On the evening of 10 July, 2020, Scarlet Campbell Caceres was in a part of Tegucigalpa known as “El Arbolito” in the area of La Plazuela when two men got out of a car that had no number plates and opened fire, hitting her multiple times. Campbell Caceres died as she was being transferred to hospital.
Campbell Caceres was a trans woman who was a well-known campaigner for the rights of LGBTIQ people. She was a member of “Las Muñecas” of Asociación Arcoíris.
Members of the LGBTIQ community face systemic discrimination in Honduras as shown by a wave of attacks against members of LGBTIQ rights organisations such as Asociación Arcoíris, Asociación AJEM and Somos CDC between 2015 and 2017 which resulted in the murders of Paola Barraza, Angie,Ferreira, Estefanía Zúñiga, Josselin Janet Aceituno Suazo, Violeta Rivas, Henry Matamoros, René Martínez and Sheryl Montoya.
The situation of LGBTIQ people is even more precarious due to their inability to earn a living because of the restrictions imposed during the COVID pandemic.