Greg Grandin's Updates/observations from the ground in Honduras

[magbana]

TOPIC: : Honduras coup at a month
http://groups.google.com/group/Cuba-Inside-Out/t/817f93bd18087acb?hl=en
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== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Tues, Jul 28 2009 11:02 pm
From: "Karen Lee Wald"

----- Original Message -----
From: Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
To: Karen Lee Lee Wald
Sent: Tuesday, July 28, 2009 9:40 AM
Subject: Fwd: Honduras coup at a month

Karen, I'm receiving nearly daily reports from a friend, Greg Grandin. Here is today's and below the previous ones.

Roxanne

From: "Greg Grandin" <[e-mail]>

Today is a month‚s anniversary of the Honduran coup, and there are a few new developments:

Clarín‚s Washington correspondent today is reporting a division within the Honduran armed forces, between younger colonels who worked with an unnamed US Democratic senator to draft the below referenced communiqué, which signals compromise, and hardliners, including former car-thief-turned now head of Honduran military, General Romero Vásquez, who yesterday denied that the army backs the Costa Rican compromise, effectively rejecting it.

Meanwhile, the transformation of the coup into a pan-American Œline in the sand‚ continues: A delegation of Republicans led by Connie Mack traveled to Tegucigalpa to signal their backing for Roberto Michelletti, who today had ghostwritten for him a nearly full page op-ed in the WSJ, which hit all the International-Republican-Institute talking points. Neoliberals (Lanny Davis) and neoconservatives (Otto Reich) have joined forces to push Washington to recognize the new regime. And as Forrest Hylton forwards, Colombia‚s Alvaro Uribe has already met with the coup plotters. And for good measure, Pinochet‚s daughter, Lucia, has endorsed it.

In Honduras, official paranoia, real or manufactured, continues. The latest is the de facto Secretary of Defense, Adolfo Sevilla was planning to have Zelaya killed: http://ustream.tv/recorded/1877852. Hundreds of pro-Zelaya supporters have been detained, indefinitely, at the border region; while hundreds more have managed to reach Nicaragua along footpaths to join the deposed president in Las Manos. Hillary Clinton, and the Washington think-tank echo chamber ˆ particularly the Inter-American Dialogue -- continues to depict Zelaya as „reckless,‰ saying not a word about the rising body count in Honduras, now reliably placed at ten. But it was only this threat to return that prompted what little movement there has been since the coup regime rejected the Costa Rican compromise last week, including the now-disputed military communiqué. Also, by seizing immediately on Zelaya‚s attempt to return, the US press didn‚t have to process the fact that it was Zelaya who immediately and unconditionally accepted Oscar Arias‚ seven-point plan, which while returning him to power would have placed strict limits on his ability to govern. Thus Zelaya showed a degree of moderation that clashed with msm depictions of him as, well, reckless.

Having returned to Guatemala after Tegucigalpa, it is absolutely clear that the region‚s generals, narcos, and oligarchs are watching events closely in Honduras. Here, unexpectedly strong peasant protests over the last month, including fights to keep Canadian mining companies and bio-fuel agribusiness out of communities, combined with a center-left president who refuses to crackdown on the protests, have led what the United Nations calls Guatemala‚s „clandestine powers‰ to think about other solutions, and they no doubt are hoping that Honduras supplies a model.

Finally, why is it always Central America? In the late 1970s, the Sandinista Revolution, and insurgencies in Nicaragua and El Salvador revealed the limits of Carter‚s tolerance of third-world nationalism, opening up a breach in the tottering Democratic coalition, through which the New Right marched. It seems to be happening again: after some hesitation, Obama issues a number of very good statements about the illegality of the coup and the need to restore Zelaya. A potentially honest handling of the issue ˆ working closely with the OAS as well as individual Latin American nations (not Costa Rica!), could have allowed him to build on the goodwill he established in Trinidad at the Summit of the Americas.

But distracted on other fronts, he left the matter to Clinton and company to deal with, which has proven to be a disaster, allowing that alliance mentioned above tween neolibs and neocons to gestate, and the alliance between the Latin American right and the US right to smell blood. Just as the rising new right used the Latin American left to attack Carter as soft in the international front, the more time the Republicans have to establish their meme linking Obama to Chavez. As if∑.



Sunday, July 26, 2009 2:24 AM

After apparently intense lobbying from Washington, the Honduran armed forces has signaled to the San Jose Accords, issuing this communique:
http://www.ffaah.mil.hn/Noticias/2009/juli/nota19.htm. After having rejected the Arias compromise, the coup government started backpeddling almost as soon as Zelaya stepped foot in Honduran territory yesterday, saying that it still considered the negotiations open and was submitting the Arias plan for consideration to the Supreme Court and Congress. With this communique, I think we can expect those august bodies to consider and agree relatively quickly.

A few things: the amnesty called for in the accords means that those responsible for killing or disappearing at least nine people will not be prosecuted. It also means that the motives and actions of the golpistas have been legitimated by the mere fact of the compromise and that Zelaya will be coming back hamstrung by conditions, including early elections and the inability to advance a constitutional assembly.

My sense from being in the country was that social movements would continue to push for a constitutional assembly, and at least two of the 4 main candidates have also signaled their intention to make it a campaign issue. And though Zelaya will be coming back, if he in fact does come back, on a tight leash, the mere fact he will be coming back, and as president, will be a huge shot of energy for the left, social movements, and the Zelaya-wing of the Liberal Party. It also will be a symbolic defeat for those who saw this as a larger struggle against the Latin American Left. With peasant protests underway in Guatemala for over the last two weeks, unexpectedly strong, and the FMLN and FSLN in power in El Salvador and Nicaragua, the oligarchs (not the best description of Honduran class elites) are pretty freaked out, and will be even more so if Zelaya does come back.

A friend of mine who has been at the border for the last two days reports that many Hondurans sidestepped the main roads, and made their way into Nicaragua to join Zelaya at Las Manos, where he has been camped out since yesterday. About a 150 Zelayistas at the border have been detained.


>Brings the number to at least nine, this one captured yesterday, tortured,
>and body dumped, in El Paraiso, a town just north of the border, where
>Zelaya remains camped:
>http://www.telesurtv.net/noticias/secciones/nota/54688-NN/torturan-y-asesinan-a-seguidor-de-zelaya-luego-de-ser-detenido-por-autoridades-de-facto/
>

>Sent: Friday, July 24, 2009 4:35 PM
>Subject: Re: From Honduras
>
>
>CNN in Spanish is getting its feed from Telesur, which has been banned here
>in Honduras. It shows how important Telesur is in breaking the
>corporate-oligarch info monopoly.
>
>Zelaya, wearing his white cowboy hat and black leather vest, arrived in Las
>Manos, and after a brief wait, stepped foot into Honduras. It's all
>pretty dramatic. So much for the fragmentation of the public sphere.....
>
>From: Gregory J Grandin <[e-mail]>
>Date: Friday, July 24, 2009 3:49 pm
>Subject: From Honduras

>>Events are moving fast in Honduras since talks broke down in Costa
>>Rica between representatives of the coup government and those of
>>deposed president Manuel Zelaya. Zelaya has promised to return to
>>Honduras over land, from Nicaragua, and is now reported to be just
>>outside of the border crossing of Las Manos. The government has
>>just declared a curfew, that started at noon, for the whole frontier
>>region. Zelaya supporters have been traveling to the border region
>>over the last two days, but they have been stopped about ten
>>kilometers in by police and military. Telesur has reported that
>>earlier today, the crowds broke through the police line, forcing the
>>cordon to retreat. Security forces regrouped, and there are reports
>>that police have opened fire on the road leading out of the border
>>town of El Paraiso, killing at least one protester and wounding a few,
>>though that might be a rumor. Tear gas has been used, and there are
>>reports that the police have ordered all
>>inhabitants of border towns to stay in their house with the door
>>closed. For his part, Zelaya has said he plans to enter the
>>country in one of three points, and that he will â?odialogueâ?ˇ with the
>>military.
>>
>>A few observations:
>>
>>ïf Zelayaâ?Ts support has been growing in the country, particularly in
>>the countryside. But at the same time, it is clear that the current
>>level of mobilization and expectation canâ?Tt be maintained
>>indefinitely. Zelaya has to try to enter the country either today or
>>tomorrow.
>>
>>ïf It was actually the leaders of social movements who have demanded his
>>return that is, they have demanded that he do what he is doing
> > today, attempt to force his return.
>>
>>ïf a longtime activist, who says he has â?ospent the last two decadesâ?ˇ
>>going to protests, says that he never saw so much anger and passion at
>>demonstrations, and that the majority of protesters are not the
>>traditional left but rather the social base of the Liberal Party. So
>>whatever happens, the coup and its aftermath probably will definitely
>>split the liberal party and force new alliances.
>>
>>ïf It is clear that if Zelaya returns, even if under the kind of imposed
>>â?oconditionsâ?ˇ brokered by Arias, it will be a blow to the political
>>elite. Even hamstrung by negotiated constraints, it would be a jolt
>>of adrenalin for both the left, campesino wing of the Liberal Party
>>and the left in general.
>>
>>ïf Support for a Constituent Assembly is widespread among the left and
>>the left of the Liberal Party, itâ?Ts not just a Zelaya imposed plan.
>>
>>ïf Despite hiring Lanny Davis to paint them as modern, democratic, and
>>constitutional, the coup plotters represent the most retrograde
>>sectors of society: Opus Dei/Conservative evangelicals;
>>military/organized crime/narco; conservative business interests; and
>>dinosaurs from the old anti-communist national security state. Case
>>in point: Fernando aka â?oBillyâ?ˇ Joya, a former member of
>>Honduraâ?Ts
>s
>>infamous death squad, Battalion 316, who previously had fled the
>>country on charges of, among other crimes, having kidnapped and
>>tortured six university students in 1982, has resurfaced. He is now
>>featured prominently on Honduran talk shows as an â?ointernational
>>analystâ?ˇ and â?ospecial advisorâ?ˇ to the regime Lanny Davis is paid to
>>defend.
>>
>>
>>As to human rights situation: At a press conference held today in
>>Tegucigalpaâ?Ts Honduras Maya Hotel (where in the 1980s, the CIA and
>>Argentine intelligence set up headquarters to organize the
>>anti-Sandinista Contra mercenaries), the International Observation
>>Mission an ad-hoc monitoring group comprised of representatives from
> > 15 European and Latin American human-rights organizations to
>>investigate political repression following Hondurasâ?T June 28 coup
> > issued its preliminary report. Having toured the country and
>>interviewed individuals from all sectors of society, the Mission found
>>that Honduran security forces continue to engage in â?ograve and
>>systematic violations of human rights.â?ˇ
>>
>>Documented crimes include at least six political assassinations and
>>two forced disappearances, most taking place outside the capital of
>>Tegucigalpa -- in the countryside where foreign reporters rarely
>>travel and where the deposed president, Manuel Zelaya, enjoys a base
>>of support. One unidentified body, dressed in a t-shirt calling for
>>a constituent assembly an issue which had strong backing from
> > organized sectors of society and which prompted the coup was found
> > dead in an area that served as a clandestine cemetery used by death
>>squads in the 1980s. In addition to these murders and
>>disappearances, the Mission also received reports of other
>>extrajudicial executions, which it didnâ?Tt have time to verify. One
>>member of the Mission told me that if they â?ostayed longer, the numbers
>>of political murders would be higher.â?ˇ
>>
>>The Missionâ?Ts preliminary report also documented â?osystemic and
>>generalized political persecutionâ?ˇ against unionists, peasant
>>activists, and students. Workers in San Pedro Sula were threatened
>>with losing their job if they didnâ?Tt attend a pro-government rally.
>>Independent journalists, particularly those working with radio
>>stations and newspapers not owned by pro-coup families, have been
>>threatened with death. Soldiers occupied and briefly shut down Radio
>>Progreso (http://radioprogresohn.com) an important source of
> > alternative information based in the provincial city of Progreso --
>>detaining one of its reporters and harassing its director, Ismael
>>Moreno, a Jesuit priest. Over a thousand people have been detained
>>for violating the curfew. In addition to out and out censorship
> > radio stations in the countryside have been ordered to stop
>>transmitting information that didnâ?Tt come from the government fear
> > has led to reporters engaging in â?oself-censorship.â?ˇ
>>
>>And the military has taken advantage of the crisis to conduct â?oforced
>>conscription,â?ˇ kidnapping the teenage sons of peasant families a
> > practice that was commonplace throughout Central America through the
>>1980s, during the dark days of oligarchic rule. Due process,
>>effectively if not technically, does not exist. Iâ?Tve been in the
>>country a few days, and have spoken with a number of individuals who
>>say that have been followed home after attending a pro-Zelaya rally.
>>
>>
>>The Mission ended its press conference by urging the international
>>community (read, especially, Washington) to hold firm in its
>>condemnation of the coup, to seek the immediate and unconditional
>>return to the presidency of Manuel Zelaya, and, importantly, to not
>>recognize upcoming elections, scheduled for November, under current
>>political conditions. Those who executed the coup and now run the
>>government seem intent on waiting out the current international
>>censure, believing that the US, followed by other countries, will be
>>forced to recognize whoever is elected in November. The Mission also
>>recommended that foreign countries revoke the visas and freeze the
>>bank accounts of those involved in the coup, a move Washington has so
>>far refused to consider.
>>
>>The Missionâ?Ts preliminary report in Spanish is here:
>>http://www.alainet.org/active/31902âO©=es; Itâ?Ts final report, which
>>one member said will provide explosive evidence linking the coup
>>government to repression, will be issued on July 30.
>>

[flamingdem]

1. Oops I clicked Unrec instead of Rec lol! Good to get a report from this perspective nt

[Judi Lynn]

2. I rec'd it back to 0!

:kick: :kick: :kick: :kick:

[subsuelo]

4. lol you beat me to it

:hi:

[Judi Lynn]

6. So your rec. registered the rec. flamingdem was after in the 1st place!

Triumph! :woohoo:

[subsuelo]

3. I Rec'd it back for you

:D

[Judi Lynn]

5. Helpful material in this link. Really appreciate it. Here's a photo of Billy Joyo, Batallion 316:

(google translation follows this article)

lunes 6 de julio de 2009
Billy Joya, de asesino prófugo a gobernante por la "nueva paz hondureña"

He aqui un reportaje de hace unos cuantos años cuando el mencionado Billy Joya vivía en calidad de prófugo en Sevilla España. Incluso se puede leer a Ramón Custodio criticándolo; ahora juegan en el mismo equipo y están en el poder. Lo más triste es que lo han logrado y aún no han sido derrotados. Hay muchos ciudadanos indignados porque Joya sea asesor de los golpistas y ocupe posiciones de protagonismo y otros se encuentran decepcionados por la nueva faceta de Ramón Custodio. Este es el texto del Diario El País de España:

REPORTAJE - Madrid - 09/08/1998
El paraíso español de Billy Joya

Un ex miembro de los 'escuadrones de la muerte' de Honduras se ampara en el derecho de asilo para esquivar a la justicia de su país

Billy Joya Améndola es un nombre difícil de olvidar. Más aún en Honduras, donde se le busca desde octubre de 1995 por grave violación de los derechos humanos. Joya, que vivía oculto en España desde abril de 1996, está en Sevilla, con residencia en el barrio de Los Remedios, en uno de sus edificios más emblemáticos y caros, el Presidente. En él, un piso cuesta cerca de 40 millones, y el alquiler no baja de 140.000 pesetas.En estos 28 meses en España, Joya nunca ha trabajado. Se mantiene de las ayudas y del dinero que le envía su cuñado, con quien comparte empresa de seguridad en Honduras. La única actividad que se le conoce es la de catequista. Él ayudó a comprender el cristianismo a los alumnos del colegio de San José, de los Sagrados Corazones de Sevilla.

Los organismos de defensa de los derechos humanos de Honduras exigen su extradición inmediata. Allí se le acusa de haber pertenecido al Batallón 3-16, un escuadrón de la muerte, y de secuestrar y torturar a seis universitarios hondureños en 1982.

"Él tiene la conciencia tranquila", dice una fuente próxima a Joya en España. "Está convencido de que no cometió delito alguno. Sólo cumplió con la orden de detener a unos presuntos subversivos".

Aquel 27 de abril de 1982, a las cinco de la madrugada, el entonces subteniente Joya y seis de sus hombres fuertemente armados penetraron en la vivienda del subprocurador de la República (el segundo en la Fiscalía del Estado), Rafael Rivera, para detener a los estudiantes. Dos de ellos era hijas de Rivera, quien, por su cargo, tenía inmunidad. "Joya llegó chillando, muy agitado", recuerda ahora Milton Jiménez. "Llevaba una pistola en la mano. Con ella amenazó a Gilda Rivera". El padre de Gilda se acreditó como autoridad del Estado, y Joya se retiró. A los pocos minutos retornó acompañado por más hombres. "Se emplearon con mucha violencia. Nos detuvieron a todos, también al subprocurador. Nos maniataron con los cordones de nuestros propios zapatos", dice Milton.

La persona que le identificó fue Ana, hermana de Gilda. "En el momento no lo reconocí, pero cuando nos dejaron libres , me di cuenta de quién me había interrogado y torturado... Era Billy Joya". Ana le había conocido a través de una compañera de universidad con quien mantuvo una relación mientras era cadete.

"Primero nos trasladaron a la comisaría de Manchén. Allí nos pegaron. A Guillermo López Lone casi lo matan. Le hicieron la capucha. Tuvieron que reanimarlo", recuerda Jiménez. La capucha es una tortura que consiste en colocar al preso una bolsa con cal para que se ahogue mientras intenta respitar.

"De ahí nos trasladaron a una casa de campo en el caserío de Amarateca, a unos 30 minutos de la comisaría. Pertenecía al general Amílcar Zelaya. Allí nos volvieron a torturar. Hacían simulacros de fusilamiento. En realidad no nos preguntaban por nada concreto. Sólo nos pegaban y amenazaban", dice Milton.

Los seis estudiantes coincidieron en su cautiverio con otros detenidos que después jamás aparecieron. Aunque ni la policía ni el Ejército reconocieron la detención de los seis universitarios, dos de ellos fueron puestos a disposición de la justicia 11 días después. Se les acusó de tenencia de armas y explosivos. Pero en la casa de Rivera, donde vivían alquilados, sólo hallaron apuntes. "Lo más comprometedor era un libro de Marx y un disco de música andina", ironiza Ana.

"Tuvimos suerte, después de todo. En la detención hubo testigos, y el padre de Ana y Gilda movió sus contactos. Si no hubiera sido por él, ahora estaríamos muertos. Seríamos un número más entre los desaparecidos", asegura Milton.

Aunque no existe un tratado formal entre España y Honduras, una ley española, la de Extradición Pasiva de 1985, permite el envío de Billy Joya a Honduras. "El juez competente del caso en Tegucigalpa debe solicitar, a través de la Interpol o por vía diplomática, la extradición. Una vez recibida, las autoridades judiciales españolas pueden ordenar la detención de Joya. El juez hondureño tendría 40 días para fundamentar su petición, que, de aprobarse, sería de ejecución inmediata.

La fiscal de Derechos Humanos de Honduras, Lorena Soto, instó el viernes a ese juzgado de Tegucigalpa, el que ordenó su detención en 1995, para que inicie el proceso de extradición desde España. La policía española le tiene vigilado las 24 horas del día para que no escape y está convencida de que en cualquier momento lo tendrá que detener.

No es la primera vez que se intenta su extradición. La Interpol de Tegucigalpa ya envió a la policía española un telegrama, fechado el 7 de agosto del 1997, en el que se decía: "Informamos de que el Juzgado de Letras Primero de lo Criminal nos ha indicado que, en caso de ubicar en su país a la persona requerida , se realicen los trámites para su extradición por los canales diplomáticos, por lo que se socilita la detención preventiva". No hubo respuesta. Ha pasado un año.

"El problema es que el Gobierno hondureño es el primero que no está interesado en que se extradite a Billy Joya, y no entiendo por qué el español debe ser más papista que el Papa", dice la fuente próxima al capitán.

Joya no desea hablar con los medios de comunicación españoles, aunque no descarta dar una rueda de prensa en breve. Se encuentra en Sevilla, con su mujer y cuatro hijas (la última nació hace ocho meses en España). "Sé cómo son los periódicos", asegura Joya. "Intentarán que diga cosas que después se utilizarán en mi contra en Honduras".

Milton Jiménez Puerto, uno de los seis estudiantes que fueron secuestrados y torturados por el 3-16 al mando de Joya es quien ha presentado una querella criminal en la Audiencia Nacional. Le acusa de violar la Convención Internacional Contra la Tortura, firmada por España.

La situación jurídica de este capitán es compleja. Entró en España en abril de 1996 con un visado de turista. Procedía de Colombia, donde se había escondido tras su precipitada huida de Honduras al abrirse un proceso contra él y otros miembros del escuadrón de la muerte. En octubre, temiendo por su situación de alegalidad, solicitó asilo político. Joya argumentó que la justicia de su país no ofrece suficientes garantías. "Ésa es una táctica conocida, que han empleado todos los militares prófugos", dice Ernesto Custodio, del Comité para la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos en Honduras (Codeh), una organización que en dos años ha sufrido dos extrañas muertes. La hermana de Ernesto apareció con un disparo en la cabeza el 5 de julio de 1996. La policía anunció suicidio, pero la pistola no tenía huellas. Ernesto Sandoval, del directorio de la Codeh, pereció en un atentado. Entre los detenidos había ex militares.

No a la expulsión
El 30 de mayo de 1997, el Ministerio de Interior español rechazó la solicitud de asilo. "El estatuto internacional del refugiado prohibe expresamente su concesión a toda persona perseguida por violación de derechos humanos", recuerda Goyo Dionis, de la Organización de Solidaridad para Asia, África y América Latina, una ONG dedicada a la defensa de estos derechos básicos.La denegación de asilo en España llevaba pareja la orden administrativa de expulsión en 15 días. El abogado de Joya interpuso un recurso ante la Sala de lo Contencioso de la Audiencia, paralizando la medida. La sala notificó a Joya el 5 de febrero de 1998 que la orden de expulsión quedaba congelada hasta que resolviera el asunto del asilo.

Billy Joya está ahora protegido por esa resolución. "No se le puede expulsar. La justicia está, afortunadamente, por encima del Ministerio de Interior", dice la fuente próxima al capitán hondureño. La decisión final de la sala, que puede llegar después del verano, se puede recurrir ante el Supremo. "Estamos hablando de un mínimo de dos años", añade esa fuente.

Francisco Pérez, de Izquierda Unida, asegura que el problema es de origen. No se debió haber tramitado esa solicitud.

La denuncia de Milton Jiménez trata de abrir otra vía. Que el juez de la Audiencia Nacional encargado de la querella, Israel Moreno, ordene su detención y le procese. ¿Un caso similar a los de Chile y Argentina? Para la fiscalía de la Audiencia, España no es competente. Para el abogado de Joya, Julio Coca, no tiene nada que ver. " La querella no tiene ni pies ni cabeza. Aquí se trata de hondureños, no de españoles".

"Es verdad que está mal planteada", afirma un abogado español experto en este tipo de casos de violación de los derechos humanos. "En los sumarios sobre los desaparecidos de los magistrados Manuel García-Castellón y Baltasar Garzón se castiga el delito de tortura, pero sólo en caso de los españoles que es lo que permite la ley. En los de terrorismo y genocidio la ley española no distingue la nacionalidad".

Aunque a Billy Joya se le persigue por un hecho concreto, para la Codeh, su testimonio ante la justicia hondureña podría aclarar gran parte de las actividades de ese siniestro Batallón 3-16. "Él es un archivo viviente", dice Custodio. En febrero de 1996, el capitán pidió perdón por sus actos, pero no se entregó. Guarda silencio. "Ahora Joya tampoco va a revelar ninguno de sus secretos", advierte la fuente próxima al militar hondureño.

Con información de Santiago F.Fuertes (Sevilla) y Paco Gómez Nadal (Nicaragua).

http://www.hondurasgolpeada.net/2009/07/billy-joya-de-asesino-profugo.html

Here's the google translation of the article:
Monday July 6, 2009
Billy Joya, murderer of a fugitive leader of the "new peace Honduran"

Here is a story a few years ago when the aforementioned Billy Joya lived as a fugitive in Seville Spain. You can even read to criticize Ramon Custodio, now playing on the same equipment and in power. The saddest thing is that we have achieved and have not yet been defeated. Many people are outraged because Joya is an advisor to the coup and occupied positions of prominence and others are disappointed by the new facet of Ramón Custodio. This is the text of El País in Spain:

FEATURE - Madrid - 09/08/1998
Spanish Paradise Billy Joya

A former member of the 'death squads' of Honduras is covered in the right of asylum to avoid the justice of their country

Billy Joya Améndola is a difficult name to forget. Even more in Honduras, where he is wanted since October 1995 for severe violation of human rights. Joya, who lived in hiding in Spain since April 1996, in Seville, with residence in the Los Remedios, one of its most emblematic buildings and expensive, the President. In it, an apartment costs about 40 million, and 140,000 low-rent pesetas.En these 28 months in Spain, Joya has never worked. Remains of aid and money sent his brother, with whom he shared security company in Honduras. The only activity that is known is that of catechist. He helped them understand Christianity to students in the College of St. Joseph of the Sacred Hearts of Seville.

The bodies of human rights in Honduras require their immediate extradition. There is accused of having belonged to Battalion 3-16, a death squad, and kidnapping and torturing six Honduran university in 1982.

"He has a clear conscience," says a source close to Joya in Spain. "He believes he did not commit any crime. Only served with the order to detain a suspected subversive."

That April 27, 1982, at five in the morning, then Joya lieutenant and six heavily armed men entered the home of Attorney General of the Republic (second in the DPP), Rafael Rivera, to detain students. Two of them were daughters of Rivera, who by his office, he had immunity. "Joya came loudly, very agitated," recalls Milton Jimenez now. "He had a pistol in his hand. It threatened to Gilda Rivera. Gilda's father is credited as the authority of the State, and Joya was withdrawn. Within minutes he returned with more men. "Were used with great violence. We arrested everyone, including the Attorney General. We are bound with cords of our own shoes," says Milton.

The person who was identified by Anne, sister of Gilda. "At the moment did not recognize, but when we were free to go , I realized who I was ... He was interrogated and tortured Billy Joya. Ana had met through a university colleague with whom he maintained a relationship while he was a cadet.

"First we went to the police station in Stellenbosch. They beat us. A López Guillermo Lone almost killed. I did the hood. They had to resuscitate," recalls Jimenez. The hood is a torture that involves placing the prisoner a bag of lime to choke while trying respite.

"From there we moved to a house in the village of Amarateca, about 30 minutes from the station. Belonged to the general Amílcar Zelaya. There we were again tortured. They mock execution. In reality we are not asking for anything specific. just beat us and threatened, "says Milton.

The six students in captivity coincided with other detainees who appeared ever after. Although neither the police nor the Army acknowledged the arrest of the six universities, two of them were put to justice after 11 days. They were charged with possession of weapons and explosives. But Rivera's house, where they lived hired only found notes. "The most compromising Marx was a book and a record of Andean music," jokes Ana

"We were lucky after all. The arrest was witnessed, and the father of Anne and Gilda moved contacts. If it were not for him we would be dead now. We would be number one among the missing," says Milton.

Although there is no formal treaty between Spain and Honduras, a Spanish law, the Passive Extradition of 1985 allows the sending of Billy Joya to Honduras. "The judge in the case of Tegucigalpa should seek, through Interpol or diplomatic channels, the extradition. Once received, the Spanish judicial authorities may order the arrest of Joya. Honduran judge would have 40 days to substantiate his application, that, if adopted, would be implemented immediately.

Prosecutor for Human Rights in Honduras, Lorena Soto, called on Friday at the court of Tegucigalpa, which ordered his arrest in 1995, to begin the process of extradition from Spain. Spanish police have him guarded 24 hours a day to escape and is not convinced that any time you have to stop.

Is not the first time you attempt to extradite him. Interpol Tegucigalpa and Spanish police sent a telegram, dated August 7, 1997, which read: "We reported that the Court of First Criminal Lyrics has indicated that, if placed in their country to the person sought , completing the paperwork for his extradition through diplomatic channels, which socilita custody. " No response. A year has passed.

"The problem is that the Government of Honduras is the first that is not interested in that extradites Billy Joya, and I do not understand why the Spanish should be more Catholic than the Pope," said the source close to the captain.

Jewel does not want to talk with the Spanish media, but does not preclude giving a press conference shortly. It is located in Seville, with his wife and four daughters (the last eight months ago in Spain). "I know how the newspapers," says Joya. "Try saying things that are then used against me in Honduras."

Milton Jimenez Puerto, one of six students who were abducted and tortured by command of the 3-16 Joya who has filed a criminal complaint in the Audiencia Nacional. Accused of violating the International Convention Against Torture, signed by Spain.

The status of this captain is complex. Spain entered into in April 1996 with a tourist visa. Came from Colombia, where he had hidden behind his hasty flight from Honduras to open a trial against him and other members of death squads. In October, fearing for their situation alegalidad requested political asylum. Joya said that the justice of their country does not offer sufficient guarantees. "That is a tactic known to have used all the military at large," says Ernesto Custodio, the Committee for the Defense of Human Rights in Honduras (CODEH), an organization in two years has suffered two strange deaths. Ernesto's sister appeared with a gunshot to the head on July 5, 1996. The police announced suicide, but the gun had no fingerprints. Ernesto Sandoval, the directory CODEH, was killed in an attack. Among those arrested were former soldiers.

No to expulsion
On May 30, 1997, the Spanish Ministry of Interior rejected the asylum application. "The international status of refugees was granted expressly prohibits any person prosecuted for violation of human rights," says Goyo Dionis, the Organization of Solidarity for Asia, Africa and Latin America, an NGO dedicated to the defense of these rights básicos.La denial of asylum in Spain had a couple administrative order of removal in 15 days. Joya's lawyer lodged an appeal before the Board of Litigation of the hearing, stopping the action. La Joya notified the Board February 5 1998 that the deportation order was frozen until it resolved the issue of asylum.

Billy Joya is now protected by the resolution. "You can not be expelled. Justice is, fortunately, over the Ministry of Interior," said the source close to the Honduran captain. The final decision of the Board, which may be after the summer, you can appeal to the Supreme. "We are talking about a minimum of two years," adds the source.

Francisco Perez, Izquierda Unida, said that the problem comes from. Should not have been handled that request.

The denunciation of Milton Jimenez tries to open another path. The judge of the Audiencia Nacional to the complaint, Israel Moreno, order his arrest and prosecute him. A case similar to those of Chile and Argentina? For the prosecution of the hearing, Spain has no jurisdiction. For attorney Joya, Coca July, has nothing to do. "The lawsuit has neither feet nor head. This is Honduran, not Spanish."

"It is true that ill-considered," says a Spanish lawyer expert in such cases of violation of human rights. "In the summary on the missing of Manuel Garcia-Castellon judges Baltasar Garzon and punishes the crime of torture, but only if the Spanish which is what the law allows. The terrorism and genocide of the Spanish law does not distinguish nationality. "

Although Billy Joya was pursued by a specific event, for CODEH his testimony before the Honduran justice could clarify a considerable part of the activities of Battalion 3-16 incident. "He is a living archive," said Custodio. In February 1996, the captain apologized for his actions but was not delivered. Silent. "Now Jewel is not going to reveal any secrets," says the source close to the Honduran military.

With information from James F. Strong (Seville) and Paco Gómez Nadal (Nicaragua).

[Peace Patriot]

7. Thanks for this post! I didn't know about the current indigenous protests in Guatemala,

nor of course about Colom's pro-democracy response. How long has it been since the indigenous in Guatemala felt safe enough to protest the rape of Mother Earth, or to speak out on any issue at all? I think it has been forever. They have never been safe enough to speak out, have never been heard.They have suffered more than any indigenous population in the modern era from US corpo/fascist policy. Two hundred thousand Mayan villagers slaughtered in Guatemala under Reagan's "reign of terror" in the 1980s. The numbers stagger the mind. All those voices silenced, and the survivors scarred for generations to come.

My heart was gladdened to hear of these protests and the government's peaceful response.