March 21, 2011
The Committee of Relatives of the Detained and Disappeared in Honduras (COFADEH) is requesting that letters be written to leaders at the Organization of American States (OAS) and Inter-American Commission for Human Rights (IACHR) regarding the current human rights crisis in Honduras, including threats and attacks against specific human rights defenders and violent repression of public protest, as outlined below in the following sample letter:
José Miguel Insulza, Secretary General
Organization of American States (OAS)
1889 F Street, N.W.,
Washington, D.C. 20006, USA
svillagran@oas.org
Sr. Felipe González, President
Inter-American Commission for Human Rights
1889 F Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C., 20006, U.S.A.
cidhdenuncias@oas.org
Dear Sirs,
It has come to my attention that the Committee of Relatives of the Detained and Disappeared in Honduras (COFADEH) has made an urgent call to the international community to demand that Mr. Porfirio Lobo's regime cease it's repression and continued criminalization of peaceful protests taking place in Honduras.
On March 17th, in the cities of Tegucigalpa, Comayagua, and Danlí, the preventative police as well as men in civilian clothing driving cars without license plates repressed peaceful demonstrations of teachers and members of the National Front of Popular Resistence (FNRP). According to a preliminary report, as many as 50 people were detained, wounded, and beaten in those demonstrations. On March 18th, there was another violent eviction of protestors in Tegucigalpa, which resulted in the death of teacher Ilse Ivania Velásquez Rodríguez, who was a founding member of COFADEH.
Earlier the same week, COFADEH released an urgent call-out denouncing “harassment and death threats against human rights defenders, including Blanca Azucena Espinoza, president of the Buenos Amigos peasant cooperative in the Aguán Region; Dr. Leo Valladares Lanza, former Human Rights Commissioner of Honduras (CONADEH); Pedro Vicente Elvir, Dagoberto Posadas and Eduardo Argueta Santos, labour union activists; Kenia Oliva and Karol Cardenas, human rights lawyers at COFADEH; Trinidad Sánchez, director of the Alternative Commerce Network (Red COMAL); and Héctor Renán Soto, director of the Civil Society Group (Grupo Sociedad Civil).”
Considering the above mentioned cases, and numerous previous denouncements, we call on the OAS to maintain Honduras' suspension from the organization, and we call on the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights to institute effective measures to ensure full respect for all human rights in Honduras.
Sincerely,
[Your signature]
Please also send a copy to:
Jorge Alberto Rivera Avilés
President of the Supreme Court of Honduras
Tel (504) 2269-3000 2269-3069
Mail: cedij@poderjudicial.gob.hn
Luis Alberto Rubí
Attorney General of the Republic of Honduras.
Fax (504) 2221-5667
Tel (504) 2221-5670 2221-3099
Mail: lrubi@mp.hn
suazog@mp.hn
Comité de Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos en Honduras (COFADEH)
Barrio La Plazuela, Avenida Cervantes, Casa No. 1301
Apartado Postal 1243
Tegucigalpa, HONDURAS
Fax:+504 2220 5280 (ask for: "tono de fax, por favor")
Mail: berthacofadeh@yahoo.com
And your country's representative to the OAS
CANADA:
H.E. Allan Culham
Ambassador, Permanent Representative to the OAS
wshdc-prmoas@international.gc.ca
Phone: (202) 682-1768
Fax: (202) 682-7624
US:
H.E. Carmen Lomellin
Ambassador, Permanent Representative
Phone: (202) 647-9430
Fax: (202) 647-0911 or (202) 647-6973
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