OAS » IACHR » Special Rapporteurship for Freedom of Expression » Honduras

Freedom of Expression

Honduras

            170.     The Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression traveled to Honduras from September 2 to 5, 2003, at the invitation of the government of President Ricardo Maduro, for the purpose of collecting information on the situation of freedom of expression and to promote the relevant standards established by the inter-American system for the protection of human rights.

 

            171.     The Rapporteur met with Honduran authorities.  He also received information and testimony from journalists and civil society organizations.  In the context of the visit, the Rapporteurship gave a seminar for Honduran journalists on freedom of expression and the press and the inter-American system for the protection of human rights.

 

            172.     Like other rapporteurships of the IACHR, upon concluding his visit and in order to contribute to the goal of greater protection of freedom of expression, the Rapporteur issued a press release[1] setting forth a series of preliminary observations that have been taken into account for analyzing the situation of Honduras in this report.  During the 118th regular session of the IACHR, the Rapporteur informed the Commission of his visit to Honduras and of some of the events included in this report.

 

            Assassinations

 

173.     On November 26, 2003, journalist Germán Antonio Rivas, managing director of Corporación Maya Visión (Canal 7) was assassinated as he arrived at the station’s regional offices in Santa Rosa de Copán, in western Honduras.  At the time this report was drafted, there had been no official statement as to the possible motives for the crime.  One of the hypotheses is that it may have had to do with investigations and reports by Rivas in his news program.  On February 24, 2003, Rivas had emerged unscathed from another attack, when an unknown person shot at him as he arrived at his place of residence.[2]  The Office of the Special Rapporteur was informed that the Honduran Attorney General's Office has begun an investigation of the incident and has carried out the preliminary procedural steps.

 

            Legislation and judicial actions

 

            174.     The Rapporteurship observed during its visit that despite some legislative reforms, in Honduran legislation it continues to be compulsory to be a member of a professional association in order to engage in journalism, even though in 1985, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, on analyzing the issue in its advisory opinion OC-5/85, clearly determined that having compulsory membership in a professional organization as a condition for engaging in journalism is a violation of the right to freedom of expression.  In his press release, issued at the end of the visit, the Rapporteur urged the Honduran State to repeal any law that might require the compulsory membership of journalists in professional organizations.

 

            175.     The Rapporteurship has received information on some journalists who have been sued for crimes of desacato[3] or crimes against honor,[4] invoking the provisions of the Criminal Code that define such crimes.  Among the cases the Commission learned of, journalist Renato Álvarez, in charge of the television talk show Frente a Frente, of the television news station TVC of Corporación Televicentro, which is broadcast on channels 3, 5, and 7, is facing two complaints for crimes of defamation (calumnia e injuria) for disseminating a report in which he revealed the names of persons allegedly implicated in drug-trafficking.  The complainants, a lawyer and a former legislator and politician, demanded that Álvarez reveal the identity of the source who had provided him the document; the journalist did not agree.[5]  As of this writing, the case was in the production of evidence stage.  A third complaint was dropped after a conciliation hearing.[6]

 

            176.     Journalist Rossana Guevara, director of the news program TN5, which appears on channel 5, of the Corporación Televicentro, was the subject of a criminal complaint on August 7, 2003 for the crime of defamation (calumnia) for disseminating an informational note about corruption and bankruptcies of Honduran banks on May 20, 2003.  The lawsuit was filed by Víctor Bendeck, a member of the Central American Parliament, owner of news media, and a former banker, who at present is a fugitive from the justice system for alleged responsibility in the multi-million dollar bankruptcy of the Banco Corporativo (Bancorp).  Bendeck, along with other partners of the bank, is considered by the Office of the Attorney General to be one of the masterminds behind what is considered to be one of the biggest financial scandals to the detriment of the State.  The bankruptcy of Bancorp is estimated to have cost US$52 million.[7]  Charges were also filed against Sandra Moreno.[8]

 

            177.     The Rapporteur was pleased to receive information according to which on October 23, 2003, the Attorney General filed a constitutional motion before the Supreme Court to repeal Article 345 of the Criminal Code, on the crime of desacato, for being at odds with the free dissemination of thought established in Article 72 of the Honduran Constitution.[9]  In a communication directed to the Minister of Foreign Relations of Honduras, Leonidas Rosa Bautista, dated October 30, the Rapporteur informed the State that he was pleased to see this initiative.  On December 1, the State forwarded a copy of the constitutional motion. The Rapporteurship will continue to monitor this auspicious process, but recalls that so long as the desacato law is on the books, it is at odds with the Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression.

 

            Access to information

 

            178.     The Rapporteurship received information, both during the visit and afterwards, of growing interest in several sectors, both governmental and civil society, in pushing legislation on the right to access to information in the possession of the State, and regarding the habeas data action.  On November 5, 2003, the organization Committee for Freedom of Expression (Comité por la Libre Expresión, C-Libre) presented a proposal for a Law on Access to Public Information within the context of the Third National Dialogue, which brought together more than 130 persons, including journalists, deputies, justice workers, humanitarian groups, and civil society representatives.  The objective of the presentation was to “promote a wide-ranging and participatory debate on the law, prior to submitting it to the Legislative Chamber.”[10]  In addition, the National Anti-Corruption Council has developed a preliminary draft law on access to information.

 

            Indirect means of restricting freedom of expression

 

            179.     During its visit, the Rapporteurship was informed that official advertising was being assigned in a discretional manner, without clear parameters and with some indicia of arbitrariness.

 

            180.     In addition, it received information according to which the government suspended the official advertising for the magazine Hablamos Claro and the news program Abriendo Brecha, both owned by journalist Rodrigo Wong Arévalo, after Hablamos Claro published an article alleging that the first lady, Aguas Ocaña, had demanded that the president remove the Minister of Culture, Arts, and Sports, Mireya Bates.[11]

 

            181.     The Rapporteurship will continue monitoring the events underlying such allegations, and at the same time will urge Honduran public institutions to ensure that official advertising is distributed in keeping with fair, clear, and objective criteria.

            Media ethics

 

            182.     The Rapporteurship received information on the use of some media as instruments for upholding personal or economic interests or to discredit the honor of persons to the detriment of the Honduran people’s right to information.  During his visit, the Special Rapporteur perceived the discontent in some sectors of society over what they characterized as unethical practices of journalists or the abusive exercise of freedom of expression.

 

            183.     Given the seriousness with which such accusations should be considered, the Rapporteurship recalled in its press conference upon concluding the visit to Honduras that Honduran journalists and media owners should be mindful of both the need to maintain their credibility with the public, which is essential if they are to survive, and the important role of the press in a democratic society, as it is the main means by which the members of society exercise their right to express and receive information and ideas.  The press should foster its ethical self-regulation through codes of ethics, style manuals, editorial rules, ombudspersons, and information councils, among other possible mechanisms.  It should be clear, however, that it is not the State that should impose the rules of ethical conduct, which are essential for the work of journalists.  The Rapporteur recalled during the press conference what was stated in the joint declaration by the three rapporteurs for freedom of expression in December 2002, when they reminded media owners of their responsibility to respect freedom of expression, and in particular editorial independence.

 

            Other

 

            184.     In relation to the ownership of media, the Rapporteurship found that many persons active in politics are buying up media outlets.  In November 2001, in a joint declaration by the three international rapporteurs for freedom of expression—the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression, the Representative on Freedom of the Media of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the OAS—it was said that those who hold elective and government positions and are owners of media should keep their political activities separate from their interests in those media.

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