Three queer people violently killed in Honduras on the same day

Three LGBT+ people have been murdered on the same day in Honduras in a spate of violence indicative of the horrific circumstances for queer folk in the country.

On Wednesday, 2 February, Jonathan Gabriel Martínez and his partner César Gustavo Zúñiga were shot dead in the liquor store owned by Martínez in San Pedro Sula’s Ticamaya neighborhood.

According to Reportar sin Miedo, the killers were dressed as police officers.

On the same day, María Fernanda Martínez, who was just 18 years old, was shot dead in La Libertad, a municipality in Comayagua, Honduras.

She was reportedly shot more than 10 times, and was hit on the head with a rock at the door to her house. Reportar sin Miedo reported that she had hopes of seeking refuge in the US, and had joined a migrant caravan.

The tragic deaths are a sign of the horrifying violence faced by LGBT+ people in Honduras, with at least 405 queer folk having been murdered in the country since 2009, according to lesbian human rights group Cattrachas.