Thousands march against media killings in Honduras

Thousands of people turned out in several cities across Honduras on Friday to protest a wave of journalist killings in the country, where 20 reporters have been murdered in the past three years. "Killing journalists does not kill the truth," chanted the demonstrators, some of them reporters themselves dressed in yellow and white shirts, as they marched past the offices of the president and the human rights commission. Organizers said 5,000 people turned out in Tegucigalpa alone. Other marches were held in San Pedro Sula, La Ceiba, Comayagua and Choluteca. "No more impunity," said one sign held by a protester. Twenty journalists have been killed in Honduras since the overthrow of president Manuel Zelaya on June 28, 2009. None of the murders have been solved. The body of HRN Radio journalist Alfredo Villatoro Rivera, 47, was found last week wearing an old police uniform, blindfolded with a red scarf and with gunshot wounds to the head, a police spokesman said. He had been kidnapped the week before. President Porfirio Lobo, who met with some of the protesters, admitted it was "difficult to have to combat those tasked with the people's security" -- an allusion to police, who are regularly implicated in criminal activity here. According to UN agencies, Honduras had the world's highest murder rate in 2011, with 86 homicides a year for every 100,000 inhabitants.