The Police Official | How To Solve A Murder In Honduras

September 14, 2018

Chapter 4: Police Officials Partner with ASJ Staff

ASJ’s (formerly known as AJS) ultimate goal is to see government systems, including the police force, work well. The Peace and Justice project doesn’t try to do an end run around the National Police, but to accompany them, train them, and help them to do their job better. This attitude is appreciated by police officials, who welcome the resources and expertise that ASJ staff offer – and the convictions that they are able to achieve together.

A thin, wiry man with glasses and a shock of white hair, Honduran National Police Commissioner Cesar Ruiz is director of the homicide and criminology departments of the investigative police in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. His job is not an enviable one. With over one million inhabitants, San Pedro is Honduras’ second-most-populous city; with a homicide rate of 59.2 per 100,000, it is also one of Honduras’ most violent cities.

Commissioner Ruiz is one of Honduras’ most senior police officers after the country’s recent police purge removed over a third of all police officers in the country, including two-thirds of the highest-ranking officials. In his decades with the force, he has fought to do his job as well as he can despite serious limitations in training and funding, and a widespread culture of corruption among his peers.

Thirteen years ago, in 2005, Ruiz was working in the homicide department of Honduras’ capital city, Tegucigalpa, when a former colleague from the police force came to him with what seemed like a crazy suggestion. He said he now worked for a nonprofit organization called the Association for a More Just Society (ASJ) that wanted to help the investigative police solve murders in certain dangerous communities.

“When they first came, I didn’t know them. Who were they?” he remembers wondering, “What did they really want?”

Ruiz reluctantly accepted the support, and immediately began to see a difference. ASJ investigators took on some of the most difficult cases in Tegucigalpa, and worked diligently to ensure they collected enough evidence to result in arrests and convictions.

“They helped us collect information on a lot of cases,” Ruiz remembers. “If we had mechanical problems with our vehicles, they would help to fix them. Or they would hire taxis for us to go do our criminal procedures. At that time, we never had enough cars.”

With additional resources and a more transparent force, Ruiz’s officers are better equipped to make progress on the as many as 2,000 cases that may be open at any time. As police officials do their job with excellence – by showing up when called, collecting forensic evidence well, or taking down testimonies with compassion – they gain a community’s trust.

This newfound trust opens the door for them to make more arrests, bring more cases to trial, and protect witnesses, informants, and the surrounding community.

As repeat offenders are taken off the street and it becomes clear that murder has a consequence, homicides in communities drop.

First in Tegucigalpa, and now in San Pedro Sula, Ruiz has seen this change first-hand. He notes that despite the changes, “people are skeptical,” he says, “People are affected by the media that says we are not doing our job. Now for people whose cases we resolve, they have a different idea. That’s maybe ten people out of a thousand. But that’s still ten, and they can spread the word and say, [the police] are people you can trust. At least that’s the mission.”

Ruiz recognizes that ASJ plays a big role in helping them earn that trust, something he values greatly.

“It says in our constitution that the most important right is the right to life, and we need to care for the lives of people,” he says, “This organization helps us do that.”

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ASJ-US and ASJ-Canada Joint Statement on Honduran Elections

December 2, 2025

ASJ-Canada and ASJ-US Congratulate the Honduran People, Call for Full and Transparent Results As sister organizations committed to justice, peace and hope in Honduras, ASJ-Canada and ASJ-US extend our deepest congratulations to the people of Honduras on the peaceful conduct of their national elections on November 30, 2025. With the initial tally showing an extraordinarily close vote, we call on election authorities to do what is necessary to ensure a transparent count of the remaining ballots in order to guarantee public trust in the final outcome. We commend the Honduran voters for their dedication to democratic participation and their commitment to shaping the future of their country through civic engagement. We also recognize the efforts of electoral authorities, civil society organizations, the international community and the thousands of volunteer observers who worked to ensure a transparent, orderly, and secure process. We are especially proud of our sister organization, ASJ-Honduras, for their unwavering commitment to democracy demonstrated through their electoral observation efforts, their analysis activities, and their consistent call for a fair and orderly process. Now that such a process has been achieved, the work turns to counting the votes with accuracy and transparency. The results remain close, increasing the possibility of a contested result. We support the work of the election officials at the National Electoral Council to give Hondurans confidence in the final results by conducting their count with rigor and transparency. We remain hopeful that the spirit of peaceful participation in the democratic process embraced by the electorate will carry forward into the post-election period to come. We look forward to continued collaboration with ASJ-Honduras as we all work together toward a just and hopeful future for all Hondurans. Matthew Van Geest President, Board of Directors ASJ-Canada Russ Jacobs President, Board of Directors ASJ-US

Artisans of Fraternity, Guardians of Hope

November 28, 2025

A call to action for Honduras

November 2025 ASJ-US Statement about Honduran Elections

By Elizabeth Hickel • November 25, 2025

The Association for a More Justice Society-US Supports the Network to Defend Democracy; Calls for Free and Fair Elections in Honduras November 25, 2025

Context Updates on the 2025 Elections in Honduras

November 13, 2025

Honduras’s Institutional Crisis Deepens Ahead of the 2025 Elections

HOPE

By Elizabeth Hickel • November 12, 2025

Dear friend, I couldn’t stop looking at the picture. Of course, there had been plenty of inspiring photos from this summer’s Prayer Walk for Peace and Democracy. The sea of blue and white rising and falling as hundreds of thousands walked the Honduran hills through Tegucigalpa, flowing like a never-ending stream. Catholic nuns praying their rosaries alongside Pentecostals dancing in the streets. But the picture that still knocks me flat is the closeup. The one of the two men standing side by side (picture enclosed). They are exhausted, and the shorter collapses into the taller. The tears mostly hold joy and relief, but they are mingled with something darker. After all, there had been threats—promises of harm done to themselves and their loved ones if they led their followers through the streets of Honduras in prayer. Despite the fear and intimidation, Pastor Gerardo Irías and Monsignor José Vicente Nácher forged ahead. They knew Honduras needed unity and, above all, prayer before the looming November 2025 presidential elections. As an ASJ supporter, you know that these kinds of threats aren’t out of the ordinary, and your support has helped slow and reverse violence in Honduras. Today, I am writing to share a way you can continue standing with brave Hondurans like Pastor Gerardo and Monsignor José in hope. The Evangelical pastor and the Catholic archbishop put the word out as widely as they could to their churches, hoping to mobilize 20,000 to walk and pray. Instead, an estimated 230,000 walked in the capital of Tegucigalpa alone. It was a historic moment. And without your past support for ASJ, it may have never happened. After all, two years prior, Pastor Gerardo and Monsignor José didn’t even know each other’s names. They first met in 2023 at ASJ’s offices. They were two of many civil society leaders convened by ASJ to discuss safeguarding democracy– especially before the election in 2025. It was at that meeting that they shook each other’s hand and learned each other’s name. It was at that meeting–and many subsequent meetings–where old religious prejudices began to be replaced by trust and mutual affection. So, when the moment came this summer to act, Pastor Gerardo and Monsignor José knew what they had to do. And they knew that they had to do it together.