Honduras News in Review—New August 2009

1. U.S. suspends all nonhumanitarian aid to Honduras, refuses to recognize results of upcoming elections

2. August protests marked by government repression, violence
3. Protesters arraigned, campesinos detained
4. Judge suspended for setting protesters free on bail
5. Police offers reward for identifying "terrorists"
6. Inter-American Commission on Human Rights conducts investigative mission to Honduras
7. Independent international observer delegations visit Honduras, issue reports
8. Honduran human rights advocates take concerns to Washington
9. More Honduras human rights news in brief
10. Billy Joya addresses allegations of past human rights crimes
11. Congress delays passage of controversial military service bill
12. San José Accord stuck in neutral
13. Other countries respond to Honduran crisis
14. Deposed and de facto governments take counteractions
15. Chile orders 129 arrested for Pinochet-era human rights crimes

1. U.S. suspends all nonhumanitarian aid to Honduras, refuses to recognize results of upcoming elections

The
U.S. State Department announced on Sept. 3 that it would stop all
non-humanitarian aid to Honduras, totaling $30 million. It also said
that "based on conditions as they currently exist"—namely, the de facto
regime's failure to accept the San José Accord to end the crisis in
Honduras—the United States would not recognize the results of the
country's November presidential elections. The suspended aid includes
$11 million in Millennium Challenge Account funds for the current
fiscal year. The Millennium Challenge Compact has final determination
of the disbursal of MCA funds, including $215 million in outlaying
years, and will be meeting the week of Sept. 7 to make that decision.
The aid, exclusive of the MCA funds, is the same as that which was
"paused" previously. Assistant Secretary of State Philip Crowley said
that the department was able to make this decision without yet calling
the events of June 28 a military coup, and that it reserved the option
to make that determination at a later date. With these latest moves, he
said, "the de facto regime, they’re now in a box and they will have to
sign on to the San José Accord to get out of the box." Deposed Presient
Manuel Zelaya expressed his pleasure with the move. "With this decision
of the United States, the countries of the Americas have formed a
single bloc in condemning the coup." On Aug. 25, the U.S. State
Department suspended the issue of new, nonresident visas to Hondurans;
Crowley said that more visa suspensions would be made public shortly,
including anyone who had taken part in or supported the coup. [La Prensa, 8/26/09; AP 8/29/09; State Department statement, 9/3/09; State Department daily briefing, 9/3/09; BBC 9/3/09]

Earlier
in the month, leaders of the resistance movement met with U.S.
Ambassador Hugo Llorens. While the agenda of the meeting was not
disclosed, anonymous sources said that they had been asking the
ambassador to transmit a plea for stronger support to his superiors in
the State Department. [El Tiempo,
8/10/09] President Barack Obama also urged the restoration of
“constitutional order” in Honduras during an Aug. 10 meeting in
Guadalajara, Mexico, in a joint statement of North American presidents
assembled there. Reiterating U.S. support for Zelaya and that the
events of June 28 constituted a coup, he complained that "the same
critics who say that the United States has not intervened enough in
Honduras are the same people who say we are always intervening and the
yanquis need to get out of Latin America." [El Tiempo, 8/10/09; Reuters,
8/10/09] Speaking from Brasilia, Brazil on Aug. 12, deposed Honduran
President Manuel Zelaya called once again for stronger U.S. involvement
in restoring order by putting more economic pressure on his country.
The United States is Honduras’ largest trade partner, and though it has
suspended $18 million in military-related economic aid, much of its aid
was still flowing through the MCA, according to Alejandro Álvarez,
vice-president of the Honduran Council on Private Enterprise. [AP, 8/12/09; La Tribuna, 8/4/09;]

2. August protests marked by government repression, violence

During
the second month of the crisis in Honduras, protests—organized by the
National Resistance Front Against the Coup d'Etat (FRN)—continued to be
largely peaceful, but marked by episodes of violence and heavy police
and military repression.

Aug. 5.
Following a promise to crack down on protests, heavily armored police
forces did just that, beating student protesters back with water canons
and tear gas until they took shelter in the National Autonomous
University of Honduras on Aug. 5. Héctor Clara Cruz, a photographer for
the newspaper El Tiempo, was severely beaten by police forces while
taking photos of another police officer beating a protester, and
incapacitated for a week. The university, which had thus far kept its
neutrality in the conflict, was widely considered a safe haven, as it
had for years been off limits to the police. Nevertheless, the Cobra
special police force followed the students in, throwing tear-gas
canisters as they went. When university president Julieta Castellanos
and other officials tried to mediate the situation, they were equally
mistreated. Reports describe Castellanos being violently pushed to the
ground. According to MISF associate producer Oscar Estrada, who has
been reporting on events on the ground, this sequence of events has had
the effect of radicalizing the formerly neutral leadership of the
national university. [AFP, 8/5/09; Cofadeh, 8/6/09; Oscar Estrada report, 8/5/09; El Tiempo, 8/17/09]

Aug. 11.
Largely peaceful demonstrations came together in downtown Tegucigalpa
and San Pedro Sula on Aug. 11. Roughly 20,000 people showed up in
Tegucigalpa, including former Zelaya administration ministers and the
deposed president's wife, daughter and mother. Additionally, campesinos
from all corners of the country joined in the protests, many having
traveled, some on foot, hundreds of miles to get there. The official
speakers protested the interim government’s delay in reaching a
mediated agreement, and said that as they time went on, pressure would
intensify. Then, as the formal protest was winding down and many of the
participants were heading back to the National Pedagogical University
for a strategy meeting, a protester was shot and injured by a police
officer. The reported reason for the shooting and accounts of the
subsequent chain of events vary drastically, but ultimately vandals set
fire to a public-transit bus and a Popeye's fast-food restaurant, a
franchise owned by a major coup-funding family. The bus driver and
passengers were safely evacuated, and no injuries resulted from either
fire. Police arrested three protesters in connection with the crime
(see story below), but resistance leaders have alleged that the
vandalism was caused not by demonstrators but by provocateurs inserted
to discredit the movement. Because of the violence, the interim
government decreed a curfew in Tegucigalpa for that evening.  [El Tiempo, 8/12/09; El Tiempo, 8/12/09 La Tribuna, 8/12/09; La Tribuna, 8/12/09]

Aug. 12. The
outbreak of vandalism on Aug. 11, which elicited a further surge of
police repression, in turn encouraged more people to participate in a
protest rally Aug 12. A group of youth identified Congressional Vice
President Ramón Velázquez Nazzar, who has been vocally contemptuous of
protesters, and started to beat him up, and shortly thereafter were
beat up themselves by the military. This incident sparked nationwide
repression on behalf of the police and military, including a new
overnight curfew. Alba Ochoa, coordinator for the Green Forest
Development Foundation, was arrested for filming a police officer
beating a young man with a metal tube in the aftermath of the protest.
She said she was beaten, denied water, threatened and detained for
“seditious acts,” even though she had not taken part in the protest. [Revistazo, 8/15/09; Cofadeh, 8/12/09; Oscar Estrada report, 8/12/09; La Tribuna, 8/12/09]

While
beatings continued, a military unit broke into the pedagogical
university gardens, which were serving as headquarters for the FRN, and
started beating students and professors gathered there to receive the
protesters after the march. The army, having learned from its incursion
in the national university, didn't access the buildings but rather
threw tear gas into the building, arresting all those who streamed out.
The Committee for Relatives of the Detained-Disappeared (COFADEH)
reported that Alex Matamoros, member of the Center for Investigation
and Promotion of Human Rights, who wore a badge identifying his role as
a human rights defender, was forcibly arrested and detained when he
tried to intervene in the roundup of José Elcer Sabillón, a student who
was in a study session at the time of the raid. Matamoros and nine
others were released at 3:45 the following morning, after COFADEH and
other human rights organization kept a vigil for these individuals held
without charge. [Editor's note: the COFADEH report dates these events
on Aug. 11, but they coincide with other reports of Aug. 12.] That same
evening, police and military bomb units, acting on a tip, found some 12
to 20 (reports vary) molotov cocktails and other explosives in the
buildings of the pedagogical university. Officially, these bombs have
been used as evidence of the resistance movement's violent intent, but
a report from MISF's Estrada indicates that the FRN leadership had
actually confiscated the explosives from the backpack of a suspected
police infiltrator. The National Police alleged that the bombs were
being manufactured in the Chemistry and Pharmacy Building on the
National Autonomous University campus by two radical student groups.
University President Castellanos roundly rejected the allegations,
saying that only a handful of faculty members had access to the
building, which has been closed since an accident there a year ago and
protected by private security personnel since that time. [Cofadeh, 8/12/09; Oscar Estrada report, 8/12/09; La Tribuna, 8/12/09; La Tribuna, 8/12/09; La Tribuna, 8/13/09; photos of protest: Cofadeh]

Aug. 14. The
FRN orchestrated a takeover of a highway in Puerto Cortés, en route
from San Pedro Sula to the nearby town of Choloma, on Aug. 14. Police
Capt. Héctor Iván Mejía, in charge of local operations, had cleared the
temporary takeover until noon and stated so publicly on Radio Globo.
Despite these assurances, the full strength of the 200-member police
force came down on the protesters at 11 a.m., tear-gassing them,
beating them with batons and arresting 21, including three reporters
covering the story: Julio Umaña, videographer for Diario Tiempo;
Gustavo Cardoza, reporter for Radio Progreso, who was broadcasting live
as he was beaten; and Edwin Castillo, reporter for the online news
sites Honduras News and El Escamoso. Umaña and Castillo's video
equipment were eventually returned when all 21 were freed later in the
day, but the footage had been erased. [El Tiempo, 8/14/09; Honduras Laboral/Comun Noticias, 8/14/09; Honduras Laboral, 8/14/09; Honduras Laboral, 8/14/09; Honduras Laboral, 8/14/09; Honduras Laboral, 8/14/09; Oscar Estrada report, 8/15/09]

Irma
Villanueva, who participated in the protest, later gave an account to
Radio Progreso of four police officers taking her away from the scene
of the protests and taking turns raping her in a police pick-up truck
before leaving her unconscious in a field. She recalled the names of
three of the officers as Ortiz, López and Chepe Luis. [Huffington Post (includes links to broadcast and transcription), 8/24/09]

3. Protesters arraigned, campesinos detained

Two
dozen detained protesters, identified in some press reports as
"terrorists," went before judge Esteban Quevedo on Aug. 15 in the upper
reaches of the Preliminary Prosecutor's building, an unmarked,
closed-door institution that human rights groups have accused of
operating in a quasi-clandestine manner. Charges against the detainees
included robbery, illegal assembly, damages to property and sedition.
The Committee for Relatives of the Detained-Disappeared alleged that
the proceedings were a premeditated strategy of legal intimidation.
Defense lawyers for the detainees reportedly did not have access to
their clients and only learned of the charges moments before the
hearing took place. Depending on the account, 12 to 14 of the
protesters were set free on bail, including Alba Ochoa, coordinator for
the Green Forest Development Foundation (see story above). The
remaining detainees—campesinos and one Colombian-Venezuelan
national—were sent to the National Penitentiary due to lack of
arraigos, literally "rooting," "influence" or "real estate," but having
a specific legal context in Honduras as proof of good citizenship with
stable work and family, which is hard for a field worker to prove. The
lawyers for the defense argued, unsuccessfully, that they didn't have
time to prepare arraigos. They also said there was physical evidence
that the detainees were being cruelly and inhumanely treated. Regina
Fonseca of the Women's Rights Center, who was present at the hearing,
and said, "This was a political trial, they are the first political
prisoners [in this conflict] and political prisoners because they are
poor." The resistance movement marched on Aug. 18 to demand that the
captives be released. [Revistazo, 8/15/09; El Heraldo, 8/18/09; El Tiempo, 8/19/09; Oscar Estrada report, 8/15/09]

4. Judge suspended for setting protesters free on bail

The
presiding Tegucigalpa court judge was suspended by the Supreme Court on
Aug. 16 for provisionally freeing three men accused of terrorist acts
and aggravated arson. The three men—Dagoberto Andrade, Juan Antonio
Guevara Vásquez, and José Antonio Flores Meza—whom Judge Maritza Arita
Herrera released on bail on Aug. 13, were arrested after allegedly
setting fire to a bus and a Popeye's fast-food restaurant two days
earlier. The men had been participating in a demonstration by
supporters of ousted President Manuel Zelaya. Some 50 people were
arrested Aug. 11 and 12 for acts of vandalism in connection with the
protests; protestors claimed that police had cracked down hard on the
initially peaceful demonstration and alleged the presence of
infiltrators who wreaked havoc in an attempt to discredit their
movement. Arita Herrera said she had released the men pending an
investigation "to ensure the presence of the accused in the process."
She has since submitted a claim with the Committee for Relatives of the
Detained-Disappeared, saying she is being subject to political
persecution and a campaign to smear her public image. In addition to
the court suspension, she has been accused in the media of partiality
due to the political stance of her husband, public prosecutor Jari
Dixon, who has spoken publicly in support of Zelaya and also was one of
the leaders of a 2008 hunger strike protesting corruption in the
judiciary (see HNR April '08 edition).
A number of death threats against Herrera have been posted in the
comments sections of a few newspaper Web sites. Arita Herrera pointed
out that although she has been censured and criticized for the judgment
she made, that judgment has not been reversed. "Their only recourse has
been to publicly denigrate me," she said. [La Tribuna, 8/13/09; La Prensa, 8/14/09; La Tribuna, 8/17/09; Defensores En Linea, 8/17/09]

5. Police offers reward for identifying "terrorists"

Police
commissioner Danilo Orellana, coordinator for the National Police's
"Peace and Democracy" taskforce, announced on Aug. 17 that the agency
was offering a reward for information leading to the identification of
anyone involved in "terrorists" acts or vandalism that had occurred in
recent weeks. The amount of the reward was not specified. Orellana said
the accused would be categorized as authors, co-authors, accomplices or
instigators, but all would be treated as members of illegal
associations, a charge that carries a 15- to 20-year prison sentence. [La Tribuna, 8/18/09]

6. Inter-American Commission on Human Rights conducts investigative mission to Honduras

A
13-member delegation of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
was in Honduras from Aug. 17 to 21 to collect and verify reports of
human rights abuses. IACHR Executive Secretary Santiago Cantón said of
the mission, “We didn’t come to verify whether there’s been a coup—the
OAS already determined that on July 4—but rather to verify the state of
human rights in the context of the coup.” [La Tribuna,
8/16/09] The commission set up investigative panels in various parts of
the country, where aggrieved citizens lined up to set forth complaints,
telling stories of brutal beatings and providing X-rays of their
injuries. [La Tribuna, 8/19/09; El Tiempo, 8/20/09]

During
the course of its visit, the commission expanded its watch list to over
100 people to whom the government should offer special protection,
including officials in the Zelaya government, resistance leaders and
human rights advocates. [La Tribuna,
8/16/09] At the same time, in an apparent effort to show the rule of
law existed, the Public Ministry put in motion the first trial of
military men accused of human rights violations. The two naval officers
were accused of illegally detaining a man in Trujillo, Colón with
insufficient motive. [El Tiempo, 8/20/09]

The
IACHR released a preliminary report of the delegation's findings on
Aug. 21. Among other things, it expressed concern about the active role
the Army has had in civilian life, including participation in
controlling demonstrations. The report also details specific violations
of human rights in its various forms, verifying a great deal of the
allegations that have been coming out of the country in the past two
months, including multiple deaths, at least five disappearances,
widespread media intimidation and censorship, thousands of arbitrary
detentions, sexual abuse and at least one rape. De facto government
officials have reportedly denied any wrongdoing. [El Tiempo, 8/24/09; El Tiempo, 8/22/09; El Tiempo, 8/22/09; IACHR preliminary report, 8/21/09]

7. Independent international observer delegations visit Honduras, issue reports

Article
19, an NGO that works to defend and promote freedom of expression,
issued a report
http://www.article19.org/pdfs/press/honduras-early-warning-signs-of-impe...
titled “Honduras: Early Warning Signs of an Impending Crisis,” dated
July 29 and based on its recent fact-finding mission to the country.
Key findings include a high level of media polarization; violence and
insecurity concerns for reporters and citizens; censorship and violence
against human rights defenders; and concern for freedom of political
expression through demonstrations and marches. [ConexiHon, ed. 118]

The
Observation Mission on the Human Rights Situation in Honduras, an
independent international fact-finding team that conducted a visit to
the country in July (see story in HNR July edition), released its final report
on Aug. 7. The report establishes that the de facto government violated
the human rights of citizens opposed to the coup, and includes a number
of recommendations to the international community and the Honduran
government. [Revistazo, 8/8/09]

Frank
Larue, special U.N. rapporteur on freedom of expression, visited
Honduras on Aug. 3 and 4, and subsequently issued a report of his
findings. “I can affirm that freedom of expression to comment on daily
issues, criticize the de fact government or to condemn the coup does
not exist in Honduras,” he said, adding, “The human rights situation is
progressively deteriorating.” The report details three “worrying
phenomena”: free protest is not being allowed; the police are using
excessive force and aren't keeping proper detention records; and
videographers and photographers are specific targets of police
aggression. The report also noted that the atmosphere in the country
makes it hard to document human rights abuses, largely because of the
lack of objective media. [ConexiHon, ed. 118]

A
delegation organized by the nonprofit Global Exchange, which visited
Honduras Aug. 7-15 to witness and accompany daily protests and report
on the current human rights situation in the country, found that the
country was under a "de facto state of siege." Delegation members
personally witnessed police and military repression including
"unprovoked tear gassing, arbitrary arrest, beatings, theft of property
from demonstrators and their organizations, and possible use of
provocateurs." They found that the international corporate media is
"largely absent" and reporting is often "inaccurate and cursory," and
that "an overwhelming number" of Honduran media are "biased,
inflammatory, and favor the coup and its backers." Global Exchange
published a full report including lists of findings and
recommendations, along with photos and testimonies from injured
Honduran demonstrators. [Report of Global Exchange Delegation to Honduras; August 7-15, 2009]

8. Honduran human rights advocates take concerns to Washington

Human
rights advocates Reina Rivera, of the Center for the Investigation and
Promotion of Human Rights (CIPRODEH) and Claudia Hermannsdorfer of the
Center for Women's Rights (CDM) visited Washignton Aug. 6-9 to speak
about rights abuses in Honduras since June 28. The women met with staff
at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the State Department,
the Honduran Embassy, and the Center for Justice and International Law
to testify to the threats, intimidation and censorship of those who
oppose the de facto government. Among other things, they expressed
concern over the government-imposed curfew; the use of military force
to occupy public institutions, communication and energy outlets; the
military's staging of "micro-coups" to replace mayors with new
representatives in more than 10 municipalities; and the lack of civil
supervision, or oversight by the attorney general or human rights
ombudsman, of military and police, including prevention of torture or
abuse or oversight of prisons. Rivera and Hermannsdorfer, both
attorneys who have been working on rights issues in Honduras for two
decades, played roles in the investigation and prosecution of human
rights crimes committed by Honduran security forces during the 1980s.
Hermannsdorfer described the ongoing worry of many Honduran citizens
that "not only was the president ousted, but democracy was ousted and
all the progress we've made on human rights in the last 20 years has
been lost. There are so many issues that haven't been resolved from the
'80s and they are having consequences now." [MISF interview with Reina
Rivera and Claudia Hermannsdorfer, 8/7/09]

9. More Honduras human rights news in brief

On
Aug. 4, the National Telecommunications Commission issued an order to
shut down Radio Globo and its 14 transmitter stations throughout the
country, citing “sedition.” The radio station, recognized by a recent
Global Exchange delegation (see above story) as the only one in the
country that opposes the coup, continues to broadcast. [Defensora en Linea, 8/4/09; NarcoNews, 8/4/09]

The
Stockholm Declaration Monitoring Group (G-16), which groups all the
countries and agencies that make up a great deal of Honduras’ official
development help, sent a written request to top law-enforcement
officials in the country for an investigation into the reports of human
rights abuses that have been coming out since June 28. [El Tiempo, 8/17/09; Revistazo, 8/14/09]

On
Aug. 13, Lidiet Díaz, reporter for Radio Globo, was expelled from the
Government House and prohibited from covering a swearing-in ceremony
that de facto President Michelleti was conducting. Michelleti himself
came out to yell at her to leave, an act that an El Tiempo photographer
captured but was forced by security personnel to delete from his
camera. [Honduras Laboral, 8/14/09]

Amnesty International issued a report
on Aug. 19 accusing Honduran security forces of using beatings and mass
arrests as punishment for ongoing protests in the country, and
expressing concern about the intimidation of human rights defenders.
The report is based on interviews and photos taken during and after
police, aided by the military, broke up a peaceful protest in
Tegucigalpa on July 30. [NY Times, 8/18/09]

Spanish
judge Baltasar Garzón, best known for ordering the capture of former
Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, arrived in Honduras on Aug. 23 to
take part in a conference to ascertain what jurisdiction, if any,
international courts have in pursuing human rights violations that have
taken place since the June 28 coup. At the conference he said, “If
investigation is impeded in one country, if it’s not possible to carry
it out, if there is a palpable omission in the judicial bodies of that
country, and if there is no protection for victims of the types of
crimes that systematically target groups of people, there exists the
obligation of helping and responding in the [International Criminal
Court.]” [El Tiempo, 8/24/09; Xinhua, 8/26/09; El Tiempo, 8/26/09]

On
Aug 23, masked gunmen threatened the lives of personnel at a
transmission station of Canal 11, one of the few media outlets to
maintain its objectivity since the coup. A human rights prosecutor will
be investigating the case. In the same attempt, transmission facilities
for Radio Globo, and Canal 36 Cholusat Sur, both openly anti-coup
outlets, were damaged. [El Tiempo, 8/24/09; El Tiempo, 8/24/09; Hondudiario, 8/24/09]

Resistance
leader and congressional deputy Marvin Ponce was hurt during a protest
in the latter part of the month. From his hospital bed, he called it a
desperate act from a government that “feels it has lost the battle
against a populace that doesn’t accept it.” [El Libertador, 8/26/09]

U.N.
General Assembly President Miguel D’Escoto proposed on Aug. 28 that the
Council on Human Rights assign a special rapporteur on human rights to
Honduras. [Hondudiario, 8/29/09]

10. Billy Joya addresses allegations of past human rights crimes

In
a New York Times interview, Billy Joya, a former Honduran police
captain who has assumed a role as security adviser in the Micheletti
cabinet, denied participating in human rights crimes during the 1980s
but said he would have, if ordered to do so. Joya is accused of the
illegal detention, torture and murder of civilians in the 1980s, when
he was a commanding officer in the military intelligence Batallion
3-16. “It was never my responsibility to detain people, to torture
people or to disappear people,” Joya said. “But if those had been my
orders, I am sure I would have obeyed them, because I was trained to
obey orders.” In an interview with MISF in 2000, however, Joya did
admit to participating in the 1982 detention of six university
students, accused of terrorist acts, who were illegally held and
tortured. In the 1990s, Joya was charged with crimes in this and other
cases of detention, torture and murder—a total of 27 charges—but has
been acquitted on technicalities. [NY Times, 8/7/09]

11. Congress delays passage of controversial military service bill

On
Aug. 18, congressional deputies called for a suspension of discussions
about a proposed change to the military service law because of the
tremendous controversy it was stirring during this time of crisis
within the country. The bill, which was originally proposed while
Manuel Zelaya was still in office, would have required a two-year
mandatory service period once a person had signed up; military service
would still be voluntary. Detractors of the legislation reportedly
feared abuse of conscripts by superiors, since the law doesn't allow
them to pull out due to abuse. Additionally, the bill would have
inserted a provision for the president to enact a draft in times of
crisis. Under the bill, passive "reserves"—meaning anyone of military
age who hasn't served—could have been called up on the president's
orders, and active reserves—those who had previously served—could have
been called up for specific missions. [La Tribuna, 8/17/09; El Tiempo, 8/13/09; El Tiempo, 8/18/09]

12. San José Accord stuck in neutral

The
month of August saw a lot of talk but very little movement on the San
José Accord, the plan put forward by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias.
The accord seemed to gain ground with a recommendation by a
congressional panel that the amnesty proposal—one of the key points of
contention—be accepted by the full Congress.
[http://www.tiempo.hn/secciones/crisis-politica/1900-comision-legislativa-a-favor-de-aprobar-amnistia
El Tiempo] On Aug. 12, a delegation from the Michelleti government
traveled to Washington to meet with the Organization of American States
to discuss the next steps in the accord negotiations. The delegation
consisted of de facto Chancellor Carlos López Contreras, businessman
and former presidential candidate Arturo Corrales, lawyer Mauricio
Villeda and former Supreme Court President Vilma Morales. They returned
optimistic, after having met with OAS Secretary General José Miguel
Insulza. The meetings paved the way for the OAS mission that arrived
later in the month and again after the OAS had left to talk about
moving the accord further. [Hondudiario, 8/12/09; Hondudiario, 8/13/09; La Prensa, 8/26/09]

A
fairly well organized campaign then ensued to take the momentum away
from the accord just as the OAS mission was to arrive. First, the
Supreme Court of Honduras issued comments on the accord in a nine-point
document issued on Aug. 23, categorically opposing Zelaya's restitution
and almost every other point in the accord, and citing and asserting
the supremacy of Honduran law in the matter. The same day, Ramon
Custodio, national commissioner for human rights, spoke out against
Arias' role in the crisis, saying that it was "very negative," and that
as a mediator, he should have found reconciliation between the parties.
He also said Zelaya's return is unacceptable because a large part of
the population is against it. On Aug. 25, Attorney General Luis Alberto
Rubí also came out against the amnesty proposal, which he said would
"tie the hands" of the Public Ministry. [El Tiempo, 8/24/09; El Tiempo, 8/24/09; El Tiempo, 8/24/09; Hondudiario, 8/25/09]

The
OAS mission, initially delayed by a flap over the inclusion of Insulza
in the delegation, arrived Aug. 24. Accompanying Insulza were the
foreign ministers of Canada, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica,
Costa Rica, Panamá, and Argentina. Its agenda consisted of meetings
with civil society groups, the National Congress, Public Ministry,
electoral tribunal, Supreme Court, various religious authorities, and
all presidential candidates. Ultimately, the mission ended in deadlock
and mixed reactions. The president of the National Association of
Industries, Adolfo Facussé, said the OAS delegation arrived with
threats of U.S. sanctions if the interim government didn't reinstate
Manuel Zelaya as president. On the other hand, Elvin Santos, Liberal
Party presidential nominee, said that he was encouraged by his meeting
with the delegation. [La Tribuna, 8/9/09; La Tribuna, 8/9/09; La Tribuna, 8/24/09; El Tiempo, 8/24/09; Voice of America News, 8/26/09; Hondudiario, 8/25/09; Hondudiario, 8/25/08]

Both
the de facto and deposed presidents offered possible next steps in
separate memoranda to Arias and the OAS. Michelleti offered to step
down and have the Supreme Court president take over, but Zelaya called
that proposal illegal since it wouldn't rectify the unconstitutionality
of his ouster in the first place. Michelleti also offered that Zelaya
come back in 2010 to face charges against him. Zelaya has allegedly
sent Arias some new proposals, but they have not been revealed. [NY Times, 8/27/09; El Tiempo, 8/29/09; El Tiempo, 8/30]

13. Other countries respond to Honduran crisis

Other
countries have been taking action against Honduras in the past month.
Panama asked to be withdrawn from Central American Parliament on the
week of Aug. 10, with Panamanian Chancellor Juan Carlos Varela citing
the body’s inaction on the Honduran crisis in Honduras. The institution
has come under attack in the past for supposedly harboring politicians
who otherwise would be the object of prosecution. [El Tiempo,
8/10/09] On Aug. 17, the parliament of Mercosur—a regional trade
agreement among Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, with associate
members Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru— condemned the coup
in Honduras, and called for the restitution of the constitutional
government of Manuel Zelaya. [El Tiempo,
8/18/09] After Manuel Zelaya dismissed the ambassador to Spain, José
Eduardo Martell Mejía, on Aug. 5, Spain decided to pull his
accreditation and ask him to leave the country on Aug. 17. Spain said
the decision “was consistent with the international community’s
agreement to maintain official ties with the constitutional government
of Honduras,” meaning the Zelaya government-in-exile. [El Tiempo,
8/21/09] Dominican Republic President Leonel Fernández on Aug. 27
suggested that Honduras be temporarily expelled from the Dominican
Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement with the United States.
“By just adopting this measure, Zelaya would be back in two to three
months,” Fernández said. Former Panamanian President Martín Torrijos
and others announced their immediate support for the proposal, while
CAFTA negotiator for Honduras, Melvin Redondo, dismissed the idea,
saying, “The accord doesn’t allow for unilateral suspension.” [El Tiempo, 8/27/09; El Tiempo, 8/27/09; Hondudiario, 8/30/09]

14. Deposed and de facto governments take counteractions

As
the conflict lengthens, both the deposed and de facto governments are
taking steps to gain standing. The Michelleti government has released
arrest warrants for a number of former ministers under the Zelaya
government. Zelaya himself is wanted for treason for allegedly trying
to change the form of government via a constitutional assembly. Ousted
minister of the presidency Enrique Flores Lanza is wanted, along with
Zelaya, for abusing authority by signing allegedly illegal emergency
decrees authorizing a campaign to support the opinion poll. Former
Central Bank president Edwin Araque is accused of misusing his post for
allegedly carting out money in wheelbarrows, as is former finance
minister Patricia Rebeca Santos in authorizing that withdrawal. Others,
including national energy and telecommunications heads, have also been
charged with crimes. [La Prensa,
8/17/09] Meanhwile, the Zelaya government-in-exile has taken away
diplomatic accreditation from roughly 20 diplomats. The Michelleti
government has also withdrawn their support from 20 diplomats, four
consuls in the United States and 16 elsewhere in the world. Because the
international community only recognizes Zelaya as president, only
diplomats accredited by him are recognized in-country. [El Heraldo, 8/17/09]

15. Chile orders 129 arrested for Pinochet-era human rights crimes

On
Sept. 1, a Chilean judge issued indictments for 129 individuals accused
of human rights crimes during the 1973-1990 dictatorship of Gen.
Augusto Pinochet. The individuals, who range from chauffeurs to
high-ranking police and military officers, are charged with the
kidnapping, torture and assassination of leftist opponents; a reported
3,197 suspected leftists were killed for political reasons under
Pinochet and another 30,000 people were tortured. In an interview with
NPR, Peter Kornbluh, director of the Chile Documentation Project at the
nonprofit National Security Archive in Washington, said, "This is a
huge statement in the history of human rights judicial process … a
statement that civilized countries don't close the chapter on human
rights crimes of the past … and that countries will hold their leaders
and their national security agents accountable for the types of crimes
that were committed in Chile, in Argentina, for torture, disappearance,
illegal detention. Certainly those are issues we're debating in the
United States right now, of how to deal with the past." [CNN, 9/1/09; NPR, 9/2/09; Independent, 9/3/09]