Honduran President to Halt Child Murders

[DU9598]

<http://www.ticotimes.net/dailyarchive/2002_10/Week2/10-09-02.htm#story_three>

Following two weeks of intense international pressure -- highlighted by a UN report on the killing of Honduran street kids by police -- Honduran President Ricardo Maduro spoke out for the first time this week, expressing regret about the more than 1,400 youth who have been murdered in his country since January 1998.

Oscar Emilio Santos, an 11-year-old homeless boy, was recently shot through the throat by a uniformed member of the Honduran military - one of 6,000 soldiers ordered onto the Honduran streets by Maduro to reduce crime levels, Casa Alianza reports. The 18-year-old soldier, Jesús Manuel Sabillon, later detained and accused of murder, said "the rifle went off accidentally".

Santos' only crime was getting caught sniffing shoe glue -- a common escape from of hunger and loneliness.

[applegrove]

1. This happened in Brazil a few decades ago.