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

Free Chavelo - New Video -

José Isabel Morales "Chavelo" is a Political Prisoner from Honduras he is a peasant activist from the Peasant Movement of Aguan (MCA) in the Aguán Valley
Free Chavelo from Alexy Lanza on Vimeo.

Chavelo belongs to the community of Guadalpe Carney in the province of Colon, Honduras.
He is in prison for his involvement in the agrarian struggle in defense of the land. He is a member of a peasant cooperative in the Aguan.  The name of the cooperative is Saint Mary of the Angels. Chavelo has been in prison since October 17, 2008 without any evidence of committing a crime. he was captured without having any evidence. On June 25, 2010 Chavelo was declared guilty of murder. On July 24, 2012 he was sentenced to 20 years in prison for a crime he did not commit.

Visite una nueva pagina para Chavelo - Visit the new website for Chavelo
http://freechavelo.wordpress.com

URGENT ACTION for Chavelo: Sign the Petition  ACCION URGENTE: Peticion
http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/We_Demand_a_Retrial_and_Freedom_for_Honduran_Political_Prisoner_Chavelo_Morales/?cpeXOab

Honduran Grassroots Groups Call for Liberty for Campesino Prisoner

Jose Isabel "Chavelo" Morales Lopez

SIGN THE PETITION BELOW! 

el texto en español sigue el ingles

 We Demand Freedom for our Compañero José Isabel Morales! The grassroots organizations, in defense of our territories and natural resources of the regions of Aguán, Atlantida, and Valle de Sula, in the Central, South and West of the country, have gathered in national assembly to denounce and repudiate the rigged and illegal process that led to the capture, detention and sentencing of our compañero Jose Isabel Morales who is imprisoned unjustly in the El Porvenir prison in La Ceiba, Atlantida.

 Compañero José Isabel Morales is in prison for his involvement in the agrarian struggle in defense of the land. The Honduran State is directly responsible for the conflict in that area because it became an accomplice to rich landlords who illegally appropriated land where the CREM (Regional Center for Military Training) operated. This land had been legally allotted to campesino groups. The State is not the only party responsible for the agrarian conflict, but it deliberately protected the rich landlords and has manipulated the justice system by showing no mercy for the campesinos, and by turning the victims, such as is the case of Jose Isabel Morales, into executioners and criminals, and presenting the perpetrators, invaders and murderers of the campesinos as honorable people and as the victims.

 We demand that the Supreme Court proceed immediately to annul the sentence imposed on our colleague due to it being unjust, unconstitutional and motivated strictly by the political interests of revenge seeking landlords who act as if it the Aguán were there own personal property. We demand from the Supreme Court a decision declaring the immediate release of our colleague José Isabel Morales, while at the same time declaring void the arrest warrants against all the campañeros and campañeras of the Campesino Movement of the Aguán. You cannot condemn people for raising there voices and for fighting to defend land that legitimately belongs to them.

 We invite all fraternal grassroots organizations to make common cause in this fight for the campesinos of the Aguán, and particularly to be in solidarity with our unjustly imprisoned compañero. Below is the link to the Petition to the Supreme Court of Justice of Honduras asking for a retrial/freedom for Chavelo Morales.
http://www.avaaz.org/en/ petition/We_Demand_a_Retrial_ and_Freedom_for_Honduran_ Political_Prisoner_Chavelo_ Morales/?cpeXOab

Immediate freedom for our compañero Jose Isabel Morales!
 Siguatepeque, 6 de octubre de 2012
Comité Cívico de Organizaciones Populares e Indígenas de Honduras (COPINH), Organización Fraternal Negra de Honduras (OFRANEH), Movimiento Amplio por la Dignidad y la Justicia (MADJ), Coordinadora de Organizaciones Populares del Aguán (COPA), Asociación Intermunicipal de Vigilancia Social de Honduras (AIDEVISH), Equipo de Reflexión, Investigación y Comunicación (ERIC), Partido Socialismo o Barbarie (SoB), Coordinadora de Organizaciones Lajeñas, de Las Lajas, Comayagua Consejo Parroquial de parroquia de Goascorán, departamento de Valle Central Nacional de Trabajadores del Campo (CNTC) Red de Mujeres de El Progreso (REMUPRO)
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Declaración por 10 Organizaciones Populares de Honduras por la Libertad de Chavelo

 Exigimos libertad para nuestro compañero José Isabel Morales Las organizaciones populares en defensa de nuestros territorios y los bienes naturales de las regiones del Aguán, Atlántida, Valle de Sula, centro, sur y occidente del país, reunidas en asamblea nacional, denunciamos y repudiamos el proceso amañado e ilegal que llevó a la captura, encarcelamiento y sentencia de nuestro compañero JOSÉ ISABEL MORALES quien guarda prisión injusta en el centro penal de El Porvenir, en La Ceiba, Atlántida.

 El compañero José Isabel Morales está preso por su compromiso en la lucha agraria en defensa de la tierra. El Estado hondureño es responsable directo del conflicto en dicha zona porque se convirtió en cómplice para que los terratenientes se apropiaran ilegalmente de las tierras en donde funcionó el CREM y que ya estaban adjudicadas a los grupos campesinos. El Estado hondureño no solo es el principal responsable de dicho conflicto agrario, sino que deliberadamente ha protegido a los terratenientes y ha manipulado el sistema de justicia para ensañarse en contra de los campesinos, convirtiendo a las víctimas, como es el caso de José Isabel Morales, en verdugos y delincuentes, y presentando a los victimarios, invasores y asesinos de campesinos como honorables y víctimas. 

Exigimos que la Corte Suprema de Justicia proceda de inmediato a anular la sentencia impuesta a nuestro compañero por injusta, inconstitucional y por esta motivada por estrictos intereses políticos de revancha de parte de los terratenientes y de quienes se afanan en seguir actuando como si el Aguán fuese su propia hacienda. Exigimos a la Corte Suprema de Justicia una sentencia que declare la inmediata libertad de nuestro compañero José Isabel Morales, al tiempo que declare nulas las órdenes de captura en contra de todos los compañeros del Movimiento Campesino del Aguán porque no se puede condenar a las personas por elevar su voz y su lucha en defensa de la tierra que legítimamente les pertenece.

 Invitamos a todas las organizaciones populares y fraternas a hacer causa común en esta lucha a favor de los campesinos del Aguán, y particularmente en solidaridad con nuestro compañero injustamente preso.

Por debajo está el enlace de la petición a la Corte Suprema de Justicia de Honduras solicitando un nuevo juicio / libertad para Chavelo Morales.

http://www.avaaz.org/es/ petition/Exigimos_un_nuevo_ juicio_y_libertad_para_el_ preso_politico_hondureno_ Chavelo_Morales/?cpeXOab

¡Libertad inmediata para nuestro compañero José Isabel Morales!

 Siguatepeque, 6 de octubre de 2012 

Comité Cívico de Organizaciones Populares e Indígenas de Honduras (COPINH), Organización Fraternal Negra de Honduras (OFRANEH), Movimiento Amplio por la Dignidad y la Justicia (MADJ), Coordinadora de Organizaciones Populares del Aguán (COPA), Asociación Intermunicipal de Vigilancia Social de Honduras (AIDEVISH), Equipo de Reflexión, Investigación y Comunicación (ERIC), Partido Socialismo o Barbarie (SoB), Coordinadora de Organizaciones Lajeñas, de Las Lajas, Comayagua Consejo Parroquial de parroquia de Goascorán, departamento de Valle Central Nacional de Trabajadores del Campo (CNTC) Red de Mujeres de El Progreso (REMUPRO)

José Isabel "Chavelo" Morales Sentenced to Twenty Years

Chavelo Morales, political prisoner and campesino activist, member of the Guadalupe Carney community in the Aguan Valley was sentenced to 20 years in prison on July 24 without he or his lawyers being notified that the sentencing was scheduled. Chavelo has been in  prison since 2008, he was convicted despite a lack of any evidence against him, of homicide related to a confrontation that occurred after private armed guards attacked the Guadalupe Carney community in August, 2008. He was held for nearly 3 years without sentencing which also kept him in legal limbo since no appeal of the conviction could be filed until sentencing. More than 30 campesinos from the community have open arrest warrants related to the 2008 events based on no evidence other than their residence in the community. One of the campesinos, Genaro Reyes, was arrested last month by police in Tocoa and is awaiting court procedures under house arrest. The harshness of Chavelo's sentence and the continued pressure on community members reflects the fact that Chavelo and the community of Guadalupe Carney are   symbols of the organized campesinos in Aguan. The big landowners and agro-oligarchs have used all their influence to keep Chavelo imprisoned to limit his access to legal remedies and to intimidate community members. 

Retaliation Against the Campesino Movement!

Thirty-Six Campesinos and Campesinas Detained May 23rd in Different Parts of Honduras


     The landowning oligarchy and Honduran regime are going all out to retaliate against the campesino movement that shook the big landowners with massive land recuperations of agrarian reform land on April 17th of this year.
     Today, 17 members and leaders of the Unified Campesino Movement of Aguan (MUCA) were detained in the province of Yoro as they were returning to their settlements in the Aguan Valley of Colon. The campesinos were taken to the police station in Progreso where lawyers from the Jesuit organization ERIC were working to get them released as of this writing. In the Aguan region three farmers were arrested (in two different incidents), and in the province of La Paz another 16 campesinos, including 2 minors,  were detained as they were on their way to work their fields, three of the detainees are members of the indigenous organization COPINH and others are affiliated to the National Center of Rural Workers (CNTC). One farmer remains in custody this evening. The Permanent International Human Rights Observatory in Aguan also reports that several well known campesino leaders in Aguan, (Vitilino Alvarez, Juan Ramon Chinchilla, Adolfo Castañeda and Ramon Sanchez) have received new death threats from the private guards of oligarch Miguel Facusse claiming that they will lose their lives in the next hours. 
     In a phone interview, Jesus Ponce the General Secretary of the CNTC, strongly denounced the actions today and stated that there has been a war against campesinos for some time but now the big landowners and the government are retaliating for the campesino movement's recuperation of lands on April 17th.  (Note: see the earlier blog entry for April 17th for more details). 
     There are more than 100 arrest orders issued against campesinos across the country related to land recuperation. Ponce stated that besides the detentions today, there have been violent evictions, but the campesinos have returned to the lands again. In San Manuel, Cortes the campesinos just returned to the land this week after their second eviction. The San Manuel sugar cane fields are also claimed by oligarch Jaime Rosenthal who obtained the land even though it was agrarian reform land and should have gone to the campesinos originally. 
      Ponce explained that the government and big land owners are trying all kinds of threats and tricks. Some of Rosenthal's paid employees at the sugar processing operation at San Manuel are currently protesting in Tegucigalpa demanding that all the campesinos in the land recuperation should be arrested - trying to confuse public opinion and incite violence against the campesinos.  
     The campesino organizations at the national level are demanding that the 1993 Law of Modernization of Agriculture (a law which nearly destroyed agrarian reform in Honduras) be abrogated and they have proposed a new  agricultural reform law, but the Congress has gone on a month's recess after tabling the campesinos' proposal previously. He also condemned the blatant threats made by the most powerful agribusiness land owner in the country, Miguel Facusse who is threatening thousands of campesinos in Aguan with violent eviction if they can't immediately come up with the money to pay him for land that was to be titled to the campesinos of MUCA after they signed an agreement with the Lobo government. 
     Today's repression comes at the end of a month that has seen a further escalation of violence and murder of campesinos, journalists, resistance leaders and LGBT activists. There has also been an escalation of militarization fueled by the United States that led to the murder of at least 4 indigenous community members including two pregnant women and the wounding of numerous others when a joint operation of the United States DEA and Honduran military fired from a helicopter at a small boat coming down a river in the Miskitio. Honduran military spokesmen have said it was an error, but the U.S. State Department and DEA have not apologized nor explained what happened. 
      All of this is leading to ever more insistent calls for the United States to cut off aid, especially military and security aid to the Honduran regime.