Honduras did not experience civil war in the 1980s, but its geography (bordering El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua) made it a key location for US military operations: training Salvadoran soldiers, a base for Nicaraguan contras, military exercises for US troops. The notorious Honduran death squad Battalion 316 was created, funded and trained by the US. The state-sponsored terror resulted in the forced disappearances and extrajudicial killings of approximately 200 people during the 1980s. Many more were abducted and tortured. The 2009 military coup d’etat spawned a resurgence of state repression against the civilian population that continues today.
assassination of two LGBT rights advocates and members of Association for a Better Life (APUVIMEH) (Gloria Carolina Hernández Vásquez and Jorge Alberto Castillo) and patterns of intimidation by police against other APUVIMEH members (Sandra Zambrano, Cristian Daniel Cortes Sagastume, Silvio Gerardo Artola, Carlos Alberto Cardona Varela)
assassination of three LGBT rights advocates (Violeta R., Angy Ferreira, Juan Carlos Cruz Andara), threats against six, and attacks on four over the past five months.
death threats and tampering with vehicle of Elizabeth Zúñiga, journalist working with SITRAUNAH (Union of Workers of the National Autonomous University of Honduras)
surveillance, intimidation and harassment of Reina Lilian Rodriguez, Southern Regional Delegate of the National Human Rights Commission (CONADEH) and her team
assassination of Héctor Martínez Motiño, President of SITRAUNAH (Union of Workers of the National Autonomous University of Honduras)and a lecturer at the Choluteca campus of the university.