Government of Honduras acknowledges its responsibility in the murder of transgender activist Vicky Hernandez

On September 17, 2021, PBI-Honduras tweeted:

“PBI accompanied the Asociación LGTB Arcoiris at the forum on the ruling of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights that declared the State of Honduras responsible for the death of Vicky Hernandez, trans woman activist after the coup in 2009. The event focuses on the trans situation in Latin America and the challenges of the Gender Identity Act that LGTBIQ rights defenders are promoting.”

In June 2021, The Guardian reported: “In a landmark ruling for transgender rights, the Honduras government has been found responsible for the 2009 murder of the trans woman and activist Vicky Hernández.”

“Hernández was killed on the first night of the June 2009 coup d’état, in which the Honduran military ousted President Manuel Zelaya.”

That article also notes: “Lawyers working on Hernández’s case argued that state agents actually committed the murder.’”

Now, Los Angeles Blade reports: “The government of Honduras on Monday [May 9] publicly acknowledged it is responsible for the 2009 murder of a Transgender activist.”

“Solicitor General Manuel Antonio Díaz Galeas and Foreign Minister Eduardo Enrique Reina García were among those who attended Monday’s ceremony that took place in front of Colectivo Unidad Color Rosa’s offices. President Xiomara Castro, who took office in January, participated virtually.”

That article also notes: “Kerry Kennedy, president of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, which represented Hernández’s family alongside Cattrachas, a lesbian feminist human rights group that is based in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa, also attended alongside Hernández’s mother, Rosa Hernández.”

Cattrachas has stated that more than 400 LGBTQ+ people have been killed in Honduras since the coup took place in 2009.

The Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project has accompanied Arcoíris, the LGTB Association of Honduras, since July 2015.

Vicky Hernandez.