Telesur Reporters Beaten in Honduras

Caracas, June 30th 2009 (Venezuelanalysis.com) – Three members of the news crew of Telesur, the Latin American TV channel initiated by the Venezuelan government, were detained on Monday. They were filming military repression against demonstrators protesting the coup against the democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya from the rooftop of a building in Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital. Four Associated Press reporters were also detained.

Telesur interrupted live coverage of the emergency meetings of Latin American heads of state in Nicaragua discussing the crisis in Honduras, to broadcast the cries of Adriana Sivori, Telesur correspondent in Tegucigalpa, as she was arrested along with her camera crew by Honduran military forces.

The last thing Sivori said before the broadcast was cut was that she was being transferred to an unknown location.

Madelein García, another Telesur correspondent, attempted to interview members of the Honduran military who said that they had taken the reporters to the Hotel Marriott. García also said that the military had contacted Telesur repeatedly throughout the afternoon demanding that they stop transmitting images of what was occurring.

Later after being released, Sívori said, "We were transferred to immigration at gunpoint and they gave us back out passports. We were kidnapped, we were beaten by two members of the army who transferred us at gunpoint."

The Honduran military has shut down radio and television stations since the coup, including Telesur and the Spanish CNN, in a move that has received international condemnation. Private television stations supporting the coup have imposed a blackout, broadcasting cooking shows, cartoons and soap operas despite the protests across the country and international repudiation of the coup.