Protests and Rights Abuses Continue in Honduras. And the Band Plays On

[Judi Lynn]

Posted: October 18, 2010 07:40 PM
Protests and Rights Abuses Continue in Honduras. And the Band Plays On

On September 15, Honduran independence day, crowds gathered in a central park in San Pedro Sula to celebrate. They were also protesting violations of human rights that have taken place since the coup on June 28, 2009, and that continue despite the November 2009 elections won by Porfirio Lobo.

"The crowd was waiting for a concert to begin, when, from all four corners of the park, tear gas bombs began exploding, shots were fired, and terror filled the streets," recounted Gilda Rivera of the Center for Women's Rights (CDM). The police blasted water hoses and lobbed tear gas at the crowd. They destroyed the musical instruments and sound equipment of a musical band, Café Guancasco, and according to the band, brutally beat one of the young musicians. "Many children, men and women were hospitalized because of the tear gas," said Rivera.

Rivera and Bertha Oliva of the Committee for the Detained and Disappeared (COFADEH), Wilfredo Méndez of the Center for the Investigation and Promotion of Human Rights (CIPRODEH), Juan Almendares Bonilla of the Center for the Prevention, Treatment and Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture and their Families (CPTRT), and Gilberto Ríos of the Honduran chapter of FoodFirst Information and Action Network (FIAN) were in Washington, DC on October 13 to receive from the Institute of Policy Studies the Letelier-Moffitt human rights award. These organizations and the Committee for the Defense of Human Rights in Honduras (CODEH) make up the Honduran Human Rights Platform, which came together to address the human rights emergency in the aftermath of the 2009 coup that overthrew the government of Manuel Zelaya. Zelaya is still in exile.

"Every day we are subjected to persecution, threats, internal displacement, exile, torture, and murder," said Bertha Oliva.

More:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lisa-haugaard/rights-abuses-protests-co_b_766302.html