Leader of Honduras’ gay community abducted, murdered
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras – A leader in Honduras’ gay community has been buried several days after he was kidnapped and killed in the city of San Pedro Sula.
Rene Martinez, 39, was a city employee working in anti-violence outreach programs and a rising member of the National Party.
The attorney general’s office said in a statement that his body showed signs of having been strangled. No motive for his murder was given.
Martinez’s family said in a statement that assailants kidnapped him on Wednesday after he arrived home, forcing him into a vehicle. Family members alerted police but his body was found two days later in another neighbourhood. He was buried on Saturday.
In a statement Friday, the U.S. Embassy in Honduras condemned his murder and called for a thorough investigation.
Joani Garcia, director of the National Forum on AIDS, called Martinez “one of the main defenders of lesbians, gays, transsexuals and intransexuals in the country.”
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