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Jorge Alberto Orellana, Channel 10
On July 2, Chief Prosecuting Attorney Rafael Fletes charged Joseph Cockborn Delgado with the April 20 killing, claiming solid evidence, including witnesses, information he won't disclose about what he's sure was a paid assassination.
Orellana was a well-known, respected San Pedro Sula broadcaster, shot in the head and killed after his nightly program, a motive yet to be determined, though likely an assassination because his left leanings put him at odds with authorities and business elites. Yet on air he was moderate and balanced, not strident like others. However, post-coup, "balance has been out of fashion and people see conspiracies at work on the other side of wherever they stand politically."
Jose Mayardo Mairena and Manuel Juarez, Channel 4, Radio Excelsior, and Radio Patria
A veteran newsman in a remote part of the country, Mairena bought airtime on a local TV and radio station to air his own shows, the way most Honduran broadcasting is done, even newscasts. Juarez was his assistant and on-air "sidekick."
Although they tried avoiding controversy, "it can't be discounted that....they slipped up," angering powerful interests that killed them. At election time, they talked politics, radio station manager, Victor Jimenez, saying "We practice journalism of the stomach, which means journalism that gives us food (from paid advertising). It makes for difficult questions of ethics."
Yet local journalists didn't think political advocacy was the motive, believing it's "more basic than that," discussing on air "the feud between two powerful large families in Juticalpa, one where perhaps dozens have been killed this year and last..."
The killings have a common thread - impunity, ensuring gunmen feel safe knowing authorities won't investigate or prosecute.
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