[1] According to one account, which was reportedly based on information provided by Argeñal's neighbors, his failure to show up for a 7 pm broadcast and to answer his phone led a colleague at Globo to go to his home.
The officers who replied to the summons were led by José Luis Flores Ordóñez, deputy chief of the local constabulary of the National Police.
[4] One report indicated that the news of Argeñal's death was communicated to the Globo program “El Noticiero Mi Nacion” by his friend Marco Antonio Moncada, also a resident of Danlí.
[7] The Honduran newspaper La Prensa reported that at least 37 media figures, including Argeñal, had been assassinated during the previous four years, and that none of these murders had been solved.
[5] After Argeñal's death, Amnesty International stated that he had “reported about corruption in local government” and that in July 2013 he had told the Committee of Relatives of the Detained and Disappeared in Honduras (Comité de Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos en Honduras, COFADEH), a human-rights group, that “he had been intimidated because of his work.” He had told COFADEH “that he had felt pressure from local authorities who summoned him twice concerning broadcasting permits.” He had “attended both meetings and...feared such requests had been provoked by his journalism.” Amnesty International said that a “full and impartial investigation” into Argeñal's murder was “urgently needed.”[10] Two days after Argeñal's body was found, the committee to Protect Journalists, which had previously “found a pattern of botched and negligent investigative work into the killings” of other Honduran journalists,[3] called on Honduran authorities to launch a full investigation into the murder, to identify a motive, and to bring the perpetrators to justice.
“We call on Honduran authorities to fully investigate this murder, including a motive related to journalism, and bring those responsible to justice,” said Carlos Lauría, CPJ's senior Americas program coordinator.
“As Honduras faces political tension resulting from the November presidential elections and prepares for a new administration, authorities must ensure that journalists can report the news and without the violent reprisals they faced after the events of 2009.”[3] After Argeñal's murder, Reporters Without Borders (RWB) noted that “Globo is one of the few national broadcasters to criticize the June 2009 coup d'état” and that its employees “have paid a high price for this for the past four years,” including “military occupation of their premises, confiscation of their equipment and targeted murders.
Does it signal the start of a new crackdown at a time when the country's future seems more uncertain than ever?” RWB added: “We fear the worst, and we regret the international community's inadequate response to this disaster.
The priority right now is that authorities investigate this new crime.”[6] Argeñal's funeral took place at the Church of the Immaculate Conception (el templo Inmaculada Concepción) in Danlí.