President Xiomara Castro stressed that the people expect justice and results from the State intelligence services. | Photo: Proceso
Tegucigalpa, May 31 (RHC)-- The president of Honduras, Xiomara Castro, condemned on Tuesday the murder of environmental prosecutor Karen Almendarez, which occurred over the weekend, and assured that the masterminds and material perpetrators of the crime will not go unpunished.
In a message disseminated through the social network Twitter, the head of state affirmed that "the gangs of hired killers continue to operate and the people expect justice and results from the State intelligence services."
The United Nations representative in Honduras, Alice Shackelford, joined the repudiation of the event and expressed through Twitter: "We condemn the murder of the Honduran prosecutor Karen Almendarez and I stand in solidarity with her family and friends. It is of vital importance to stop the violent situation that the country is going through and to provide justice!"
The 39-year-old prosecutor was shot dead at the gate of her home in the neighborhood of El Chagüite, in the city of Nacaomé (south), as she was returning from a gymnasium.
That same day she had participated in an operation by the Police Investigations Directorate and the National Directorate of Roads and Transport, which was recorded in an image disseminated through social networks by the chief prosecutor of the Specialized Prosecutor's Unit Against Corruption Networks, Luis Javier Santos Cruz.
This event follows the crime, also by hired assassins and during the month of May, of the prosecutors Marcelo Pecci (Paraguayan who was killed in Colombia) and Luz Marina Delgado (Ecuadorian). The three incidents were repudiated by prosecutors from all Latin America.
In declarations to local media, Santos described Almendarez as "a true heroine, a dreamer, an idealist."
The Honduran Undersecretary of Security, Julissa Villanueva, announced that there will soon be news of the investigation into Almendarez's murder. According to the Women's Rights Center (CDM), in 2022 Honduras registered a daily average of one femicide (cases in which there is evidence that the State did not act to protect the victim). According to the police, more than 600 homicides were recorded in Honduras as of last March.
