Two unidentified gunmen killed a radio journalist in Honduras, while two other attackers shot to death a television reporter in neighboring Guatemala on Wednesday.
Assailants stopped Rafael Munguia, 36, as he was driving Tuesday night in the city of San Pedro Sula, dragged him from his vehicle and shot him at least eight times, according to a news release from the San Pedro Sula police department.
Munguia had reported on the wave of violent crime in Honduras, but it was not immediately clear if the shooting was tied to Munguia's work.
Munguia worked for Cadena Voces radio station. The station's news coordinator, Denis Cano, said the slain journalist had recently been reporting on the country's violent crime wave.
Munguia's colleague, Carlos Salgado, was shot to death outside the station in October 2007. A month later, the station's director, Dagoberto Rodriguez, left Honduras for two months after receiving death threats.
Cadena Voces went on the air in 2006. The radio station is often critical of President Manuel Zelaya's leftist administration.
In Guatemala, two attackers riding a motorcycle shot to death Rolando Santis of the Telecentro 13 television station and seriously wounded cameraman Juan Antonio de Leon Villatoro, said firefighter Mario Cruz.
Firefighters frequently respond to such emergencies in Guatemala.
The two journalists were driving a company car when the attack occurred Wednesday; the vehicle smashed into a group of street stands after the attack.
The Honduran station, Cadena Voces, went on the air in 2006. The radio station is often critical of President Manuel Zelaya's leftist administration.
Zelaya's government announced a series of measures Wednesday to crack down on crime, including allowing the state telephone company to obtain court orders to record cellular phone conversations and read e-mails sent from computers at Internet cafes or hotels. The government also is banning tinted windows on public buses.
Last year, violent crime claimed 7,235 lives in this Central American nation of nearly 8 million people. That represented a 25 percent increase over 2007.
