Death threats and attacks against community radios

On 28 March 2017, human rights defender Esteban Vásquez, correspondent for Radio Progreso and member of the Movimiento Independiente Indígena Lenca de La Paz (Indigenous Lenca Independent Movement of La Paz - MILPAH) received death threats from a group of men who were waiting for him in his community. During that week, a new smear campaign against Radio Progreso's director appeared on social networks in Honduras. The biased campaign accuses "Padre Melo", as the director is known, of receiving "dirty money from drug-related activity and of using Radio Progreso to discredit Honduras."

On 23 March 2017, Radio Dignidad, received death threats via its Facebook page, followed by a message with a photograph of the radio's director. On 8 March 2017, stones were thrown at the door of community radio station, Radio La Voz Lenca’s headquarters.

Esteban Vásquez is an indigenous human rights defender, member of Simpinula community, in Santa María La Paz, and a local leader from MILPAH, which advocates for the rights of Lenca indigenous peoples to self-determination and to their ancestral lands in the region of La Paz. Radio Progreso is an award winning radio with over 60 years reporting on human rights, social exclusion and defense of the territory, among others. The radio station and its collaborators have been targeted before and during Honduras’ coup in 2009, when it was temporarily shut down. Jesuit priest Ismael Moreno (“Padre Melo”) is the director of both Radio Progreso and Equipo de Reflexión, Investigación y Comunicación (The Reflection, Research and Communication Team – ERIC-SJ), founded in January 1980 as a Centre for Research and Social Action, rooted in Honduran rural issues.

On 28 March 2017, Esteban Vásquez was approached by a group of men, known by the human rights defender to be linked to the National Party in the Arenales sector of the municipality of Santa María, department of La Paz. The group of men waiting for him in a sector of the community, told him that “if he continued his work of informing he would be murdered.” As a correspondent for Radio Progreso, the human rights defender has denounced the threats posed by mining and dams for the environment and communities in La Paz.

Radio Dignidad is a project hosted by Movimiento Amplio por la Dignidad y la Justicia (Movement for Dignity and Justice – MADJ), an organisation dedicated to combating corruption and upholding human rights in Honduras. MADJ has been advocating for environmental and land rights of indigenous communities. They are currently campaigning against human rights violations linked to mega-projects and industrial mining. Radio Dignidad operates through the voluntary work of MADJ’s members and denounces acts of corruption committed both in the local and national level.

On 23 March 2017, members of Radio Dignidad were threatened through Facebook from a profile with the name of Ismael Arteaga. The perpetrator issued serious threats saying; "you will die, the fish dies by the mouth", "you have little time to close your page of shit or I will look for you in all San Juan Town and around, you do not get to talk about politics, ok". A message following the threats contained a photograph of  the director of Radio Dignidad.

Radio La Voz Lenca, created in May 2009, in San Francisco Lempira, is one of the community’s radio stations operated by the Consejo Civico de Organizaciones Indigenas Populares (Civic Council of Popular Indigenous Organisations – COPINH), which informs the communities of their rights as indigenous people and the effects of mega-projects on their rights, their lands and traditional way of living. On 8 March 2017, a group of men vandalised the headquarters of Radio La Voz Lenca by throwing stones at its door. All three radio stations and the movements linked to them have previously been subjected to attacks and threats.

Different international and national organisations have highlighted the risky situation for media workers in the country.As stated by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR); “Violence against journalists not only violates in a particularly egregious way the freedom of thought and expression of the person concerned, but also affects the collective dimension of this right. The acts of violence committed against journalists and people working in the media, which are linked to their professional activity, violate the right of these people to express and impart ideas, opinions and information. It also violates the rights of citizens and society in general to seek and receive information and ideas of any kind”.

Front Line Defenders is gravely concerned by the most recent attacks against community radio contributors, journalists and social movements in Honduras as it believes that the violence carried out against them is in relation to their work in promoting human rights.

Front Line Defenders urges the authorities in Honduras to:

1. Publicly condemn the acts of intimidation against community radio contributors in the country;

2. Carry out an immediate, thorough and impartial investigation into the threats and acts of intimidation against members of Radio Progreso, Radio Dignidad and La Voz Lenca, with a view to publishing the results and bringing those responsible to justice in accordance with international standards;

3. Guarantee in all circumstances that all human rights defenders and journalists in Honduras are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals and free of all restrictions.