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Alert

Two more journalists shot and killed

(C-Libre/IFEX) - Tegucigalpa, Honduras - José Bayardo Mairena Ramírez and Manuel Juárez, two journalists from the western province of Olancho, were shot and killed on 26 March 2010 while they were driving.

According to the Olancho fire chief, Coronel Rigoberto Contreras, Mairena and Juárez were driving from Catacamas to Juticalpa when strangers shot at them from another car. The assassins then got out of their car to finish them off.

Mairena Ramírez was already dead when the ambulance and firefighters arrived. Juárez was taken to San Francisco hospital in Juticalpa but died shortly after.

The attack took place at 9:30 a.m. on the highway between Juticalpa and Catacamas, which is about 200 kilometres from the capital.

Local radio stations reported that Mairena's car had approximately 21 bullet holes.

Both journalists worked on the program "Así es Olancho", which airs on R.Z. Television's Channel 4, and Radio Excélsior, where Mairena was the director.

Mairena was a member of the Honduran Press Association and a third-year journalism student at the Centro Universitario Regional Nor-Oriental at Juticalpa.

On 1 March, Joseph Hernández Ocho was shot and killed in Tegucigalpa and Karol Cabrera was injured in the same attack. David Meza Montesinos was killed on 11 March in La Ceiba. On 14 March, Nahúm Palacios Artiaga was killed in Tocoa, Colón.