“Nothing has changed in terms of human rights when those who are responsible for the disappearances have no fear of ever facing justice for their crimes or of manipulating their crimes. Only then will Honduras change.” Bertha OlivaPleae read the full interview.
“The Friendship Office stands with partners in the region in affirming the need to search for peaceful solutions and in rejecting U.S. threats, sanctions and intervention. For Nicaragua, this includes opposing economic and military intervention and the Nica Act, sponsored by the same right wing extremists that supported the coup in Honduras.”Please see the full Newsletter here.
“We reject the interference led by the government of the United States and supported by its allied governments, some of which have come to power via coup de ’tat and are responsible for multiple forms of human rights violations in their own countries, for example, Honduras, Brazil, Colombia, Argentina and Mexico. These actions fuel and encourage the script of terror that has impacted the people of Nicaragua. We affirm the right to sovereignty and self-determination for this sister nation. We express the need to search for peaceful solutions, to establish concrete guidelines for processes of reconciliation based on peace with justice and truth, including the possibility of an inclusive dialogue processes between the government and representatives from the different sectors of society.”Please see the full Declaration here.
COFADEH calls for demilitarization of communities following the violent eviction of the peaceful, Encampment for Life in El Guapinol, where people have sustained 88 days of peaceful resistance to mining operations that will impact a critical watershed supplying 14 communities with water. “1500 members of the Army, Cobras, the National Preventative Police and paramilitaries arrived in a violent manner, heavily armed with rifles, shields, clubs and tear gas bombs to confront a defenseless and peaceful population.” See the full alert and take action here:
The Committee of the Detained and Disappeared in Honduras issued an ALERT warning of a pattern of de-legitimization and hate campaigns targeting human rights defenders, journalists and social movement leaders throughout the country. COFADEH warns that hate campaigns sow fear, undermine efforts to promote human rights and often precede the murder of leaders as in the case of Berta Caceres. See the full ALERT here.
Dr. Dana Frank, historian, journalist, author and colleague has published an important new book. The Long Honduran Night, is a story of resistance, repression, and US policy in Honduras in the aftermath of a violent military coup.This powerful narrative recounts the tumultuous time in Honduras that witnessed then-President Manuel Zelaya deposed by a coup in June 2009, told through first-person experiences and layered with deeper political analysis. It weaves together two perspectives; first, the broad picture of Honduras since the coup, including the coup itself, its continuation in two repressive regimes, and secondly, the evolving Honduran resistance movement, and a new, broad solidarity movement in the United States.Although it is full of terrible things, this not a horror story: this narrative directly counters mainstream media coverage that portrays Honduras as a pit of unrelenting awfulness, in which powerless sobbing mothers cry over bodies in the morgue. Rather, it’s about sobering challenges and the inspiring collective strength with which people face them.TO ORDER: contact dana@haymarketbooks.org
“What we see today is the continuation of the 2009 coup de ’tat in which the national elites, transnational capital and corrupt policies carry forward the same project of dispossession and looting that has destroyed the institutions of this country. Nine years later, Honduras continues to be submerged in a deep political, economic, social and institutional crisis that is far from being resolved. The objective was to stop the opening of Honduras towards progressive governments and movements in Latin America and to take absolute control of the country, its institutions and resources.” Read full interview – attached.
The resolution of Costa Rica to grant Eduardo Urbina refugee status states that the government of Honduras, in a clear act of persecution, accused Eduardo of crimes for events that occurred when he was already in Costa Rica and then requested his extradition which resulted in his detention. “We celebrate that in acknowledgement of this situation, the government of Costa Rica has recognized his status as a refugee” stated Bertha Oliva, coordinator of COFADEH. Read the full article:
Over 1000 groups from across sectors sent a letter to policy makers demanding that NAFTA be replaced with a new FAIR trade agreement.
