San Pedro Bus Shooting Prompted Peace Corps Exit
Thursday, 19 January 2012 06:53
Honduras Weekly
The decision in December by the US government to withdraw its 158 Peace Corps volunteers from Honduras has been attributed to the high crime rate in the country and at least the perception of a worsening security situation. The last time the Peace Corps suspended operations in Central America was in Nicaragua during 1979-1991 and in El Salvador in 1980-1993 -- both periods of ongoing civil wars in those nations. The US State Department has revealed little information about the specific factors that may have influenced its Peace Corps decision in Honduras, as well as its move to temporarily halt training of new volunteers in El Salvador and Guatemala. But it appears now that the pullout may have been prompted by an incident on December 3, 2011, in which US Peace Corps worker Lauren Robert, 27, was shot and wounded in the leg during a robbery in San Pedro Sula. The crime occurred on a bus, and it involved three alleged robbers -- one of whom was killed. Two other passengers riding on the bus with Ms. Robert, who is from Texas, were also wounded.
While the case of Ms. Robert is unusual, it is not the only case of a Peace Corps worker being attacked in Honduras. A Peace Corps volunteer was robbed and raped at gunpoint on January 24, 2011, near the municipality of Duyure in the southern department of Choluteca. According to a report by the Associated Press yesterday, the victim was raped and robbed while hiking in a remote area. Juan Antonio Hernández, 24, Albert Alfredo Rivera Vásquez, 18, and Rosalío Alberto Hernández, 19, were found guilty in the case and are scheduled to be sentenced by a court next month and could receive up to 26 years in prison. Honduran newspapers originally reported that the crime had been committed against a member of a non-governmental organization (NGO), not specifically the Peace Corps. (1/19/12)
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