday urged the new Honduran President to order a full investigation into abuses committed by the security forces following June's coup d'état, bring those responsible to justice and provide reparations to the victims. Honduran President Porfirio Lobo, who is set to take office on Wednesday, was elected in November last year amidst a political crisis that saw President Manuel Zelaya ousted by military-backed right wing politicians in June. Hundreds of...

A Honduran judge on Thursday charged the country's top military commanders with abuse of power for exiling President Manuel Zelaya in June. Honduran Supreme Court President Jorge Rivera has ordered all six members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to remain in the country and testify in court next week. The charge carries a sentence of three to six years in prison. The military chiefs, who wore their dress uniforms, met with Rivera for six hours before the charges were announced late Thursday....

Dina Meza lives and talks human rights at every opportunity she is given. As a journalist, an activist and a member of COFADEH (Committee of Relatives of the Disappeared in Honduras), one of Honduras' oldest human rights organizations, she knows all too well what it means to work on an issue that is not always popular with the authorities. The past five months have been particularly challenging for Dina and her colleagues at COFADEH. Its members have spent countless days and nights...