[rapid-response] HONDURAN STREET YOUTH MURDERED BY POLICE
owner-rapi...@casa-alianza.org
HONDURAN STREET YOUTH MURDERED BY POLICEMAN
Seventeen year old Alexander Obando Reyes, resident of Casa
Alianza Honduras, was shot to death by a uniformed policeman in
Tegucigalpa, Honduras this past Saturday evening.
Alexander was together with Luis Sosa, another teenager served
by Casa Alianza, in the La Merced Park in downtown Tegucigalpa
on Saturday, April 10th at approximately 10pm when, according to
witnesses, a uniformed policeman - seemingly under the influence
of alcohol - arrived to the park. The policeman started to argue with
the youth and threatened them.The policeman drew his gun and
fired a shot into the air.
Frightened, Alexander - who was learning to be a carpenter - ran
away, passing by the old Presidential palace on the street where
the Central Bank is located. The youth stopped a blue taxi and got
in, but the policeman fired a shot at the taxi, which stopped at the
corner of the old Presidential palace and the Mallol bridge, which
crosses the Choluteca river. Alexander got out and was fired upon
by the policeman, who mortally wounded the youngster in the
abdomen and the thorax. The boy fell into the river and the
policeman ran off.
Whilst the policeman was shooting at Alexander, Luis was given
protection by a lady street vendor, Juana Duron, who started
screaming at the policeman to stop.
The police were called and a patrol car came and, together with the
ambulance service, they scooped Alexander out of the
contaminated river and took him to the Hospital Escuela where he
immediately underwent surgery. The boy's condition did not
improve as his lungs were damaged by the policeman's bullet, and
he underwent a second operation early on Sunday morning, but he
died a few hours later. Alexander was an orphan and had been in
the Casa Alianza residential programs since 1997.
Casa Alianza claimed Alexander's body from the morgue on
Monday, April 12th at 5:30pm and a wake was held in a private
funeral home that evening. The boy was buried this morning at
10am in the Casa Alianza graveyard in the "Divine Paradise"
cemetery in Comayaguela, accompanied by more than 100
children from the program.
Casa Alianza's Legal Aid Office - financed by DanChurchAid - has
made a formal complaint to the Office of Professional
Responsibility of the National Police and with the First Criminal
Judge of Letters in Tegucigalpa. Reports have also gone to Dr. Leo
Valladares, the Human Rights Commissioner; and the First Lady of
Honduras, Mary Flakes.
PLEASE take the time to write to the following Honduran
authorities asking for:
- the IMMEDIATE investigation of Alexander's murder and the
prosecution of the uniformed policeman responsible
- training of the National Police in children's human rights (which
has been offered free of charge on many occasions by Casa
Alianza)
- moreservices for the several thousand street children in
Tegucigalpa, who's numbers have increased 20% since the impact
of Hurricane Mitch.
Comisionado Alvaro Flores Ponce, Director of the National Police.
Fax +504-237-9070
Roy Edmundo Medina, Fiscal General del Estado.
Fax +504-239-4751
Honduran Embassy to the European Union
10610...@compuserve.com
Honduran Embassy Colombia
emho...@anditel.andinet.lat.net
Honduran Embassy Sweden Fax: +46-8-720-7695
Honduran Embassy England
EHLO...@aol.com
Honduran Embassy USA
embh...@ix.netcom.com
And to the following Honduran media:
Honduras This Week <hont...@hondutel.hn>
El Heraldo <hera...@datum.hn>
La Tribuna <tri...@david.intertel.hn>
La Prensa <lapr...@simon.intertel.hn>
Canal 5-TV <t...@optinet.hn>
PLEASE SEND A COPY TO:
And thank you, for Alexander's sake…..
Ana de Lara
Casa Alianza / Covenant House America Latina
Oficina Regional para America Latina
San Jose, Costa Rica
e-mail: ana...@casa-alianza.org
Teléfono: +(506) 253-5439
Fax: +(506) 224-5689
Dirección Postal:
SJO 1039 / PO Box 025216
Miami FL, 33102-5216 USA
Home Page <http://www.casa-alianza.org>
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