Erick Martínez Ávila

Alexander Erick Martínez Ávila, also known as Erick Martínez, (January 18, 1980 - May 5, 2012) was a Honduran advocate and spokesperson for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) minority rights in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. A former journalist, he went into public relations for Asociación Kukulcán. He was also known to be a "Zelayista" activist. Days after his announcement to run as a Resistencia Party congressional candidate in the November elections, Martínez went missing and was found strangled to death about 3 kilometers from the capital.

Of those murdered in Honduras, Martínez is one of between 20 and 62 LGBT Hondurans since 2010 and one of 22 journalists and supporters of ousted president Manuel Zelaya since the 2009 Honduran coup d'état.

Another visible LGBT Honduran activist and Zelayista, Walter Tróchez, was murdered on 13 December 2009 in Tegucigalpa.

Career Ávila studied journalism at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras. He contributed to a number of HIV publications, where he brought light to issues concerning HIV and human rights in Honduras. He was best known as the spokesman of Kukulcán. led to his nomination to run for office in the Francisco Morazán Department for the Libre party, the political wing of the National Popular Resistance Front.

Context The murder rate in Honduras has risen dramatically in the last few years as a result of political instability, drug trafficking and organized crime. The murder per capita in Honduras has risen from 86 to 92 per every 100,000 people from 2011 to 2012. Honduras recorded 6,700 homicides in 2011 in a nation of 8 million. The US broke off assistance for four months to the Hondurans in their fight against drug trafficking after the Honduran Air Force shot down several airplanes in a violation of international law in July 2012. Impunity in Honduras, especially in the high visibility cases of journalists and lawyers, is one factor behind members of the US Congress applying pressure on the US administration to withhold $50 million in aid unless Honduras was able to show an improvement in its human rights situation. According to a report in The Nation, 10,000 civilian complaints against the abuse of power have gone uninvestigated since the 2009 coup.

Reactions The Global Forum on MSM & HIV (MSMGF) demanded an investigation into the murder of Erick Martínez. The organization praised him for his work in the LGBT community. Irina Bokova, director-general of UNESCO, said, "I am deeply concerned about this second journalist killed in Honduras in a month and call on the authorities to bring to justice the perpetrators of this crime against the basic human right of freedom of expression. Freedom of expression is the cornerstone of democracy and rule of law and it is essential that journalists be allowed to contribute freely to political and social debate."