Special report Journalists under attack: 'I can't write it or broadcast it. If I do I could be next': Central America Media killings are on the rise in a climate of fear and impunity

• Published in: The Guardian (London)
• Main Author: Rory Carroll El Naranjo
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: London (UK) Guardian News & Media Limited 19.07.2011
• Subjects: Jimenez, Carlos; Naranjo, Rory Carroll El
• ISSN: 0261-3077

It is the most compelling video Carlos Jimenez has taped but he sincerely hopes it will never be broadcast. If it is, he will be dead. The tape features the journalist talking to camera and naming those who have turned his community in [Rory Carroll El Naranjo], northern Guatemala, into a den of corruption, violence and fear. The video, already passed on to trusted contacts, is to be aired only if the reporter is murdered. "It is to be posthumous," he said. "I detail who has been doing all the killings. You'll get to see it if they kill me." "We call on Honduran authorities to thoroughly investigate these vicious attacks and establish what the motives were," said Carlos Lauria of the Committee to Protect Journalists. "The wave of violence in Honduras is seriously restricting freedom of expression." The advocacy group published a report last year accusing authorities of "a pattern of botched and negligent investigative work" when it came to murdered journalists.