Hope and Human Rights Abuses in Honduras

Mediation efforts in Costa Rica concerning the ongoing crisis in Honduras reached a turning point today as diplomats and the interim (and openly racist) Honduran government agreed that ousted President Zelaya could return to Honduras within the next 24 hours. This comes as a relief to many human rights activists and President Arias of Costa Rica who feared that the crisis could lead to civil war.

Supporters of ousted Honduras President Manuel Zelaya sit in front of Honduran army soldiers, 3 July 2009

Supporters of ousted Honduras President Manuel Zelaya sit in front of Honduran army soldiers, 3 July 2009 © AP/PA Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills

But as mediation in Costa Rica appears to be helping the crisis, a new report by COFADEH (Comité de Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos en Honduras) details 1161 seperate human rights violations since the morning of the coup. Amnesty International has also issued several statements urging the interim Honduran government to respect the rule of law and human rights during this tumultuous time.

Will the police and interim government ever be held accountable for the violations that happened and are still happening in Honduras? It will certainly take a lot of outside pressure from NGOs and the international community, and let’s hope Honduras stays in the headlines long enough so that the pressure stays strong on human rights violators. But after reading an eyebrow raising story from Democracy Now! alleging that many top officials in the interim government were trained by the U.S. military, I hope General Romeo Vásquez Velásquez’s law avoiding skills aren’t as polished as Cheney’s!

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6 thoughts on “Hope and Human Rights Abuses in Honduras

  1. one more thing: http://www.soaw.org/pressrelease.php?id=144

    at least, this site confirms that Vásquez was an SOA pupil. Besides, I don't think he's the biggest problem here.
    In spite of what any site says, there are at least a couple of governments, including the one of the United States http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2002/18336.h
    that has him in a black list. If I'm not wrong, COFADEH exists in the first place because of all the disappeared people in the 1980's during the time Billy Joya and his death squad were exterminating "communists". This guy is almost like a popstar in Honduras since the 80's.

    Now, the guy is back after taking refuge in Spain. Micheletti hired him now as his "security" ministry advisor. How he advises the country in national TV: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQSweHgfSGw&fe

    I like how he shows that OAS security manual and relates it to Chile's Pinochet and the importance of freeing America from communism, of marxist-leninist strategies to be precise.

  2. Hello,

    I am trying to get help, because people demonstrating for Zelaya's return who are near the border to Nicaragua, i.e. in the department of El Paraíso, where Zelaya has decided to stay, are being prevented from getting food. The military are confiscating food, closing down all the supermarkets and places where one can get food. Because the military stopped many many people demonstrating, got them out of their cars and prevented them to get to where Zelaya is, they decided to take the mountain route. Many of these people walked for around 20 hours to get where they needed to, but they were still harassed by the military. I was told that there are dead people already in the mountains and that many of them have not been able to eat anything, since the military are not letting them get any food, they are blocking it. A friend was harassed in a pulperia when he was trying to get food. The military asked who he is and what he was doing there, they arrested him for a while, made a call, and then let him go alongside his friend.

    Furthermore, I was told by my mother, who is a teacher also demonstrating, that either the military or these squads are filling up hotel rooms with people and the theory is that they might be taking the people in there with them to torture them, for they KNOW that human rights watch agents might be around.

    I am very worried and desperate and I just think it is really necessary that people put their eyes more on these criminals. They have been harassing us for the last 30 years, this happened in the 80s too and they were doing the same exact things, they were disappearing people, anyone they thought was a threat to the system.

    A couple of people have been reported dead, though I'm not sure anymore. Moreover, I was also told today that ambulances are circulating all over Tegucigalpa full of wounded people and two of them were already dead when arriving to the hospital.

    This is why i ask your help and I do this in the name of my repressed fellow Hondurans. We would be really thankful if you helped us and if so, I'm sure it won't be hard for you to confirm this information somehow, or through other human rights watch groups in the area.

  3. one more thing: http://www.soaw.org/pressrelease.php?id=144

    at least, this site confirms that Vásquez was an SOA pupil. Besides, I don't think he's the biggest problem here.
    In spite of what any site says, there are at least a couple of governments, including the one of the United States http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2002/18336.h
    that has him in a black list. If I'm not wrong, COFADEH exists in the first place because of all the disappeared people in the 1980's during the time Billy Joya and his death squad were exterminating "communists". This guy is almost like a popstar in Honduras since the 80's.

    Now, the guy is back after taking refuge in Spain. Micheletti hired him now as his "security" ministry advisor. How he advises the country in national TV: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQSweHgfSGw&fe

    I like how he shows that OAS security manual and relates it to Chile's Pinochet and the importance of freeing America from communism, of marxist-leninist strategies to be precise.

  4. one more thing: http://www.soaw.org/pressrelease.php?id=144

    at least, this site confirms that Vásquez was an SOA pupil. Besides, I don't think he's the biggest problem here.
    In spite of what any site says, there are at least a couple of governments, including the one of the United States http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2002/18336.h
    that has him in a black list. If I'm not wrong, COFADEH exists in the first place because of all the disappeared people in the 1980's during the time Billy Joya and his death squad were exterminating "communists". This guy is almost like a popstar in Honduras since the 80's.

    Now, the guy is back after taking refuge in Spain. Micheletti hired him now as his "security" ministry advisor. How he advises the country in national TV: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQSweHgfSGw&fe

    I like how he shows that OAS security manual and relates it to Chile's Pinochet and the importance of freeing America from communism, of marxist-leninist strategies to be precise.

  5. Hello,

    I am trying to get help, because people demonstrating for Zelaya’s return who are near the border to Nicaragua, i.e. in the department of El Paraíso, where Zelaya has decided to stay, are being prevented from getting food. The military are confiscating food, closing down all the supermarkets and places where one can get food. Because the military stopped many many people demonstrating, got them out of their cars and prevented them to get to where Zelaya is, they decided to take the mountain route. Many of these people walked for around 20 hours to get where they needed to, but they were still harassed by the military. I was told that there are dead people already in the mountains and that many of them have not been able to eat anything, since the military are not letting them get any food, they are blocking it. A friend was harassed in a pulperia when he was trying to get food. The military asked who he is and what he was doing there, they arrested him for a while, made a call, and then let him go alongside his friend.

    Furthermore, I was told by my mother, who is a teacher also demonstrating, that either the military or these squads are filling up hotel rooms with people and the theory is that they might be taking the people in there with them to torture them, for they KNOW that human rights watch agents might be around.

    I am very worried and desperate and I just think it is really necessary that people put their eyes more on these criminals. They have been harassing us for the last 30 years, this happened in the 80s too and they were doing the same exact things, they were disappearing people, anyone they thought was a threat to the system.

    A couple of people have been reported dead, though I’m not sure anymore. Moreover, I was also told today that ambulances are circulating all over Tegucigalpa full of wounded people and two of them were already dead when arriving to the hospital.

    This is why i ask your help and I do this in the name of my repressed fellow Hondurans. We would be really thankful if you helped us and if so, I’m sure it won’t be hard for you to confirm this information somehow, or through other human rights watch groups in the area.

  6. one more thing:
    http://www.soaw.org/pressrelease.php?id=144

    at least, this site confirms that Vásquez was an SOA pupil. Besides, I don’t think he’s the biggest problem here.
    In spite of what any site says, there are at least a couple of governments, including the one of the United States http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2002/18336.htm
    that has him in a black list. If I’m not wrong, COFADEH exists in the first place because of all the disappeared people in the 1980’s during the time Billy Joya and his death squad were exterminating “communists”. This guy is almost like a popstar in Honduras since the 80’s.

    Now, the guy is back after taking refuge in Spain. Micheletti hired him now as his “security” ministry advisor. How he advises the country in national TV:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQSweHgfSGw&feature=related

    I like how he shows that OAS security manual and relates it to Chile’s Pinochet and the importance of freeing America from communism, of marxist-leninist strategies to be precise.

Comments are closed.