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((FNRP photo))

[Translation of an article by Agence France Presse as published in Diario Tiempo of San Pedro Sula on May 8. See original here.]

Tegucigalpa – The assassination in Honduras of journalist Erick Martínez, who was a spokesman for homosexual groups and a congressional candidate for the Left, has reawakened anger in the most violent country in the world, where 18 other murders of journalists remain unpunished.

The body of the 32-year-old journalist, an activist with the Libertad y Refundación party (Libre, the leftist party of former President Manual Zelaya [and the electoral arm of the Frente Nacional de Resistencia Popular]), was found on a highway outside the capital on Monday night with indications he had been strangled.

“The results of the criminal investigations are blank pages; there is no interest in investigating, there is an institutional weakness and a lack of responsibility in the exercise of public duty,” government Human Rights Commissioner Ramón Custodio told AFP. (more…)

((Revistazo photo))

[Translation of an article from Revistazo of Tegucigalpa for April 20. See original here  and related articles here, here and here.]

Tegucigalpa – The Ministry of the Interior has announced the issuing of warrants for police, military and civilians involved in human rights violations and the assassinations of more than 50 people in the Bajo Aguán region. The campesino leadership considers it necessary to punish those responsible but has no confidence in any actions the prosecutor may take.

Although he did not disclose the names of those involved, Special Prosecutor for Human Rights Germán Enamorado told the press that the prosecutor’s office has succeeded in gathering the evidence needed to initiate prosecutions, which in the case of public employees will involve charges for abuse of authority, dereliction of duty, personal injury and attempted homicide. (more…)

((Gilda Silvestruchi - Revistazo photo))

[Translation of an article from Revistazo.com of Tegucigalpa for January 31. See original here and related articles here and here. The El Patriota web site, mentioned below, is here.]

A week after filing a complaint of death threats with the Interior Ministry and several days after seeking injunctive relief from the Public Attorney for Human Rights and the Ministry of Public Safety, journalist Gilda Silvestruchi declares that she is still being harassed.

“I filed the complaint last week and on Friday I went to the public attorney for human rights to seek injunctive relief. They just started the investigation and so far there is nothing. The last call was at 5:30 this morning but I didn’t answer it,” the journalist said when asked about progress of the investigation of the case. (more…)

((ContraPunto photo by Luis Velásquez))

“The president of Honduras is Micheletti”

[Translation of an article from ContraPunto of San Salvador for December 14. See original here and related articles here.]

by Fernando de Dios

San Salvador – Being a defender of human rights in Honduras these days is a job that carries with it the risk of imminent death.

As a member of the Comité de Defensa de los Derechos Humanos de Honduras (CODEH – Committee in Defense of Human Rights in Honduras) who has been denouncing abuses by state security forces in the Bajo Aguán area, where 47 campesinos have been assassinated in the past two years, Alexander Salgado knows this first hand.

Salgado tells how he and others were attacked by soldiers who lay in ambush for them and fired at them with combat rifles in that rural area of the department of Colón, in northern Honduras. (more…)

Repressive strategies led by former soldiers are the new norm in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador

[Translation of an article from ContraPunto of San Salvador for December 14. See original here and related articles here, here and here.]

By Gerardo Arbaiza

The Central American Northern Triangle, consisting of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, has been found in several studies to be the most violent region of the world not involved in an armed conflict.

According to a report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Honduras is in first place in the world in homicides, with a rate of 78 for every 100,000 inhabitants, followed by El Salvador with 66 and, three levels below, Guatemala, with a total of 41 murders per 100,000 inhabitants.

The World Health Organization considers a country to be in an epidemic when the rate of deaths from any cause reaches ten for every 100,000 inhabitants.

The strategy these countries have adopted recently to reduce these figures is directed at taking members of the armed forces and using them together with police forces for tasks of citizen security. (more…)

((Guardian photo))

[Translation of an article from El Faro of San Salvador, El Salvador, for December 1. See original here.]

By José Luis Sanz

To be a police officer in Honduras these days is to be looked at with fear and, above all, and this is new, with scorn. Last October 22 police agents killed two university students. Two more bodies in a country whose murder rate is the highest on the continent – 88 for every 100,000 inhabitants – and in which for years civil society organizations like the Centro de Prevención, Tratamiento y Rehabilitación de las Víctimas de la Tortura (CPTRT – Center for Prevention, Treatment and Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture) denounce systematic abuse of authority committed by the National Police, the influence of drug trafficking in its ranks and the operations of uniformed extermination groups. (more…)

((José - Diario Tiempo photo))

[Translation of an Agence France Presse article as published in Diario Tiempo of San Pedro Sula, Honduras, for November 25. See original here and related article here.]

Tapachula, Mexico – Lying on a bed in a shelter for the undocumented, Honduran José Paz is recuperating from the amputation of his right foot, which occurred when he was pushed by a policeman and fell under the wheels of the “Train of Death,” which at the same time cut off his American dream.

“It is very painful when you remember how things happened. That federal policeman pushed me and I fell under the train, the wheel cut off my foot. This happened and now, today, I don’t want to go to the United States for that damned American dream. That is what fucked me up,” he told AFP in an angry tone.

José is one of the tens of thousands who every year board, on the run, the so-called “Train of Death” or “La Bestia,” a long, slow freight train on an uncertain schedule which, starting in Arriaga, Chiapas, in southern Mexico, takes a northern route toward Oaxaca and Veracruz with its load of corn, cement and undocumented migrants. (more…)

Those responsible for coup against Zelaya could be indicted in Rome for crimes against humanity

[Translation of an article from ContraPunto of San Salvador for October 7. See original here.]

Tegucigalpa – The International Criminal Court (ICC) is investigating those who led the coup d’état in Honduras on June 28, 2009, which overthrew the constitutional president, Manuel Zelaya.

This according to former Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón, who heads a delegation of jurists visiting Honduras.

Among those who could be judged internationally are de facto President Roberto Micheletti and General Romeo Vásquez.

Both could be charged with more than 200 human rights violations, including assassinations, torture, forced disappearances and arbitrary arrests, as well as repression of defenseless civilians.

Garzón is also participating in a workshop called “Impunity, freedom of expression and justice” being held in Tegucigalpa.

In the framework of this international event, Garzón declared that several political and military figures could be indicted by the international organization, an unprecedented event in Latin America.

The announcement was made during the closing ceremony of the workshop, in which close to 100 representatives of human rights organizations in Honduras, as well as other Central American countries, took part.

The Spanish jurist pointed out that “once we have the evidence in hand, we can give a response on whether there is in effect responsibility” in the deaths of eight people during the political crisis, documented by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which released its report in July.

The famous lawyer stated that preparations for the cases is very important, since if “there is the appearance of crimes against humanity” during and after the overthrow of Zelaya, “the preparation of the cases is fundamental” so that they will have “greater possibility of being successful.”

The event was also attended by Eugenia Valenzuela, a member of the delegation who represents prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo of the ICC.

During the opening of the meeting, the United Nations rapporteur for the Freedom of Expression, Frank de la Rue, announced that he will submit a request to the government of Honduras to conduct an official visit to investigate the deaths of 16 journalists between 2010 and the present.

An interview with Guillermo Padilla Amador

[Abridged translation of an interview from Página/12 of Buenos Aires for September 19. See original here.]

by Gustavo Veiga

In Honduras, he took part in the resistance movement against the coup that deposed President Manuel Zelaya and a year later he had to seek exile. Despite the fact that Zelaya returned to Honduras and there is now an elected government, dozens of opponents have been assassinated with the coming of a wave of supposed street violence.

Why did you have to go into exile in Argentina after fighting for a year against the coup d’état against Manuel Zelaya in Honduras?

Because there are disguised political assassinations in my country and the Honduran army has the best advisers, Colombians as well as Israelis, for carrying them out. Singers of popular music are turning up run over by cars or activists done away with, with their pants pockets turned out. Street violence has been increased deliberately to cover up political assassinations. The Porfirio Lobo government has allowed these deaths. Fourteen journalists have been assassinated in Honduras during his government. That’s why I’m not going back. (more…)

[Translation of an article from La Jornada of Mexico City for August 21. See original here and related article here.]

Tegucigalpa – The Comité Hondureño de los Derechos Humanos (CODEH – Honduran Human Rights Committee) today denounced the presence of a death squad in the Bajo Aguán region, where thousands of campesinos are in conflict with landowners over land ownership.

Secundino Ruiz Vallecillos, a member of the Movimiento Auténtico de Campesinos del Aguán (MARCA), was killed yesterday by two assassins riding a motorcycle while he was on his way to the San Isidro cooperative, in the department of Colón on the country’s Atlantic coast.

Eliseo Pavón, another campesino leader who was with him, was also injured.

“CODEH believes that a death squad has been established in Aguán, financed by the landowners of the area and led by former military who were linked in the ‘80s with the repression that was seen in the country,” according to a communiqué distributed by the humanitarian organization.

The 3-16 was a death squad that operated in Honduras during the ‘80s and, together with the armed forces, kidnapped and disappeared around 184 popular leaders, according to charges made by CODEH.

As a result, Honduras was ordered by the International Human Rights Court, with headquarters in Costa Rica, to compensate the families of several of the disappeared of the time, among them that of Ángel Manfredo Velásquez.

CODEH reports that the death squad’s method is to disguise their crimes by making them appear to be common delinquency, taking any money the victims were carrying.

Aguán is a valley that has been militarized since last October, a situation that is dangerous for the population, especially for the campesinos, who have lost the freedom of movement because of the siege to which they are subjected.

[Translation of an article from Revistazo of Tegucigalpa for August 16. See original here and related articles here, here and here.]

By Germán Reyes

Honduras is experiencing its worst crime wave in history and although crime is spread through every region of the country, Security Minister Óscar Álvarez has announced the launch of a new joint operation by the military and the police in the Aguán region, an area characterized by struggle between campesinos and landowners.

More than 150 campesinos and security guards have died in armed confrontations in the Aguán area. The government, incapable of complying with signed commitments, has announced a militarization through Operation Xatruch II.

The security minister reports the deployment of 600 additional men, to be added to the contingent that has been stationed in the region for several months. (more…)

[Translations of two articles from Diario Tiempo of San Pedro Sula for August 15. See originals here and here and related article here.]

Education panel begins work today without students

Tegucigalpa – The Frente Amplio Estudiantil Revolucionario de Honduras (FAERH), which includes most secondary school students, has annnounced that it will not send representatives to the Presidential Palace today to take part in a dialogue called by the government, while leaders of teachers’ groups have confirmed they will attend.

The heads of the executive and legislative branches, Porfirio Lobo Sosa and Juan Orlando Hernández, stressed that the talks will begin from scratch, with a view to putting together a new general education law. The executive extended the invitation again yesterday in a communiqué which makes it clear that the only non-negotiable point for the government is that “education is public and free for children, because education changes our lives.” (more…)