Since the military coup on June 28, 2009, there have been sixteen known murders in the Honduran LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community.

The latest victim was Walter Tróchez, a 27 year-old gay rights activist and member of the National Front of Resistance Against the Coup d'Etat. He was shot in a drive-by attack by unknown assailants and died several hours later in a hospital

Since the ousting of the country's democratically elected government, a climate of impunity has enabled systematic acts of transphobic and homophobic violence. Nobody has been brought to justice for any of these crimes, many of which were committed publicly. More deaths of LGBT people have likely gone unreported.

The human rights of people in all sectors of Honduran society are being systematically violated as the direct result of the military coup. However, the accelerated rate at which LGBT people have been killed in the last five months suggests a targeted pattern of violence.

The work of Walter Tróchez, the most recent victim of this violence, included dissemination of information about human rights in Honduras. As an LGBT activist, Tróchez also reported on the human rights of LGBT people during the coup, and advocated for HIV/AIDS prevention and combating religious fundamentalism.

Like others in Honduras, Tróchez faced significant abuse for his political and human rights activism and his sexual orientation, which escalated after the coup. On July 20 2009 he was detained by authorities for participating in a peaceful, sit-down protest across from the Congress of the Republic. During his detention, he was brutally beaten and denigrated because of his sexual orientation. Then, on December 4, Tróchez was kidnapped and beaten by four masked men who came in a gray pickup truck without license plates, suspected by activists to come from the police investigative unit. He managed to escape and file a complaint to national and international authorities just days before he was murdered.

Three days before the murder, on December 10, 2009 Honduran LGBT human rights defender Indyra Mendoza spoke to State and civil society representatives at the United Nations in New York. Mendoza warned that the situation of LGBT people in Honduras is dire, calling for "states free of discrimination for sexual orientation and gender identity [and] free from impunity" and challenging religious organizations' roles in supporting the coup.

A spokesman for IGLHRC (The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission) said:
"All people have the rights to life, security, and freedom from discrimination regardless of their sexual orientation, gender identity, or political beliefs. IGLHRC condemns the systemic persecution and murder of LGBT people and human rights defenders in Honduras and calls for an end to the impunity that allows this violence and oppression to thrive."

For more information view:
www.iglhrc.org