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Leader of Honduras' gay community abducted, murdered
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A woman shows a photo of slain environmentalist and indigenous leader and Berta Caceres outside the presidential office in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, on May 9, 2016. Protesters later clashed with police as they tried to break past a security perimeter while demanding justice for Caceres' murder in March. (Associated Press/Fernando Antonio)
A
leader in Honduras' gay community has been buried several days after he was kidnapped and killed in the city of San Pedro Sula.
Rene Martinez, 39, was a city employee working in anti-violence outreach programs and a rising member of the National Party.
The attorney general's office said in a statement that his body showed signs of having been strangled. No motive for his murder was given.
Martinez's family said in a statement that assailants kidnapped him on Wednesday after he arrived home, forcing him into a vehicle. Family members alerted police but his body was found two days later in another neighborhood. He was buried on Saturday.
In a statement Friday, the U.S. Embassy in Honduras condemned his murder and called for a thorough investigation.
Joani Garcia, director of the National Forum on AIDS, called Martinez "one of the main defenders of lesbians, gays, transsexuals and intransexuals in the country." (ags)
