Global Courant 2023-04-25 19:54:53
San Pedro Sula, Honduras. On March 16, the young Daniel Ernesto Padilla was found lifeless and in mysterious conditions in front of his car near Zambrano, on the CA-5 highway, where relatives, in the absence of prosecutors and forensics, had to carry out the uprising and take him away in the midst of anguish and pain.
Four days later, on March 20, Ana Lizeth Hernández was found dead, whose husband, an officer of the Honduran Armed Forces (FF.AA), was identified as the main suspect in her murder. He was summoned and later released due to lack of evidence, since he argued that it was a suicide due to the context in which it happened, there was no one to accuse either.
It was not until two days later, after constant public and family pressure, that they performed an autopsy on the victim and the result of which remains unknown.
These two cases are only part of the trail of events where there was no adequate approach as a result of the crisis that lasted more than 70 days by the staff of the Public Ministry and Forensic Medicine in Honduras.
The population was unable to file complaints in most of the offices of the State prosecution body because its employees were demanding a 25% salary increase (10% of an improvement in remuneration and 15% for cost of living). They argued that they had not received benefits of this type for about 10 years, so they had no choice but to take to the streets, protest and paralyze activities.
While the population bordered on the fine line of defenselessness, crimes continued latent and the “rain” of bodies without official recognition by the authorities occurred in the streets.
According to figures from the Security Secretary, 800 homicides occurred between January 1 and April 13 of this year nationwide. The only thing that is known is that among the main victims were laborers, farmers, farmers and housewives. The Central District, San Pedro Sula and Choloma were the main areas with the highest criminal incidence.
A report from the Coordinator of Private Institutions for Girls, Boys, Adolescents, Youth and their Rights (Coiproden), as of March 31, reported with “concern” that of the total number of victims up to then, 36 were girls and boys between the ages of 0 and 18, as well as 115 young people between the ages of 19 and 30. Meanwhile, the Violence Observatory of the National Autonomous University of Honduras (AN H), reported that of the global deaths between January 1 and March 6, 78 were women, as well as nine members of the LGTBIQ+ community, according to organizations.
risks
What happened with the cadaveric uprisings is something never seen before in the history of this country, because according to data analyzed by LA PRENSA Premium, only between February 23 (17 days after the start of the protest) and March 26 of this year, a total of 237 bodies products of homicides were not taken to morgues, much less treated by specialized personnel. This means that they handed them over to relatives even knowing that the scenes were being contaminated and affecting the course of the investigations. Of the total of these events, 35 were reported in Cortés, 31 in Francisco Morazán and 23 in Olancho.
At the same time, official information indicated that only 12 bodies were taken to forensic facilities, although the details are unknown, considering that they had been in an active strike since February 6. These reports came from the departments of Francisco Morazán, Islas de la Bahía and Santa Bárbara.
It was also learned that there were no autopsies or surveys of at least 42 events classified as accidental, 16 indeterminate cases, 13 apparent suicides, 11 road accidents, five events recorded solely for investigation, among others.
From other information compiled by this means, it was learned that during the month of February (when the paralysis began), especially in the first days, some bodies were not taken to morgues due to opposition from relatives, but forensic doctors were present.
As the situation escalated in subsequent days, they also did not perform autopsies in cases particularly linked to homicides and accidents. Later, throughout March there were episodes in various circumstances; that is, in certain events there was the presence of prosecutors, but not of forensic doctors, in others both participants did not attend, and in a third of the events Justices of the Peace arrived, who limited themselves to taking notes and all the bodies were handed over to relatives to be buried in their places of origin.
obstacles
orlando merinoformer director of Forensic Medicine in San Pedro Sula, described the situation as “serious” because scientific evidence has not been provided and this contributes to many defendants being released from prison without prosecuting their cases.
“What is happening in the country is something serious because we see that scientific evidence has not been provided”: Orlando Merino, former regional forensic director
“The scientific proof was lost from the moment they handed over bodies to relatives and it is a lie that there will be the capacity to exhume so many,” the former coordinator predicted. Merino commented that the institution contributes a lot to the cases and that now it is not being worked as it should be, will increase impunity.
The National Human Rights Commissioner (Conadeh) views with concern the “mantle of impunity” with which those who violate the right to life in the country are covered and, although in some cases there are detainees for alleged responsibility, 100% of massacres committed during 2023 remain unpunished.
“Not starting the investigation in a timely manner prevents the preservation of the evidence in each case”: Carlos Méndez, director of the Conadeh National Observatory
Carlos Mendezdirector of the National Human Rights Observatory, recalled that from the beginning they emphasized the responsibility of the State to build a real and timely response for all those affected without exception.
“Not initiating an investigation in a timely manner prevents preserving the evidence, identifying witnesses and other situations related to the correct exercise of public action,” questioned the agency’s representative. In turn, he explained that the situation they are facing is not of recent date, since it only shows a neglect that responds to the historical behavior of the state apparatus.
For his part, seyda gonzaleza forensic psychologist and public security expert, regretted that Honduras continues with high levels of impunity.
“Crime took advantage of the situation of the crisis because they did not carry out expertise or investigations, there were no uprisings like before. Prosecutor and forensic work represents at least 70% of cases, revealing to us how the event occurred, when it happened, how it happened, who is involved, if it was an open or closed scene, what type of weapon was used; but all this is lost since they hand over bodies to relatives,” said González, who also pointed out that trying to exhume a corpse later is useless because the collection of evidence is weakened by the conditions.
“There is no impunity on our part, we have covered many cases and attended hearings”: Pamela Cruz, spokesperson for prosecutors in protest
on your side, pamela cruzfrom the Association of Prosecutors, disagreed with the position of certain sectors that project an exponential growth of impunity, since they assure that they have not stopped dealing with cases in flagrante delicto and attended multiple hearings in courts, including those who have expired in preventive detention (2 years).
“Although the buildings have been closed, we have always worked, we are not going to allow there to be impunity,” he said. The prosecutor declared that they have already reached agreements with authorities from the economic level, but they still ask for no labor, civil or administrative persecution once they return to their posts.
The unstable rhythm of body removals and autopsies violates justice and that those responsible are brought before the law, which can lead to impunity. As a palliative to the crisis, on March 14, the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ) announced that Justices of the Peace would carry out surveys and identification and indicated that once work returned to normal, if necessary, prosecutors would be in the power to request exhumations for case investigations.
According to Article 59 of the Honduran Code of Criminal Procedure, one of the exclusive powers of Justices of the Peace is “to carry out the removal and identification of corpses in the absence of the prosecutor.”
The instruction also sought that emergency situations that involve cadaveric lifting, such as those that have been occurring at the national level, do not evolve into a major emergency that means putting the established criminal process at risk, much less the health of people.
THE PREMIUM PRESS The Judiciary was consulted for the statistics of uprisings where there was a presence of Justices of the Peace since these functions began, but the data was not obtained at the close of this edition.
Public Ministry ends strike
After nearly three months of not reaching a consensus, yesterday Tuesday, workers of the Public Ministry ended the strike that they were holding, demanding an increase in their salary and no reprisals when they returned to their duties.
The employees reached agreements with Assistant Attorney General Daniel Sibrián on a salary readjustment. The president of the Association of Prosecutors of Honduras, Víctor Marín, affirmed that the agreement with the authorities was reached until Monday and that between Tuesday and Wednesday all the employees of the institution will return to their positions. He pointed out that the agreement establishes an increase of 3,600 lempiras for each employee and that none will have retaliation for participating in the strike.
The protest by prosecutors, investigators, and forensic doctors affected the removal and identification of corpses, which is why many were removed by their relatives.
