MAY 25, 2010
1. COFADEH received the report of this at 4:30 pm, Tuesday, May 25, 2010: armed men dressed in white shirts, with black pants and caps violently entered STIBYS, and immediately fired on Douglas Gomez who is now in surgery at the Social Security Hospital in San Pedro Sula.
2. The action occurred in a synchronized manner with the blocking of the telephone lines, which did not work when the four persons, including Douglas, inside the union facility tried to sound the alert and get help from outside. The unknown assailants did not take anything from STIBYS.
3. COFADEH is concerned with this new repressive action against STIBYS and its leaders Carlos H. Reyes and Porfirio Ponce, who since the coup d’etat have been the victims of constant aggression, surveillance and militarization against the organization by the repressive bodies of the State
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Saturday, February 6, 2010
La Voz de los de Abajo Delegation January 24-31 2010
Solidarity and Human Rights Delegation to Honduras - January 24-31, 2010
Seven people travled to Honduras to accompany the resistance as human rights observers in solidarity with the people of Honduras against the coup d'etat. We interviewed individuals, organizations and communities in resistance from San Pedro Sula, El Progreso, Siguatepeque, La Paz, and Tegucigalpa. the delegation presented our findings on the serious and deteriorating human rights situation in Honduras to the US Embassy and held a press conference in Tegucigalpa. The delgation accompanied the grand march of resistance on January 27th, the day that the new coup government of Pepe Lobo assumed power. The march of 300,000 people in resistance went to the Tegucigalp Airport to salute President Mel Zelaya who left the country on the same day. The Resistance remains massive, peaceful and resolute.
See Honduras_Resists blogspot for more detailed reports.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Close the School of the Americas- Honduras Presente!
Honduras Presente!: Report from the Close Down the School of Assassins (SOA) 2009
November 21 and 22, 2009: For the 19th year, anti-war, social justice, solidarity and human rights activists gathered at the gates of the School of Americas (now called the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation) at Fort Benning, Georgia to demand that this military training School of Assassins be shut down once and for all. This year Honduras was strongly represented, because the military officials in command of the coup d’etat of June 28, 2009 were trained at the SOA and the Honduras military has long history of training at the SOA.
The significance of the coup in Honduras as a set back for human rights in Latin America was highlighted by several speakers and a key note speaker during the weekend was Berta Oliva, the founder and director of the Committee for the Families of the Disappeared and Detained In Honduras (COFADEH). Berta spoke at the rally on Saturday and the vigil for the fallen and disappeared on Sunday. She also was the speaker at a standing room only workshop Saturday evening
Berta spoke of the history of human rights violations by the U.S. trained Honduran military going back to the 1980’s and even before, including the case of her husband Tomas Nativi who was disappeared in 1981. She spoke of the disappeared, detained and murdered Honduras since the coup d’etat this year and the situation of a human rights crisis in which the coup government elections on November 29th would take place. She emphasized the concerns of COFADEH that the human rights violations by the government will increase during and after the elections. She called for continued solidarity and action from activists in the United States in support of the Honduran people and the resistance.
In the closing vigil on Sunday, the names of the dead and disappeared in Honduras were joined with the names of hundreds of people from all over Latin America. !Honduras Presente! Close the SOA!
November 29th - Chicago Emergency Action
On Sunday, November 29th, 50 people protested the illegal elections in Honduras and held a vigil for the fallen in the resistance to the coup d'etat in front of the Honduras Consulate in Chicago. (Photos by J.F. Gomez)
The press release for the event is below.
For Immediate Release Emergency Action
Honduras: De Facto Elections Equal a De Facto Government, Not Democracy!
We Are All Honduras - Chicago VIGIL - 3pm to 5pm
Sunday, November 29th
In front of the Honduran Consulate at 4439 West Fullerton
Join us in a vigil to protest the illegal elections organized by the coup government - in the midst of a growing human rights crises - and to honor the assassinated and imprisoned members of the anti-coup resistance.
At 4 pm, there will be a ceremony marking the closing of the polls and the attempted murder of democracy in Honduras.
Sunday, November 29, 2009, the de facto Honduran government installed in power through a military coup on June 28, 2009, will hold its illegal elections under conditions of a human rights crisis in which the army and police forces have murdered more than 30 resistance members, and there are ongoing detentions and repression. The military coup and the military-political dictatorship have been condemned around the globe. The de facto elections have also been declared to be illegitimate by governments and international organizations including the Organization of American States. The resistance movement, which includes organizations representing teachers, workers, community groups, students, women, indigenous people, and more, has called for a boycott of the de facto elections. More than 100 candidates of parties participating in the elections have announced their withdrawal from the elections in protest of the continuation of the coup. Human rights organizations have issued alerts warning of the danger of even more massive and violent violations of human rights by the army and police. [See the attached alert from The Committee of the Families of the Detained and Disappeared in Honduras (COFADEH).]
Unfortunately, one of the only governments to consider recognizing these elections as legitimate is the United States. However, the on-going violations of human rights clearly show that conditions for free and fair elections do not exist in the country.
November 25 - November 29: Call-In for Honduras
Call the White House: (202)-456-1111 or (202)-456-1414
(to email go to www.whitehouse.gov)
Call the State Department (202) 647-4000 (to email go to www.state.gov)
Contact members of your Congressional delegation:
TELL THEM: “I AM contacting you TO INSIST THAT THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT NOT RECOGNIZE THE MILITARIZED DE FACTO ELECTIONS OF NOVEMBER 29th"
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Human Rights Alert from COFADEH, Honduras – November 21, 2009
DE FACTO REGIME PREPARES REPRESSION LEADING UP TO ILLEGITIMATE ELECTIONS
The Committee of the Families of the Detained and Disappeared of Honduras (COFADEH) expresses its concern to the national and international community regarding the deterioration of the human rights situation in Honduras, which is deepening each day.
A new wave of violence includes death threats, political persecution, illegal detentions, tortures and the militarization of sectors of principal cities. Of particular concern is the incursion of vehicles without license plates, darkened windows, driven by heavily armed agents with hooded faces into neighborhoods identified as allied with the Resistance against the coup and self declared as “free of political propaganda.” These actions follow the creation of lists profiling leaders of the resistance movement by order of the military and police.
The overall environment that has been created is one of repression and uncertainty. This was reinforced by a statement issued on November 16, 2009 by the Sub-Secretary of the Service Networks of the Ministry of Public Health that orders the preparation of a CONTINGENCY PLAN for provision of health services for 24 hours per day from November 19th thru December 4th, 2009. According to statement No. 1055-09-SSRDS, the plan must include: Anticipated Suspension of Activity without putting the health of patients at risk, Re-scheduling of Surgeries during these dates and supply of medicine and equipment necessary for the plan.
These measures appear to be related to the conduction of the illegal electoral process on November 29, which is proceeding in an irregular manner and reflects the militarization and para-militarization of the country. The military reserves have been mobilized to support the 16,000 members of the armed forces and 14,000 police already mobilized in the distribution of ballot boxes.
In departments in the western part of the country, army reserves distributed fliers to intimidate the population in resistance, characterizing members of the resistance as irrational delinquents and discrediting marches and protests as inhumane and uncivilized behavior. This activity parallels the “anti-communist” campaigns of the 1980’s.
The military control advances and consolidates as Michelleti announces a “strategic departure” from the country between November 25th and December 2, 2009. The security forces equip themselves with new repressive tools. An armored vehicle has been added to the Secretary of Security for dispersing protests. The anti-riot units are equipped with video cameras and high-pressure water cannon and a mechanism that marks anyone who comes in contact with the water for 48 hours. The armed forces have begun conducting selective checks along major roads in the country and departments in the Atlantic zone of the country have experienced military over flights.
COFADEH communicates its concern to all Human Rights institutions and the international community regarding the safety of social activists who struggle for the reestablishment of democratic order.
COFADEH asks the international community to be on alert regarding the human rights situation in Honduras and to demand that the Honduran state guarantee the right to life and integrity of the Honduran population and foreigners living in the country.
COFADEH, Tegucigalpa, Honduras. November 21, 2009
Report from Ceriboya - Delegation to Honduras
Report from the Northern Atlantic Coast Garifuna
La Voz de los de Abajo Delegation to Honduras
We arrived in La Ceiba in the late afternoon on Saturday, October 24 and were met by staff from the Foundation for the Health of the People (Luaga Hatuadi Waduhenu). This foundation, headed by Dr. Luther Harry Castillo, works with the Garifuna communities building and operating the first and only Garifuna hospital in Honduras, located in Ciriboya close to Iriona. They talked about the history and significance of the hospital project for the communities living in the poor region, in particular for the Garifuna communities that make up the majority of population. The hospital serves approximately 30,000 persons and has treated close to 200, 000 adult and pediatric cases, including traumatic accidents, snakebites, complications of chronic illnesses and acute sicknesses of all types. They also serve as an important maternal health resource for pregnant women.
The Foundation staff also talked about the situation at the hospital, as well as in La Ceiba, since the coup. In La Ceiba, the anti-golpe resistance has a smaller percentage of the population than in Tegucigalpa and some other parts of the country. None-the-less, it has mobilized demonstrations and is an active part of the national anti-coup movement. Organizations and individuals in the resistance have received threats, including death threats. After one demonstration, for example, threats were made stating that “some of the people you see here (at the march) will be found with cotton stuffed down their throats” - a reference to the death squad style killing of people by suffocating them. Hospital staff have been threatened and the coup government has attempted to close the facility. We heard more about the defacto government’s repression against the hospital when we travelled to Ciriboya on Sunday, October 25.
Ciriboya is one of many small Garifuna communities on the Atlantic coast in Colon and Miskitia. We reached the hospital there after a 5 hour drive from La Ceiba, including more than two hours on unpaved, rutted road which passes through beautiful countryside full of banana and coconut palms, small creeks, and lush greenery and flowers, often just a very short distance from the sea. Along the road, people walk carrying loads of firewood and water (there is no electricity and shortages of drinking water in most villages).
The hospital is a beautifully constructed, yellow building with a veranda on the second floor, located in a clearing, with its own electrical power and water pumping system for water for cleaning and bathing. We were met at the door by Dr. Wendy Perez and other hospital staff. Dr. Perez, like Dr. Castillo, is one of the Honduran doctors trained in Cuba who along with volunteer Cuban doctors and locally trained nurses’ aides make up the medical team for the hospital.
Our delegation to the hospital had two missions. La Voz de los de Abajo was committed to a mural project at the hospital to be completed in the 3 days we were there (see the photos for the finished project) and we were carrying out the Todos Somos Honduras delegation’s mission of interviewing the community and documenting the situation since the coup. To that end we interviewed hospital staff, members of the community support committee for the hospital, Garifuna activists working to defend the culture and rights of their people, members of women’s organizations, patients from the hospital and other community members.
We were told that the hospital projects originally faced harassment and problems from government officials and regional powers, as well as the Honduran medical elite because of the hospital’s dedication to serving and empowering the Garifuna community and because all care is absolutely free to all its patients, without discrimination of any sort. The situation improved during Mel Zelaya’s presidency and the hospital was formally opened in December of 2007. Zelaya and his Minister of Health visited the hospital before the coup and committed government support for the project. Dr. Castillo was appointed Director of International Cooperation for the Ministry of Health.
Right after the coup, the defacto government began to harass and threaten the hospital and the community. The physician appointed to head the defacto Ministry of Health by Michiletti was previously the head of the Honduran physicians’ organization that attempted to block the Cuban trained Honduran doctors from being licensed to practice medicine in Honduras. The coup government revoked the hospital’s permit and ordered it to close. Dr. Castillo and the Foundation refused and the military came to the hospital and attempted to seize control. The reaction from the local community and from national and international human rights organizations forced the military to withdraw. Dr. Castillo and the other staff began receiving threats right after the coup and human rights organizations in Honduras declared the threats against Dr. Castillo to be credible and serious, including a plan to assassinate the physician. On October 6th the military again sent troops to the hospital, entered it forcibly and searched it. At the same time the coup government has cut Health Ministry operations that were cooperating with hospital staff to extend services to even more remote communities and recently re-wrote an agreement for regional collaboration to eliminate the participation of the Foundation and the hospital.
The community members we interviewed talked about the climate of insecurity and fear in the region due to the military activities and threats, and the feeling of being isolated and vulnerable to any paramilitary or military violence against the community, its leaders and the hospital. The Garifuna organizations we spoke with stated that the coup has set back their progress in health, education and economic services and projects desperately needed for the survival of the people and culture.
Pictures: Meeting with the Foundation staff in La Ceiba; meeting with the community committee in Ceriboya for support of the hospital. Delegation member with community; finished mural with Dr. Perez and community children, mural with Cuban medical personnel; children’s mural painted by local children.
La Voz de los de Abajo Delegation to Honduras Report
From October 24 to October 31, La Voz led a delegation of 14 people from Chicago to Honduras. The participants included members of the Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America; Teachers for Social Justice; La Otra Chicago; Producciones EN EL OJO; and La Voz members. Delegation members visited organizations and communities in resistance to the coup in Ceriboya and Gudadalupe Carney, Colon; Siguatepeque; El Progreso; La Paz and Tegucigalpa.
The delegation met with the National Front of Resistance;COFADEH;CNTC, the teachers' unions; COPINH; OFRANEH;Radio Progreso; Radio Realidad; Red Comal and many other individuals and groups and accompanied the marches and public activities of the resistance as human rights observers. After participating in the October 29th resistance march that was brutally repressed by the army and police, the delegation met with the human rights officer of the U.S. Embasy in Tegucigalpa to express our concern for the human rights situation and to insist that the U.S. government take a strong stand against the human rights violations and against the coup itself.
After returning to the Chicago, delegation members have held public "report back" meeting to share our experiences and to provide the facts about the situation in Honduras that are not being published in the mainstream media.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Conferencia de Prensa en Chicago - Stop the attacks against the Brazilian Embassy in Honduras
The message follows in English
Comunicado de Prensa La Voz de los de Abajo y Casa Morazan
A la Comunidad y Medios de Comunicación Nacional e Internacional
A pesar de los arrestos arbitrarios y la represión sistemática las protestas se han incrementado considerablemente, en tomas de carreteras, en los barios, en la capital y en muchas otras ciudades la represión, en vez de atemorizar a los manifestantes, les ha reafirmado su decisión de lucha. Ante eso reafirmamos que TODOS SOMOS HONDURAS.
La Voz de los de Abajo y Casa Morazan los invita a participar en el Acto de Solidaridad
Consulado General de Brasil en Chicago
401 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL 60611
Hora de 4:00pm a 5:00pm
1. Demandando el retorno inmediato a la institucionalidad y la restitución del Presidente José Manuel Zelaya Rosales.
2. Un alto a la represión y violaciones a los derechos humanos. Un respeto a la vida.
3. Alto a la militarización y empleo de armas químicas y electromagnéticas contra civiles.
4. Apoyamos la Resistencia Pacífica del Pueblo hondureño a través de Frente Nacional Contra el golpe de Estado.
5. Rechazamos y condenamos el proceso electoral como producto de un régimen de facto y apoyamos la voluntad soberana del pueblo a decidir su destino por medio de una asamblea nacional constituyente.
Nota: La carta entregada al Consulado de Brazil sigue en el ingles despues del comunicado en ingles.
Press Release: September 29, 2009
La Voz de los de Abajo and Casa Morazan Contact: Alexy J. Lanza (312) 656-8655
For Immediate Release
Honduran Crises Deepens
The Honduran crisis continues. The de facto government of Roberto Micheletti, installed by a military coup on June 28th, is threatening to invade the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa to seize the elected president of Honduras, Manual Zelaya Rosales who has been given sanctuary by the Brazilian government.
On September 27th, Micheletti announced that the Brazilian government has 10 days to surrender Zelaya or he will send in troops. Meanwhile the Honduran military and police are using chemical weapons, high decibel audio weapons and tear and pepper gas against the embassy, endangering the health and lives of its occupants and of the people who live in the surrounding buildings.
On September 27th the Micheletti government also signed a decree revoking the constitutional right to freedom of expression and expression in the country, but despite the arbitrary arrests, violence and repression, the protests continue to grow and the crises deepens daily.
Join La Voz de los de Abajo, Casa Morazan, and other concerned organizations in Chicago in an act of solidarity with the Honduran people and in defense of Brazilian solidarity with democracy in Honduras.
Brazilian Consulate in Chicago
401 North Michigan Avenue
Thursday, October 1st: 4:00pm a 5:00pm
We demand
· The immediate return of constitutionality and the restitution of President Jose Manuel Zelaya Rosales.
· An end to the militarization and the use of chemical, electromagnetic, and high decibel weaponry against the Brazilian embassy and the people’s peaceful protests.
· An immediate end to the repression and violations of human rights
We Support
· The peaceful resistance of the Honduran people through the National Front Against the Coup
· The rejection and condemnation by the Honduran resistance of the electoral process controlled by the de facto government and
· The sovereign right of the people to decide its destiny through a national constituent assembly.
Note: Below is a copy of the letter delivered to the Brazilian Consulate on October 1st.
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La Voz de los de Abajo
PO Box 7684, Chicago, IL 60680
Chicago, IL
October 1, 2009
To the Consul general for the Government of Brazil in Chicago
Honorable Consul,
The Chicago community members, activists, and organizations present here today would like to express our most sincere appreciation for the honorable actions of your government regarding the current crisis in Honduras. The political support of the Brazilian Government since the day of the coup, against the violations of human rights and international law, for the restoration of the constitutional 9order and the return of President Manuel Zelaya, is invaluable for our brothers and sisters in Honduras, who are in resistance to the violent and illegitimate de facto government.
We also hold in the highest regard the courageous and dignified assistance towards the resolution of the crisis of your government today as President Zelaya finds harbor in our embassy in Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital, in spite of the threats of the usurper President Roberto Micheletti and the violence of the army and police forces sent by the golpistas against your diplomatic offices. Those inside the facilities have already suffered the effects of the tear gas and other chemicals, as well as other weapons including high frequency noise and cutting the water and electricity. We wish to strongly denounce this aggression against Brazil and against the Honduran people.
We thank you and we are sure the people of Honduras will always remember your help during these dark days. Your help is not only already a historical event but also an example to all the world leaders today.
Please share this letter with your government and with the Brazilian people.
Sincerely,
Signed by representatives of La Voz de los de Abajo; Casa Morazan, Chicago Religious Leadership Network for Latin America, Neighbors for Peace, ChicagOtra, and other community members.
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