Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Guatemala City (Agenzia Fides) – Guatemalan Franciscan priest Fr. Miguel Angel Hernandez, who had been assigned to a parish in Ocotepeque (Honduras) and who had disappeared last weekend, was found dead in a province of eastern Guatemala. Honduran police sources reported that Father Hernandez was in fact kidnapped last weekend while going from Ocotepeque towards the eastern city of Chiquimula (Guatemala). The body of the 45-year-old priest was found inside a hotel in the town of Esquipulas, about 222 kilometers east of the capital, and had suffered several stab wounds. It was subsequently transferred to the National Institute of Forensic Sciences of Chiquimula for an autopsy. The priest for four years worked as parish pastor in Ocotepeque, Honduras. His brother Fr. Juan Pablo Lobos urged the authorities, speaking to a local radio station, to investigate the murder of Father Hernandez. Latin America has seen a recent increase in violence towards missionaries and religious. Yesterday, there was news of another priest who had been brutally murdered in Brazil, the fourth in five months. (EC) (Agenzia Fides 11/11/2009)
