Violent evictions today and campaign against international observers

May 11

The Human Rights Observation Mission spent most of the day traveling from the Aguan Valley back to Tegucigalpa where there will be a public forum on Thursday to discuss the Mission’s finding but we received news of more repression and new government attacks on human rights defenders and journalists.  

This morning, in Tutule, La Paz two campesinos from the campesino group 9th of July (9 de Julio) community were wounded when 12 police vehicles and 80 soldiers carried out a violent eviction, using bulldozers to destroy houses, crops  of fifty families who have lived and worked on the land for 7 years. The security forces fired live ammunition wounding Johnny Alfredo Mejia Torres and Edwin Murillo. At the same time  5 patrol cars arrived at the home of Wilman Chávez, General Secretary of the La Paz region of the Central Nacional de los Trabajadores del Campo (CNTC) to arrest him. 

Franklin Almendares
photo from conexihon

The National General Secretary of the CNTC, Franklin Almendares reported to the media that the men, women and children of the community were forced to run and attempt to hide in the mountains from the troops. He also reported that this eviction is to benefit a local political power, Carlos Arriaga. In a phone interview with Franklin Almendares  this evening he said that the two wounded men received treatment and will recover and that there is a court hearing tomorrow morning for those who were arrested. He called for human rights organizations both national and international to accompany the community and their organization. 

In Tegucigalpa, the General Secretary for the Administration of the Government, Jorge Ramón Hernández Alcerro held a press conference where he condemned international observers and press for “inciting violence” referring to the protests this week by COPINH that were repressed by the police. He said that he was instructing the Honduran immigration service to identify foreigners who are participating in the protests or inciting violence. At least one international observer, Giulia Fellin who has been accompanying COPINH was harassed and interfered with as she tried to go to her embassy today. Another National Party politician claimed that foreign journalists are inciting violence, creating images and causing problems for the government. With this the government continues the campaign of defamation against human rights defenders, journalists and international solidarity and opens the door to more repression against those groups as well as inciting violence against them. 

!Todos Somos Indignados - We Are All Indignant!

On July 31st, Honduran indignad@s which included members of the political opposition, indigenous activists, human rights defenders, students ended their hunger strike which was begun in June to protest the massive corruption and attacks on the political and economic well-being of the Honduran people (see the Honduras Solidarity Network statement below). The massive torchlight marches of thousands of Hondurans are continuing and the people continue to demand President Juan Orlando Hernandez's resignation and prosecution of all those responsible for the corruption. The marches also continue to denounce the attacks on the students, campesinos, indigenous and working people in general and the political repression. This is a time when the movement is re-accessing their tactics and possibilities for winning change. We will be publishing more analysis and information in upcoming posts. 

On July 27th the campesino movement supported by human rights defenders, social movements and LIBRE blocked highways around the country demanding agrarian reform (see article by Charity Crouse below). 

Chabelo and his mother leaving
 the prison in Ceiba
Photo via Dunia Aracely Pérez

On July 24th campesino political prisoner, Jose Isabel "Chabelo" Morales Lopez was released from prison pending another re-trial after his conviction was overturned. He has served almost 7 years in prison. His trial (the third trial!) ia currently scheduled for September 28 and La Voz de los de Abajo joins in the call for support for his permanent freedom. Pressure from international and Honduran human rights and social justice movements was crucial in winning his freedom and will be crucial for his definitive liberty. 

Please sign the petition HEREHere

More information Here

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Which Direction for Honduras

By Charity Crouse

Photo by Duñia Montoya via Bartolo Fuentes

On July 27, 2015 Hondurans Central Nacional de Trabajadores del Campo (CNTC),  Frente Nacional de Resistencia Popular (FNRP), organizations comprising Via Campesino, and maquila workers from the village near Progreso blocked the highway between  Tela and San Pedro Sula for four hours to compel the Honduran National Congress to address the myriad issues confronting campesino communities. These issues include the recent revelation of corruption by former Congress leader and current president Juan Orlando Hernandez of siphoning off millions of dollars from the Instituto Hondureno de Seguridad Social (IHSS) to fund his presidential campaign. This action corresponds to those for the last eight weeks by the movement which calls itself Indignados but it also includes long-standing policies of criminalizing land reform activists and targeting communities that tend the land. Currently, more than 5,000 face charges related to the land struggle while many more fight for recognition of land titles awarded since 2008. Farmers and their families are routinely evicted, imprisoned and have even been murdered as land rights are destroyed by the imposition of mining and other resource acquisition interests. Additionally, many of those with corporate and monied oligarchical family ties collude to dispossess entire communities of families of their sovereignty and their means of survival.

In 1962, sweeping land reform measures were passed in Honduras as part of the movement of farmers (campesinos) and indigenous people that united with workers throughout Latin America. These reforms enable communities that work land that was not specifically privately owned to be legally turned over to campesinos for future development. Little land was privately owned at the time and campesino communities and organizations grew throughout Honduras. The Instituto Nacional de Agricultura (INA) was established as an administrative body to coordinate land use practices and designations.

Throughout the 1980s, campesino communities and other leftist activists experienced extensive repression by right-wing governments dominated by an oligarchy who were the primary private landowners in the country and who controlled the private industry along with international companies like Standard Fruit. The U.S. military intervention in Central America in the 1980s basically occupied Honduras and supported the local oligarchy by training and supporting the Honduran troops and death squads that often tortured, disappeared and assassinated resistance leaders and members at their behest. Many of those oligarchs thrived by concentrating wealth and land usage through the proliferation of neoliberal free trade agreements like North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). While the development of industry offered job opportunities to many poor Hondurans, the agricultural and cultural base of the nation was dramatically altered as social movements that fought for human rights and economic and social justice were further repressed. Hundreds of human and environmental rights activists were assassinated. 

For those working for the rights of the land and those who sustained it, this repression was codified in law with the passage of the Law of the Modernization of Agriculture in 1993. The Law of Modernization expanded the entrenchment and entitlement of private landowners and industrialists. In addition, the role of INA in mediating land usage issues was turned over to a newly-formed Council of Land and Property, which now regulates land registries and titles. 

The impact has been debilitating for campesino communities. The proliferation of mining and hydroelectric interests that are often owned by foreign companies and officially incorporated and registered on property claimed by the oligarchy has increased to now encompass 35 percent of the public land of Honduras. That means that 35 percent of land once guaranteed to campesino communities has now been absorbed into the nexus of private landowner/corporate control. These concessions along with consolidation of agro and other business interests often operating under similar circumstances as the mines and dams, have corresponded with the increased militarization and expansion of the private security apparatus that forces campesino communities off their lands. Further militarization and security encroachments are often justified under the guise of fighting the War on Drugs, even as the government is implicated in collusion with the proliferation of the narco-traffickers, as revealed in a cable from the former U.S. Ambassador to Honduras leaked by Wikileaks. In practice, though, this security regime functions to safeguard private interests at the expense of entire communities. One more publicized and notable example is the ongoing struggle of the communities in the Aguan Valley that were violently repressed by the now-deceased Miguel Facusse.

Proceedings for campesino communities to assert their land rights are expensive, cumbersome, time-consuming and fraught with bureaucratic fraud. The arrests and prosecutions of campesinos takes time and resources away from the mostly impoverished communities.

CNTC campesinos detained in La Paz July 2015
Photo Franklin Almendares

Photo Franklin Almendares

In April of 2014, the CNTC and other land reform activists proposed the Law of Integrated Agrarian Reform. The law seeks to dismantle the regressive provisions of the Law of Modernization and restore autonomy and legal security to the campesino communities of Honduras. Unfortunately, while the National Congress and its leaders were busy defrauding the Honduran people and dismantling their public systems, the bill languished in the Committee for Agricultural and Rural Development without being read. The status quo of mismanagement, bureaucratic corruption, collusion between the oligarchy and predatory foreign interests, and the divestment of Honduran wealth and resources that characterizes the current imbroglio over the IHSS has also played out in the land and agricultural policies. Not only has the health of the Honduran people been devastated by this disaster, but so too has the earth that provides the economic system that sustains the entirety of the nation.

As such, Hondurans together put their bodies on the line to stop not only the police and government, but also the whole system that divests Honduras of its health and wealth. As the momentum continues to build, let us take inspiration to act as we see communities merge into Honduras’ future direction, a direction that holds great lessons and promise for the future of the world. 

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 El español sigue el ingles

July 30 2015
Statement from the Honduras Solidarity Network  of North America

Honduran people demand an end to corruption,  impunity, and militarization

www. hondurassolidarity.org  

As members of The Honduras Solidarity Network (HSN) of North America, we declare our solidarity with the many thousands of Hondurans who have been protesting for months with vigils, marches with torches, and an ongoing hunger strike. We support their demands for the resignation of President Juan Orlando Hernandez; the installation of an international independent commission (CICIH), to investigate the government corruption after the massive theft of hundreds of millions of dollars from the Honduran Social Security Institute (IHSS) by the ruling National Party; and a thorough investigation into the more than 3000 deaths in the health system during this crisis. This is a peoples’ movement in which the political opposition, the social movements, and the majority of the society are confronting obstacles to a better future for their country. 

We recognize that this outrageous and extraordinary corruption is one more example of actions outside the law, and against all the democratic principles committed by the Honduran political and economic elite, supported by the US government, which began with the 2009 military coup, and has continued with the subsequent coup governments. The most recent corruption scandal comes after 6 years of attacks against human rights defenders, agrarian and indigenous activists, and the entire political and social opposition movement. It comes as part of an attempt to consolidate illegitimate power that includes the removal of more independent Supreme Court justices in 2012 when the current president was the head of Congress and the subsequent decision, after Hernandez came to power in 2014, by the new court to declare null and void the anti-reelection clause of the Honduran constitution.

We strongly condemn the fact that the US Government’s support for the regime in Honduras continues. In fact as corruption was devastating the public health system, creating conditions in which thousands of people died; as the Honduran people and a diverse political opposition united their voices demanding President Hernandez’s resignation, the US Ambassador announced, “Our relationship (with the Honduran government) has never been better”. We are deeply concerned that the very few statements/actions by the US government about impunity and corruption, such as the agreement brokered between Transparency International, Association for a More Just Society, and the Honduran government,  are aimed at  whitewashing the crimes of the Honduran regime with token investigations and the possible prosecution of a handful of officials in order to gain support in the US for the so called “Alliance for Prosperity” — the $1-billion dollar package proposed for the countries of the Northern Triangle under the Biden Plan in the U.S. Congress. The rise of the recent movement against corruption is a demonstration of the failure of the existing agreement.  

We reject the common agenda the United States government  shares with international corporations, the IMF and the Honduran oligarchy represented by Juan Orlando Hernandez.   That agenda is an aggressive neoliberal program to privatize education, health care, and infrastructure while putting the country’s land and resources in the hands of foreign mining companies, hydroelectric, and mega-touristic projects, and powerful agribusiness interests.  This agenda is backed up by the US economic and military power. As if to make clear its support for the regime the US recently sent another group of 300 Marines to Honduras and conducted military helicopter exercises even as the corruption scandal was being revealed. 

We stand in solidarity also with the call from the indigenous, campesino, and trade union organizations, and other social sectors for solutions to the labor, agrarian, and territorial crises that affect their vulnerable members and communities. We are outraged and concerned about the criminalization of their movements and the ongoing violence against them which is the responsibility of the Honduran State. 

We are profoundly concerned with the continuing attacks on, and obstruction of the work of human rights defenders and journalists, without whom the population is totally defenseless against impunity and corruption. 

We support the demands of the Honduran people and we demand that the US government stop supporting militarization and impunity in Honduras now: 

1. That President Obama and the US Congress immediately stop military and police training, and military aid to Honduras!

2. That the US Congress not pass or fund the Alliance for Prosperity or other taxpayer-funded schemes that further militarize governments and increase human rights violations. 

3. That the US Embassy stop lending verbal and material support to the illegitimate government of President Juan Orlando Hernandez and instead demand of his administration an end to impunity and criminalization of human rights defenders and social movement leaders.   

4. We continue to demand an investigation for all of the assassinations committed in Honduras since the military coup of 2009, and punishment for the both the intellectual and material authors of those crimes.

July 30, 2015

Honduras Solidarity Network USA/Canada

D19/FNRP-Partido, LIBRE—EE.UU-Canadá

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Declaración de la Red de Solidaridad de Honduras EEUU/Canada

30 de Julio 2015

La declaración que sigue fue presentada a funcionarios en la embajada norteamericana en Tegucigalpa el dia 31 de Julio por una delegación de la HSN dirigida por Alliance for Global Justice. El proposito era de expresar bien nuestra posición en solidaridad con el pueblo de Honduras y nuestra inconformidad con la política de los EEUU en Honduras. 

El Pueblo hondureño exige un alto a la corrupción, a la impunidad, y a la militarización

30 de Julio, 2015

Reconocemos que esta intolerable y como miembros de la Red de Solidaridad norteamericana con Honduras (HSN por sus siglas en inglés), nosotros declaramos nuestra solidaridad con los muchos miles de hondureños que han estado protestando por varios meses con vigilias, marchas con antorchas, y con una huelga de hambre indefinida. Apoyamos las exigencias de la renuncia del Presidente Juan Orlando Hernández por parte del pueblo; y la creación de una Comisión Internacional Independiente que investigue la corrupción gubernamental después del masivo y descarado robo de cientos de millones de dólares de los fondos del Instituto Hondureño de Seguridad Social (IHSS) que fueron usados para financiar la campaña presidencial del Partido Nacional actualmente en el poder; y también una profunda investigación de los casos de más de 3000 personas beneficiarias de este sistema de salud que murieron durante esta crisis. Este es un movimiento del pueblo en el cual los grupos de la oposición política, los movimientos populares y la mayoría de la sociedad hondureña está enfrentando muchos obstáculos para lograr un futuro mejor para su país.

carada corrupción es un ejemplo más de las acciones fuera de la ley, y contra los principios democráticos encabezados por la élite política y económica de Honduras, apoyada por el Gobierno de los Estados Unidos que se inició con el golpe militar del 2009, y ha continuado con los subsecuentes gobiernos golpistas. El escándalo más reciente de corrupción se da después de 6 años de ataques permanentes contra los defensores de los derechos humanos, contra los indígenas y trabajadores del campo, y contra todo el movimiento politico y social de oposición. Todo esto surge como parte del intento de consolidarse como un poder ilegítimo quebrantando la actual Constitución para lograr la reelección.  Este proceso se inició con el despido injustificado de varios magistrados independientes de la Corte Suprema de Justicia en el 2012 cuando el actual presidente era el líder del Congreso Nacional, y la subsecuente decisión, después que Hernández por medio de un fraude electoral se convirtiera en el presidente de Honduras en el 2014. La actual corte suprema de justicia  actuando fuera de la ley, invalidó y declaró nula la cláusula de la anti-reelección de la constitución hondureña.

Con mucha firmeza condenamos el hecho de que el apoyo al régimen de Honduras por parte del gobierno de los Estados Unidos continúa. Es más, mientras la corrupción devastaba el sistema público de salud, lo que creó las condiciones por las que muchos miles de personas murieron; mientras el pueblo hondureño y una diversidad política de oposición unían sus voces exigiendo la renuncia del Presidente Juan Orlando Hernández, el embajador de Estados Unidos anunció: “Nuestra relación con el gobierno de Honduras nunca ha estado mejor”

Estamos profundamente preocupados por las declaraciones/acciones por parte del gobierno de los Estados Unidos acerca de la impunidad y la corrupción, como el caso de la ruptura del tratado entre Transparencia Internacional, la Asociación por una Sociedad más justa, y el gobierno de Honduras, están dirigidos a encubrir los crímenes del régimen hondureño con investigaciones de fachada y el posible juzgamiento de unos pocos oficiales para ganar apoyo en los Estados Unidos para el programa denominado “Alianza para la Prosperidad” - El paquete de un billón de dólares propuesto para apoyar los Países del Triángulo Norte como parte del Plan presentado por el  vicepresidente Biden ante el Congreso de los Estados Unidos. El incremento del movimiento de protesta contra la corrupción es una muestra de que la existencia del presente acuerdo ha fallado.

Repudiamos la agenda común que el gobierno de los Estados Unidos comparte con corporaciones internacionales como el Fondo Monetario Internacional y la oligarquía hondureña representada por Juan Orlando Hernández. Esa agenda obedece a un programa neoliberal agresivo que busca privatizar la educación, la salud y la infraestructura mientras ponen la tierra del país y los recursos naturales en manos de compañías mineras extranjeras, así como los proyectos hidroeléctricos y los proyectos Mega-Turísticos y los poderosos intereses de la agro industria. Esta agenda es respaldada por la economía estadounidense y el poder militar. Para demostrar su apoyo al régimen de Juan Orlando, el gobierno de los Estados Unidos recientemente envió 300 Marines más a Honduras y han realizado maniobras militares usando helicópteros incluso, a pesar de que el escándalo de la corrupción ya había sido revelado.

Estamos en solidaridad también con el llamado de la población indígena, los campesinos, las organizaciones obreras y sindicales, y con otros sectores sociales que buscan soluciones sindicales, agrarias, y a la crisis territorial que afecta a los miembros y comunidades más vulnerables. Estamos muy indignados y preocupados acerca de la criminalización contra sus organizaciones y la continua violencia contra ellos con la responsabilidad directa del Estado Hondureño.

Estamos profundamente preocupados por los contínuos ataques a y la obstrucción del trabajo que realizan los defensores de derechos humanos y los periodistas, sin el trabajo de estos organismos la población estaría totalmente desprotegida contra la impunidad y la corrupción.

Apoyamos las exigencias del pueblo hondureño, y demandamos que el gobierno de los Estados Unidos suspenda la ayuda militar y la impunidad ahora! Exigimos que:

1. Que el Presidente Obama y el Congreso de los Estados Unidos suspendan inmediatamente los entrenamientos militares y policía, así como la ayuda militar a Honduras!

2. Que el Congreso de los Estados Unidos no apruebe el Fondo de la Alianza para la prosperidad u otros planes o proyectos financiados con nuestros impuestos, y que sólo sirven para militarizar más a los gobiernos y el aumento de las violaciones a los derechos humanos.

3. Que la Embajada de los Estados Unidos no siga brindando apoyo verbal y material al gobierno ilegítimo de Juan Orlando Hernández y que en cambio se le exija que ponga término a la impunidad y la criminalización contra los defensores de los derechos humanos y de los líderes del movimiento social.

4. Continuamos exigiendo una investigación exhaustiva de todos los asesinatos cometidos en Honduras desde el golpe de estado del 2009, y exigimos castigo para los autores materiales e intelectuales de estos crímenes.

30 de Julio

Honduras Solidarity Network USA/Canada 

Red de Solidaridad con Honduras, EEUU/Canada

Update: The Case of Jose Isabel Morales and Injustice in Honduras

There has been increasing attention to the case of campesino activist, Jose Isabel "Chabelo" Morales from international and Honduran human rights and social justice organizations. This has led to a review of his case by the Honduran Supreme Court and an order for a new trial and his release pending that trial. However the court authorities in Northern Honduras in concert with the powerful land owners in the Aguan region have delayed his release so that at this time it looks as if he will remain unjustly imprisoned. Below is a statement from the Permanent Observatory for Human Rights of the Aguan.

For more information and actions for Chabelo go to these sites maintained by Greg Mccain in Honduras. 

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/341/189/267/freedom-for-chavelo-now-libertad-para-chavelo-ahora/

http://freechavelo.wordpress.com/

Declaración Original en Español

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The Permanent Observatory for Human Rights of the Aguán informs the organizations of the Social and Popular Movement, National and International Human Rights Organizations and the Honduran people:

Since the beginning of our focus on the human rights violations in the agrarian crisis in the Aguán, we have accompanied the process of arrest and wrongful imprisonment of compañero José Isabel Morales, better known as "Chabelo," member of the Guadalupe Carney community who has been held for more than five years in the El Porvenir prison farm in the department of Atlantida, fighting for his freedom at a disadvantage against a justice system that continues to serve the interests of the regional economic power (Colon) and whose acts we denounce in the following:

1. After the defense filed an appeal before the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court, this judicial body ruled in favor of that appeal, annulling the sentence condemning Chabelo and ordered a new trial during which, campañero Chabelo must regain his freedom because there is no judgment against him. What happened was that when returning the case to the trial court of Trujillo, the defense presented the request based on the law for a hearing to change the preventative detention that Chabelo is currently burdened with. Such a hearing, according to the law, should have been performed forty-eight hours after the request. However, the Court evidently threw out the request and instead set a date for trial while keeping Chabelo a prisoner.

2. Because of this, the defense proceeded on Tuesday the Seventeenth of this month, to bring a writ of Habeas Corpus before the Second Court of Appeals based in La Ceiba, to which, in support of the action, they appointed as Executive Judge the Coordinator of Prosecutors in Trujillo, José Antonio Maradiaga who has deliberately delayed the resolution of the appeal and refuses to provide information to the Defense Lawyer and to Human Rights organizations, arguing that the case is in under secrecy and that he may not resolve it until he sends the report to the court in La Ceiba. We also denounce his willful, intransigent and disrespectful attitude of the law. As a law officer, he is a public servant and should give information when it is requested especially to family members and to the legal defense as well as to local, national, and international human rights organizations.

Therefore, we want it noted that we know that the intent is for campañero Chabelo to remain illegally detained since the law states that pretrial detention should not exceed two years and the compañero has served five years and two months.

We call upon the organizations of the social and popular movement, peasant organizations of the Aguan and of the country, and national and international human rights organizations to be more aggressive in our call for justice for our friend Isabel Morales.

Immediate Freedom for Chabelo!

Dignity and Justice for the Campesino Movement of Honduras!!

The Permanent Observatory of Human Rights of the Aguán

September 23, 2012 Answer to Dinant Press Statement

 On September 21st we received a copy of a press release by Miguel Facusse's company DINANT attacking La Voz de los de Abajo in response to our press releases and press conference in Tegucigalpa on September 18th (see our blog entry on September 13th for more background).  DINANT has also published comments on the You Tube site where a video is posted showing their armed paramilitary guards threatening and then firing a shotgun at the ground in the direction of our delegation visiting the Los Laureles plantation in Tocoa, Colon on September 13.   Since then the lawyer working with Aguan campesinos, Antonio Trejo, was gunned down in Tegucigalpa and another human rights special investigator and founder of MADJ, Eduardo Diaz was murdered in Choluteca. The communications representative for MUCA, Karla Zelaya is receiving death threats and individuals are being threatened for talking to human rights people.  We are extremely alarmed by what looks like a concentrated campaign to isolate and destroy the campesino organizations and to threaten human rights defenders.

 Below is our answer to the Dinant communique.  We believe that in the face of this situation of increasing violence against campesinos, the murders of lawyers and human rights advocates who work with the campesinos and the threats against international groups supporting campesino human rights that  solidarity and human rights activists must step up our efforts to assist in bringing the intellectual and material authors of these actions to justice in the national or international justice system for crimes against humanity. 



La Voz de los de Abajo Chicago Illinois USA
September 23, 2012 Answer to Dinant Press Statement

“All individuals have the right to life, to liberty and to the security of their person. No one will be subjected to torture, nor to cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment or treatment”. (Article 3 and 4 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
In answer to the communique of the Dinant Corporation of Mr. Miguel Facusse rregarding the incident that occurred on September 13, 2012 when our delegation was investigating human rights violations related to the eviction carried out on the Los Laureles plantation, located in the Aurora neighborhood of Tocoa, Colon.
Our delegation of human rights observers, made up of 9 people from diverse organizations in the United States (USA) visited various regions in Honduras from September 6-16th and the same as other delegations that we have organized had as its fundamental aim to document and dennounce the systematic repression from the government by the army, national police and big landowners’ “security groups”.
Our visits have the purpose of dennouncing the serious violations of human rights carried out against organized Civil Society committed to Social Justice, and in particular violations against the campesinos and campesinas who ask for a small piece of land for themselves and their families in Honduras.
In point number 1 of its communique the Dinant Corporacion states the following: “In the face of the irresponsible attitude of the “human rights group” that is distributing the video, which entered private property...”
Our organization, “La Voz de los de Abajo-Chicago” was on the public street in the moment in which we received the verbal threats made with aggresive language and the firing of a shotgun towards us occurred. Our delegation was on public property taking photos and interviewing the neighbors who told us how they were terrorized by nearly 500 police, military and the guards working for Miguel Facusse. WE REPEAT, we were on the public street as is shown by the video and photos that were taken. It would be irresponsible on our part to stop documenting everything that has to do with the grave violations of human rights that are occurring in the Aguan. For that reason: We were doing our job. We were doing what we have to do as human rights observers.
In point number 7, it says: “It is important to point out that our company contracts guards from a company that is legally constituted for that purpose and we do not contract paramilitaries nor have a relations with or knowledge of the existence of groups of that nature”.
Definition of Paramilitary or paramiliatrism: “it refers to private organizations that have a structure and discipline similar to that of the army but which are not formally a part of the armed forces of a State and generally they are outside the law. Among their members may be police, mercenaries, members of assault squads or private security groups”.
When we were threatened and fired at, we saw that nearly all the “security guards” had their faces covered, except for two who were seen well back from the others hidden by the palms. These guards had heavy caliber weapons or assault weapons such as used by the military as can be seen in the photos we took. It is due to these characteristics that we use the term “paramiliatary” in our judgement this describes very well these ‘Security Guards” and their actions and manner.
In point number 8: “ THrough this (communique) we assure public opinion that once the Fiscalia called the guards to make statements regarding the complaint presented by the “offended” the guards went and gave the real version of the facts, making it clear who really was breaking the law by entering private installations without permission from its legitimate owners who reserve the right to proceed legally against those who really were the ones acting against the law”
“giving the real version of the facts” This version which was distributed in the Honduran media as the official truth contrasts with the versions of the diverse human rights organisms and with Honduran legislation that establishes that no one can take the law into their own hands and no one on their own can decide the fate of the life and future of a person outside that established by the Constitution of the Republic and its general laws. None the less the “security guards” act as if they themselves are themselves the law - to the extent that our delegation was told by a policeman, “not even we ourselves can enter the plantation to investigate”.
During our visit from the 6 to the 16 of September we visited with 16 campesino communities located in La Paz, Puerto Cortes, El Progreso, Atlantida and Colon. Everyone told us the same thing - that there is an alarming escalation of repression against the Honduran campesinos and everyone interviewed stated their profound concern for the atmosphere of insecurity in their communities. They spoke of their anguish over their fear for their lives and the lives of their families.
It is important to point out that in the Aguan region dozens of campesinos have died and the principal suspects in the murders are the “security guards” of Miguel Facusse. Nonetheless there has not been an investigation to clarify the crimes and much less to put into place a judicial process to bring to trial and to sentence the material and intellectual authors of these crimes.
Our organization laments the death of any human being especially when we have heard so many voices desperately demanding justice. Especially when we we have seen, once again, that disrespect for life, and impunity reign in Honduras. Especially when we have confirmed through the human rights organizations, leaders of social organizations and campesino organizations that the political, social and economic life in the country is every day more critical. Especially when we have seen an evident and profound absence of a true agrarian policy in the country, which is the root of the current agrarian conflict which has all Hondurans in mourning and when we have seen that an economic and political business elite insists on turning Honduras into a common grave to bury those who affect their interests.
For all of these reasons we reiterate that we continue to have the same demands. In the first place that the government of the United States end its military aid directed to the military and National police and cancel its joint operations using military and DEA with the Honduran military and police which have caused serious violations of human rights, produced victims and violated the national soverignty of Honduras.
Secondly, we demand the immediate liberation of the political prisoners who are in prison because of the legitimate struggle for land: José Isabel Morales, prisoner in La Ceiba, José León Galeas, Cesar Bardales García, Santos Isaías Rodríguez, Selvin Noeli Rodriguez, prisoners in La Paz.
Thirdly, we demand punishment for the material and intellectual authors of the crimes against humanity in Honduras.
Fourth, we demand an authentic agrarian policy, inclusive and fair and an end to the repression, political persecution and impunity.
La Voz de los de Abajo 22 de Septiembre del 2012 Chicago Illinois EE.UU.

Security guards threaten, fire warning shot at human rights observers today

Updated September 16

September 13, 2012 

Masked security guards of Honduras's largest landowner verbally threatened and then fired a warning shot at nine human rights activists in Tocoa, Honduras, in the country's violence wracked Aguan valley at about 3 PM local time today.  The incident was captured on videotape and in still pictures.

The activists are on a solidarity tour organized by the Chicago-based La Voz de la Abajo organization, which is investigating human rights violations and the social and political conditions in the country, including its dubious distinction of having the world's highest murder rate.

At the time of today's incident, the La Voz delegation was investigating a combined raid by over 500 private security, national police and army last Sunday, Sept. 9 which killed Hector Navarro, aged 69.  The raid was part of the violent eviction of a campesino group from land claimed by big land owner Miguel Facusse on the Los Laureles plantation. Accompanied by the coordinator of the Permanent Human Rights Observatory in Aguan, Ediberto Aleman, the delegation interviewed residents of the neighborhood that is adjoined the plantation who were affected by the raid. The campesinos from the recuperation were dispersed and not available at the time of our visit. 

Witnesses from the surrounding neighborhood told the delegation that the armed men ordered them to go into their houses during the raid. They then fired tear gas cannisters into the homes and broke down doors looking for any campesinos who may have fled into some of the homes. The campesino camp was destroyed (see photo) and 34 people arrested, including many youth. Early the next morning, Navarro, who had been resting in a hammock in his backyard, died of apparent excessive tear gas inhalation. We were able to see  several tear gas canisters (see photo) that had been thrown into the small houses in which women, children, infants and elderly people were present. Residents also told us of being threatened and mistreated by the combined police-military - private guards force. 

During today's incident, as the La Voz delegation was standing well outside the plantation land waiting to interview more neighbors, five masked guards approached, some pointing their weapons at the La Voz delegation. They shouted threats and one guard said, "This is your last warning," and then fired a rifle.   Video and still pictures of the incident are available at http://youtu.be/AbOgsm8qQE4 and http://tinyurl.com/hondurasguns

"That we were not shot at directly is probably only because most of us appear to be North Americans," said Vicki Cervantes, co-coordinator of the La Voz delegation. "Hondurans don't have that same protection, which explains the rampant political violence in this country."

"Today we visited three campesino encampments in Aguan and people at each of them emphatically requested that we stop U.S. aid to the Honduran military and police," said Alexy Lanza, another co-coordinator of the La Voz delegation. "Yesterday at the Garifuna land encampment in Vallecito we learned of the murder the same day of Aguan campesinos Herman Alejandro Maldonado and Ivis Ortega (Ortega was gravely wounded, and lingered before dying this morning).

After the shooting incident at Los Laureles, the delegation filed a formal complaint against the security guards at the police station in Tocoa. Delegation member Sarah Sommers of the Cleveland InterReligious Task Force on Central America stated that one of the police officials who took the complaint, Wilfredo Bautista, who is in charge of investigating murders in the Aguan Valley, told the delegation, "that even we [the police] can't go into that plantation; there [sic] are very bad people. We can't investigate because we can't go there; we might get killed."

"It is disturbingly clear who is in charge in the Aguan," said Cervantes. "Police and military carry out raids on behalf of the big landowners like Miguel Facusse and essentially say that they can't control heavily armed private guards who shoot and kill at will."

Besides Cervantes, Lanza and Sommers, members of the La Voz delegation include Lois Martin, Tucson and a member of No Mas Muertes, an organization dedicated to preventing the deaths of migrants crossing the deserts in the border region; Sidney Hollander, an activist with the Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America; human rights activists Mary Dean and Greg McCain, formerly of Chicago and now of Colon, Honduras; and Andy Thayer, a Chicago-based anti-war activist and co-founder of the Gay Liberation Network.

Urge the U.S. to Stop Funding Honduran Police and Military!

After the June 28, 2009 coup in Honduras that overthrew democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya a strong and courageous citizens’ movement united to struggle for democracy and justice in Honduras.

This movement continued after the illegitimate 2010 election of de facto President Pepe Lobo and the movement continues to this day. We in the United States bear a special responsibility to take action given the shameful support of our government for the illegal coup and the economic, diplomatic and political support for the violent coup regime in Honduras as well as increased U.S. militarization of the region. While trade unions, students, campesinos, teachers continue to struggle for economic and social justice, human rights violations and violence against the people are increasing.

TAKE ACTION  ! Click HERE for more and to take action

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Honduras Solidarity Network: Actions in 9 cities in the US June 28, 2009 - June 28, 2012. 

Three years of Resistance to the Coup in Honduras.

More than 30 organizations in the United States belonging to the Honduran Solidarity Network (HSN) are organizing national actions the week of June 28th in commemoration of the June 28, 2009 Honduran coup - its martyrs, and the ongoing peoples’ movements in resistance. The HSN is demanding that the U.S. end its military-security intervention (financial and direct “boots on the ground”) in support of the Honduran government.

It has been three years since the June 28, 2009 coup that illegally overthrew democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya and more than two years since sham elections installed Porfirio “Pepe” Lobo in office. The political and human rights violence has increased during that time. However the people’s resistance and commitment to refounding Honduran democracy continues with protests, strikes, land occupations and the creation of a new political party, LIBRE. 

The military coup and its continuation unleashed and deepened the impunity, corruption and violence that has contributed to Honduras being designated the most violent country in the world by the United Nations.  Since the coup there have been hundreds of murders thought to be politically motivated. This includes 70 members of the GBLT community; at least 50 campesinos; many well known trade unionists; teachers; indigenous activists; and LIBRE members. In addition more than 20 journalists have been assassinated.   Just this year at least 14 people from these groups have been murdered. The Honduran government has not carried out serious investigations of the crimes.  Despite all this and in spite of 3 Congressional letters calling for an end to US military/security aid to Honduras because of the human rights emergency; in May, the U.S. authorized an additional 50 million dollars of security aid for 2012. 

After the 2009 coup the U.S. government quickly accommodated to the coup government  and, besides providing diplomatic support, is deeply involved in training, advising and  equipping Honduran military and police. Furthermore the US role has escalated. On May 11, 2012 U.S. DEA agents were part of a violent helicopter assault against a dugout canoe carrying 11 indigenous community members down a river in the Mosquitia area that left 4 people dead (including two pregnant women)  and others very seriously injured. The U.S. provided the helicopter and  U.S. agents were with Honduran and Guatemalan military on the operation.   Community members who witnessed the attack also state that there were English speaking soldiers with the Honduran military who terrorized the community for hours after the attack.  This made it impossible for wounded community members to get out of the water and get timely medical assistance.  

Berta Oliva, head of the most important human rights organization in Honduras, the Committee of the Families of the Disappeared Detainees (COFADEH) stated in a press conference after visiting the site of the murders in the Mosquitia that the DEA, the U.S. Military with its major military base in Palmarola, the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (AFT) have a presence in Honduras, furthermore there are joint operations of U.S., Honduran, Colombian and Guatemalan security forces in the country. 

“These activities are done in the name of combatting narcotics traffic in order to justify intervention in the county; and with this (intervention) it is logical that we will never have a future that approaches having a State strengthened by respect for the citizens’ civil and political rights.”, stated Oliva.

There will be actions organized by members of the HSN in Boston, New York City, Washington DC, Kansas City, Chicago, Phoenix, Tucson, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Click here for information on the actions. 

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Comunicado de Prensa

Red de Solidaridad con Honduras (HSN):  Acciones en 9 ciudades en los EE.UU.

  28 junio 2009 a 28 junio 2012 - Tres años de resistencia al golpe en Honduras 

Más de 30 organizaciones en los Estados Unidos pertenecientes a la Red de Solidaridad con Honduras (HSN), están organizando acciones por todo el pais durante la semana del 28 de junio en conmemoración al golpe de Estado en Honduras el 28 de junio 2009 - sus mártires, y los movimientos de los pueblos en resistencia.  La HSN está exigiendo que los EE.UU. ponga fin a su intervención militar y de seguridad (tanto financiera como directa) en apoyo al gobierno de Honduras.

Han pasado tres años desde el golpe de estado del 28 de junio 2009, golpe de estado que derrocó ilegalmente al Presidente, democráticamente electo, Manuel Zelaya, y más de dos años desde la farsa electoral que instaló a Porfirio "Pepe" Lobo. La violencia política y las violaciones de los derechos humanos han incrementado durante ese tiempo. Sin embargo la resistencia del pueblo y el compromiso con la democracia y refundación hondureña continúa con las protestas, huelgas, ocupaciones de tierras y la creación de un nuevo partido político, LIBRE.

El golpe militar y su continuación desató y profundizo la impunidad, la corrupción y la violencia que ha contribuido a que Honduras sea designado el país más violento del mundo por las Naciones Unidas. Desde el golpe han ocurrido cientos de asesinatos que parecen tener motivos políticos. Esto incluye a 70 miembros de la comunidad Gay (GBLT);  por lo menos 50 campesinos y otros  sindicalistas, maestros, activistas indígenas y miembros del Partido LIBRE. Además más de 20 periodistas han sido asesinados. Tan sólo este año al menos 14 personas pertenecientes a estos grupos han sido asesinadas. El gobierno hondureño no ha llevado a cabo investigaciones serias de los crímenes. A pesar de todo esto y a pesar de 3 cartas del Congreso dirigidas al Departamento de Estado reclamando poner fin a la ayuda de seguridad y militar a Honduras debido a la crisis de derechos humanos, en mayo de este año en los EE.UU. se autorizaron 50 millones de dólares más de ayuda de seguridad para el año 2012.

Después del golpe de 2009, el gobierno de los EE.UU. rápidamente se acomodó con los golpistas y además de proporcionar apoyo diplomático, está profundamente involucrado en la formación, asesoramiento y equipamiento de militares y policía hondureños. Además, el papel que juega EE.UU. se ha intensificado. El 11 de mayo de 2012 agentes de la DEA de Estados Unidos formaban parte de un de asalto violento desde un helicóptero contra una canoa que llevaba a 11 miembros de comunidades indígenas por un río en el área de Mosquitia. El asalto dejó 4 muertos (entre ellos dos mujeres embarazadas) y otros gravemente heridos. Los EE.UU. proveyeron el helicóptero y agentes estadounidenses estaban con unos militares de Honduras y Guatemala en la operación. Miembros de la comunidad que presenciaron el ataque dijeron también que había soldados que hablan inglés y que venían con los militares hondureños que aterrorizaron a la comunidad aún durante varias horas después del ataque. Esto hizo imposible que los miembros de la comunidad que resultaron heridos pudieran salir del agua y obtener atención médica oportuna.

Berta Oliva, la coordinadora de la organización derechos humanos más importante en Honduras, el Comité de Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos (COFADEH) declaró en una conferencia de prensa tras visitar el lugar de los asesinatos en el Moskitio. que la DEA, el Ejército de los EE.UU. con una importante base militar en Palmarola, el FBI, la Oficina de Alcohol, Tabaco, Armas de Fuego y Explosivos (AFT) tienen una marcada presencia en Honduras, por otra parte hay operaciones conjuntas de EE.UU., Honduras, Colombia y Guatemala con las fuerzas de seguridad en el país.

"Estas actividades se llevan a cabo en nombre de la lucha contra el narcotráfico  con el fin de justificar la intervención, y con esto (la intervención) es lógico que nunca tendremos un futuro que se acercara a tener un Estado fortalecido por el respeto a los derecho civiles y políticos de los ciudadanos.”, dijo Oliva.

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URGENT ACTION Honduran State Discriminates Against Victims of the DEA

COFADEH

Honduran State Discriminates Against Victims of the DEA

The Committee of the Families of the Detained and Disappeared of Honduras, COFADEH, expresses its total repudiation and extreme concern for the abandonment on the part of the state of Honduras, of the victims of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Honduran security agents’ antidrug operation carried out on May 11, 2012 in the community of Paptalaya, Ahuas, Department of Gracias a Dios.

The attack was directed at unarmed people traveling on the Patuca River, impacting 16 families: four people dead including two pregnant women and a 14 year old boy; four wounded, one of whom is also a 14 year old boy; three homes searched; three victims of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment; and 10 children orphaned.

The operation was carried out by a multinational force, which according to the Honduran Minister of Defense Marlon Pascua, did not include members of the national Armed Forces[1], and resulted in a very high cost for the population of Ahuas and for Honduran society.

Cofadeh calls on the international Human Rights community and the democratic world, to take vigorous action to prevent the rights of the victims from being violated again.

The indifference and cowardliness of state authorities to confront the consequences of their actions outside of the law has resulted in the lack of adequate medical attention for the wounded and the criminalization of their family members for denouncing this.

The child WILMER LUCAS WALTER (14) and youth  LUCIO ADAN NELSON QUEEN (22),  who were traveling in the boat that was fired on by the DEA and Honduran agents, have been hospitalized since May 11 en regional hospital centers and to date have not received the surgical attention required to treat their serious injuries.

Wilmer is at risk of losing his left hand due to negligence and lack of attention and Lucio is weakened by infection as he waits for orthopedic intervention in his right arm.

In the midst of the so called “war against drugs” the principal victims are the indigenous, Misquito villagers including children and women; the principal actor responsible for these serious actions is the State.

However the executive of the current regime, Porfirio Lobo Sosa, has not provided an official report on what happened on May 11, on the contrary he demonstrated ignorance of the events during a press conference at the Presidential headquarters on Friday, June 1 and made discriminatory comments against the Indigenous, Misquito population.  Lobo not only cast doubt on what happened and the fatal results, but also insinuated in an irresponsible manner, that the attacked villagers were drug traffickers because they were on the Patuca River at early hours of the morning when this zone lacks public transport, its population travels by water at these hours to avoid the sun and lack bridges and roads in a territory abandoned by the State. 

The United States, the second state involved, also evades responsibility.  Lisa Kubiske[2], the U.S. Ambassador in Tegucigalpa, has declared that the DEA team acting in the Mosquitia did so in self defense and because it was their duty in the war against drugs.  Even though neither her government nor Porfirio Lobo have carried out a serious and deep investigation into the events on May 11, she prejudged.

Ahuas is militarized, the population and its families are in pain and intimidated.  The racism and discrimination towards the victims of May 11^th is intentional and in this case clearly registers rejection on the part of the State towards indigenous peoples as a way to deny their capacity and rights which has resulted in social exclusion historically.

As a result, Cofadeh calls on the international and national community to:

·         Demand that the State of Honduras take the necessary measures to protect and guarantee the lives of the survivors.

 ·         Demand that Wilmer Lucas Walter (14) and the youth Lucio Adan Nelson Queen recieve swift and adequate treatment required in the State hospitals.  Their case is very serious due to the level of invisibility; it requires political will to resolve it.

 ·         Insist that both governments conduct impartial and exhaustive investigations into the acts of May 11, 2012 resulting in the sanction of those responsible; national, foreign, material and intellectual, according to the law as well as full reparation for damages.  

 ·         An expedited, efficient, independent and impartial investigation into the violation of the human rights of the people detained and especially regarding torture inflicted which should include:

o   Who was in charge of the operation?

o   What was the chain of command?

o   What were the guidelines for the Honduran and United States agents regarding use of force and in particular on the use of combat weapons?

o   Who gave the order to open fire and based on what criteria?

·         Remind the State of Honduras of its obligation to promote and uphold the respect for the rights and obligations contained in the international instruments it has ratified including first and second generation rights.  In addition, the special rights of indigenous people.

Porfirio Lobo Sosa

Casa Presidencial

Tel (504) 2221-4558, 2221-4560, 2221-4562

Fax (504) 2290-5000, 2221-4545

Mail: info@presidencia.gob.hn

,  

Juan Orlando Hernández

Congreso Nacional

Tel (504) 2269-3181

Fax 2269-3000

Mail: portalpj@poderjudicial.gob.hn

Jorge Alberto Rivera Avilés

Presidente de la Corte Suprema de Justicia

Tel (504) 2269-3000  2269-3069 2269-3981

Mail: cedij@poderjudicial.gob.hn

Luis Alberto Rubí

Fiscal General de la República.

Fax (504) 2221-5667

Tel (504) 2221-5670  221-3099

Mail: lrubi@mp.hn

          suazog@mp.hn