Germán Antonio Rivas, reporter and owner of television station Corporación Maya Visión-Canal 7 in the western Honduras town of Santa Rosa de Copán, was shot and killed on November 26 by assailants as he was entering the TV station studios. An attempt had earlier been made on his life, on February 24 - an unidentified man had shot at him outside his home, but he was uninjured.
Rafael Molina, chairman of the IAPAs Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, said that the organization was "surprised by this murder in Honduras, where this kind of assault is unusual." He added, "We trust that the official investigations result in the identification of those responsible for the murder."
Molina, editor of the Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, weekly news magazine Ahora, recalled the warning the IAPA had issued following the attempt on Rivas life that had been mentioned in its March report on the state of press freedom in Honduras. Although the attack had been reported to police there had been no leads as to who had carried it out or was behind it. The incident occurred after Rivas had broadcast allegations of privately-owned companies causing ecological damage and of the existence of coffee and cattle smuggling across the Honduras-Guatemala border.
Rivas family said they believe his murder could be linked to his television
broadcasts, but said that since the February incident he had received no further
threat nor had he again raised any controversial issue on the air.
Rivas death brought to 275 the number of journalists murdered in the Western
Hemisphere since October 1988.
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