New wave of repression targets opponents of Honduran coup

[Judi Lynn]

New wave of repression targets opponents of Honduran coup
April 27, 2010

Both the Canadian and US governments have praised the January 27 elections in Honduras as a major step forward toward a return to democracy and national reconciliation. Yet the reality on the ground under the newly elected government of Porfirio Lobo is one of continuing repression and selective assassinations of those who dared to oppose the June 28, 2009 military coup.

Murder of activists

According to the Committee for the Detained and Disappeared in Honduras (COFADEH), at least 40 anti-coup activists have been murdered since the coup. Some of the atrocities that have been committed since the election include the following:

•On February 3, 29-year-old Vanessa Zepeda Alonzo, an active member of the Resistance and member of the Social Security Employees Union, was found dead in Tegucigalpa. According to eyewitnesses, her body was thrown out of a car.

•On February 15, Julio Funez Benitez, another member of the Resistance and active member of SITRASANAA, the water and sewage workers union, was shot outside his home in Olancho by unknown gunmen traveling on a motorcycle.

•On March 17, Francisco Castillo was assassinated. He was a colleague of Father Andres Tamayo, a well known Catholic priest, environmental activist and outspoken member of the Resistance. Castillo had previously worked for prominent Honduran businessman and coup supporter Miguel Facusse before resigning from his position after the coup.

•On March 23, social science teacher Jose Manuel Flores was shot by armed men wearing ski masks at the high school where he taught and in front of his students. Flores was also a prominent member of the Resistance.

Murder of the children of activists

Many of those killed had previously reported being harassed and threatened because of their work in the Resistance. Furthermore, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has noted a disturbing trend in which "it appears that sons and daughters of leaders of the Resistance Front are being killed, kidnapped, attacked, and threatened as a strategy to silence the activists."

Two examples cited are:

On February 17, seventeen year old Dara Gudiel was found hanged in the city of Danlí, Paraíso. Dara Gudiel was the daughter of journalist Enrique Gudiel, who runs a radio program called Siempre al Frente con el Frente (Always Outfront with the Front), which broadcasts information about the Resistance. Days before her death, Dara Gudiel had been released from a kidnapping.

•On February 24, 2010, Claudia Maritza Brizuela, thirty six years old, was killed in her home in San Pedro Sula. She was the daughter of union and community leader Pedro Brizuela, who participates actively in the Resistance. Two unknown individuals shot her on her doorstep in front of her children, ages two and eight.

Murder of journalists

Human rights groups have also condemned the murder and threats to journalists, with five reporters killed in the first three months of the year making Honduras "one of the riskiest countries in the entire region in which to practice journalism" according to the IACHR.

According to Jose Miguel Vivanco, Americas Director at Human Rights Watch, these attacks are "generating a climate of fear that is likely to have a chilling effect on the Honduran media." Examples include:

•On March 14, Nahún Palacios was shot repeatedly while driving his car. Palacios was news director for Aguan Television, Channel 5, and had covered the resistance protests extensively, as well as other politically sensitive issues such as the ongoing agrarian conflict in the Aguan. His house had been raided and his equipment seized by the military. He had also had precautionary measures granted for him by the IAHRC which ordered the State of Honduras to protect him, though he continued to report receiving threats up until his death.

•Radio Progreso, a community radio in El Progreso and one of the few uncensored, independent sources of information in Honduras since the coup, has complained of numerous threats made against its staff for their role in disseminating the work of the Resistance. Father Ismael "Melo" Moreno, a Jesuit Priest and Director of the Reflection, Research and Communication Team (ERIC, by its Spanish acronym) which houses Radio Progreso, has had to go into hiding after receiving death threats related to his involvement in the case of a women who was sexually assaulted by police during an anti-coup demonstration in August.

More:
http://en.maquilasolidarity.org/node/935

[Judi Lynn]

1. Pressure Mounts on Honduras as Journalist Death Toll Rises

Pressure Mounts on Honduras as Journalist Death Toll Rises
By Thelma Mejía

TEGUCIGALPA, Apr 30, 2010 (IPS) - Honduran President Porfirio Lobo plans to seek help from police forces in Colombia and the United States to try to solve the murders of seven journalists committed in the space of less than two months, which will also be investigated by a delegation from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights next month.

Jorge Orellana, popularly known as "Georgino", was gunned down on Apr. 20, just a week after radio announcer Luis Chévez met a similar fate on Apr. 13.

Five fellow journalists -- Joseph Andoni Hernández Ochoa, David Meza, Nahum Palacios, José Bayardo Mairena and Manuel Juárez -- were shot and killed in March.

Five of the seven slain reporters worked outside the capital. Bayardo Mairena and Suárez were shot and killed in the northeastern province of Olancho while investigating a drug trafficking ring, according to unofficial reports, although the police have yet to comment on the possible motives behind their murders.

All of the journalists were killed in drive-by shootings by unknown gunmen riding on motorbikes, who fired on each victim over a dozen times. According to the police and the Observatory on Violence, a joint initiative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the public National Autonomous University of Honduras (UNAH), this is a modus operandi typical of hired killers.

Orellana worked for a television station in the northern Honduran city of San Pedro Sula, 250 kilometres north of Tegucigalpa, and also taught journalism classes at UNAH.

His murder has stepped up local and international pressure on Lobo, who returned to Honduras on Wednesday from a tour of the United States, where he visited universities and met with business leaders.

Lobo said Honduras would seek help from other countries with greater experience in criminal investigation to identify the killers of the seven journalists. He highlighted the work in this area of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) in the United States.

Colombia, the other country where Lobo plans to request assistance, has been one of the world’s most dangerous countries for journalists for decades, and is currently engulfed in a scandal over a state-run intelligence apparatus set up to spy on and sabotage government opponents, activists and journalists.

More:
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51278

[abq e streeter]

2. I didn't want to see this thread left un-kicked and commented on

but I'm getting to where I'm beyond knowing what to say about any of the evils of the world that America so blithely either participates in or gives its official blessing to, or at best, a little oh-so-sincere expression of concern... Intellectually, I understand that progressives must never give up, but I'm ashamed to say that I'm just about there. Not just about Honduras , but about reclaiming the America I grew up believing in as a beacon of freedom and hope. All the right wing repression in Central America that has been going on seemingly forever ; it just sickens me and breaks my heart and yet I do next to nothing outside of doing my best to stay at least somewhat informed and vote for what I keep being fooled into thinking will be progressive political leaders here. Thank you for trying to keep us here at DU aware of the tragic situation in Honduras. Please excuse my rambling too; it's late and I'm pretty sleepy, but wanted to at least help kick and rec this.