Author Archives: jennya

Café Owners Beaten

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

Cell Phone Messages Contain Death Threats

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