A man with a medium complexion and a scruffy beard smiles at the camera, carrying a rainbow flag.
“The socio-political history of the LGBT community has been written with blood, will, courage, effort and suffering, however, we are on the right path and we will move on.”
– Erick Martinez Avila
To look at the story of Erick Martinez Avila it is important to first look at the history of Honduras. Similar to our discussion on Jamaica, Honduras is a country often overlooked in discussions of global queer rights because it has been written off. While the reasoning behind this oversight is often a completely justifiable case of empathy exhaustion, Honduras deserves our attention.
Though Erick Martinez Avila was born on January 18, 1980, the story of Honduras takes a radical shift after 1998. In the wake of Hurricane Mitch, the incompetence and corruption within the government fell into full painful view and a political shift began. This shift eventually led to the election of Manuel Zelaya in 2006, who would go on to increase the minimum wage by 80%, provide free electricity for impoverished Hondurans, free education, and increase subsidies for small farms. Despite this, the conservative owned news channels within Honduras did their best to ignore any accomplishments, and their consistent criticism came to a head when Zelaya attempted to modify the constitution, which resulted in a coup that was funded by the United States of America, along with individual billionaires.
Because the United States of America has promised not to do business with governments that overthrow democratically elected leaders, while publicly distancing themselves, they validated the new government.
Since this point, democracy has been shaky at best in Honduras. Leading to a dramatic increase in poverty and violence, eventually landing Honduras the top spot on the list of countries with the most murders per capita.
In response to the far-right government, the LIBRE political party was formed. A political party with deep ties to the queer community, with each one supporting the others. It is here where Erick Martinez Avila comes into the picture.
Avila was known in his community as a polite but firm man, willing to stand up for himself and extremely optimistic about the future of his country. At the time of the 2013 election, he was working as a journalist and protecting queer rights throughout the country.
As a part of the organization that LIBRE came from, Erick Martinez Avila was a cautious member of a list of queer candidates who were introduced into the 2013 national election, along with Claudia Spellman, the first openly transgender candidate for Honduras Congress, with Erick Martinez Avila being the first openly gay candidate.
Along with these two candidates, there was also Xiomara Zelaya running for President. The wife of Manuel Zelaya, her candidacy was an upset, legitimizing a third party and shaking the previously two-party system. Because of this, Manuel was also allowed to return to Honduras from exile.
With this upset, of course, came blowback. The current regime, threatened by the concept of an actual democracy, reacted violently.
The most notable among their acts was the death of Erick on May 5th, 2012. Only three weeks after announcing his candidacy, he went missing and was found dead three days later.
As a journalist, there was a strong and immediate reaction to his murder, with global leaders demanding justice be brought. It is slightly odd then, that his position as a candidate for a supposedly democratic election was often a side note to his position as a journalist.
This could possibly be because to acknowledge this as a political assassination funded by the government would require an acknowledgement that Honduras democracy was not very democratic, which would mean that a large source of cheap labour may no longer be viable in accordance to U.S. legally-mandated cutoffs of aid to countries victim to a coup.
Because of their desire to exploit the cheap labour of Honduran people, the United States has also made a point to state that the election was, in fact, democratic despite the assassination of candidates, threatening and pressuring voters, and polling stations recording results that were not accurate.
This collusion continued with a Special Victim Unit of the FBI of the United States of America working with the Honduran police to come to the conclusion that the death of Erick, along with other queer activist Walter Tróchez, was coincidentally both bitter ex-lovers. A conclusion that is widely regarded by the queer community as another example of the Honduran police force refusing to punish those actually responsible for the crime.
This conclusion is not surprising considering that of the 116 recorded murders of queer people within Honduras only 35 have been investigated, with only 6 leading to charges and none going to trail.
While this is discouraging to read, the situation in Honduras is not hopeless.
The election was not won by Xiomara, but the amount of queer candidates and just the amount of people who did vote for her is a change. It was not worth Erick’s life, but it is a change, and that change is worth something.
Queer candidates continue to change the political landscape of Honduras, in connection with the LIBRE party, in 2014 grassroots activist laid out their agenda:
Defence of the LGBT protections under Article 321.
To include “hate crimes” into the penal code.
A gender identity law that would allow trans persons to transition from one gender to another in all of their official documentation.
Demilitarization of the country
The promotion of a secular state
The reform of national education policy to include sex education
A national campaign against bullying in schools
The respect, promotion & commemoration of May 17th as “National Day Against Homophobia.”
When asked about marriage equality, Honduran activist Erick Vidal Martinez said:
“There are rights that have to be secured first — the right to life, employment, housing — fundamental rights. Basically, we can’t get married if we’re being murdered.”
Activists like Erick Vidal Martinez and Claudia Spellman are working to transform their country and protect queer people. While these two were a part of the 2013 election, there are also activists like Karla Paredes who is described as:
“Karla Paredes is another strong, female leader in the LGBT movement. Paredes is one of the few out lesbian activists living in Honduras. Recently, she was elected to the position of being the Departmental Secretary of Diversity in Cortes, for the LIBRE party, with the main goal of creating more inclusive spaces for oppressed communities. Paredes is especially working with trans women and indigenous populations to create better employment opportunities.“
Our Honduran Equality Delegation also are aware of how influential the global community can be in conflicts like the ones they are facing and have made a set of guidelines for those who want to help:
“1) publicize and distribute information about the current state of these communities widely so as to amplify their efforts and voice their demands
2) lobby for their agendas and needs with members of the Honduran national government, the U.S. foreign policy infrastructure (including the embassy), and with international human rights monitoring organizations
3) challenge the viewpoint that LGBT people are best represented by nongovernmental organizations and instead affirm the role of social and political movements as representatives of a growing LGBT constituency
4) call for an end to all military and law enforcement aid, including training, to the Honduran government. This would include all funding directed to fighting narcotrafficking since these same security forces have repeatedly been participants in actions repressing the Honduran people.”
It is clear that work is being done, great work, and the tragedies are the desperate violent kicks of a government that knows it’s time is limited are not signs that things are hopeless. Dismissing Honduras as a hopeless case is in fact exactly what those who profit from the continued violence want. It is as Erick Martinez Avila said:
“The socio-political history of the LGBT community has been written with blood, will, courage, effort and suffering, however, we are on the right path and we will move on.”
[Disclaimer: some of the sources may contain triggering material]
Missing Honduran journalist Erick Martinez found dead. (2012, May 8). BBC. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-17990638
Farthing, L. (2018, September 24). The escalating violence against LGBT people in Honduras. Xtra. Retrieved from https://www.dailyxtra.com/the-escalating-violence-against-lgbt-people-in-honduras-118198
Avila, E. M. (2012, May 1). Estudios de la mujer Blog de Anarella Vélez. Retrieved from https://estudiosdelamujer.wordpress.com/breve-resena-historica-del-movimiento-lgtbi-de-honduras/
2013 Honduran Equality Delegation. The State of the LGBT** Movement in Honduras. Retrieved from https://honduranequalitydelegation.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/the-state-of-the-lgbt-movement-in-honduras.pdf
Coudray, S. (2012, May 15). Director-General deplores murder of Honduran journalist and rights activist Eric Martínez Ávila. UNESCO. Retrieved from http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/resources/news-and-in-focus-articles/all-news/news/director_general_deplores_murder_of_honduran_journalist_and/
Lees, K. (2014, January 24). HONDURAN LGBT ACTIVISTS FEAR ONGOING THREAT UPON HERNÁNDEZ INAUGURATION. Suffradio. Retrieved from http://suffragio.org/2014/01/24/honduran-lgbt-activists-fear-ongoing-threat-upon-hernandez-inauguration/#more-4441
Erick Martínez Ávila latest victim in Central American violence against journalists. (2012, May 10). Free Press Unlimited. Retrieved from https://www.freepressunlimited.org/en/news/erick-martinez-avila-latest-victim-in-central-american-violence-against-journalists
Zelaya, G. (2012, May 11). Erick Martínez Ávila. NO NOS OLVIDAMOS DE HONDURAS. Retrieved from https://nonosolvidamosdehonduras.blogspot.com/2012/05/erick-martinez-avila.html
Honduras: Ante el Asesinato de Erick Alexander Martínez Ávila, Miembro de Los Necios. (2012, May 8). Retrieved from https://encuentronortesur.wordpress.com/2012/05/08/honduras-ante-el-asesinato-de-erick-alexander-martinez-avila-miembro-de-los-necios/
Office of the Special Rapporteur of Freedom of Expression, the Rapporteurship on Human Rights Defenders and the Unit for the Rights of Persons LGTBI Condemn Murder of Journalist and LGTBI Activist in Honduras. (2012, May 11). OAS. Retrieved from http://www.oas.org/en/iachr/media_center/PReleases/2012/R46.asp
Erick Martínez Ávila. (2012, May 7). El Comite por la Libre Expresión. Retrieved from http://www.clibrehonduras.com/index.php/asesinatos/617-erick-martinez-avila
Partida, A. (2018, November 8). Dispatches from Central America: Meet the ‘Escuela de Liderazgo Político LGBTI’ Trainees. Victory Institute. Retrieved from https://victoryinstitute.org/dispatches-from-central-america-meet-the-escuela-de-liderazgo-politico-lgbti-trainees/
Lavers, M. K. (2017, September 25). Transgender woman running for Honduras congress. Washington Blade. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonblade.com/2017/09/25/transgender-woman-running-honduras-congress/