Fifteen-year-old Helen Rivera barely dreams these days. Instead, she floats in a mindless state as she sleeps, sometimes induced by pills prescribed by a psychiatrist.
In this thoughtless slumber, she doesn’t remember that her father’s bedroom down the hall is empty since he disappeared in March. Or that her grandmother often sobs at the mention of his name. Or that both she and her grandmother have been threatened with death for reporting his disappearance to authorities. In this bustling city in northern Honduras, gang members, criminal groups, and corrupt authorities are not hesitant to follow through on such threats.
About 60 miles away in the beach town of Triunfo de la Cruz, local community leader César Benedit, 35, has the opposite problem.
