Honduras: Gay Revolutionary Murdered By Nationalist Government Swine

Infoshop News Dec. 18, 2009

25 year-old activist Walter Trochez was murdered Monday in Tegucigalpa. He
was a gay rights advocate and a member of the National Front of Resistance
Against the Coup in
Honduras.
-----

Trochez, who had publicly reported the abuses of Roberto
Micheletti’s de facto regime was shot in Tegucigalpa’s
downtown. A few days before his death, he had been
brutally beaten by officers of the dictatorship while
they were interrogating him to extract information
about the leaders of the peaceful resistance.

The activist had recently published an article exposing
the de facto regime for its human rights violations.
The article, titled “Increase in hate crimes and
homophobia towards LGTB as a result of the
civic-religious-military coup in Honduras”,
was about how what is currently going on in Honduras
is a step backwards for the most inclusive processes
that have been taking place in Latin America
in the recent years.

“It is worth stating that the explicit support
of the church in Honduras to the military coup
of June 28, 2009 prevented holding a referendum
organized by the legitimate constitutional government,
while it put dictator Roberto Micheletti in power”,
reads the article. It also explains that homophobic
hate crimes have increased since the coup, promoted
by the Honduran church, with the complicity of the
oppressing groups.

“Once again we say it is NOT ACCEPTABLE that in
these past 4 months, during such a short period,
9 transexual and gay friends were violently killed, 6
in San Pedro Sula and 3 in Tegucigalpa”, said the
activist in his article, following several press
releases of the gay, lesbian, transexual and
bisexual community.

The young activist finished his article saying “As
a revolutionary, I will always defend my people,
even if it takes my life”.
Walter Tróchez assassinated
Mon, 12/14/2009 - 11:30 — AP

It breaks my heart to translate this.

Tegucigalpa, Honduras
December 14, 2009

El artículo de Walter

Incremento de los crímenes de odio y homofobia
hacia la Comunidad LGTTB a raíz del golpe de
Estado cívico- religioso-militar en Honduras

El golpe de Estado cívico-militar sucedido en
Honduras el 28 de junio pasado ha dado un vuelco
brutal a la nueva perspectiva que se había abierto
en el siglo XXI en América Latina. En efecto, la región
estuvo sellada en los últimos diez años por la
instauración de gobiernos de diferentes
características cuyo denominador común es que
significaron un cambio de rumbo respecto de las
políticas neoliberales que alcanzaron su apogeo
en la región en la última década del siglo XX.
En muchos casos la forma parlamentaria asumida
por los gobiernos de la región enmascaró hasta
cierto punto la continuidad e identidad de las
políticas sociales y económicas del neoliberalismo
con las instauradas en la época de las dictaduras
militares.
La situación en Honduras vuelve a hacer manifiesta
esa indisociabilidad entre las políticas sociales y
económicas neoliberales y los intereses a
cuyo servicio se perpetraron los crímenes de lesa
humanidad por gobiernos de facto.

También vuelve a hacer manifiesto un dato más o menos
disimulado por la retórica del “consenso” y la
“tolerancia” a que se pretendió reducir la noción
de democracia en el período subsiguiente a las
dictaduras militares y guerras civiles que devastaron
la región: no sólo la persistencia sino el rearme de
los sectores civiles que recurrieron en otra etapa a
las fuerzas armadas y de seguridad para imponer sus
intereses, y que ahora combinan hábilmente su
adaptación a los procedimientos democráticos con la
conocida prepotencia e ilegalidad con que se imponen
a poblaciones seminermes, semi cómplices. Sin ir más
lejos, no es difícil ver en las fuerzas que sacaron
ventaja en las elecciones legislativas en Argentina
el mismo 28 de junio el apoyo, en algunos casos
explícito, al golpe de Estado en Honduras, y una
comunidad de intereses con el empresariado, las
corporaciones mediáticas y la Iglesia Catolica y
Evangélica que lo promovieron. A nuestros efectos es
de destacar el explícito apoyo de la cúpula religiosa
de Honduras al golpe cívico militar que el 28 de junio
de 2009 impidió la realización de un plebiscito organizado
por el gobierno legitomo constitucional y colocó en
el Poder Ejecutivo a el Dictador Roberto y Micheletti.

Un comunicado de la Conferencia Episcopal de Honduras,
firmado por los once obispos de la Iglesia Católica,
justifica con supuestos fundamentos constitucionales
el secuestro, la transitoria desaparición y expulsión del
país del presidente constitucional: “las instituciones
del Estado democrático hondureño están en vigencia y
sus ejecutorias en materia jurídico-legal han sido
apegadas a derecho…”. Además define la situación
actual como “nuevo punto de partida para el diálogo,
el consenso y la reconciliación…” Por otra parte, en
consonancia con la reacción y declaraciones de los
movimientos sociales, especialmente LGTTB, campesinos,
indígenas, del país, no se hicieron esperar las
reacciones de las distintas organizaciones, Lésbicas,
Gay, Bisexuales, Transexuales, Travestis (LGTTB),
organizaciones, redes y movimientos juveniles,
organizaciones Afrodecendientes,organizaciones de mujeres,
activistas y defensores de derechos humanos,
organizaciones y redes de derechos humanos condenando el
golpe de Estado y llamando a la solidaridad regional e
internacional con el Estado de derecho y con las víctimas
de la represión del gobierno de facto.

Las organizaciones, redes y movimientos LGTTB en
resistencia por ejemplo; condenan “el golpe político
militar contra el estado de Honduras con el
apoyo financiero de los empresarios de la ultraderecha
latinoamericana y norteamericana, la promoción de las
corporaciones mediáticas nacionales, la
protección del Ombudsman mercantilista Ramón Custodio
del Comisionado Nacional de los Derechos Humano de
Honduras (CONADEH) y la bendición de las Iglesias católica y
evangélica” atraves de sus máximos representantes como
es el mismo Cardemal Oscar Andres Rodríguez,monseñor Darwin
Andino, Pasquel Rodríguez, Monseñor Garachana de la diócesis
de San Pedro Sula, el pastor Oswaldo Canales actualmente
presidente del Consejo Nacional Anticorrupción CNA, el pastor
Evelio Pistero de la Iglesia Vida y pisto Abundante, el
Pastor René Peñalba y el pastor Alberto Solórzano y los ancianos
cofundadores de la Iglesia Evangélica CCI . Expresan su
“apoyo irrestricto al regreso del orden constitucional en
Honduras que pasa por la restauración de la democracia”,
y exige “el cese de la represión que vivimos las y los
activistas y defensores de derechos humanos, las
organizaciones que nos manifestamos contra el golpe por
parte de los cuerpos militares y policiales retirados
responsables de los desaparecidos y desaparecidas de
la década del 80 en Honduras comandados por el asesino
Billy Joya.

“Por su parte la Asociación LGTTB Arcoiris y el
Colectivo TTT de la Ciudad de San Pedro Sula,
activistas y defensores de derechos humanos,
denuncian que desde el pasado 29 de junio del año en
curso horas anteriores que se había generado el
Golpe de Estado se incrementaron los crimes de odio
y Homofobia promovidos por la Cupula Religiosa
Hondureña en complicidad con los Grupos Opresores
como son la Fuerzas Armadas, la Secretaria
Nacional de Seguridad, la Empresa Privada,
los Grupos Próvida, el Opus Dei, Estos delitos
ponen una vez más en evidencia los
altos niveles de odio, estigma y discriminación
contra personas de la diversidad sexual, lo que
llamamos, homofobia, lesbofobia, bifobia, y sobre
todo transfobia, de los que somos objetos las
personas que tenemos una orientación sexual o
identidad de género diferente a la del
patrón de la norma heterosexual. En la ocasión de
la pérdida de dos amigas más esta última semana,
reiteramos que NO es ACEPTABLE que en estos últimos
4 meses, durante un tan corto periodo, hayan muerto
de forma violenta cruel e inhumana 9 compañeras
trans y compañeros gay, 6 de ellas/os en el sector
de San Pedro Sula y 3 en la ciudad de
Tegucigalpa”.

Las y los mártires de la Comunidad LGTTB.

1. Viki Hernández 29 de junio, San Pedro Sula
2. Martina Jackson 30 de junio, Choloma
3. Fabio Zamora 05 de julio, Tegucigalpa
4. Héctor Maradiaga 11 de agosto, Tegucigalpa
5. Michelle Torres 30 de agosto, San Pedro Sula
6. Salomé Miranda 20 de septiembre, Choloma
7. Saira Salmerón 20 de septiembre, Choloma
8. Marión Lanza 09 de octubre, Tegucigalpa
9. Montserrat Maradiaga 11 de octubre, San Pedro Sula.

“Sépanlo bien: ni los corrompidos (corruptos) ni los
impuros, ni los explotadores y explotadoras, que sirven al
dios Dinero, tendrán parte en el reino de Cristo y de Dios”.
“Como revolucionario, estaré hoy, mañana y siempre en
las primeras filas de mi pueblo, aún estando consiente
que se nos podrá ir la vida”.

Walter Orlando Trochez
Activista y Defensor de los Derechos Humanos de Honduras
Y Latinoamérica sector (VIH y Sida, LGTTB, Juventud
y Adolescencia, Niñez)
Móvil: + 504 – 95038128
88542680

*Escalation of hate- and homophobic crimes against the
LGBTT Community rooted in the civil-religious-military
coup d'état in Honduras.*

The civil-military coup executed in Honduras last
June 28 has brutally overturned the new approach
that had flowered in the 21st century in Latin
America. Indeed in the last ten years the region
was marked by the establishment of governments of
various characteristics whose common denominator
had been to bring about a change of direction
different from that of the neoliberal policies
that reached their apex during the last
decade of the 20th century. In many cases the
parliamentary structures assumed by the governments
in the region masked to a certain extent the
continuity and identity of neo-liberalism's
socioeconomic policies by covering them up with
policies established in the age of military
dictatorships. The Honduran situation once more
highlights the inseparability of neoliberal
socioeconomic policies from the interests of
those in whose service the crimes against humanity
by de facto governments were perpetrated.

It also reveals again a factor more or less
concealed under the rhetoric of "consensus" and
"tolerance" that tried to diminish the concept of
democracy during the period following military
dictatorships and the civil wars that devastated
the entire region; to wit: not only the persistence,
but the effective rearmament of those civil sectors who
in a previous era had resorted to the armed and
security forces in order to impose their own
interests, and who now adeptly combine
their embrace of democratic procedures with
the well-known overbearing hubris and unlawfulness
with which they dominate semi-defenseless,
semi-complicit populations. Without looking far,
it is not difficult to see in the forces that
gained the advantage in Argentina's legislative
elections also on June 28, the support—at times
explicit—for the coup in Honduras, and a commonality of
interests with the business sector, the mainstream
media and the Catholic and Christian Evangelical
churches that promoted the coup. As evidence we
can point to the explicit support given by Honduras'
religious hierarchy to the civil-military coup that
on June 28, 2009 prevented the implementation of a
plebiscite organized by the legitimate constitutional
government, and placed the dictator Roberto Micheletti
in the executive branch.

A press release issued by the Honduras Episcopal
Conference and signed by the Catholic church's
eleven Honduran bishops, justifies upon supposedly
constitutional grounds the kidnapping, disappearance
and expulsion from the country of the constitutional
President: "the institutions of the Honduran democratic
State are valid and in force, and its juridical
resolutions have abided by the law..." It
additionally defines the current situation as "a
new starting point for dialogue, consensus and
reconciliation..." In contrast, the reaction and
statements of grassroots movements in the
country, particularly LGBTT, peasants, and
indigenous groups, was the
immediate response from the various Lesbian, Gay,
Bi-Sexual, Transexual and *Travesti* organizations
(LGBTT), youth networks and movements,
Afro-Honduran groups, women's movements,
human-rights activists and defenders and
human-rights organizations and networks,
condemning the coup and calling for regional
and international solidarity both with the rule
of law and the victims of the de facto government's
repression.

For example, LGBTT organizations, networks
and movements in resistance, condemn "the
political-military coup against the Honduran State
financed by the Latin American and U.S. ultra-right
wing business sector, promoted by the national
mainstream media, covered up by the mercantilist
Ombudsman of the Honduras Commission of Human Rights
(CONADEH) Ramón Custodio, and with the blessing of
the Catholic and Evangelical churches" through their
top representatives such as Cardinal Oscar Andrés
Rodríguez himself, Monsigno Darwin Andino, Pasquel
Rodríguez, Monsignor Garachana of the San Pedro Sula
Diocese, Pastor Oswaldo Canales, the current President
of the National Anti-Corruption Council (CNA), Pastor
Evelio *Pistero* "Money-grubbing" [Reyes] of the Abundant
Life (and cash) Church, Pastor René Peñalba and
Pastor Alberto Solórzano and the senescent co-founders of
the Evangelical Church CCI. These resistance movements
express their "unconditional support
for the return of constitutional order in Honduras,
of necessity through the restoration of democracy,"
and demand "the end of the repression that
we—human-rights activists and defenders and the
organizations through which we demonstrate against
the coup–are living through, carried out by the
retired military and police forces responsible
for the disappearance of men
and women during the 1980s commanded by murderer
Billy Joya."

“For their part, the LGBTT Rainbow Association,
TTT Collective of San Pedro Sula and human-rights
activists and defenders, publicly express their
outrage that since June 29 this year, [and even]
in the hours prior to the coup, there has been an
increase in hate- and homophobic crimes promoted by
the Honduran religious hierarchy in collusion with
oppressive groups such as the Armed Forces, the National
Security Secretariat, private enterprise, pro-life groups,
and Opus Dei. These crimes once again make evident the high
levels of hate, stigmatization and discrimination
against sexually diverse people—what we call homophobia,
lesbophobia, bi-phobia and especially transgender-phobia
—targeting those of us who have a sexual identity or
orientation different from the conventional heterosexual
norm. On the occasion of the loss of two more women
friends this past week, we repeat, IT IS NOT ACCEPTABLE
to have had, in these last 4 months, in such a brief
period of time, 9 trans *compañeras* and gay *compañeros*
murdered in such a cruel and inhuman manner, 6 of them
in the San Pedro Sula sector and 3 in the city of
Tegucigalpa.”

The martyrs of the LGBTT Community:

1. Viki Hernández, June 29, San Pedro Sula
2. Martina Jackson, June 30, Choloma
3. Fabio Zamora, July 05, Tegucigalpa
4. Héctor Maradiaga, August 11, Tegucigalpa
5. Michelle Torres, August 30, San Pedro Sula
6. Salomé Miranda, September 20, Choloma
7. Saira Salmerón, September 20, Choloma
8. Marión Lanza, October 09, Tegucigalpa
9. Montserrat Maradiaga, October 11, San Pedro Sula.

“Know this well: neither the corrupted nor the exploiters
who serve Mammon [god of Wealth] will take part in the
Kingdom of Christ and of God."

"As a revolutionary I will be today, tomorrow
and forever in the first ranks
of my people, all the while knowing that I may
lose my life."

Walter Orlando Trochez
Human-Rights Activist and Defender for Honduras
and Latin America (sector HIV/AIDS, LGBTT, Youth and Adolescence, Childhood)
Mobile: + 504 – 95038128
88542680