In 1988...

Freedom of expression is relatively untrammelled in Honduras compared to other Central American countries.

Even as reporters practise self-censorship out of caution, the ideologies of the various newspaper owners further narrow the range of public expression. As one dismissed reporter put it: ‘Freedom of the press here belongs to the owners of the newspapers. They decide what gets printed.’

The economic realities of journalism in Honduras make corruption routine. Gifts and cash may be offered discreetly under the table, or more openly. Such financial inducements inevitably affect coverage, quietly contributing to self-censorship as surely as pressures by newspaper owners or economic coercion by government advertisers. The fear of dismissal operates as a form of financial repression.

The government cordons off whole areas as part of a strategy of information control and also selectively restricts access based on reporter coverage.

A limited form of death squad activity resurfaced in 1986 and 1987. Victims included a leading radio journalist, a prominent labour activist, and a conservative major daily… In August 1986, an unsigned death list denouncing the ‘Honduran revolutionary leadership’ circulated, the first of its kind in years.

The result is a complementary system of self-censorship and official disinformation, whose subtlety makes it all the more difficult to challenge. Read more...

In 2008...

The population of Honduras has shown sustained growth over the past few years. However, according to the United Nations Development Programme’s 2006 Human Development Index, some two million people, nearly a third of the population, are living in poverty. Key factors that have contributed to the relatively low levels of economic growth since 2001 are: inadequate generation of productive employment; a State which, despite having made significant progress in modernising itself, remains weak and ineffective in many areas; and at the level of the individual citizen, the impact of increasing levels of violence in society and rising emigration.

There are five legally registered political parties in Honduras. The two main parties are the National Party and the Liberal Party. The three smaller parties are the Innovation and Unity Party, the Christian Democrat Party, and Democratic Unification Party. General elections were held in November 2005. The Electoral Observation Mission of the Organization of American States (OAS) recognised the cooperation of the Honduras government and congratulated the country on its commitment to supporting democracy. However, the counting process was marred by a series of technical problems leading to several days of uncertainty. Finally, on 7 December 2005, the Honduran National Party candidate Porfirio Lobo Sosa conceded defeat with around 10 per cent of the ballots still to be counted. Manuel Zelaya Rosales was elected President with 49.90 per cent of the vote, to Porfirio Lobo Sosa’s 46.17 per cent. The abstention rate in the elections was 44.62 per cent, the highest in the recent electoral history of Honduras.

During 2006, President Zelaya Rosales was strongly critical of the media, calling on them to ensure ‘balance’ in the news and to help the government and his ministers by publishing news that highlighted the positive actions they had taken. In October 2006 he declared that he was ready to hand over ‘evidence’ to the Inter-American Press Society that: ‘[f]rom day one of government, different types of defamation, slander, distortion and blackmail started. I have the evidence here case by case … The government does not have its own media, the government is a victim of this type of permanent blackmail and extortion on the part of some, but I am not talking in general, only about certain media’.

President Zelaya Rosales announced that a series of national news channels would be set up by May 2007 to publicise the government’s achievements. The President set up these channels, even though the Constitution only allows news channels to be set up in certain situations, such as natural disasters and national emergencies. Despite a series of demonstrations in defence of freedom of expression by national and international organisations, the President went ahead and set up the news channels.

Legal and Regulatory Framework

Honduras is a State party to the Inter-American system of human rights protection and has adopted various aspects of Inter-American jurisprudence on freedom of expression.

In 2006, 12 social organisations in the country formed Alianza 72 to influence the drafting of the Law on Transparency and Access to Public Information and ensure that it was passed.

The history of the Law on Transparency and Access to Public Information dates back to 2003 when a dialogue to make the right to information and draft bill known to the public was initiated at regional and national level by the Committee for Freedom of Expression (C-Libre). C-Libre, a coalition of journalists and members of civil society set up in June 2001 to promote and defend freedom of expression and the right to information, organised discussions with various sectors as well as with deputies and social commentators.

The Law on Transparency and Access to Public Information was passed on 22 November 2006, despite a number of obstacles.

The Law on Transparency and Access to Public Information is consistent with international standards concerning the right to access public information. However, the election of the current Commissioners to the Access to Public Information Institute, which took place on 9 August 2007, highlighted some problems. Eventually, the Commissioners were elected without the deputies from the Democratic Unity Party and the Innovation and Unity Party being able to table their objections.

In a positive development, on 26 July 2007, the President of the National Congress, Roberto Micheletti, signed the 1994 Chapultepec Declaration which encourages press freedom in Latin America.

So-called ‘offences against honour’ continue to be a concern. In 2006 and 2007, around 15 journalists were the subject of legal actions for slander, insults and defamation. The provisions concerning these offences, as contained in the Penal Code, undoubtedly run counter to international trends and standards. Article 155 of the Penal Code stipulates that, ‘Slander, or the false imputation of an offence that gives rise to the automatic instigation of proceedings, shall be punishable by between six months’ and two years’ imprisonment.’

Political Expression

Acts of violence are routinely committed against human rights defenders by organised criminal groups. The government is slow to respond to threats to civil society and even slower to hold perpetrators to account. This has resulted in a widespread culture of impunity in which human rights defenders find themselves with little or no protection. Those going against the grain of economic profit or upholding the rights of minority groups such as indigenous or lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) communities are especially at risk. For example, on 4 December 2006, Dionisio Díaz García, a lawyer working for the Association for a More Just Society, was shot dead while driving to the Honduran Supreme Court to prepare for a hearing. He had been representing a number of security guards who claimed that they had been unfairly dismissed by a private security company.

‘Acts of violence are routinely committed against human rights defenders by organised criminal groups. The government is slow to respond to threats to civil society and even slower to hold perpetrators to account.’

Although much of the intimidation and violence is carried out by organised criminal groups, the Honduran government is often at the centre of acts of violence committed against human rights defenders. In March 2007, Donny Reyes, treasurer of the LGBT organisation Rainbow Association (Asociación Arcoiris) was arbitrarily detained. He was taken to the police station in Comayagüela, where he was beaten by police officers before being put into a cell with other detainees, raped and beaten again. He was released after six and half hours after agreeing to pay a sum of money.

News Media

According to research carried out over the past few years, the average circulation figures of the four main newspapers are as follows: La Prensa (56,036), La Tribuna (40,000), El Heraldo (45,000) and Diario Tiempo (58,560).

In Honduras newspapers are regional rather than national. The newspapers which predominate in the north-west of the country are La Prensa and Diario Tiempo while El Heraldo and La Tribuna provide coverage of the centre and south-east.

According to research carried out over the past few years, the average circulation figures of the four main newspapers are as follows: La Prensa (56,036), La Tribuna (40,000), El Heraldo (45,000) and Diario Tiempo (58,560).

In Honduras newspapers are regional rather than national. The newspapers which predominate in the north-west of the country are La Prensa and Diario Tiempo while El Heraldo and La Tribuna provide coverage of the centre and south-east.

Given the geography of Honduras, the dispersed nature of communities and low literacy rates, radio stations are a particularly important part of the national media. Data for 2005 from the National Telecommunications Commission shows that there were 274 radio stations on the AM band and 436 on FM. According to information from the National Telecommunications Commission, more than a million homes in Honduras have a television. There are over 300 cable television channels covering almost 100 per cent of the municipalities.6

A small group of people control much of the Honduran economy, including banks, business, the agro-industry, assembly plants, the service sector, tourism, energy production and telecommunications. Control of the media is also concentrated in the hands of the same few groups. This contributes to a situation where links between the media and the families which have come to dominate politics and the economic power in the country are reinforced and strengthened.

The main players – Jaime Rosenthal Oliva and family (Diario Tiempo, Canal and Cable Color), Rafael Ferrari and Manuel Villeda Toledo (Emisoras Unidas, Televicentro and Multivisión), Jorge Canahuati Larach and family (La Prensa, El Heraldo), Carlos Flores Facussé (La Tribuna) and Miguel Andonie Fernández (Audiovideo) – all combine ownership of a wide range of businesses (including banks and companies involved in insurance, import/export, processing, telecommunications, wireless data transmission, soft drinks and water) with ownership of the mass media. As a result the media often become a spearhead for the other business interests, often with the agreement of the State. In this situation, although Honduras has a large number of media outlets, their diversity is questionable because ownership remains largely in the hands of economically powerful groups.

‘Community media are increasingly available to the population. However, there is insufficient security to enable citizens to use them to expose specific problems because in several areas of the country they have been subjected to threats and harassment by the institutions which hold effective control or by powerful groups.’

Alternative and online media operate in an atmosphere of threats and intimidation. In the provinces, community radio and cable television have gained the acceptance of communities who are becoming more and more interested in what is happening in their own locality. Manuel Torres Calderón, a journalist with Conexihon.com, has pointed out the potential of local radio stations as an important arena for public debate in the context of the current decentralisation processes. There is a broad range of media available but that does not mean that they are independent or provide a broad range of information. Community media are increasingly available to the population. However, there is insufficient security to enable citizens to use them to expose specific problems because in several areas of the country they have been subjected to threats and harassment by the institutions which hold effective control or by powerful groups. It is not by chance that, in the most recent surveys on freedom of expression, journalists identified self-censorship and censorship as being the main threats.

Repression of Media Workers

Journalists in Honduras continue to face threats, harassment and attacks.

While investigating abuses of labour rights against security guards working for a private company, journalists from Revistazo.com, the online investigative magazine, came under a series of attacks. On 4 December 2006 lawyer Dionisio Díaz García, who was supporting the investigations of these journalists, was shot dead on his way to the Supreme Court to defend several security officers who had been the victims of labour rights abuses. Four journalists and staff from the Association for a Fairer Society (ASJ) have continued to be subjected to intimidation since Dionisio Díaz García was killed.

‘We are being subjected to intimidation and telephone threats by officials from that department, telling us that they are going to destroy us, that we should take care, and that they are even going to destroy the organisations.’ Dina Meza, journalist and project director at ASJ

At the end of 2006, journalists Dina Meza, Robert Marín García, Claudia Mendoza, Yanina Romero and the President of the ASJ, Carlos Hernández, were given police protection after the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights (IACHR) asked the Honduran State on 20 December 2006 ‘to adopt without delay the necessary measures to guarantee the lives and personal safety of the journalists and Hernández’. The IACHR also called on the government to allow ‘the beneficiaries of the measures to participate in their planning and implementation and, in general, to keep the beneficiaries and the IACHR informed of the progress of their execution’.

On 20 July 2007, the IACHR held a hearing attended by its Commissioners, the Honduran State, the organisations requesting the measures and representatives of the beneficiaries of the measures. Lawyer Mauricio Aguilar from the ASJ explained the deficiencies in the implementation of the precautionary measures for the different groups and said that, as far as his organisation was concerned, the measures were 95 per cent ineffective, with the other 5 per cent being implemented in a slapdash fashion.

In its 2006 report on Freedom of Expression, C-Libre said that the killing of Dionisio Díaz García was clearly intended to send a message to those who ‘dare’ to investigate the vested interests of the elite. C-Libre also recorded some 40 cases of violations of freedom of expression and the right to information. The Probity Network has recorded at least 10 cases during 2007 of journalists who have been threatened for disseminating information that impinges on the interests of powerful groups in the country.

Media Censorship

‘For some analysts, one of the reasons why indirect censorship is gaining strength is low pay in the press and the lack of explicit ethical standards in the industry.’

Journalists in Honduras do not experience explicit censorship in the media. However, implicit censorship becomes apparent when one looks at the advertising contained in particular media. It is clear that content is influenced by the advertising of sectors in which most of the owners of these media businesses also have economic interests.

For some analysts, one of the reasons why indirect censorship is gaining strength is low pay in the press and the lack of explicit ethical standards in the industry. Many media outlets employ journalists by paying them a negligible basic wage and supplying them with a tape recorder in exchange for negotiating advertising. In other words, journalists are obliged to look for advertising contracts so that they can earn a living by sharing a percentage of the profits with the media outlet they work for.

Other Forms of Repression and Censorship

The seven recognized ethnic groups – the Chortis, Tolupanes, Garífunas, Pech, Lencas, Tawahkas and Miskitos – comprise around 10 per cent of the total population and are scattered throughout the country. The level of integration of such communities into the national economy remains low. Indigenous communities have moderate access to the media. Many have their own slots or programmes, but few own the means of communication. Acquiring frequencies for radio and television is often problematic and the geographical dispersion of indigenous communities also poses challenges.

Women are severely under-represented in government. Recent figures show that women account for just 17 per cent of members of the National Congress and just five per cent of managerial posts within the government administration. Despite strong lobbying from women’s organisations, the last reform to the electoral law maintained the minimum quota of 30 per cent women rather than increasing it to 50 per cent. Of the 298 mayoral positions across Honduras, women occupy less than 10 per cent. Figures show that rather than increasing, women’s participation in government in recent years has declined.

Although homosexuality is legal in Honduras, LGBT people face intense prejudice. According to local non-governmental organisations, some 200 LGBT people were murdered in Honduras between 1991 and 2003.71 Few of these killings have been officially registered as hate crimes; fewer still have been investigated or resulted in those responsible being brought to justice. The problem is also exacerbated by the fact that much of the violence directed at LGBT people is carried out by members of the police force. Cases of abuses against LGBT people by the police have reportedly included arbitrary detention and physical and sexual abuse.