Itsmania Pineda Platero

The founder of Xibalba Arte y Cultura, an NGO specializing in the causes of crime and rehabilitating young offenders, the journalist Itsmania Pineda is constantly threatened online (“We’re going to dismember you alive, you slut!”), her email and blog have been hacked, she has been prevented from moving about freely and she has had to close the office of her NGO. Each time, she filed a report with the police but nothing has been done although the police were told to provide her with protection. As part of the ongoing “purge” of the Honduran police, two senior officers responsible for her protection were relieved of her duties and a third was murdered shortly thereafter. Responsibility for her protection then fell to a junior officer she had previously accused of criminal activity!