Honduras: New Reports of Abuses

[Judi Lynn]

Honduras: New Reports of Abuses
De Facto Government Should Refrain From Excessive Force Against Zelaya Backers
September 22, 2009

Honduras's de facto government should refrain from using excessive force against supporters of the ousted president, Manuel Zelaya, Human Rights Watch said today. The authorities should also refrain from abusing emergency powers to undermine the basic rights of protesters, journalists, and others in Honduras.

Human Rights Watch has received credible reports that police used excessive force - wielding truncheons and firing tear gas and rubber bullets - today to disperse thousands of Zelaya supporters who gathered outside the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa, where the deposed president has obtained refuge. Since Zelaya returned to Honduras on September 21, the de facto government has imposed a nationwide curfew.

"Given the reports we have received, and the poor track record of the security forces since the coup, we fear that conditions could deteriorate drastically in the coming days," said José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch.

Human Rights Watch and other rights monitors have documented repeated violations by security forces since the coup d'état in June 2009. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights issued a report on August 21 documenting violations under the de facto government that included excessive use of force, arbitrary detention, sexual violence, and attacks on the media, as well as several confirmed deaths and possible "disappearances." The commission also documented the absence of effective legal protections from abuse.

More:
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/09/22/honduras-new-reports-abuses

[rabs]

1. Police battle resistance in Colonia Kennedy

Tear gas and live ammo were reported fired at zelayistas. Several detained, others beaten. Other incidents reported in various sectors of the capital.

There is a soccer complex in Tegu where detainees supposedly are being detained.

So much for the influence HRW has on the golpistas.

[Downwinder]

2. But it does show the position of SoS and CIA.

[EFerrari]

7. I think that's right. n/t

[Downwinder]

3. Meanwhile, at least two popular barrios

in and around Tegucigalpa have defied, en masse, the curfew order and chased National Police out of their communities: El Pedregal and Colonia Kennedy. They've erected barricades and declared the coup regime and its security forces non grata.

http://narcosphere.narconews.com/thefield/3444/seven-million-hondurans-under-house-arrest-micheletti-writes-democracy

[Judi Lynn]

5. Good for these Hondurans! Thank you for this info. n/t

[rabs]

4. U.N. Security Council meet on Honduras

Globo reporting that U.S. and Brazil plan to convene emergency meeting in the next few hours.

Globo saying U.S. government would consider an attack on Brazilian Embassy an attack on U.S. also.

Things getting red hot now.

[Judi Lynn]

6. Wonderful. Didn't expect them to be so solid about this event.This is good,I hope.Thank you, rabs.nt

[Downwinder]

8. Things getting red hot now.

5:57 p.m.: Brazil has now put its request for an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council in writing. It clearly considers the hostile actions by the Honduras coup regime of cutting water, telephone and electricity to its Embassy and the physical intervention by regime security forces to prevent food, water or other provisions from entering the building as acts of war.

The Security Council has five permanent member states - Russia, China, Great Britain, France and the United States - and five rotating seats now filled by Costa Rica, Croatia, Libya, Burkina Faso and Vietnam. Do the math. The presidency of the Security Council rotates month by month. In September of 2009 that chair belongs to the United States. The Council will meet tomorrow morning to discuss the situation in Honduras and whatever requests Brazil makes. Perhaps related: US President Barack Obama is scheduled to address the UN General Assembly at 10 a.m. ET tomorrow in New York.

http://narcosphere.narconews.com/thefield/3444/seven-million-hondurans-under-house-arrest-micheletti-writes-democracy

[Judi Lynn]

9. Thank goodness Bush is outta the White House.At least there's a chance this President will help Lula

come up with a good solution.

Sure, there's no way those actions against another country's embassy staff should be allowed to go unchecked. There should be a forceful answer to this.

Thanks for getting the UN information here.

We need some direct action to support Brazil, without concern about the predictable fascist backlash here.

[EFerrari]

10. If they do that to the embassy staff which is under the gaze of the world community,

imagine what they do to helpless poor people whom nobody is watching out for.

[Judi Lynn]

11. Two Days After Honduran President Returns to Capital,Amnesty International Reports Rise in Police Be

September 23, 2009
2:17 PM

Two Days After Honduran President Returns to Capital, Amnesty International Reports Rise in Police Beatings, Mass Arbitrary Arrests, Closing of Media Outlets, Harassment of Activists Since Coup

Human Rights Organization Cites "Alarming" Incidents, Including Police Tear Gas Attack Monday on Rights Organization in Capital

NEW YORK - September 23 - Amnesty International reported today that police beatings, mass arrests of demonstrators and intimidation of human rights groups have risen sharply in Honduras since the June coup d'etat, including the firing of tear gas at the building of a prominent rights group on Monday with 100 men, women and children inside.

Two days after President José Manuel Zelaya Rosales returned to Honduras following a June coup, Amnesty International warned that fundamental rights and the rule of law in the Central American nation are in grave jeopardy. According to reports received by Amnesty International on Monday morning, about 15 police officers fired tear gas canisters at the building of the prominent human rights organization COFADEH. Around 100 people, including women and children, were inside the office at the time. Many had come to denounce police abuses during the break up of a demonstration earlier outside the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa, where ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya has taken refuge.

"The situation in Honduras can only be described as alarming," said Susan Lee, Americas director at Amnesty International. "The attacks against human rights defenders, suspension of news outlets, beating of demonstrators by the police and ever increasing reports of mass arrests indicate that human rights and the rule of law in Honduras are at grave risk."

"The only way forward is for the de facto authorities to stop the policy of repression and violence and instead respect the rights of freedom of expression and association," said Lee. "We also urge the international community to urgently seek a solution, before Honduras sinks even deeper into a human rights crisis."

More:
http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2009/09/23-13

[Lydia Leftcoast]

12. After the Washington Post op-ed in which the golpistas defended themselves

one of my Facebook contacts linked to it and made a remark that went something like, "Now the truth is coming out."

We've gotten into a lengthy discussion about the legality of the coup, with her arguing that it was perfectly legal according to the Honduran constitution and that there "was no coup."

This is someone I have to see frequently, so I don't want to say what I really think, but it is puzzling, because as far as I know, she doesn't have any connections to upper-class Hondurans or any other wealthy Latin Americans, just an attitude reminiscent of the anti-Chavez forces portrayed in The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.

Anyway, it's led me to wonder about that family's background, since what I already know would open up the possibilities of intelligence community connections, if not themselves, then perhaps some relatives.

[Judi Lynn]

13. Sad! They make up their minds without trying to get the whole picture.

Time will educate her on what she missed, one can hope.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

14. I don't know about that

I think opinions on both sides are pretty entrenched in this case.