Nicaragua Libre has been working since 1983 to build a policy of peace and friendship between the people of the United States and Nicaragua.
On Feb. 19th, the “Platform for Human Rights” – a coalition that includes each of Honduras’ key human rights organizations – issued a statement strongly criticizing the Truth Commission jointly proposed by the Lobo government and U.S. Administration. The Honduran Human Rights Platform states that “the conditions for such a commission do not exist” given that, among other reasons:
The respected Honduran human rights organization, COFADEH, released a statement this week on the "First Thirty Days of the Porfirio Lobo Government" which describes
a continued state policy of social control and repression against political opposition in the country. COFADEH states that 160 cases of violations of human rights have been documented during the first 30 days of the Lobo government. The full statement is the attachment in the blue box.
This is a very strong letter, expressing serious concern regarding the deteriorating human rights situation in Honduras under the recently installed Lobo.
Since the November elections in Honduras which resulted in the installation of Porfilio Lobo as President on January 27, 2010, the human rights situation in Honduras has continued to deteriorate. According to human rights organizations, there is a marked increase in selective targeting of people and communities active in the resistance movement. Despite a public discourse of reconciliation on the part of Lobo, partners in Honduras are experiencing increased levels of state terror.
On February 3, Vanessa Zepeda, a 29 year old nurse and SITRAIHASS union leader (Honduran Social Security Institute) left her home at 2pm. At approximately 6:30 pm, her lifeless body was dumped out of a vehicle in Loarque, a neighborhood well known for resistance movement activities. Vanessa had received repeated death threats linked to her activism in the resistance movement which had been registered by human rights organizations. She was the mother of three children; the youngest is 4 months old.
The Committee of the Families of the Detained and Disappeared in Honduras (COFADEH) are denouncing that today, Sunday, February 7 at 8 am, Caniel Martinez, who was in the offices of our organization received a phone call from the number 222-71-44 in which a woman told him, “Be careful there will be an attack against you, especially those of you who are in the street”. Martinez states that when he asked the women who was calling she hung up the telephone.
Feb. 5, 2010 COFADEH
On January 27, 2010 a new president assumed office in Honduras in what the resistance movement considers an institutionalization of the June 2009, military coup d’état. The Generals directly involved in the coup were granted immunity, reinforcing the culture of impunity that humans rights defenders have worked so hard to dismantle in Honduras.
Jan 27th 2010 Tegucigalpa, Written by Chris Dadok
In the capital Tegucigalpa, buses and private cars surround the stadium as political party members, congressmen, international delegates, and mayors enter to attend the inauguration of the recently declared president of Honduras, Porfirio Lobo Sosa. Despite the high attendance close to 20,000, the stadium stands unfilled. Outside on Boulevard Fuerza Armadas -passing under the bridges inscribed with political graffiti – over 200,000 Honduran teachers, small business owners, lawyers, youth, farmers, and many other employed and unemployed people march 5 kilometers across the city. They are protesting what they see as corruption and an illegitimate government. The simultaneous rallies mark the divided nature in which the coup d’état has left Honduras.
