US embassy cable - 05TEGUCIGALPA969

UNCLAS TEGUCIGALPA 000969 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR WHA/CEN, WHA/PPC, AND DRL/PHD 
STATE PASS AID FOR LAC/CAM AND DCHA/DG 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: KCRM, PGOV, PHUM, KJUS, PREL, KDEM, HO 
SUBJECT:  HONDURAN CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE IS MURDERED; POLICE DO 
NOT THINK MURDER IS RELATED TO POLITICS 
 
1. Ovidio Amaya Avelar, a 75 year-old National Party candidate 
for Congress, was shot to death on April 22 in La Arada, Santa 
Barbara, 2005.  His neighbor who was traveling in the same car 
was also killed.  The victim's cousin, also in the vehicle, was 
wounded and is in serious condition at the Santa Barbara 
hospital.  The three men were driving from Santa Barbara when 
Amaya stopped the car to drop off an unidentified man they had 
given a ride.  Before leaving the scene, the unidentified man 
made his way around the car to the driver's side and proceeded to 
shoot Amaya twice in the head, Amaya's neighbor in the face, and 
Amaya's cousin in the abdomen as he fled the car.  A few minutes 
after the shooting, an Amaya family member happened to drive by 
and proceeded to take Amaya and his cousin to the hospital in 
Santa Barbara.  Amaya died on the way.  Amaya is a former mayor, 
coffee farmer, and landowner. 
 
 
 
2.  The municipal coordinator for the General Direction of 
Criminal Investigations (DGIC) said that the murderer was riding 
with the victims in the car, possibly faking being disabled, as 
he left crutches at the scene of the crime.  The DGIC said they 
are considering two main hypotheses in this case: one is that the 
murder is linked to the murder of one of Amaya's sons in similar 
circumstances on the same highway in 1997, and the other is that 
the murder may have been ordered by one of Amaya's enemies from a 
long-standing dispute with other landowners in La Arada.  The 
DGIC discounted the possibility that the murder may have been 
committed for political reasons related to the February 20 
primary elections.  No other information was released and the 
investigation in this case continues.  Post has expressed USG 
interest in the case to Honduran police. 
 
Palmer