Leader in Honduras’ gay rights movement murdered

Leader in Honduras’ gay rights movement murdered

(AP) – 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 June 1 after he arrived home, forcing him into a vehicle. Family members alerted police but his body was found two days later in another neighborhood. He was buried on June 4.

In a statement June 3, 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 the LGBT community in the country.”

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