Case History: Arcoiris
Arcoíris has continued to operate in Honduras in spite of increasingly extreme levels of violence faced by LGTBI rights defenders. From June 2015 to March 2016, six members of Arcoíris were killed in Honduras. Many others have faced intimidation, harassment and physical attacks. Some of its staff have had to leave the country because of the threats they were receiving.
Asociación Arcoiris is an organisation that provides support to LGBTI persons victims of violence, works on awareness initiatives, promotes HIV prevention programmes and lobbies the Honduran government to advance LGBTI rights in the country. It was established in 2003 and it is based in Tegucigalpa.
- Arriba
- Sobre
- 5 Abril 2016 : Attempted killing of LGBTI rights defenders Juan José Zambrano and Jlo Córdoba amidst escalating violence against LGBTI rights defenders in Honduras
- 3 Febrero 2016 : LGBTI defenders in Honduras: doubly at risk
- 29 Enero 2016 : Killing of LGTBI rights defender Paola Barraza
- 2 Septiembre 2015 : Killings of LGBTI rights defenders
- 2 Abril 2015 : Intimidation of LGBT rights defender Esdra Yaveth Sosa Sierra
- 10 Septiembre 2013 : LGBT rights organisation Asociación LGTB Arcoiris targeted with break-in and theft for second time in a week
- 4 Septiembre 2013 : Break-in and theft at offices of LGBT rights organisation Asociación LGTB Arcoiris
- 7 Mayo 2012 : Police fail to respond to attempted killing of LGBTI human rights defender Donny Reyes because they have no petrol
- 23 Marzo 2008 : LGBT human rights defender beaten and assaulted in police custody
On 29 March 2016 human rights defender and transgender woman Ms Jlo Córdoba was shot and wounded in Tegucigalpa, which followed the attempted killing of LGBTI rights defender Mr Juan José Zambrano in Ceiba, on 24 March 2016.
Jlo Córdoba is a member of Asociación LGTB Arcoíris (LGBT Rainbow Association), an organisation which works on equality and justice for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community in Honduras. Juan José Zambrano is the nephew of prominent human rights defender Ms Sandra Zambrano, director of the Asociación para una Vida Mejor de Personas Infectadas y Afectadas por el VIH/SIDA en Honduras – APUVIMEH (Association for a Better Life for People Infected with and Affected by HIV/AIDS in Honduras), of which Juan José Zambrano is also a member. APUVIMEH works with the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex community and those affected by HIV/AIDS in Honduras. It operates a shelter for people with HIV/AIDS and those of the LGBTI community called Casa Renacer and runs several projects including a program for prevention of HIV/AIDS and sexual infections, and a gay youth project.
On 29 March 2016, at approximately 8pm, Jlo Córdoba suffered an assassination attempt in the Central District in Tegucigalpa. An unidentified man approached her and fired at her twice. The human rights defender was was shot in the hand and in the chest. She was hospitalised because of her wounds and is now recovering.
On 24 March 2016 Juan José Zambrano was fired upon several times by a group of unidentified men in the city of Ceiba, Honduras. One of the bullets hit him in the rear, going straight through him and leaving him wounded in the genital area also. The human rights defender lost a lot of blood and was left for dead. This attempted assassination occurred some days after the human rights defender was kidnapped by a group of unidentified men in Tegucigalpa, on 20 March 2016. He was later released on the same day. While in captivity, the human rights defender was threatened and warned to cease with his human rights work. Juan José Zambrano's family made the decision to send him to Ceiba on 24 March 2016, where they thought he would be safer, it was at this point that the human rights defender suffered the attempted assassination.
After the incident Juan José Zambrano was taken to Hospital Atlantida, Ceiba, and on 27 March 2016 he was transferred to the hospital Instituto Hondureño de Seguridad Social, Tegucigalpa, where he is currently receiving medical attention.
LGTBI rights defenders in Honduras have continued to conduct their human rights activities in spite of increasingly extreme levels of violence faced by them. Since 23 June 2015 six LGTBI rights defenders working in country have been killed; Juan Carlos Cruz Andara, Angy Ferreira, Violeta Rivas, Gloria Carolina Hernández Vásquez (also known as Génesis Hernández), Jorge Alberto Castillo and Paola Barraza, with several more subjected to physical assault, intimidation and threats.
The killings and violence against members of APUVIMEH have occurred in spite of precautionary measures granted to them by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in 2013. Many members of Asociación LGTB Arcoíris, including its director, Mr Donny Reyes, are also beneficiaries of precautionary measures taken by the IACHR.
Front Line Defenders strongly condemns the assassination attempts against Juan José Zambrano and Jlo Córdoba, and expresses its deep concern at the climate of extreme violence facing defenders of LGTBI rights in Honduras.
Front Line Defenders urges the authorities in Honduras to:
1.Carry out an immediate, thorough and impartial investigation into the attempted killings of Juan José Zambrano and Jlo Córdoba, with a view to publishing the results and bringing those responsible to justice in accordance with international standards;
2.Take all necessary measures, in consultation with the human rights defenders or their representatives, to guarantee the physical and psychological integrity and security of Juan José Zambrano, Jlo Córdoba and all members of APUVIMEH and Asociación LGTB Arcoíris;
3. Guarantee in all circumstances that all human rights defenders in Honduras are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals and free of all restrictions.
In the evening of 24 January 2016, Paola Barraza's heard voices outside her home calling to her. When she opened the door, a group of men shot her five times. She died shortly after as a result of her wounds.
Paola Barraza is a trans woman and member of Arcoíris, an organisation which works for the lesbian, gay, trans, bisexual and intersex (LGTBI) community in Honduras. This was not the first time Paola was attacked; in August 2015 unknown men had already tried to kill her. She was shot numerous times and she was seriously injured as a result of the attack.
In the past eight months, six members of Arcoíris were killed in Honduras. As reported by PBI Honduras, the association's members have suffered 12 physical attacks from July 2015 to January 2016. Some of its staff have had to leave the country because of the threats they were receiving.
The attacks against Arcoíris reflect a growing number of targeted killings against LGBTI defenders in the country. “Everywhere we go we are despised and discriminated against,” said LGBT human rights defender Nahomy Otero to the Irish Times. “(We suffer) harassment, threats, hate attacks, rape, brutal beatings and other form of torture, many of which have been committed by police officers and other public security agents.”
The work of human rights defenders in Honduras is critical. They investigate, report on, publicise, and seek justice for the violations against their communities that may otherwise go unreported and unpunished, and in doing so they remind both the perpetrators and the victims that impunity must not continue. HRDs working for the rights of the LGBTI community face extreme obstacles, as extreme violence persists against LGBTI individuals in Honduras.
According to José Zambrano, an Honduran human rights defender, more than 200 members of the LGBTI community were killed in the country between 2008 and 2015. Among these, many were LGBTI defenders, who are doubly discriminated against: both their sexuality and their defense of human rights puts them at risk of attack.
On 18 September 2015, poet and LGBTI rights defender Ms Gloria Carolina Hernández Vásquez, also known as Génesis Hernández, was kidnapped and brought to the outskirts of Tegucigalpa, where she was killed. Witnesses say her killers verbally abused her regarding her sexual orientation and then shot her twice in the head.
In her poetry, Génesis was writing about the sexual rights of women, including lesbians and bisexual women, as a way of giving visibility to these issues. She had also taken part in many marches for LGBTI rights and she had been forced to leave her house and relocate because of the threats she was receiving.
On 6 September 2015, just two weeks before Génesis' assassination, Mr Jorge Alberto Castillo was killed. He was stoned to death near his home in El Manchén, Tegucigalpa. Both Jorge and Génesis were working with the Asociación por una Vida Mejor - APUVIMEH (Association for a Better Life), that works with the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex community and those affected by HIV/AIDS in Honduras. Jorge was a founding member of the Casa Renacer, a shelter for people with HIV/AIDS, and he was one of the first people to begin claiming LGBTI rights in Honduras.
In the summer of 2015, LGBTI rights defenders Angy Ferreira, Juan Carlos Cruz Andara and Violeta Rivas were also killed.
These killings follow a pattern of intimidation against members of the LGBTI community in Honduras. On 11 October 2015, Mr Francisco Mencia, human rights lawyer and legal advisor for APUVIMEH, was attacked close to his home in Tegucigalpa and left for dead. In the summer of 2015, the director of APUVIMEH Ms Sandra Zambrano and other staff of the organisation were intimidated by the police. Security officers brought them to a police station, where they were forced to write down that they were drunk in public, despite the fact that none of the group had been drinking. The group was held for a full day. They were not permitted to make a phone call, or given access to food or water, nor were they read their rights or informed of the reasons for their detention.
“These security incidents demonstrate the endemic violence facing Honduran LGBT organisations, which seriously affects their work and reduces the space necessary for the defence of human rights”, says PBI Honduras.
Front Line Defenders strongly condemns the killings of LGBTI human rights defenders in Honduras, and expresses its deep concern at the climate of extreme violence that LGBTI organisations are facing.
Update: on 18 February 2016, the EU delegation in Honduras published a statement condemning the killings of LGBTI defenders in the country: "We want to reiterate our sadness and our concern regarding the alarming news about new attacks.(...) It is necessary to investigate these cases and have a rigorous judicial process, so they don't remain in impunity".
On 24 January 2016, human rights defender Ms Paola Barraza was assassinated by unknown attackers in front of her house in the neighbourhood of Lempira, in Comayaguela.
Paola Barraza, a trans woman, was a member of the board of directors of Asociación LGTB Arcoíris (LGTB Rainbow Association), an organisation which works for equality and equity for the lesbian, gay, trans, bisexual and intersex (LGTBI) community in Honduras.
The human rights defender was at home on 24 January 2016 when, at approximately 8pm, unknown persons knocked at her door and called her outside. When Paola Barraza answered the door she was fired upon five times. She was shot three times in the head and twice in the chest, and died at the scene as a result of her wounds. The killing was reported to the authorities charged with investigating crimes against members of the LGTBI community, however, as of 27 January 2016, no investigator had been assigned to the case.
Paola Barraza was previously attacked in connection with her LGTBI rights work on 15 August 2015. She was shot numerous times by unknown men in the vicinity of Asociación LGTB Arcoíris offices. She was seriously injured in the attack.
The Asociación LGTB Arcoíris has continued to operate in Honduras in spite of increasingly extreme levels of violence faced by LGTBI rights defenders. Between 23 June 2015 and 31 August 2015, three LGTBI rights defenders working in country were killed, with several more subjected to physical assault, intimidation and threats.
Front Line Defenders strongly condemns the killing of human rights defender Paola Barraza, and expresses its deep concern at the climate of extreme violence facing defenders of LGTBI rights in Honduras.
On 7 September 2013, the offices of the Asociación LGTB Arcoiris (LGBT Rainbow Association) were broken into and burgled for the second time in the space of a week following a similar incident on 1 September.
The Asociación LGTB Arcoiris is an organisation that promotes equality and equity for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Honduras.
The organisation was targeted again during the early morning of 7 September 2013, when unknown assailants gained entry to the premises via the same route as a week earlier, through a window on the second floor of the building some 10 metres above the ground.
Computers, a television and other furniture were taken from the office while other security equipment, including CCTV cameras, was severely damaged. The types of items taken and damaged strongly indicate that the intruders were specifically targeting the organisation's security equipment rather than items of value in general. The route of entry also suggests that the assailants were well-prepared and specifically targeted the Asociación LGTB Arcoiris.
A complaint has been filed with the police following the incident, although it is reported that so far, the police have not visited the office premises despite the apparent intensification of the long-standing pattern of harassment and intimidation against the organisation. Staff members of the Asociación LGTB Arcoiris are currently exploring the possibility of relocating.
The Asociación LGTB Arcoiris has long been targeted with threats by influential public figures in the media, and operates in a general context where human rights defenders working in Honduras face extremely high levels of violence against them, with investigations rarely being carried out or when if they are often failing to yield results. LGBT rights defenders are particularly at risk in this climate due to widespread social hostility to their efforts to promote respect for the rights of LGBT people.
10 September 2013
LGBT rights organisation Asociación LGTB Arcoiris targeted with break-in and theft for second time in a week
On 7 September 2013, the offices of the Asociación LGTB Arcoiris (LGBT Rainbow Association) were broken into and burgled for the second time in the space of a week following a similar incident on 1 September.
The Asociación LGTB Arcoiris is an organisation that promotes equality and equity for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Honduras.
The organisation was targeted again during the early morning of 7 September 2013, when unknown assailants gained entry to the premises via the same route as a week earlier, through a window on the second floor of the building some 10 metres above the ground.
Computers, a television and other furniture were taken from the office while other security equipment, including CCTV cameras, was severely damaged. The types of items taken and damaged strongly indicate that the intruders were specifically targeting the organisation's security equipment rather than items of value in general. The route of entry also suggests that the assailants were well-prepared and specifically targeted the Asociación LGTB Arcoiris.
A complaint has been filed with the police following the incident, although it is reported that so far, the police have not visited the office premises despite the apparent intensification of the long-standing pattern of harassment and intimidation against the organisation. Staff members of the Asociación LGTB Arcoiris are currently exploring the possibility of relocating.
4 September 2013
Break-in and theft at offices of LGBT rights organisation Asociación LGTB Arcoiris
On 1 September 2013, the offices of the organisation Asociación LGTB Arcoiris (LGBT Rainbow Association) were broken into and a computer was stolen. The circumstances of the robbery indicate that it was a targeted attack, the latest in a long series of harassment acts that the organisation's leaders and members have been facing.
The Asociación LGTB Arcoiris is an organisation that promotes equality and equity for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Honduras.
The assailants entered the organisation's offices, located on Avenida República de Chile in Tegucigalpa, through the second floor windows over 10 metres above the ground. The perpetrators removed the computer that registers the organisation's security cameras. Nothing else appears to have been removed. The perpetrators then exited via the same route.
The Asociación LGTB Arcoiris has long been targeted with threats by influential public figures in the media, and operates in a general context where human rights defenders working in Honduras face extremely high levels of violence against them, with investigations that are rarely carried out or yield results. LGBT rights defenders are particularly at risk in this climate due to widespread social hostility to their efforts to promote respect for the rights of LGBT people.
7 May 2012
Police fail to respond to attempted killing of LGBTI human rights defender Donny Reyes because they have no petrol
LGBTI human rights defender Donny Reyes describes what happened when a lone gun man tried to kill him on his way to work.
"On 5 July 2012 I was leaving my home in Tegucigalpa when I spotted a man on a motor cycle on the corner who was obviously watching the house. He was about 150 netres away. This wasn't the first time I have been tracked like this so I spotted him straight away and tried to act normally.
I got into the car but as I was pulling out into the traffic I saw that he was following me and trying to catch up. I swung out into the traffic and took a sharp right – not taking the normal route.
This gave me a bit of space and I managed to double back to the house and laid low for an hour or so. Later I looked out, the coast appeared to be clear and I decided to head off to work which is quite close by – I just had to drive down the street and cross over a small bridge.
All the time I was watching in the wing and rear view mirrors but just as I was coming up to the bridge I spotted the motor cycle pulling up beside me on the passenger side and I saw him pulling out the gun and starting to take aim.
I began to think that this time they would get me but at the same time I started to think to myself – if he pulls up beside me again I will drive the car at him. I accelerated and managed to pull ahead.
He starts to catch up again and this time he starts pulling up alongside me on drivers side still with the gun out and laughing like a maniac. All this time I am pulling up over the bridge and just at that point a huge lorry was coming in the opposite direction and the gunman had to drop back.
Just as I come over the bridge I remember that there is a small local police station a couple of blocks away and I try to get there as quickly as possible hoping there will be someone on duty. A block away from the police station the gunman obviously realises where I'm headed and he drops back completely and heads off in another direction.
I have a friend who works for Colectivo Violeta and he helped me to get in touch with a lawyer in CIPRODEH and we made an official complaint to the police so that they would come and escort me to a safe place. In theory I have been granted Precautionary Measures at the request of the InterAmerican Commission for Human Rights but still we couldn't get the Human Rights Unit of the National Security Agency to do anything.
Eventually the people in CIPRODEH sent a car and brought me back to their offices where we finally managed to contact a lawyer in the National Sate Security Agency and we set up a meeting for 10.00am the next day in the Prosecutor's office and they said they would invite the Head of the National Police to attend.
At 09.30 the next morning the lawyer's assistant rings CIPRODEH and informs them that the Human Rights Unit of the National Security Agency cannot come to the meeting because they dont have any petrol for their official cars.
CIPRODEH offer to pay for the petrol by the Human Rights Unit say they couldn't accept that for ethical reasons.
Subsequently, ie 5 days later, the Under Secretary of State wrote saying how unhappy she was about what had happened.
These are her exact words.
'Firstly I want to tell how how sorry I am for this impasse which developed and which absolutely should never be allowed to happen again. I was out of the country at the time and was not notified of the problem which was caused by the fact that the garage which supplies petrol to the National Security Agency refused to give any more petrol because they had not been paid, a problem which is being resolved at this moment. However I acknowledge that this is not a valid reason for failing to deal with such a serious issue.
I believe that your case was not adequately dealt with by the staff in my office and I have in the past left instructions that in these situations they can use the car which has been assigned for my personal use. We are taking all necessary steps to remedy this situation and I urge you to contact this office to reschedule the meeting as soon as possible.
My deepest apologies for what happened, and we will take steps to ensure it will never happen again'"
22 October 2008
LGBT human rights defender beaten and assaulted in police custody
On 18 March 2007, at 03.00 am, Donny Reyes was accompanying a female colleague to a taxi outside the Arcoiris offices. Six police officers approached and demanded ID papers. Donny Reyes showed them his identity card but they ordered him into the car. He refused. They beat him saying, “We have to clear these queers from here” and forced him into the car.
At Comayagüela police station, Donny Reyes was put in a cell with 57 prisoners and a police officer reportedly said, “Look, I’ve brought you a little princess; you know what to do”.
The prisoners beat and stripped Donny Reyes. He was then gang raped by four men. In the morning the police officers offered the prisoners freedom for a bribe of 200 lempiras (US$10). Donny Reyes reported the incident to the Public Prosecutor’s office but to date there has been no progress and the principal witness has been the target of a recent assassination attempt.
Security risks mount for human rights defender Esdra Yaveth Sosa Sierra. The activist was seeking help from a women's center in Honduras on 26 March 2015, where she was discussing a recent spate of threats and harassment. Leaving the meeting, she was against harassed on the street.
In June 2014, the late Nelson Arambú told the Washington Blade that anti-LGBTI violence has “skyrocketed since the 2009 coup.” Arambu, who passed away in February 2015, said that more than 170 LGBTI Hondurans were reported killed between June 2009 and May 2014.
As a result of her continuing work for sexuality and gender rights in the Central American country, Sosa Sierra has also been the subject of a series of intimidations and death threats. On 19 March 2015, three unknown men reportedly arrived at the office of Asociación Arcoiris to ask for her. According to the information received, the attitude of the men seemed suspicious, and the men left after a few verbal exchanges with the security agent of the organisation. The previous day, on 18 March 2015, Esdra Yaveth Sosa Sierra had received an anonymous letter containing death threats against her as well as the other members of her organisation.
On 26 March 2015, Sosa Sierra, visited the women rights organisation Centro de Estudio de la Mujeres in Tegucigalpa. Her colleague, Donny Reyes Velazquez, a human rights defender who has also been the victim of harassment, assault, and assassination attempts, accompanied her to the women's rights center. As the human rights defenders left the organisation and walked two blocks looking for a taxi, an unknown man approached Sosa Sierra and asked her what she was doing there and what offices she was visiting. Sosa Sierra immediately walked away and entered the taxi with her colleague.
On 7 September 2013, the offices of the Asociación LGTB Arcoiris (LGBT Rainbow Association) were broken into and burgled for the second time in the space of a week following a similar incident on 1 September.
The Asociación LGTB Arcoiris is an organisation that promotes equality and equity for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Honduras.
The organisation was targeted again during the early morning of 7 September 2013, when unknown assailants gained entry to the premises via the same route as a week earlier, through a window on the second floor of the building some 10 metres above the ground.
Computers, a television and other furniture were taken from the office while other security equipment, including CCTV cameras, was severely damaged. The types of items taken and damaged strongly indicate that the intruders were specifically targeting the organisation's security equipment rather than items of value in general. The route of entry also suggests that the assailants were well-prepared and specifically targeted the Asociación LGTB Arcoiris.
A complaint has been filed with the police following the incident, although it is reported that so far, the police have not visited the office premises despite the apparent intensification of the long-standing pattern of harassment and intimidation against the organisation. Staff members of the Asociación LGTB Arcoiris are currently exploring the possibility of relocating.
On 1 September 2013, the offices of the organisation Asociación LGTB Arcoiris (LGBT Rainbow Association) were broken into and a computer was stolen. The circumstances of the robbery indicate that it was a targeted attack, the latest in a long series of harassment acts that the organisation's leaders and members have been facing.
The Asociación LGTB Arcoiris is an organisation that promotes equality and equity for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Honduras.
The assailants entered the organisation's offices, located on Avenida República de Chile in Tegucigalpa, through the second floor windows over 10 metres above the ground. The perpetrators removed the computer that registers the organisation's security cameras. Nothing else appears to have been removed. The perpetrators then exited via the same route.
The Asociación LGTB Arcoiris has long been targeted with threats by influential public figures in the media, and operates in a general context where human rights defenders working in Honduras face extremely high levels of violence against them, with investigations that are rarely carried out or yield results. LGBT rights defenders are particularly at risk in this climate due to widespread social hostility to their efforts to promote respect for the rights of LGBT people.
LGBTI human rights defender Donny Reyes describes what happened when a lone gun man tried to kill him on his way to work.
"On 5 July 2012 I was leaving my home in Tegucigalpa when I spotted a man on a motor cycle on the corner who was obviously watching the house. He was about 150 netres away. This wasn't the first time I have been tracked like this so I spotted him straight away and tried to act normally.
I got into the car but as I was pulling out into the traffic I saw that he was following me and trying to catch up. I swung out into the traffic and took a sharp right – not taking the normal route.
This gave me a bit of space and I managed to double back to the house and laid low for an hour or so. Later I looked out, the coast appeared to be clear and I decided to head off to work which is quite close by – I just had to drive down the street and cross over a small bridge.
All the time I was watching in the wing and rear view mirrors but just as I was coming up to the bridge I spotted the motor cycle pulling up beside me on the passenger side and I saw him pulling out the gun and starting to take aim.
I began to think that this time they would get me but at the same time I started to think to myself – if he pulls up beside me again I will drive the car at him. I accelerated and managed to pull ahead.
He starts to catch up again and this time he starts pulling up alongside me on drivers side still with the gun out and laughing like a maniac. All this time I am pulling up over the bridge and just at that point a huge lorry was coming in the opposite direction and the gunman had to drop back.
Just as I come over the bridge I remember that there is a small local police station a couple of blocks away and I try to get there as quickly as possible hoping there will be someone on duty. A block away from the police station the gunman obviously realises where I'm headed and he drops back completely and heads off in another direction.
I have a friend who works for Colectivo Violeta and he helped me to get in touch with a lawyer in CIPRODEH and we made an official complaint to the police so that they would come and escort me to a safe place. In theory I have been granted Precautionary Measures at the request of the InterAmerican Commission for Human Rights but still we couldn't get the Human Rights Unit of the National Security Agency to do anything.
Eventually the people in CIPRODEH sent a car and brought me back to their offices where we finally managed to contact a lawyer in the National Sate Security Agency and we set up a meeting for 10.00am the next day in the Prosecutor's office and they said they would invite the Head of the National Police to attend.
At 09.30 the next morning the lawyer's assistant rings CIPRODEH and informs them that the Human Rights Unit of the National Security Agency cannot come to the meeting because they dont have any petrol for their official cars.
CIPRODEH offer to pay for the petrol by the Human Rights Unit say they couldn't accept that for ethical reasons.
Subsequently, ie 5 days later, the Under Secretary of State wrote saying how unhappy she was about what had happened.
These are her exact words.
'Firstly I want to tell how how sorry I am for this impasse which developed and which absolutely should never be allowed to happen again. I was out of the country at the time and was not notified of the problem which was caused by the fact that the garage which supplies petrol to the National Security Agency refused to give any more petrol because they had not been paid, a problem which is being resolved at this moment. However I acknowledge that this is not a valid reason for failing to deal with such a serious issue.
I believe that your case was not adequately dealt with by the staff in my office and I have in the past left instructions that in these situations they can use the car which has been assigned for my personal use. We are taking all necessary steps to remedy this situation and I urge you to contact this office to reschedule the meeting as soon as possible.
My deepest apologies for what happened, and we will take steps to ensure it will never happen again'"
On 18 March 2007, at 03.00 am, Donny Reyes was accompanying a female colleague to a taxi outside the Arcoiris offices. Six police officers approached and demanded ID papers. Donny Reyes showed them his identity card but they ordered him into the car. He refused. They beat him saying, “We have to clear these queers from here” and forced him into the car.
At Comayagüela police station, Donny Reyes was put in a cell with 57 prisoners and a police officer reportedly said, “Look, I’ve brought you a little princess; you know what to do”.
The prisoners beat and stripped Donny Reyes. He was then gang raped by four men. In the morning the police officers offered the prisoners freedom for a bribe of 200 lempiras (US$10). Donny Reyes reported the incident to the Public Prosecutor’s office but to date there has been no progress and the principal witness has been the target of a recent assassination attempt.
