Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
The Honduran government condemned in a statement the deaths of environmental leaders Félix Vásquez and Adam Mejía, As well as the social communicator Pedro Canelas, Occurred in the last month, at a time when he lamented the magnitude and significance that these facts represent for the country’s institutionalization.
The statement details that the relevant research units were already ordered not to spare efforts in “objective, timely and effective investigations” into these deaths, so that the Secretary of Security, He says, has advanced investigations to find those responsible for these crimes.
The leader of the Tolupán ethnic group, Adam Mejía, was shot dead by strangers last Tuesday while working on a farm located in the municipality of Morazán, in central Honduras, three days after the assassination of the peasant leader of the Lenca ethnic group, Félix Vázquez. As it turned out, they were hooded men who took the life of Vázquez, pre-candidate for deputy for the Freedom and Refoundation Party (Free), who resided in the Department of Peace.
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On December 19, Pedro Canelas, owner of Radio Bamby, died violently in the municipality of Dolç Nom de Culmí, in the department of Olancho. According to reports, he was shot dead by an unknown subject who was being transported on a motorcycle. Canyelles, a native of Gualaco did not die at the scene of the attack, as after the shooting he was taken to a care center where moments later he expired.
Locate those responsible
“The commitment to ensure that these cases do not go unpunished is ratified, so all investigations will continue to be supported so that those responsible receive the full weight of the law and to advance in the search for solutions to structural causes. which pose a risk to human rights defenders, “the executive branch added.
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The Government pledged to “improve the current shortcomings around the protection mechanism for human rights defenders, journalists, social communicators and justice operators, so that they can carry out their work in a secure and threat-free environment. “.
Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández asked the National Protection Council to hold an extraordinary session to analyze the situation and develop recommendations to improve the implementation of the National Protection System, with a commitment to support these recommendations in order to to guarantee the full exercise of the rights and freedoms recognized in these to every person.