COFADEH – Students from the Instituto Luis Bográn (Tegucigalpa) were carrying out a protest because they lack teachers for various classes like mathematics because the regime suspended several teachers from the school [for participating in March protests against the privatization of education].
While the students were protesting, police arrived in patrol cars and threatened them with their official weapons. The students took refuge in the school, but the police followed them inside, shooting tear gas and firing live bullets. 21 students were sent to the 4th police station another is wounded in Hospital Escuela. M-16 shells and tear gas canisters were found on site. The director of the school, Ángel Arteaga, stated that the police threatened him with a pistol when he tried to move his vehicle.
A guard stated that the agents came in through a gap near the main gates and when he told them that this was prohibited they pointed their weapons at him.
Student Names
- Brayan Miguel Vásquez Navas (17)
- Carlos Estrada (17)
- Joel Sánchez (17)
- Luis Antonio Mairena (17) -has a heart condition
- Erick Jesuan Oromán (17)
- Melvin Antonio Aguilar (18)
- Leandro Zamora (17)
- Winston Josué López (17)
- Eduardo David Espinoza (17)
- Abner Portillo Fúnes (16)
- Alex Simonel Vargas Osorto
- Presly José Herrera (17)
- Roberto Alexander Valladares Mendoza (17)
- Manuel Amaya (16)
- José Moisés López (17)
- José Faustino Valle (17)
- Brayan Ariel Amaya (17)
- José Manuel Carrasco
- Franklin José Díaz López (17)
- Alex Vargas (17)
- Luís Samuel Hernández (17)
Charges: threatening the public order, property damage
Two of the students’ mothers arrived at the school when they realized their sons were being attacked; they tried to beg the police to stop and were also arrested. Their names are:
- Ada Margarita Sosa
- Erika Marina Valladares
Translated by Adrienne Pine