April 2004
A mother asks for justice
Darwin
Sauceda, a 17-year old youth, never met his father. Still, he always showed
respect and care for his mother and nine siblings. His mother, Sara Sauceda
shares that Darwin wanted to be a good doctor one day, but a broken home,
joined with the family´s poverty, brought him to a life in the streets,
where he joined the 18 Gang.
"Darwin lived in the a community called the Pedregal of Tegucigalpa.
He dreamed of having a close family, a father who he could talk to, but
it wasn´t like that. His refuge for four years was the 18 Gang,
there they filled a void that he paid for with his life," his mother
remembers.
Family and friends of Darwin say that he grew up in a Christian environment. He was a young, intelligent man, a student at the Technology Institute of Honduras, in Tegucigalpa. Other descriptions of him showed him to be very helpful and happy. Today, two years after his death, these memories live only in the hearts of those who knew him.
"Darwin told me that he wanted to come clean, change, be a good kid, but they wouldn´t let him, because he was already so much involved in the 18, and there aren´t real centers where he could have been rehabilitated," Sara adds.
Sara Sauced,
Darwin's mother
Darwin
According to the police reports, Darwin Roberto, also known as "Snoopy,"
was the leader the 18 Gang in two communities within Tegucigalpa (El Pedregal
and Aleman), and was responsible for at least 15 homocides that took place
in Tegucigalpa. Never the less, Sara reports that Darwin was freed because
the police lacked evidence against him.
The Chronology of His Death
Darwin was imprisoned on more than four occasions at the juvenile dentention
"El Carmen" in Tegucigalpa. According to what he told his mother,
the inmates were treated like dogs there. For a bed they had the cold,
hard floor. During the night the guards beat them and poured water over
them. They were given only two meals a day, and lacked support from the
institution´s psychologists and social workers.
"Ah, so that dog has a mother," was the response that Sara got
from a police officer, by the name of Velazquez, when she came looking
for her son where he was detained. Worse still, Sara says, this police
officer vowed to shoot Darwin "fifteen times in the form of a cross."
The last time that Darwin was taken into custody was at the airport on
February 15, 2002; Sauceda recalls that she went to look for him, and
found him without a shirt, tied up by rope. She told the police that he
was a minor and that they needed to respect his rights. A police officer
murmured in response, "Since when do gang members have rights?"
Darwin Asks
For Another Chance
"Mom, if I die, will I go to be with God?" was one of the last
questions that Sara remembers her son asking during a visit in which he
cried without stopping. Sara also said that Darwin warned her that they
were going to kill him and that that was part of life.
Apparently urged by the words of a police officer, Darwin asked for a
priest to hear his confession. He mother believed his contrition and the
dictates of human rights would protect him.
Sara remembers that Darwin expressed to her his desire to be rehabilitated
and to ask the police for another chance, but she says they never listened.
"Mom, those police officers say that I have killed, but I haven´t.
I recognize my errors, but I have not killed anybody," Sara remembers
her son saying to her shortly before he died.
In the last days of his life, Darwin stayed at home, constantly reminding
his mother that, if he died, she should continue to fight for a more just
life. He emphasized, "If I die, it is the police, don´t look
for anyone else."
The Hour Arrives
According to witnesses, on the 17th of Febuary, 2002, Darwin was walking
around the community of El Pedregal looking at the sky like he was calling
out to God for his life. A vehicle sped by, coming to a halt right near
him. Darwin tried to flee, asking for help, but it was too late. The police
had surrounded him. People living in the area say that it was the police
who took him.
The sentence that police officer Velazquez had issued to Darwin earlier
was now carried out. Darwin was found hours later on the hill "El
Estiquirin" between the communities of La Pradera and Tiloarque with
15 gunshots in his chest in the form of a cross.
The Police Department and the Department of Criminal Investigation refute
this version of events, saying that Darwin's death was "possibly"
was a settling of accounts.
Today, Sara Sauceda works in the rehabilitation of youth. She is sure
that Darwin is looking down from heaven, observing happily how she is
helping youth in situations similar to the one he lived. She continues
with the hope that one day justice will carried out those responsible
for the death of her son will be punished.
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