Thank you for your calls to the US State Department and Ambassador Llorens to denounce the brutal repression unleashed on peaceful protestors yesterday in Honduras. Today, people are stunned , injured and reeling from the impact of yesterday’s attacks by Honduran police and military.
The fifth delegation of international human rights observers maintaining presence in Honduras since the coup of 28 June denounces the many and grave human rights violations perpetrated by the state security forces, including the national police, the Command of Special Operations COBRA, and the national army.
Attack on Peaceful Protestors Escalates
Please take action again to stop the repression!
Thank you for your calls to the U.S. State Department – please call again! The repression is escalating. Crackdowns are occurring in San Pedro Sula as well as Tegucigalpa.
Please call the State Dept immediately at 202-647-4000 and tell them U.S. citizens are in the midst of a peaceful march in Tegucigalpa, Honduras that is under attack by the Honduran military and to instruct the Honduran military not to fire on protesters.
Ricardo Castro, a radio and TV journalist for twenty-eight years, said he’s never seen repression like this in Honduras. The previous Wednesday in Comayagua, the simple act of taking out his recording equipment at an anti-coup protest got him thrown to the ground and beaten by police. He showed us the still-dark remnants of bruises sustained that day. Wednesday he was detained along with peaceful protestors, and he said that the police sprayed water and pepper powder on the floor of their holding cell to make their eyes and skin burn. On Monday in San Pedro Sul
After the attack on the caravan, police moved on to the central park of San Pedro Sula. They began harassing someone sitting in the park for wearing a “Mel” ribbon on his hat, and took him away. The crowd then began whistling at the police in disapproval, and the police responded by physically assaulting those in the park. People ran for cover to a nearby commercial center, where a married couple owns an internet café. They closed the gate on their business for safety. Police appeared at the gate, demanded that they open it, and then pulled t
Gustavo Mejia, a local teacher, was driving at the head of the caravan with large speakers. He testified that five policemen on motorcycles stopped his vehicle and threatened its occupants with pistols. He testified that all around him, police were beating people, including sexually assaulting women with their clubs. When Mejia was detained and taken to the first precinct of San Pedro Sula, he feared he would be disappeared – he had been detained in a teachers’ struggle in 2004. He showed us that the last eight messages on his phone were anonymous d
Yesterday, Sunday August 2nd , our Emergency Delegation of Solidarity, Accompaniment and Witness arrived in Honduras. The arrival of the nine person team assures an international presence on the ground and carried urgently needed assistance to the social movements of Honduras.
