LGBT Human Rights Defender, Walter Trochez Assassinated in Tegucigalpa

On December 4, 2009, human rights defender Walter Trochez, member of the gay/lesbian/bisexual/trans community and active member of the National Resistance Front was kidnapped and brutally beaten in front of the Obleisco Park of Comayaguela by four hooded men in a grey pick-up truck without plates.  Months before, Trochez had denounced that a vehicle matching this description was monitoring his home and he had changed residence as a result.

On Dec. 4th, the kidnappers told him that they knew him very well and that they would kill him. They put a hook over his head, insulted him and questioned him regarding the resistance, asking questions about the leaders and their movements. That day, Trochez escaped with his life. The next day he denounced the incident before national and international bodies.

Today we received a report that Trochez was assassinated by two bullets in front of Larach and Cia in the center of Tegucigalpa.

We denounce this deplorable act before the Honduran people and the international community. This death is one more in a list of ten, suffered by the gay/lesbian/bisexual/trans community of Honduras and part of a pattern of persecution, harassment and threats directed at organizations and human rights defenders under the coup regime.

We demand that an investigation into this crime be conducted to identify those responsible and hold them accountable.

We demand that the Honduran State guarantee the physical integrity of those who defend human rights and that it respect and comply with international treaties and conventions that protect human rights defenders and the general population.

We demand that the persecution, threats and harassment of individuals, leaders and organizations that have ideological differences with the de fact regime cease.  

CIPRODEH (Centre of Investigation & Promotion of Human Rights), Honduras

'While the corporate media repeat over and over the lies of 61% turnout in recent military-run elections - by now thoroughly contradicted even by the Honduran dictatorship's own numbers (which show well over half the electorate stayed home) - in Honduras resistance continues and repression is on the rise. The latest incident is eerily reminiscent of the acts of the famous 3-16 Batallion death squad that operated in Honduras in the 1980's, many of whose members are key leaders and advisers in the de facto government.'

The Death Squads are Back

El Libertador
http://hondurasresists.blogspot.com/2009/12/death-squad-kills-five-members-of.html

Death squads have come back to do what they do. Sunday night a vehicle without plates took the lives of 5 people, all identified as members of the popular resistance against the dictatorship that was installed in the country 5 months ago.

The event occurred in sector 6 of the Villanueva neighbourhood of Tegucigalpa, where unknown men in a white vehicle without license plates opened fire without saying a word on the five now dead men who were near a traffic circle by the belt-line road.

According to one of the residents of the area, who for obvious reasons of security declined to give his name, "the boys (the victims) were active members of the Resistance. They had organized the committees in the Honduras and Víctor F Ardón neighbourhoods so that the neighbours could get involved in the Resistance Front."

The names of the deceased are: Isaac Coello, (24); Roger Reyes (22), Kenneth Rosa (23), Gabriel Parrales and Marco Vinicio Matute (39), while one woman, Wendy Reyes, was wounded and is receiving treatment at the medical school hospital.

Area residents said that in the hours prior to the bloody event, there was an agent of the National Criminal Investigation Directorate (DNIC) watching the area where the crime took place and who mysteriously left shortly before the killings.

José Luna, a sub-inspector of the Preventative Policía responded to questions about the killings by saying “Whenever there are murders, there are people who say the victims were good people." He added that the police are tracking those responsible for the massacre. So far, however, they have not been able to locate the vehicle described in the incident.

During the last few weeks, double cabin pick-ups with no plates have taken on the task of intimidating members of the Popular Resistance Against the Coup d'etat. Reporters of this publication have also complained of being followed and observed by vehicles with similar characteristics, and human rights organizations are also been aware of such anomalies.


My Comments on these tragic deaths:

THE DNIC WAS AT THE CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATING THE BODIES OF THE 5 YOUTH SHOT AS CROWDS OF HONDURANS STOOD AROUND AND WATCHED. OCCASIONALLY, A FAMILY MEMBER COULD BE HEARD CRYING OUT IN AGONY.

ARRIVING AT THE WAKE OF 3 OF THE ASSASSINATED YOUTH, FAMILY MEMBERS ASKED US (A GROUP OF JOURNALIST AND HUMAN RIGHTS INVESTIGATORS) TO AVOID FILMING FACES AND USING NAMES FOR FEAR OF FURTHER REPRESSION- FROM WHO? .... POLICE, MILITARY OR INDIVIDUALS IN THEIR COMMUNITIES.

ONE YOUNG WOMAN SURVIVED THE SHOOTINGS BUT IS UNABLE TO BE LOCATED BY HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS WHO WANT TO TAKE HER TESTIMONY, INVESTIGATE AND ENSURE HER SAFETY. IT IS SUSPECTED THAT HER FAMILY IS TRYING TO KEEP A LOW PROFILE TO AVOID BEING TARGETED & MONITORED BY POLICE & MILITARY.

SINCE THE JUNE 28TH COUP, WHEN MURDERS AND ASSASSINATIONS SUCH AS THIS ONE ARE REPORTED IN THE NEWS, ONE OF THE FIRST QUESTIONS ASKED IS 'WERE THEY PART OF THE RESISTANCE MOVEMENT?'.

AS HONDURAS CONTINUES TO BE MILITARIZED, THE STATE OF FEAR THAT ALL ARE LIVING IN CONTINUES TO DEEPEN AS IT IS BECOMING INCREASING DIFFICULT TO INVESTIGATE INTO THE DETAILS OF THESE DEATHS. FAMILY MEMBERS ARE TOO SCARED TO COME FORWARD, DENOUNCE AND ALLOW DOCUMENTATION OF THEIR CASES. IN SOME CASES, FAMILY HAVE EVEN ASKED HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS NOT TO PUBLISH ANY INFORMATION ABOUT THE DEATH OF THEIR FAMILY MEMBER. THIS MAKES IT EXTREMELY DIFFICULT FOR THE HR ORGANIZATION TO DENOUNCE THESE INTERNATIONALLY AND GET THE INFORMATION OUT TO THE HONDURAN POPULATION.

WHETHER A VICTIM OF AN ASSASSINATION IS PART OF THE RESISTANCE MOVEMENT OR NOT, THE EFFECT ON THE POPULATION IS THE SAME. FEAR.