Honduras: ‘They can’t clip our wings’
Honduras: ‘They can’t clip our wings’
7 December 2013
For over 30 years, a group of human rights defenders in Honduras has been a beacon of hope for people whose rights have been violated.
Ebed Yanez, 15, left his house in Tegucigalpa late at night on 26 May 2012, without telling his parents. Riding his father’s motorbike without a licence, he went to meet a girl. But going out at night in the Honduran capital is dangerous. Ebed never came home.
The next day, his worried parents looked for him everywhere, until they found his dead body at the morgue. He had been shot.
Wilfredo Yanez, Ebed’s father, wanted justice for his son. He followed leads and collected evidence, putting himself at great risk. A few days later, Wilfredo discovered that soldiers had shot Ebed after he failed to stop at an army checkpoint.
Wilfredo complained to the Public Prosecutor, but he didn’t hold out much hope that they would help him. After the 2009 military coup, Honduras’ state institutions became even weaker than before. And the already worrying human rights situation worsened.
According to UN statistics, Honduras has the world’s highest murder rate, and only 20 per cent of all criminal cases are investigated. It is one of the poorest countries in the Americas, with 60 per cent of the population living in poverty.
More:
http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/honduras-they-can-t-clip-our-wings-2013-12-05