Honduras has become a kind of a horror story. It has
the worst record of violence in the hemisphere, one of the worst in
the world. It's a significant development; in fact, it's been
harmful all around. And yes, it's another support for, if you'd
like, a death-squad government. That's traditional US policy -
nothing to be surprised about.
Noam Chomsky (12/13/2012)
U.S. funding Honduran police with alleged death squad ties
On March 23, 2013, the Associated Press reported
that the United States is funding Honduran police units under the
command of the Honduran National Police Chief, Col. Juan Carlos
Bonilla, who has been credibly accused of three extrajudicial
killings that occurred in 2002 and links to eleven more deaths and
disappearances. This is in violation of the Leahy Law and directly
contradicts what the State Department has told Congress and the
American public. Write your
Congressman.
US corporations (Republicans) have a long history
of making Honduras the original banana republic, and have fingerprints
all over the coup that removed democratically elected Zelaya.
Five years after the June 28, 2009 School
of Americas graduate-led coup d'etat
in Honduras, the continued militarization and repression being carried
about by the current Honduran regime is resulting in mass migration of
children across US borders.
On May 13, the Honduran Military Police and COBRAS
attacked
opposition LIBRE party Congresspeople with tear gas and batons inside
the Congressional chambers, causing several Congresspeople to be taken
to the hospital. On May 25, two Rio Blanco residents – where the
Lenca people have been resisting a hydroelectric dam in their territory
for over a year – were tortured by the police, who brought them to a
private home, where they beat them, forced their heads under water so
they almost drowned, and then put rubber hoods on them so they couldn't
breathe. Then on June 18, three soldiers and a policeman attacked and
murdered 62-year old José Husbaldo Guzmán Argueta, throwing him to the
ground and firing two shots with an M-16, while he was working on
trying to get a potable water project.
The Honduran military and police are contributing to
forced
migration from Honduras, including the migration of unaccompanied
minors, due to their role in illegal land theft, and infiltration by
drug cartels. They do not protect the population from violence, but
contribute violence by protecting only the interests of large
landholders and drug cartels.
Speak out against US military and police aid to Honduras
and be vigilant in ensuring that the Leahy Law is enforced, for
instance no US aid should be going to the 10th Battalion after the
murder of 62 year old José Husbaldo Guzmán Argueta while he was working
to get a potable water project. Congress' action in
the Appropriations Bill, which called for 30% of US aid to Honduras to
be restricted until the State Department certified that a number of
conditions in Honduras had been met. As the repression detailed
in the first paragraph demonstrates, the situation in Honduras only
continues to deteriorate and I urge you to oppose any additional
security funding to Honduras through CARSI and other initiatives.
Support
HR2989, the bill to suspend operations at the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security
Cooperation
(formerly known as the School of the Americas). Until the current
regime stops repressing its own people, additional military and
security funding will be counterproductive as the human rights crisis
will continue.
Additionally, I am very concerned about the Honduran
government's
criminalization of those who speak out for justice and stand up for
their rights. For instance, 36 Indigenous Lenca people have recently
been accused of sedition and usurping functions for standing up against
fraud in the November elections and excercing their autonomy as
Indigenous people. This is just the latest in a series criminal charges
levied against those who stand up for their rights. Contact the State
Department and ask them to speak out against the
criminalization of the Indigenous Lenca people of Opalaca and human
rights defenders in Honduras.
When Republicans yell about
illegal immigration, tell them: Don't
put death squads in Honduras.
Obama
Backing of Honduras Election Crimps Latin Ties (11/27/2009)
Honduras' powerful Roman Catholic Church has backed the
ouster of
President Manuel Zelaya
Honduras Down the
Memory
Hole (8/2010)
State
Terrorism in Honduras
Return
of the Death Squads (4/27/2010)
No
Such Thing as a Free Putsch, Lies, violence and the fight
for freedom in Honduras.
Republicans travel to Honduras (10/6/2009)
The Honduras Connection (7/29/2009)
School
of the Americas graduate takes over in Honduras (7/2/2009) See This. and This.
A U.S. Connection The Honduran Coup, By Conn Hallinan
The story most U.S. readers are getting about the coup is that
Zelaya, an ally of Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez, was deposed
because he tried to change the constitution to keep himself in
power. That story is a massive distortion of the facts.
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article23235.htm
Links
Human Rights Watch on Honduras
Stories From Honduras
Honduras
Solidarity Network
School of the Americas Watch
ICC Report
Rights Action
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