Disappearances and killings: Wave of repression against the resistance

Monday, 14 December 2009 19:42

CODEH denounced a  terror plan to end the process of building a political alternative and social development in the country

by Giorgio Trucchi - Rel-IUF
http://www.rel-uita.org/internacional/honduras/desapariciones_y_asesinatos.htm

Illegal searches and arrests, killings and disappearances have characterized recent weeks in Honduras, as the various human rights organizations have been classified as a true offensive to crush the work of organizational strengthening of the newly formed National Front for Popular Resistance (FNRP) in its attempt to initiate a path toward the formation of a political and social force capable of displacing the traditional coup  parties  and installation of a National Constituent Assembly.

After the disputed elections on 29 November, in which in the midst of a significant abstention reached 60 per cent,  National Party candidate Porfirio "Pepe" Lobo Sosa was elected, Honduras unleashed a crackdown against active members of the Resistance, which has been intensifying a constant throughout the period of constitutional breakdown caused by the coup of 28 June 2009.

At dawn on Dec. 14, was killed Walter Tróchez, defender of human rights, especially LGTTB community. He was shot from a car in downtown Tegucigalpa after a few days before he was kidnapped, brutally beaten and had managed to escape by jumping from the vehicle driven by men who accused him of being part of the National Front Against the Coup.

On December 6, five young men, all active members of the Resistance, were murdered coldbloodedly in Colonia Villanueva, in the eastern part of the Honduran capital, while a day before gunmen burst into the premises of the newspaper The Liberator , threatening the newspaper staff, who  in the last five months have worked hard to denounce the coup, stealing computers and cameras.

On December 8 were released four of the five activists of the Resistance who had been kidnapped a few days. The fifth, Santos Corrales Garcia, was brutally murdered and his decapitated body was found 50 km east of the capital. 

"On 4 and 5 December, a group of five men with ski masks and dressed in uniforms of the National Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DNIC) with Galil rifles and 9mm pistols, which is the arming of the police officer, detained Mr. Santos Corrales Garcia and four other people in the colony in New Capital Tegucigalpa Sirel told committee chairman for the Defense of Human Rights in Honduras (CODEH), Andres Pavon.

They were hooded so they can not identify the place to where they were carried, possibly a clandestine detention center. They were tortured to give information about the leaders of the Resistance, neighbourhoods where they live, and demanded to know the whereabouts of Mrs. Ada Marina Castillo, also a member of the Resistance.

We have a real strategy of terror "continued Pavon-and a plan to stop the process of organizing the resistance before Lobo taking power on Jan. 27. This plan is going to intensify in the upcoming weeks and we are already seeing the police and army capturing youth in the barrios and colonias, while leaders of the national resistance still can lead a normal life I fear what may happen ".

CODEH The director of the crackdown is aimed at decapitating the resistance movement, so that the new government emerged from an illegal and illegitimate electoral process, does not have to deal with an active organic resistance.

"The Platform CODEH and integrating the various human rights organizations are asking the intervention of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to implement the mechanism of protective measures for people living under threat.

Moreover, we denounce all that is happening to the human rights organs of the UN and the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), that is to begin a lawsuit against those responsible for these crimes.

We know, "said Pavon-the Tegucigalpa-San Jose Agreement involves the formation in the coming months of a Truth Commission. However, we believe that there are no conditions for installation, because the country still DOES NOT guarantee the rule of law, much less confidence and trust in DE FACTO  justice agencies in the country. There can be no Truth Commission in the framework of these barbarities.

International organizations are closely following the case of Honduras

Last September, the Human Rights Association of Spain (APDHE) and the International Human Rights Federation (FIDH) presented a communication from the ICC to initiate an official investigation to determine criminal responsibility of those who committed serious violations of human rightsunder the coup in Honduras, while the International Observatory on the situation of Human Rights in Honduras (OISDHHN) made an urgent appeal to the international community to remain vigilant about the serious human rights violations in the country.

For its part, Amnesty International called for an independent investigation to ensure that all perpetrators of human rights abuses are brought to justice.

In a document released at a press conference in Honduras, the delegation of this international body called "revoke all legislation, decrees and executive orders issued by the de facto authorities, directly or indirectly affecting human rights, ensuring that armed forces return to their barracks and that it terminates its role in police operations, and that all members of the security forces accountable for human rights abuses committed between 28 June and late November, "cites the document.

"It's important," said the director-CODEH continue solidarity with the Honduran people and observing what is happening in Honduras, especially in this time when persecution is increasing selectivity.