Miltary Takes Over Globo Radio Installations
Sirs
Interamerican Human Rights Court
Costa Rica
Dear Sirs
This message is not only one of greeting, but also to denounce the following:
The General Management of Globo Radio, denounce before you that, after the completion of the events that concluded with the deposition of president Manuel Zelaya Rosalaes, an intimidation campaign was initiated against the independent communications media, among them, this Radio Station, which was the object of an attack.
Since 6 in the morning when we arrived for work, the principal building, located in Morazon Boulevard, was militarized. After a few negotiations, they allowed us to enter.
We began our informative work, within the parameters established by legal guidelines, and in accordance with freedom of expression and that what our consciences indicated.
The military made various attempts to get into the building where we transmitted to Honduras and the world what was really going in the country. At six in the evening, a military squad made up of about sixty elements took the radio’s physical installations by force and took us off the air. The coworkers that were still inside the establishment ( Alejandro Villatoro, owner, journalists Lidieth Díaz, Rony Martínez, and radio operators Franklin Mejía Orlando Villatoro) were subject to death threats, beatings, and intimidations. Alejandro Villatoro is a substitute Deputy and they did not even respect such a position.
In my particular case, David Ellner Romero, there was a warrant out for my arrest but I was able to escape by throwing myself into the air off the third floor of the building that houses the radio. Because of the impact (some 25 meters high), I have a fractured shoulder, ribs, and other injuries.
Radio Operator Franklin Mejía, who is a minor, was beaten, and with a discriminatory attitude they screamed at him (”Black son of a … we’re going to kill you if you don’t tell us where you’re transmitting from,” and other insults that were derrogatory and dehumanizing).
Sirs: The goal of this attack was, and is, to silence the only radio station in Hoduras that was tramsitting the events just as they were being played out. Currently, and after negotiations with the military, the radio reopened operations, but under a series of conditions that limit freedom of expression in the country.
It is under this conceptual framework that we turn to you to impose a formal denouncement, so that, within the authority that you have, you proceed to immediately perform an investigation of the case.
Alejandro Villatoro
Managing Owner
Globo Radio
Radio Globo Telephones:
504 221-6800
504 221-6801
504 221-6802
504 221-6803
504 221-6804
504…
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