Honduras 2023: The government remains in debt to the LGBTI+ population, and violence is on the rise.
In the last two years, 93 sexual dissidents were murdered.
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TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras. The long wait seemed to be over. When she saw the email, her heart leapt. The message from the Honduran government confirmed that she had been selected to receive the Vicky Hernández 2023 educational scholarship .
In the message that arrived in her email on July 27 of this year, the Ministry of Social Development (Sedesol) congratulated the scholarship winner for her commitment to her studies, her application and academic responsibility.
Vicky Hernández and others vs. Honduras appeared to have been partially fulfilled , allowing trans people to complete their technical or university studies.
The scholarship is one of the reparations that the State of Honduras committed to making after the Inter-American Court of Human Rights for the murder of trans activist Vicky Hernández in 2009.
However, five months of promises have passed and there is no sign of the scholarship.
A scholarship recipient without a scholarship
For more than 150 days, the young woman chosen has received constant promises. But no one has transferred the promised funds for her to continue her studies at a university in northern Honduras.
“I was thrilled. I was so happy because I saw a bigger opportunity to study with better access because, even when you're paying, there's always transphobia, and many times I had to drop classes,” the student recounted.
The scholarship recipient, who ironically has not received a scholarship, was chosen from among 29 applicants after the official newspaper La Gaceta published the ministerial agreement signed by Secretary José Carlos Cardona to create the Vicky Hernández scholarship on May 26, 2023.
The Cattrachas Lesbian Network announced in an advertising campaign a grant of 100,000 lempiras annually. But the winning student has so far received nothing but empty promises from the government.
“They told me I was going to be released in September, but it didn’t happen. They told me I was going to be released in October, then after October they said November, and that it wouldn’t go past November,” the young trans woman recounted in an interview for Presentes and Reportar Sin Miedo .
Just when she had given up all hope, government representatives called her again on Thursday, December 21, to tell her that they would make the first deposit in January 2024.
“Then they told me it would be in December and that it wouldn’t go past December, and the day before yesterday [December 20] they told me that probably due to the delay and that they are paying other scholarships, mine might not come out until January.”
However, officials contradicted themselves a day later when they announced on Friday, December 22, that they had canceled the scholarship because the winner studies at a private university in northern Honduras.
The excuses the government makes
The cancellation of the scholarship was announced by the government in a letter signed by the Minister of the Secretariat of Social Development (Sedesol), José Carlos Cardona.
The Sedesol document bases its argument for the cancellation on the fact that the annual subsidy covers studies "at a public institution in Honduras" and not at a private university.
“We cannot proceed with the payment to the young woman since she does not meet the objective eligibility criteria established in the sentence, which explicitly states the requirement to study at a public educational center in the country,” the government document states.
When asked about the case, Minister José Carlos Cardona argued that the ruling requires the scholarship to be given to a student from a public institution.
“The international ruling obliges the State of Honduras to provide a scholarship to a student studying at a public institution. However, the young woman nominated by Cattrachas studies at Ceutec, a private institution,” Cardona told Presentes and Reportar Sin Miedo .
“We have sent them an official letter requesting that they assign the scholarship to another person. We are happy to offer a solidarity scholarship to the person they are proposing, who, as you can see in the screenshot, does not meet the requirement. I am sending you the full document of the international ruling,” the minister added.
Contradictions in the defense of LGBT people
In this regard, an official from the Ministry of Development, who chose to protect his identity for fear of reprisals, told Presentes and Reportar Sin Miedo that the institution has made significant progress, such as the international forum and some specific support for LGBTIQ+ people.
However , the interviewee added, Sedesol itself has fired several LGBTIQ+ people without justification and allowed institutional violence against some people, as well as external violence.
These contradictions are aggravated when recalling that Minister Cardona expressed his hope on May 17, 2022, that “love will conquer hate” at a United Nations forum for the International Day Against LGBTI+ Hate.
“All social phobias in Honduras find fertile ground to flourish, bearing painful thorns in the lives of those who are victims of the system, but we are in new times. Love will conquer hate,” Cardona said on that occasion.
Although Cardona has withdrawn support for scholarship recipient Vicky Hernández, 103,622 people have benefited from hundreds of millions of lempiras in scholarships across the country. According to the Solidarity Scholarships Program , 2023 ended with a total investment of 743,278,250 lempiras (US$30,105,249) in grants.
The case of the scholarship recipient without a scholarship is another example of the violence against LGBTIQ+ people that has intensified during the two years of President Xiomara Castro's administration.
Broken promises
Violence against the LGBTIQ+ population in Honduras has intensified since January 2022, when President Xiomara Castro, from the center-left party Liberty and Refoundation, took office.
Although Castro promised in his inaugural address that he would look after the safety and well-being of sexual dissidents, most of his promises seem to have remained only on paper.
In May 2022, the president committed to an agenda based on human rights.
“A new era is beginning in Honduras, a real change. Especially regarding respect for rights and the open participation of all sectors, allowing us to guarantee that diversity and opposition are respected in Honduras,” Castro declared in an interview with Reportar Sin Miedo.
However, renowned activists like Nefer Mejía express their disappointment with the lack of support from the president.
“We supported the president in the streets. We went to defend her victory, and we feel that everything she promised us as the LGBTI+ community remained just empty promises,” said Mejía, from the Trans Feminist Association (AFET).
“It’s a disgrace and a shame. We went to the inauguration with rainbow flags and the flags of the trans community. In her speech, she promised changes for us trans women, who are the most vulnerable in Honduras and now we don’t have jobs. So we feel powerless.”
Violence, murders and disappearances
Between the president's statements and those of her critics, the violent events continue.
One of the most recent attacks against LGBTIQ+ people in Honduras occurred in the department of Intibucá, in western Honduras. Two individuals on a motorcycle intercepted a human rights defender from a Lenca community and stabbed him in the face.
The victim, whose identity is being withheld for security reasons, was on his way to a birthday party. The assailants stabbed him in the face, causing injuries that required 16 stitches.
This regrettable incident adds to a series of threats and acts of harassment against the human rights defender. Since June 26, 2022, he has received two additional threats. The most recent occurred on September 6, 2023.
She also suffered two episodes of physical violence, with bruises around her eyes and neck. In addition, she bled from the mouth for four days after the first attack.
Another case of violence against sexual dissidents is that of activist Cristina Portillo, who was kidnapped at 10:30 pm on November 24, 2023 by five men dressed in uniforms of the Anti-Gang Police Directorate .
The kidnappers arrived at the Flamingo bar in the Rivera Hernández district, east of San Pedro Sula, where they detained and abducted Portillo, 38. No one has seen her since.
Portillo's family and friends, along with LGBTQ+ leaders, protested on December 4th in front of the police station to demand that Portillo be found. "They took her alive, we want her back alive," they exclaimed.
Osman Lara, president of the LGBTIQ+ Committee of the Sula Valley, posted a video addressing the case. He did so to urge authorities to locate the trans activist.
2023: “total failure”
Indyra Mendoza , coordinator of the Cattrachas Lesbian Network, told Reportar Sin Miedo y Presentes that the government of Honduras' first female president, Xiomara Castro, has done nothing to reduce, investigate or criminalize the violence and murders against sexual dissidents.
In fact, instead of fighting violence, government officials are giving away Bibles in schools, Mendoza denounced.
This action by the authorities goes against the secular state in Honduras, according to critics such as the director of Cattrachas.
The Department of Education at least 32,000 Bibles to the student population in the department of Atlántida
“There is a hyper-violation of the secular state. Femicides are increasing, impunity persists, and as always, nobody cares,” Mendoza reflected.
To date, according to the violent deaths observatory of the Cattrachas Lesbian Network, 47 LGBT+ people have been murdered: 19 trans, 17 gays and 12 lesbians.
In Xiomara Castro's government alone, 93 sexual dissidents have been murdered.
The KAI Surveillance Unit reported that from January to November 2023, it provided support to 43 people from the LGBTI+ community. Specifically, 17 gay men, 12 trans women, 12 lesbian women, and 2 bisexual women.
These people sought protection in the United States, Mexico, and Spain due to physical assault, threats, discrimination, and human rights violations.
“ Data on widespread violence against LGBTI+ people reflects a significant increase in the last quarter of the year, with 94 new cases reported from August to November , violence reflected in family, social, work, and economic environments,” the KAI Unit points out.
Activists like Rihanna Ferrera view the situation with disillusionment and little hope. For the human rights and prisoners' rights advocate, 2023 has been a "total failure... a year full of violence and insecurity."
While anti-LGBTIQ+ violence worsens, anti-rights groups in Honduras attack from new fronts, while in the Vatican progress is seen, such as the blessing of same-sex couples.
The anti-rights movement and its pacts with power
The Holy See has just announced that same-sex couples, civil marriages, and common-law unions can be blessed by the Catholic Church. Furthermore, they must be blessed if requested.
However , while other countries are making significant progress, in Honduras, President Xiomara Castro vetoed the Comprehensive Education Law for the Prevention of Adolescent Pregnancy . In doing so, Castro effectively eliminated the possibility of implementing regulations for comprehensive sex education.
Meanwhile, the Coalition for the Defense of Comprehensive Sexuality Education (ESI Coalition) stated before ECLAC, in November 2023 , that Castro's decision is "a setback that perpetuates the serious violence against the rights of Honduran children and adolescents."
“Honduras has the second highest rate of teenage pregnancies in Latin America. According to data from the United Nations Population Fund , 89 out of every 1,000 adolescents between the ages of 15 and 19 have been pregnant,” the coalition’s letter states.
On the other hand, anti-rights groups used LGBTI+ people as a banner for five months to mock trans and non-binary people.
But the attacks have not only come from organized parents, but also from national politicians such as former president Manuel Zelaya, who mocked sexual dissidents in a video.
Presidential advisor Mel Zelaya and Congressman Manuel Rodríguez discriminated against and mocked diverse populations on April 22, just ten days after the attack by the current mayor of San Pedro Sula, Roberto Contreras.
“I would rather carry this Garifuna flag a hundred thousand times than a flag of sexual diversity,” Contreras had said when 226 years of Garifuna presence in Honduras were being celebrated.
Less than ten days after Contreras uttered those words, considered racist and hateful, former president Mel Zelaya , husband of current Honduran president Xiomara Castro, mocked the LGBTQ+ community along with alternate congressman Manuel Rodríguez. Both Zelaya and Rodríguez belong to the ruling Liberty and Refoundation Party (Libre).
“Manuel is famous in Congress because he says—I can’t verify this—that he has a gender list in Congress and that there aren’t just two genders in Congress, there are more. He can testify to what the genders are in Congress, but he’s never wanted to give it to me,” Zelaya said mockingly.
With those phrases he incited Congressman Rodríguez to talk about an alleged Libre list in which all congressmen belonging to more than "two genders" appear.
Then Manuel Rodríguez joined in on the “joke” started by Zelaya. “There are three genders: homosexuals, bisexuals, and lesbians,” he said as he and Mel Zelaya laughed.
“I gave you the original list. The problem is you don’t want to reveal it; you’re hiding it,” he added, addressing the presidential advisor again.
Part of the audience present at the grassroots meeting laughed out loud at the supposed joke by the two officials.
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