Journalists Assassinated

Two more journalists were assassinated in Honduras this week. Radio journalist Luz Marina Paz Villalobos was being driven through Comayaguela when her vehicle was intercepted by assassins on motorcycles who shot into the moving vehicle and killed her and her cameraman/driver, Delmer Omar Canales. There were 16 bullet holes in the car, and 47 shell casings from various caliber weapons were found at the scene.

The car they was riding in was owned by Coronel Marco Tulio Leiva Puerto of the Honduran Army. Leiva is in charge of the forest protection detail of the Army. He told the press that Luz Paz was taking a test-drive to decide about purchasing it. These were the 17th and 18th journalists to be assassinated since Porfirio Lobo Sosa took office.

The Police are floating the theory that Luz Paz was killed for not paying a "war tax" to the gangs. She owned a small store in a neighborhood in Comayaguela. Such theories are usually the prelude to not investigating the crime, but Pompeyo Bonilla says that Ambassador Lisa Kubiske promised US aid in the investigation of the assassination of journalists, transsexuals, and lawyers.

In a surreal juxtaposition of headlines, El Tiempo ran stories headlined "Journalism under Terror" and "Still Vacancies in the Journalism Career" in today's edition. Do you think the two might be related?