It has been a year of storms; economic, political, COVID-19 and in November, two category 5 hurricanes in less than 2 weeks hammered Nicaragua and Honduras. Communities and huge swaths of land remain under mud and water as we write. Extensive crop loss means hunger in the year ahead. Millions of people, have lost everything,
The Fundacion Entre Mujeres—the FEM (Among Women Foundation) is an organization of around 3,000 peasant women living in 17 communities working together to improve their lives. In their eight farming they practice agro-ecology to ensure food security. The FEM cultivates heirloom seeds that are selected for strength and resilience. A special reserve of seeds is
URGENT ACTION: Forced Disappearance of Garifuna land defenders On Saturday, July 18 at approximately 6 am, four members of the Garifuna community of Triunfo de la Cruz in Honduras: Snider Centeno, Suami Mejía, Milton Martínez, Gerardo Rochez and another man, were abducted and forcibly disappeared by a group of heavily armed men, in unmarked cars,
This week, Representatives Johnson, Schakowsky and Pocan issued a statement in response to the sentencing of seven men to prison terms for the murder of Berta Caceres in Honduras. They stressed that the intellectual authors of her murder, the executives and directors of the DESA, those who planned and financed her murder, are still free.
Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA), sponsor of HR – 1945 The Berta Caceres Human Rights in Honduras Act, was joined by 13 House Members in denouncing the military coup in Bolivia. Ten years ago, a US backed military coup broke constitutional order in Honduras, ushering in a human right catastrophe that claimed the life of the indigenous and environmental rights leader Berta Caceres. In the letter, Rep. Johnson calls on the US to demand restoration of constitutional order and to withdrawal support for a coup that will lead to the same deadly violence that has devastated Honduras.
https://hankjohnson.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/rep-johnson-co…
The Committee of the Detained and Disappeared (COFADEH) in Honduras is a petitioner before the Inter American Commission on Human Rights in the case of El Tumbador. In this report, COFADEH gives an update on the case which they hope will break the paradigm of impunity in Honduras
The Friendship Office is supporting fundraising efforts for the Fundación Entre Mujeres (FEM), an organization of peasant women in northern Nicaragua.Over the past 24 years the FEM has grown to include 2,500 members in 17 communities and eight agricultural cooperatives throughout Estelí. From the outset, the FEM included in its core mission the goals of promoting the education and health of women and girls, and fighting domestic violence. SOVEREIGNTY OVER OUR BODIES, OUR RIGHTS AND OUR SEEDS! Support the Fundación Entre Mujeres in Nicaragua. Click here to see how you can help!
Leaders of the Progressive Caucus issued a statement following the conviction of the brother of the President of Honduras, for trafficking drugs and weapons. Prosecutors established that the 2009 US backed military coup in Honduras opened the way for large amounts of cocaine to enter the United States and named the President of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernandez, as co-conspirator in a “massive state sponsored drug trafficking operation.” Progressive Caucus leaders are calling on the US to suspend funding to the police and military of Honduras and for passage of HR 1945, the Berta Caceres Human Rights in Honduras Act. Read the full Statement.
Dr. James Phillips, author of Honduras in Dangerous Times, also has many years of experience in Nicaragua. In an article published in Counterpunch, he writes of the legacy of the US sponsored contra war on both countries and of new reports about armed groups forming in Honduras and Nicaragua. He underscores the concerns of Honduran human rights defenders about the predictably deadly impact of this “convergence of forces and interests among gang members, narcotraffickers, and former Contras in Honduras, together with anti-Ortega re-Contra groups in Nicaragua…. A neat distinctions between armed political opposition and criminal groups seems increasingly untenable in this context that affects both countries. That these groups are actively supported by United States agencies is uncertain but widely suspected, based on a long history of U.S. support for “regime change” in Nicaragua.” Phillips emphasizes the need to learn from the tragic mistakes of the past. ” Maybe someday, with our help, Washington will leave Nicaragua to sort out its own problems in peace.” https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/08/20/calm-and-con%EF%AC%82ict-a-dispa…
Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA), sponsor of the Berta Caceres Human Rights in Honduras Act, denounces repression in Honduras and the complicity of U.S. security assistance.”Unfortunately, the Honduran security forces use our military support to terrorize the Honduran people, forcing them to flee their communities as those same security forces commit human rights abuses while engaging in violent criminal activity, including drug trafficking.”https://medium.com/@rep.hankjohnson/ten-years-after-the-coup-repression-…
