The former head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of Honduras, General Romeo Vasquezwas arrested this Sunday as alleged responsible for the killing of a protester by the military in 2009days after leading the coup against the former president Manuel Zelaya (2006-2009).
Along with him, the deputy chief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Venancio Cervantesand the former commander of the Joint Operations Command, Carlos Puertoreported the Secretary of State for Security (Interior), Gustavo Sánchez, on his account on the social network X.
“The three arrests were carried out a few moments ago by the Honduran Police in coordination with the Public Ministry in Tegucigalpa and La Paz (west),” said Sánchez.
The three former soldiers were claimed by the Public Ministry “for assuming them responsible for the crimes of homicide and serious injuries” after an armed attack by the military against protesters in the vicinity of the Toncontín airport in Tegucigalpa on July 5, 2009.
Protesters awaited Zelaya’s return from Nicaragua after being taken at gunpoint from his home in Tegucigalpin the early morning of June 28 of that year by some 200 soldiers who handcuffed him and took him to the airport, where they put him on a plane to Costa Rica.
Days later he was scheduled to return to Honduras, when “elements of the Armed Forces” acted “disproportionately” and They shot at protesters with M16 rifles in an “indiscriminate manner.”“said the Public Ministry in its request.
In the facts Obed Murillo died from a gunshot to the head and Alex Zavala was seriously injured.
Vásquez was transferred under a strong police contingent to the court of Penal Letters in Tegucigalpa. More than 200 heavily armed agents of the Special Forces of the Honduran National Police They guarded the transfer and access of the former soldier to the courtAccording to a journalist from the AFP on the spot.
In front of the court, a small group of supporters of the ruling party Libre They cried out against the actions of the military during and after the coup against Zelaya.
“We demand justice for the persecution suffered”he said to the AFP Heidy Coello, candidate for deputy for the leftist president’s Libre party Xiomara Castro.
“Obed lives! The fight continues!”chanted the rest of the protesters.
At the time of his capture, Vásquez published on the social network “victim of political persecution and manipulation of power” of Castro’s “communist government.”
The Foreign Minister of Honduras, Enrique Reinaindicated on the social network “The violation of human rights is a criminal and imprescriptible act.”” and that the events arising from the coup d’état “should not go unpunished.”
From the Secretary of State in the Government’s Human Rights Office they indicated that they support the arrests of the former soldiers “within the framework of justice and accountability for the serious human rights violations committed during and after the coup d’état in Honduras” by the “former members of the military leadership.”
Likewise, they highlighted the “need for arrests to lead to effective judicial processes and transparent, that guarantee the clarification of the facts”, condemned “widely” by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR Court).
(With information from AFP)
