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Honduras, Central America
Over the past year, a deadly place for journalists
In just the first few months of 2010 seven journalists were murdered
Jorge Orellana was one of them
On April 20 a gunman shot Orellana in the head as he left the station he worked at
His family mourns
He was one of those beautiful human beings...
that you just don't find many of these days
Just under a million inhabitants, yet in Orellana's hometown...
up to nine people are murdered every day
Police blame his death on a ruthless robber
but some say this suspected killer is no common thief,
including the top local prosecutor
I rule out robbery
This is a contract killer
Someone who gets paid to *** people
It would be far too much of a coincidence that he happened to be passing by...
and that Georgino died for a cellphone and a bit of cash
The journalist killings are just the latest shock...
for a country already turned upside down by the events of 2009
This is the scene at the air force headquarters...
after President Manuel Zelaya was arrested by the Army...
who seem to have taken him to this army base
Zelaya later left the country for Costa Rica
Honduras was a quiet corner of Central America,
even in the 80s and 90s as its neighbours fought civil wars
But a coup in June of 2009 ousted left-leaning President Manuel Zelaya...
installing interim president Roberto Micheletti
Long live Honduras!
Conservative president Porfirio Lobo took over in January 2010 after winning elections...
and has promised to respect press freedom
I'm am personally very committed to unlimited freedom of expression and opinion
Journalists say that's not enough
Police investigation has been terrible, non-existent, which has fed this wave of impunity
Crimes are committed but no one is ever arrested
We journalists are living in uncertainty and fear
As long as this situation carries on it's going to be very hard for us to do our job
It's now or never!
Supporters of ousted Zelaya, who see Lobo's rule as a result of the coup, go much further
The state, they say, is killing opponents
Regarding the murdered journalists, we can say with complete certainty...
that this is a new way of intimidating people and shutting them up
Something Honduras' top anti-crime official refutes
People are scared, but there is no state policy to silence journalists
This needs to be quite clear
With 6,000 annual murders in a country of less than 8 million...
Honduras tops the global per capita homicide charts
Alvarez sees no reason journalists would be immune
Poor people, engineers, lawyers, anybody, anyone can get killed
journalists, too
Our investigations show that these murders don't necessarily have anything to do with journalism
In one journalist's killing, the promise of a cash reward, and a pledge from a minister
We're doing everything we can within the limits of the law...
to make sure these four don't get away with this
It's often hard to prove the journalist killings are work-related. Some may be random robberies
At least one victim had been accused of extortion prior to his ***
But every crime still deserves a conviction,
knows the woman in charge of public prosecutors
We understand perfectly that people will not be satisfied...
until we have convictions for these crimes
We'll do everything we can and we'll do it for as long as we have to
For one dead journalist's family, the hope, one day, for the truth
I still think it was a robbery
I want to believe it was a robbery
that's best for everyone
I can't change the past
But if in the end it turns out that it wasn't a robbery...
I want whoever paid to have my husband killed...
to pay for what they did...
in the eyes of men and in the eyes of God