Honduras' top money-laundering prosecutor killed

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras – Honduras' top anti-money-laundering prosecutor has been shot to death, a prosecution spokesman said Friday.

Spokesman Carlos Vallecillo says prosecutor Orlan Arturo Chavez was killed in his truck as he returned from the National University, where he also taught.

Vallecillo said the killing was carried out in a manner now depressingly familiar in Honduras, which has one of the world's highest homicide rates: Two gunmen riding a motorcycle pulled up beside Chavez's truck and shot him through the window.

Chavez's brother, Miguel Angel, said Chavez had received death threats in telephone calls.

Chavez, 52, was the third top prosecutor killed in Honduras since 2009.

Assistant Attorney General Roy Urtecho told the HRN radio station that the majority of Honduran judges and prosecutors don't have security details.

"It is time for us to recognize we need to invest in security measures for justice system personnel," he said.

Honduran prosecutors are under fire on several fronts.

On Tuesday, congress voted to suspend Utrecho and Attorney General Luis Rubi and appoint an oversight committee to shake up the country's notoriously deficient law enforcement.

With a homicide rate of 91 per 100,000 residents, Honduras is often called the most violent country in the world. Prosecutors solve only about 20 percent of homicide cases.

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