Killing of Vicky Hernández

Vicky Hernández was a Honduran transgender woman and LGBT rights activist associated with Colectivo Unidad Color Rosa, an organization advocating for trans rights in Honduras.

Hernández was killed on 28 June 2009, the same day as the Honduran coup d'état, in San Pedro Sula. She was shot in the head and died from her wounds amid nationwide unrest.

The Honduran state opened an investigation into her death. Approximately one year later, two other transgender women who had witnessed the killing and said they saw police officers in a patrol car approach Hernández on the day she died were also killed.

Hernández's family, represented by Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights and Red Lésbica Cattrachas, brought the case before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. They argued that Hernández's death was an extrajudicial killing and that Honduran authorities had failed to investigate it effectively. In 2021, the Court held Honduras responsible for violations of Hernández's rights, citing serious investigative failures and multiple indications that state agents participated in her killing.

On 9 May 2022, Honduran President Xiomara Castro apologized to Hernández's family and formally acknowledged the state's responsibility. The apology was reported as the first by the Honduran government for a violent act against an LGBT person.

A documentary about Hernández's life and death, "28 de Junio: Vicky vs Honduras," was released in May 2022.