An Italian journalist criticized Honduran soldiers for intimidating and threatening foreign press members who were covering the International Gathering for Human Rights, held in the Lower Aguán, a valley in northern Honduras where farm workers seeking to reclaim their lands have suffered repression and abuse, reported the organization C-Libre.

Giorgio Trucchi, a correspondent for the News Agency of Uruguay, said that on Sunday, Feb. 19, a group of journalists was stopped by a military patrol. Without any explanation as to why they had been stopped, the journalists began to photograph and videotape the incident, according to the news website Conexihon. Then the soldiers began using their weapons to intimidate the journalists, even threatening to confiscate their equipment, added Trucchi. Finally, the military patrol let the journalists, who work for Argentine, Italian, Spanish, American, Brazilian, Norwegian and Uruguayan publications, to go freely.