Melissa Nuñez,
42, was killed in MorocelĂ, 40 miles east of the capital Tegucigalpa, by
unidentified gunmen on a motorcycle, local media reported. According to
nonprofit Reportar Sin Miedo, Nuñez was leaving home when she was fatally shot
by “hooded
individuals”.
Police said
Nuñez had dropped friends off and was leaving their house talking on a
cellphone when she was gunned down, according to the Associated
Press. “The motive behind the crime is thought to be a personal issue
with her enemies,” police spokesman Miguel Carranza said. Nuñez’ sister, Glenda
de JesĂșs Nuñez, said Nuñez had lived in the US for about 25 years before
visiting family in Honduras.
Indyra Mendoza,
general coordinator of Cattrachas,
a Tegucigalpa-based lesbian feminist organization, said Nuñez had traveled home
to Honduras in December of 2021, but tried to return to the U.S. in July, when
she was denied entry. She was living in Miami at the time, after many years in
New York. Mendoza told the Washington Blade that Nuñez had
sought asylum in the U.S. but did not know on what grounds.
An initial
investigation indicated that Nuñez was killed by two shots to the head, Mendoza
told Reportar Sin Miedo.
According to
Cattrachas, Nuñez is the 34th LGBTQ individual killed in Honduras this year.
“They continue to kill us, they continue to violate our rights,” said Danny
Reyes, who is with the LGBTQ advocacy organization Rainbow Movement. “We demand
that the Honduran government do its best to start ensuring social justice.”
“The violence
in Honduras continues to increase,” said Merlin Eguigure, coordinator of the
VisitaciĂłn Padilla Women for Peace Movement. “The government should declare a
state of emergency on this issue.”
Friends and
trans advocates gathered in Queens last month at a candlelight vigil organized
by Make the Road New York. The
Corona Plaza gathering in Queens featured pictures of Nuñez and signs with
messages including “#NotOneMore! Stop killing us!”, “#JusticeforMelissa” and
“No transwomen safe in Central America.”
Nuñez “fought for trans
communities to be able to walk in public without being harassed by the police,
to decriminalize sex work, to create more protections for all immigrant
communities,” said Make the Road New York in a statement. “Let us transform
this anger… into action so that the incarceration and deportation of our trans
sisters ends now.”
SOURCE: LGBTQ NATION
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