FORCEFUL DISAPPEARANCE ON THE RISE IN HONDURAS says Honduran Human Righs group CODEH

FORCED DISAPPEARANCE AND POLITICAL CRIME REAPPEAR IN HONDURAS
Denunciation by Executive Commission of the Committee for the Defense of Human Rights in Honduras - CODEH

The massacre of and aggression towards members of the resistance and their families continues. On December 5th, a group of men wearing cloths from the National Criminal Investigative Unit (DNIC) with masks on arrived at the Carrizal and Mery Flores neighborhoods at one in the morning and violently entered the houses of Ms. Vilma Martínez and Sonia Castillo; they looked for Ms. Ada Martínez, an active member of the resistance against the coup d'etat, and when they didn't find her they took the before-mentioned women. This Death Squad continued its rounds and raided other houses in the Carrizal neighborhood and took four more people linked to the resistance; at the hour that this call is being emitted these people have disappeared. CODEH denounces the complicity of the judicial power in this practice that constitutes a crime against humanity, we denounce that the judicial phones made available for giving notice of personal evidence were answered by a man who said he is a member of the Armed Forces of Honduras and that they aren't available for attending to those calls; We manifest that up till this moment it has been impossible to present a writ of habeas Corpus for the victims by calling the 225-3928 extension 121 number assigned to the Unified Judges of Francisco Morazán.

The fourth of the current month, in the morning hours, the offices of the El Libertador newspaper were raided and they took the computer that had the material for the next edition, they abused one of the employees and threatened to rape her. From CODEH we have denounced the creation of Death Squads organized by the Military Regime and lead by ex-members of the 3-16 Batallion [famous death squad of the 1980's in Honduras notorious for its killings and disappearances] who operate from public state offices; these people have received training from ex-military from the Israeli army who have come to Honduras to lend their services.

The situation of selective persecution that has been unleashed in the country from clandestine structures led by officials of the Armed Forces of Honduras and the National Police worries CODEH; this practice has currently displaced more than 15 people and families who have had to leave the country due to threats, raids of their homes in the night, and criminal attempts against them, these practices correspond to those of the already organized death squads in Honduras, CODEH has presented publicly the photos of members of these structures; We alert the international community of the displacement of families due to political persecution, women and children have begun to abandon this country because of the selective persecution that every day threatens life, physical, psychological and moral integrity and freedom more and more.

Along side this aggression exists a campaign of media apologists for the hatred against human rights defenders, among the journalists who dedicate themselves to fomenting this are Mr. Rodrigo Wong Arévalo who has stated, surprised, that the people whose freedom is taken because of political persecution have the phone number of the President of CODEH, our brother Andrés Pavón. The number of the President of CODEH is public, we have annoucned it on the radio and television so that it is available for everyone who is persecuted in Honduras for not giving in to the coup d'etat.

Finally we demand that the Armed Forces of Honduras and the National Police set the kidnapped people free, safe and sound, as we have proof in the hands of CODEH, that they have high positions within these structures.

Forced disappearance is once again showing its face of impunity in this de facto military regime, the people who got away with this in the past are the ones getting away with this today.

Tegucigalpa, Honduras December 5th, 2009 Executive Commission of the Committee for the Defense of Human Rights in Honduras - CODEH We struggle for Peace by Defending Human Rights and Justice