The Honduras Working Group, part of the Latin American and Caribbean Solidarity Network, is asking people to call on the Government of Canada to cease free trade negotiations with Honduras until an environment of full human rights protection has been effectively implemented and acknowledged by credible international human rights organizations. Canada would be acting recklessly by signing an FTA with the current Honduran regime, and in the current context of well documented human rights abuses against pro-democracy groups, teachers, farmers, Indigenous people and LGBT members in the country. You can help by sending a version of the letter below to government officials in Canada and Honduras.
SAMPLE LETTER BY THE HONDURAS WORKING GROUP
Dear Sir/Madam,
Over the last few days I’ve learned disturbing information about increased human rights violations against teachers, students and peasant organizers in Honduras. The Committee of Relatives of the Detained and Disappeared in Honduras (COFADEH) has made an urgent call to the international community to demand that the regime of current President Porfirio Lobo cease its repression and continued criminalization of peaceful protests. Some of the more recent examples of human rights violations that require your immediate attention include:
• At 2:10 p.m. local time on March 28, 2011, explosives were thrown at the office of the non-governmental Commission of Truth in San Pedro Sula. There were two Canadians in the office who have been participating as international observers to the ongoing efforts of the commission. Also present was the regional coordinator, Attorney Brenda Mejia, who had recently participated in the “Criminalization of Social Protest” hearing of the CIDH in San Pedro Sula (Friday, 25 March), held by lawyers in opposition to the current regime.
•On March 28, 2011, Miriam Miranda, an important Resistance leader and coordinator of OFRANEH (Organización Fraterna Negra de Honduras), was injured and then detained during a highway blockade. She was in custody in Tela facing charges of sedition and blocking a public roadway.
•On March 26, 2011, Jaime Donaire, coordinator of the National Front of Popular Resistance (FNRP) in the municipality of Minas de Oro in the province of Comayagua, was assassinated by armed men.
•On March 22, 2011, police launched tear gas bombs into the building which houses the offices of the secondary school teachers union, COPEMH, and the non-governmental Truth Commission.
•On March 21, 2011, when protests were resumed, police directly aimed tear gas canisters at the staff of TV Globo and Channel 36 who were trying to record and report on police actions.
•On March 18, 2011, Ilse Velasquez, a teachers union activist and a member of COFADEH since her brother Manuel Velazquez was disappeared, was killed during ferocious police repression against a protest by educators in Tegucigalpa. The 59-year-old teacher lost consciousness after she was struck in the forehead by a tear gas canister fired by the riot police.
•On March 18, 2011, military and police forces occupied the offices of the Association of Secondary Teachers of Honduras (COPEMH Spanish acronym) holding more than 30 teachers hostage.
•On March 17th, in the cities of Tegucigalpa, Comayagua, and Danlí, police, as well as men in civilian clothing driving cars without license plates, repressed peaceful demonstrations of teachers and members of the National Front of Popular Resistance (FNRP). According to a preliminary report, as many as 50 people were detained, wounded, and beaten in those demonstrations.
COFADEH has reported that from January 2010 to January 31, 2011 there has been a total of 1,658 human rights violations.
The context in which these human rights violations and acts of intimidation are taking place, along with the general climate of insecurity for human rights defenders in Honduras, show the existence of a state repression directed at popular opposition movements in Honduras. I am very concerned that human rights violators in Honduras are profiting from international attention focused elsewhere, particularly in Japan and Libya, to dramatically increase levels of repression and rights violations.
Considering the ongoing situation, and that Canada is currently negotiating a Free Trade Agreement with Honduras, I call on the Canadian Government to:
•Demand the Honduran government take immediate action to protect the rights of civil society in Honduras, most urgently for those examples listed above.
•Cease current negotiations with Honduras towards a Free Trade Agreement until an environment of full human rights protection has been effectively implemented, and acknowledged by credible international human rights organizations.
•Support the continued suspension of Honduras’ participation in the Organization of American States (OAS) until an environment of full human rights protection has been effectively implemented, and acknowledged by credible international human rights organizations.
Sincerely,
[Your name]
SEND THE LETTER TO THE FOLLOWING PEOPLE:
– Honduran Ambassador to Canada, Sofia Cerrato (embhonca@embassyhonduras.ca and correo@embassyhonduras.ca)
– Canadian Ambassador to Honduras based in Costa Rica, Cameron MacKay (Cameron.Mackay@international.gc.ca)
– Minister of Foreign Affairs Lawrence Cannon (Cannon.L@parl.gc.ca)
– Minister of State for the Americas Diane Ablonczy (Ablonczy.D@parl.gc.ca)
– NDP MPs Peter Julian (juliap0@parl.gc.ca)
– Paul Dewar (Foreign Affairs critic) (Dewar.P@parl.gc.ca)
– Bloc MP Dorion (Foreign Affairs Critic) and Liberal MPs Bernard Patry (patryb@parl.gc.ca)
– Glen Pearson (PearsG9@parl.gc.ca)
– Bob Rae (raeB7@parl.gc.ca)
– Martha Hall Findlay (HallFindlay.M@parl.gc.ca)
– José Miguel Insulza, Secretary General, Organization of American States – OAS (svillagran@oas.org)
– Sr. Felipe González, President, Inter-American Commission for Human Rights
(cidhdenuncias@oas.org)
– Lawrence Cannon, Minister for Foreign Affairs
(Cannon.L@parl.gc.ca)
– Peter Van Loan, Minister for International Trade (vanloan.p@parl.gc.ca)
– H.E. Allan Culham, Ambassador, Permanent Representative to the OAS
(wshdc-prmoas@international.gc.ca)
– Jorge Alberto Rivera Avilés, President of the Supreme Court of Honduras
(cedij@poderjudicial.gob.hn)
– Luis Alberto Rubí, Attorney General of the Republic of Honduras
(lrubi@mp.hn)
– Bernard Patry, Chair of Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade
(Patry.B@parl.gc.ca)
– Diane Ablonczy, Minister of State of Foreign Affairs
(Ablonczy.D@parl.gc.ca)
PLEASE CC THE FOLLOWING PEOPLE:
berthacofadeh@yahoo.com; hondurasworkinggroup@gmail.com
* * *
BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON HONDURAS
Produced by the Honduras Working Group, Latin American and Caribbean Solidarity Network, hondurasworkinggroup@gmail.com
On June 28, 2009, the military, Supreme Court and National Congress conspired in an illegal and unconstitutional coup d’etat against Manuel “Mel” Zelaya, which resulted in his forced removal from the country. The coup resulted not only in the overthrow of the democratically elected president, and a breach of constitutional order, but also in the militarization of the country. It was under this climate of repression and violence that on November, 2009, Porfirio Lobo Sosa was declared President by fraudulent elections.
The elections were carried out in an environment of deep militarization and heavy repression against the national resistance movement that opposed the coup and elections. The final outcome is viewed as illegitimate throughout the international community, and it remains unrecognized by the Organization of American States (OAS) and the United Nations. Since then, the violence unleashed by the state on the persistent and peaceful resistance movement has continued to spiral out of control, aggravating the already precarious human rights situation in the country.
General Facts:
• 48 documented assassinations of anti-coup Resistance members since the coup, with 15 having occurred since the inauguration of much-disputed President Lobo
• The LGTB community, including its leadership, has been the target of persecution and hate crimes. The community reported 25 murders in 2010, while indigenous and Garífunas organizations reported death threats and systematic attacks against their ancestral heritage sites and offices.
• Ongoing and escalating threats and attacks on human rights defenders and journalists
• Adoption of a seriously abuse-prone Anti-Terrorism Law that adds to other elements of the legal system as a means to suppress the peaceful social movement that arose to resist the coup
• Violent suppression of an agrarian justice movements in an area of the country known as the Bajo Aguan
• The majority of victims are human rights defenders, women’s rights activists, LGTBI activists, environmentalists, union leaders, campesino organizations, journalists, National Front for Popular Resistance activists or their family members, Resistance Lawyers’ Front litigants or defenders, NGO social leaders, student organizations and mass media companies (radio, television, press, including alternative and community mass media).
Most Recent Repression:
• March 28, 2011 – Explosives thrown at office of Commission of Truth in San Pedro Sula
• March 28, 2011 – Miriam Miranda, an important Resistance leader and coordinator of OFRANEH (Organización Fraterna Negra de Honduras) was injured and then detained during a highway blockade. She is in custody in Tela facing charges of sedition and blocking a public roadway
• March 26, 2011 – Jaime Donaire, coordinator of the National Front of Popular Resistance (FNRP) in the municipality of Minas de Oro in the province of Comayagua, was assassinated by armed men
• On March 18, 2011 Ilse Velasquez, a teacher’s union activist and a member of COFADEH since her brother Manuel Velazquez was disappeared, was killed during a ferocious repression against a protest by educators in Tegucigalpa. The 59 years old teacher lost consciousness on the street after a tear gas canister fired by the riot police struck her forehead
• In March 2011 the military and Police forces occupied the offices of the Association of Secondary Teachers of Honduras (COPEMH Spanish acronym) holding more than 30 teachers hostages
• COFADEH (Committee of Relatives of Disappeared Detainees) in Honduras reported that that From January 2010 to January 31, 2011, there has been a total of 1658 Human Rights violations.
For more examples and details of this last point, see A PERSPECTIVE FROM HONDURAS’ CIVIL SOCIETY TRUTH COMMISSION; Speaking notes for a presentation to the March 9, 2011 hearing on Honduras convened by the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, House of Commons, Canada.
REQUEST:
Call on the Canadian Government to take immediate action to protect the rights of civil society in Honduras, cease current FTA negotiations with Honduras, and support the continued suspension of Honduras’ participation in the Organization of American States.
