New York, March 12, 2010—Unidentified gunmen killed radio journalist David Meza Montesinos on Thursday as he was driving in the Honduran city of La Ceiba, local press reports said. The Committee to Protect Journalists urged authorities today to fully investigate Meza’s killing and bring those responsible to justice.
Meza, 51, a reporter for the local radio station El Patio and a correspondent for national broadcaster Radio America, was shot at about 5:30 p.m. near his home in the coastal city of La Ceiba, 125 miles (200 kilometers) north of the capital, Tegucigalpa. News reports said a van pulled alongside Meza’s car and at least one occupant fired several times. The journalist died at the scene, press reports said.
On March 1, reporter Joseph Hernández Ochoa was killed in similar circumstances in Tegucigalpa. In July 2009, unidentified gunmen killed reporter Gabriel Fino Noriega, a correspondent for Radio America in the Atlantic region. CPJ is investigating the three slayings to determine whether they were related to the journalists’ work.