| Héctor Francisco Medina Polanco | |
|---|---|
| Born | Héctor Francisco Medina Polanco 5 March 1974 Honduras |
| Died | 10 May 2011 (aged 37) Morazán, Honduras |
| Occupation | Television Journalist |
| Nationality | Honduran |
Héctor Francisco Medina Polanco was a Honduran journalist that often reported on agricultural and corruption issues in Honduras. He was killed in front of his home on May 10, 2011, and was a employee of Omega Visión.[1]
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Medina was shot twice in the chest and once in the arm on his motorcycle by two men also on a motorcycle who followed him to his home in Morazán, a town outside the nearby city of El Progreso. He died the next day from related complications at a municipal hospital in San Pedro Sula.[1] Front Line believes that the killing of Héctor Francisco Medina Polanco is directly related to his work in the defence of human rights and in particular his reporting of agricultural and corruption issues in Honduras.[2] Medina's body was given to his mother this afternoon at the morgue of the Public Ministry and immediately transferred to Morazán, where he will be veiled and buried.[3]
Journalist Carlos Alberto Medina Polanco, the brother of assassinated journalist Héctor Francisco Medina Polanco, has reported to C-Libre that he has been receiving death threats via messages on his mobile phone. In the messages he has been told to stop demanding an investigation into his brother's death or he will "meet the same fate." He also noted that he has been followed by individuals on a motorcycle when he leaves the radio station for which he works in the city of San Pedro Sula. As a result, he has taken a temporary leave of absence from his position at the station. In addition, he reported that, on 10 June 2011, his 16-year-old daughter was kidnapped, assaulted and questioned about his activities for three hours.[4] “The trauma caused by the coup continues to affect Honduran society and the current demonstrations are an expression of this,” AMARC-ALC and Reporters Without Borders said. “The repression has been stepped up again in the wake of the testimony about the situation that representatives of grass-roots movements, civil society organizations and NGOs gave to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, now in session.[5]
Medina accounts for the 11th journalist killed in Honduras, none of which have been investigated.[2] “It will be hard to celebrate National Day of the Journalist on 25 May if the persecution of community radio stations and news media opposed to the June 2009 coup d’état continues at the same frenetic pace, especially in the San Pedro Sula region, where there have been several cases in recent days,” Reporters Without Borders said.[6]
The World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters for Latin America and Caribbean (AMARC-ALC) and Reporters Without Borders appeal again for an end to the hostility toward community and opposition media (or what are regarded as opposition media) amid the continuing social unrest in Honduras. “It is clear from what has been happening that the government has not kept the promises it made to the United Nations Human Rights Council. As regards the areas covered by our mandates, we believe that there will be no peace in Honduras as long as:
Two serious violations have occurred in the course of the demonstrations of the past few days, in addition to those already reported.
The first was on 28 March, when the activist Miriam Miranda was beaten by police and soldiers and was then arrested and held for 12 hours. Miranda is the president of the Fraternal Black Organization of Honduras (Ofraneh), which created Radio Faluma Bimetu (Coco Dulce) a community radio station that has been censored and attacked. Although she has been released, Miranda continues to be absurdly charged with sedition.
The second incident was yesterday’s arrest of Radio Progreso journalist Pedro López for four hours. López was arrested with two other people while covering a protest against privatization of the education sector, fuel price rises and poor work conditions in garment assembly plants (known as maquilas).[5]
According to other sources consulted by C-Libre, the DNIC knows the names of the alleged hit men that murdered Héctor Medina Polanco as well as the amount of money they were allegedly paid for carrying out the assassination. Carlos Medina Polanco noted that both President Porfirio Lobo Sosa and Security Minister Oscar Álvarez have promised to bring the hit men as well as the masterminds behind the assassination to justice but that to date they are still awaiting information about any results in the investigation.[4] Mr. Porfirio Lobo Sosa and his allies are trying to reinstate Honduras as a OAS member during the General Assembly next June; shading human rights violations that he frequently calls "export political actions by groups that live off that."[3]
In his TV program, he often criticized irregularities in the Morazán municipal government and referred to land disputes involving the region’s cattle farmers. Medina had received threats as a result of the views he had expressed on agricultural issues.[7] According to his brother, Carlos Alberto Medina Polanco, Héctor Francisco Medina Polanco had received death threats on several occasions over the past six months as a result of his work in publicising human rights issues. He spoke out on agricultural issues and was a strong critic of the actions of the National Police and private security groups who guard the property of wealthy estates owners in the areas where drug gangs notoriously operate. He often spoke out against irregularities in Morazán's municipal government and raised social, political and education issues on his news programme. He also worked on a governmental education project called 'Programa Hondureño de Educación Comunitaria' (Honduran Programme for Community Education).[2]
It is known that he is survived by his brother, and mother,[3] however not much else is known about his personal life.