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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TEGUCIGALPA 001295 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR WHA/CEN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV KDEM PHUM HO
SUBJECT: SUSPICIOUS DEATHS OF SANTOS CORRALES AND WALTER 
TROCHEZ 
 
REF: TEGUCIGALPA 661 
 
¶1. (U) Summary.  Human rights groups allege that two recent 
deaths were tied to the political crisis.  The Committee for 
the Defense of Human Rights (CODEH) reported that on December 
11, Santos Corrales Garcia was found decapitated in Talanga, 
however the Honduran FBI (DNIC) told an Embassy Employee on 
December 14 that Corrales had been shot.  CODEH alleges 
Corrales had been killed for political reasons.  Walter 
Trochez, a gay rights activist, was shot on December 13 in 
Tegucigalpa and died on the way to the hospital.  The Center 
for the Investigation and Promotion of Human Rights 
(CIPRODEH) told Poloff they believed Trochez was killed for 
his anti-coup political activities.  End Summary. 
 
December 11 death of Santos Corrales Garcia 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) The Committee for the Defense of Human Rights in 
Honduras (CODEH) issued a press release on December 13 
reporting that the decapitated body of Santos Corrales Garcia 
was found near Talanga (approximately 50 km from Tegucigalpa) 
on December 11.  CODEH alleged Corrales had been previously 
detained by persons wearing uniforms of the Honduran FBI 
(DNIC) on December 5 and later released.  CODEH also alleged 
that on the day of his death, Corrales was detained by 
persons in DNIC uniforms.  The director of CODEH, Andres 
Pavon, told Poloff on December 14 that Corrales had been 
identified by family members and the ID card found in his 
pocket. 
 
¶3. (U) Pavon said CODEH considered the killing to be related 
to the political crisis because members of the resistance 
movement in Talanga told him that the motive for Corrales' 
detention and murder was to obtain information about the 
location of a woman named Ada Marina Castillo; Castillo was 
reportedly in charge of a warehouse where water and other 
supplies were kept for the resistance movement.  Pavon also 
said that "a friend of an employee" at the Department of 
Forensic Medicine told him the body showed signs of torture. 
 
¶4. (U) Felix Maldonado, spokesman for the Honduran FBI 
(DNIC), told an Embassy employee on December 14 that Corrales 
Garcia had not been decapitated, but had been found dead with 
a gunshot wound to the head.  Maldonado said the body had not 
been found in Talanga, but in Lepaterique, Department of 
Francisco Morazan.  Maldonado also stated that there are no 
records indicating Corrales Garcia was ever detained by 
police. 
 
December 13 death of LGBT activist Walter Trochez 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
¶5. (U) Walter Trochez, an activist in the lesbian, gay, 
bisexual, and transgendered persons (LGBT) community and an 
employee of "Casa Renacer," an HIV/AIDS support center in 
Tegucigalpa, was shot in Tegucigalpa on December 13 and died 
on the way to the hospital.  Trochez was a vocal critic of 
the de facto regime and wrote widely about increased violence 
against the LGBT community since the coup d'etat.  Trochez's 
father, Ricardo Trochez, is an American citizen and called 
Poloff on December 14; Poloff expressed condolences on behalf 
of the USG and told Trochez that we would follow the case 
closely. 
 
¶6. (U) Sandra Artola, the director of Casa Renacer, told 
Poloff on December 14 that Trochez had been followed by 
unknown persons in the days leading up to his death and that 
she and Trochez had been vocal about witnessing the detention 
by police of Pedro Magdiel on July 25 near Las Manos prior to 
Magdiel's death (reftel).  Artola told Poloff she believed 
the death of Trochez was politically motivated and that on 
December 14 she expressed concern about Trochez's death 
directly to Alfredo Landaverdes, an advisor to the de facto 
Minister of Security. 
 
¶7. (U) Reina Rivera, the director of the Center for the 
Investigation and Promotion of Human Rights (CIPRODEH), told 
Poloff on December 14 that Trochez had been previously 
 
TEGUCIGALP 00001295  002 OF 002 
 
 
kidnapped in Comayaguela on December 4 by unknown persons and 
that during the detention had been told that he would be 
killed.  During the funeral of Trochez in Tegucigalpa on 
December 15, Poloff spoke with a doctor who stated he helped 
prepare the body and alleged that the body showed signs of 
torture and that Trochez's tongue had been cut out. 
 
¶8. (U) Felix Maldonado, the spokesman for the DNIC, told 
Embassy employee on December 14 that police had no record 
indicating Trochez had ever been detained nor was there a 
pending arrest warrant.  Maldonado also expressed concern 
about an increase in the number of cases in which 
perpetrators wore DNIC uniforms while committing a crime. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶9. (U) We have not yet been able to confirm the killings of 
Corrales and Trochez are politically motivated.  However, 
both are troubling given their alleged ties to the anti-coup 
movement and in the case of Trochez, the harassment he had 
previously experienced.  We will continue to monitor both 
cases closely. 
LLORENS