MLK memorial day letter on Honduras

Committee in Solidarity with the Honduran Resistance

33 Harrison Ave.
Boston, MA 02111 – info@hondurasresists.org
– www.hondurasresists.org

(617) 491-2876

January
18, 2010 – Martin Luther King Day

We,
the undersigned organizations of workers, artists, intellectuals,
veterans, activists, lawyers, clergy, and community organizers,
strongly condemn the widespread human rights atrocities against the
Honduran people, beginning with the military coup on June 28th
of 2009. Reports from human rights organizations emerge every day
detailing state repression, from rape to assassination, of
members of the non-violent resistance, whose aim is to restore
constitutional order to their country and foster the creation of a
more just society.

These
abuses by the Honduran state violate nearly every article of the
American Convention on Human Rights, to which Honduras is a
signatory, beginning with the rupture of constitutional order and
resulting in thousands of rights violations. As recognized by the
Interamerican Commission on Human Rights, and documented extensively
by COFADEH, Honduras’ leading human rights organization, the coup
regime has demonstrated a premeditated pattern of violent tactics
with which it aims to quell the resistance to the coup:

•       Mass
detentions in subhuman prison facilities

•       The
repression of assembly and mobility by means of excessive force

•       The
establishment of curfews and the suspension of constitutional
guarantees

•       Rape
and gang rape

•       Targeted
assassinations

•       The
censorship of media by means of threatening and killing journalists,
employing blackouts, confiscating equipment, & the outright
closure of anti-coup TV and Radio stations

•       Torture

•       Disappearance
and kidnapping

•       Psychological
warfare

•       Impunity
for the perpetrators of these crimes

Though
these acts have been carried out by the police and the armed forces,
there has been an alarming increase in the use of paramilitary
personnel. The United Nations reported that some 40 ex-members of the
United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia—Latin America’s largest
paramilitary outfit, & terrorist organization as designated by
the US State Department—had been employed by Honduran landowners.
An increasing number of assassinations and abductions have been
carried out by unidentified agents.

This
repression has disproportionately targeted marginalized communities,
such as indigenous, campesino, & afro-Honduran groups. The LGBT
community, for one, recently lost one of its young leaders, Walter
Trochez, 27, gunned down by masked assailants on December 13th.
Trochez’ murder is the sixteenth suffered by the LGBT community
since the overthrow of Zelaya.

On
December 11th,
the decapitated body of Santos Corrales Garcia appeared in a
neighborhood outside of Tegucigalpa. Garcia was a local leader of the
non-violent resistance, and had been detained six days earlier by
heavily armed members of the National Criminal Investigation
Division. Garcia’s body showed signs of torture, indicative of a
low-intensity campaign to create collective fear, according to human
rights advocate Andres Pavon.

Violence
against women has also escalated greatly. As written in the Christian
Science Monitor:
“As of August, women’s groups in Honduras have documented 249
cases of violations of women’s human rights, including 23 cases of
beatings and sexual assault and seven gang rapes by police explicitly
trying to “punish” women for their involvement in demonstrations.
The number of femicides – the violent murder of women because they
are women – has tripled since the coup, with 51 cases reported
during the month of July alone.”

In
the face of all this, the regime held elections on November 29th,
resulting in the “victory” of Porfirio Lobo of the National
Party. The sharp rise in brutality in the aftermath of the elections
indicates that this may have been the worst thing for the human
rights situation in Honduras, as powerful governments in the
hemisphere—namely the United States, Canada, and Colombia—have
used the elections as an opportunity to whitewash the coup. An ardent
supporter of the overthrow of Zelaya, Lobo is already pursuing a
general amnesty for its perpetrators.

For
those governments that deal with Honduras, particularly the United
States, this must be considered unacceptable and dealt with according
to national and international law. The unwillingness to condemn the
military regime for its thousands of human rights abuses demonstrates
a capitulation to the coup, its repressive tactics, and its impact on
Honduran democracy and civil society. To remain silent here is to
condone the use of military repression against unarmed populations,
and to encourage its use in future instances.

It
is the moral imperative of the international community to demand the
immediate end of the brutality in Honduras, and that the human rights
of all citizens, particularly those involved in political activity,
be respected without conditions.

Signed,

8th
Day Center for Justice

Alliance
for Global Justice

Americans
Who Tell the Truth

Atlantic
Regional Solidarity Network

Binghamton,
New York-El Charcon Sister City Project

Boston
Democratic Socialists of America

Boston
Liberation Health Group

Boston
May Day Coalition

British
Columbia Teachers’ Federation

Brooklyn
For Peace

Cambridge,
MA-El Salvador Sister City Project

Campaign
for Labor Rights

Centro
Presente

Chicago
Religious Leadership Network on Latin America

Chicago-Cinquera
Sister Cities

Davis
Religious Community for Sanctuary

Democratic
Socialists of Central Ohio

Doctors
for Global Health

Fredericton
Peace Coalition

Friends
of Chilama- a US-El Salvador Sister City

Georgia
Peace & Justice Coalition/Atlanta

Grassroots
International

Greater
Boston Stop the Wars Coalition

Hondurans
for Democracy

InterReligious
Task Force on Central America

La
Voz de los de Abajo

Latin
America Solidarity Committee Aotearoa New Zealand

Latin
American Solidarity Organization

Maine
Organic Farmers' and Gardeners' Association

Maryknoll
Office for Global Concerns

Mass
Global Action

National
Committee in Solidarity with the Honduran People

National
Lawyers Guild

Native
Forest Network/Gulf of Maine

Nicaragua
Network

Nonviolence
International

NYU
Law Students For Economic Justice

Office
of the Americas

Other
Worlds

Polo
Democratico Alternativo-NYC

Proyecto
Hondureño

Rights
Action

School
of the Americas Watch

Social
Justice Committee of the U.U. Church of Nashua, NH

Somerville/Medford
United for Justice with Peace

SweatFree
Communities

The
Americas Program

The
Network of US-El Salvador Sister Cities

The
Quixote Center

Trade
Justice New York Metro

U.S.
Labor Education in the Americas Program

United
for Justice with Peace, the Greater Boston coalition

US
Peace Council

Venezuela
Solidarity Campaign

Veterans
For Peace, Chapter 9, Smedley Butler Brigade

Wellington
Zapatista Solidarity Committe, New Zealand

This statement was also signed by
Prof. Noam Chomsky, Prof. Aviva Chomsky, and
Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano, in addition to
hundreds of concerned individuals.