Honduras journalist escapes attack after reporting on WikiLeaks cable

The director of an educational radio station in Honduras narrowly escaped an attack by armed gunmen after he spoke on air about a leaked U.S. State Department cable released by WikiLeaks, according to the media rights group Reporters Without Borders.

Ten masked gunmen were waiting for Arnulfo Aguilar, the director of Radio Uno, near his house after he reported on the leaked document, which accused the Honduran army of selling arms to drug cartels in Colombia and Mexico.

The State Department cable noted that serial numbers on light anti-tank weapons and grenades recovered in Mexico and Colombia matched the numbers on arms that had previously been sold to Honduras.

Aguilar said he managed to avoid a number of the gunmen and others fled after hearing him call his neighbors and the police for help. His radio station supports the opposition National Front for Popular Resistance.

"The ordeal continues for the opposition and community media," Reporters Without Borders said. "Given the past threats and attacks by the security forces against Radio Uno, there is every reason to suspect that they were behind this latest attack on its founder and director, because of what it had just reported."

The station was forced off the air by an act of sabotage in August 2010 and its journalists have been attacked and beaten by police.

"We express our full support for Aguilar and the rest of Radio Uno’s staff," Reporters Without Borders said. "The Inter-American institutions and the international community must demand that the Honduran authorities carry out a thorough investigation to determine the degree of involvement of the security forces in this ambush."