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Reports of Journalists Killed, Impunity the Common Thread
Nahum Palacios Arteaga, Channel 5, Tocoa
The station's main anchor, "he was the face of journalism," the region's best, and "the voice of his people, the country folk and the destitute." His father said he was killed for being honest, not corrupt. People loved him, the local boy who made good. According to reporter Mario Ramirez, he did something about area abuses, more than anyone else. "He saved people's homes. He got their children cured. He protected whole villages." He supported campesinos wanting land reform, demanding vast land tracts rightfully theirs.
He opposed the coup openly on-air, got death threats, needed but was denied protection, many supporters blaming authorities for the murder. On March 14, gunmen killed him when he got home. At the time, no autopsy was performed. Months later, authorities said they had no leads, little wonder given its indifference to justice and perhaps involvement in the crime.
David Meza Montesinos - Radio El Patio, Radio America, Channels 7, 36 and 45
For two decades, he was La Ceiba's most prominent journalist, "the one people felt closest to" for helping those mistreated by government and business. As a result, he was known as "the poor person's representative."
La Tribuna correspondent Julio Cesar Rodriguez called La Ceiba "a city of abuses. The government abuses the poor. The rich, the businesses, abuse the poor. Even the middle class take what they want from the people at the bottom." Meza tried to stop them for years.
As a result, on March 11, gunmen murdered him in cold blood. Some suspect Los Grillos, a drug-connected gang. Others say the police because Meza criticized their abuses and corruption on air. Asked about the killing, La Ceiba Police Chief, Jose Ayala, refused comment. According to area journalists, the police and Grillos gang "are very close," raising suspicions they hired members "to do the job."
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