San Pedro Sula, Honduras
The family of Oscar Nunezan evangelical pastor and coffee producer, received the worst news yesterday after confirming the discovery of his body in a mountainous area of the Agua Blanca village, Ojo de Agua sector, in the municipality of San José del Potrero, Comayagua.
The tragedy began on Monday, April 20, when a group of men intercepted and kidnapped him while he was driving in his vehicle. Núñez was heading to his property in the sector of Honda Minemunicipality of Yorito, Yoro, where he was originally and resident.
Since then, relatives, friends and police intelligence teams have searched for him in the hope of finding him alive. As reported, the kidnappers They demanded five million lempiras from the family in exchange for their release, which motivated their relatives to request financial support from the population to raise the money.
Sources linked to the investigation informed LA PRENSA that initially the captors demanded seven million lempiras and that the figure was reduced as the negotiations progressed. They indicated that the final agreement was one and a half million lempiras, to be paid in two parts: one on Wednesday and the other yesterday.
According to the same sources, the family managed to deliver a first cash payment of 400,000 lempiras in the hope that the kidnappers would respect the agreement and release the victim. Nevertheless, the criminals They did not wait for the second payment and, when they were cornered by police actions, they shot Núñez dead on the night of that same day.
The authorities are working on the hypothesis that the victim may have recognized some of his captors, which would have influenced the decision to kill him to avoid being betrayed.
Investigation
The Police spoke yesterday about the case and the actions underway to locate those responsible. Wilber Mayes Ríos, commissioner and director of Strategic Communication of the institutionstated that the investigations indicate that the criminal structure called the Devil’s Cartel would be linked to the kidnapping and death of Núñez.
“Multidisciplinary teams of the Police Investigation Directorate (DPI) traveled to the area to gather necessary evidence that would allow this criminal act to be directly linked to the Devil’s Cartel,” reported Mayes Ríos.
“We are going to take into account the evidence collected to strengthen the file and prevent these individuals, who cause so much damage to the population of Yoro, from having the possibility of evading justice. Their capture could be prompt, since we have information about their movements,” he added.
The official indicated that units from the Special Forces Directorate and the Border Police Directorate joined the DPI Anti-Kidnapping Unit to locate and capture the alleged perpetrators.
