B’nai B’rith International is urging David Romero, director of Radio Globo in Honduras, to renounce his anti-Semitic remarks concerning the recent coup that forced President Manuel Zelaya Rosales into exile in June. There is no place for Romero’s dangerous and offensive language in a democratic nation.

In a hate-filled speech against the Jewish community this week, Romero said a number of times, “Sometimes I wonder whether Hitler was right to have finished with that race, with the famous Holocaust.”

Such incitement of hatred and violence should not be tolerated by nations of good character and by citizens in a democratic society.

With a strong presence across Latin America, B’nai B’rith International is deeply involved in issues of concern to both the Jewish and secular communities in the region. Tolerance and understanding are the hallmarks of a civil and democratic nation. Anyone who runs a media operation, with its public audience, has a solemn responsibility in a democracy not to incite hatred and violence, and Romero has made a mockery of the public trust.