Sr. Juan Orlando Hernández
President of Honduras
Sr. Oscar Chinchilla Banegas
Attorney General of Honduras
May 25, 2016
Dear Sirs:
We are outraged at two assassination attempts on journalist Felix Molina in Tegucigalpa.
Felix Molina had two violent encounters on May 2. In the morning, while he was en route in a taxi to host his community radio program, Resistencia, two armed youth on a motorcycle attempted to steal his phone. One of the attackers shouted at the other to shoot, but the driver sped away before they pulled the trigger. In the evening he was on his way home after his radio program. Two men on a motorcycle again intercepted the taxi in which he was riding. One of the men said, “you won’t get away this time,” pointed a gun and shot Molina four times in the legs.
Honduras has become one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists, especially independent journalists. Molina has been the subject of numerous death threats because of his critical reporting since the coup d’etat of 2009. On the morning of the shooting, Molina had published a piece denouncing collusion between military officers, business executives, and political leaders around the controversial Agua Zarca Dam project on the Gualcarque River. (There has been strong organized opposition to Agua Zarca project led by the local Lenca indigenous community and leader Berta Cáceres, who was assassinated March 2.)
We stongly urge authorities to immediately investigate and prosecute both the material and intellectual authors of the recent attacks on Felix Molina.
Sincerely,
Brian J. Stefan Szittai and Christine Stonebraker-Martinez
Co-Coordinators
