Part of the Oscar Flores' Testification Document in CODEH (Committee for the Defense of Human Rights)
On April 20, 2010, as usual, I went to the march of resistance which emerged from Square Loarque towards Square Isis Obed. At the end of the march, around 3pm, I went to take the
bus at the station of Las Lomas, I got off at metromall to catch the Fuerzas Armadas(station in a boulevard of Tegucigalpa) bus. When the bus drove through Colonia Centro América, I got off at around 3:40 pm, one station after colonia Centro America.
As I walked about 20 meters after the bus station where I got off, to my surprise I found a car that had driven along the march. It was a white car, double cab, 4x4, no license plates, with three armed men aboard wearing jeans, boots, black sport shirts, the driver wore a white T-shirt, sturdy appearance, the three had military-style hair, no hat, uncovered, the two who were dressed in black, had a goatee beard, Honduran accent. I can assure they were military officers, they intercepted me at three forty at the next stop of the colonia Centro America from south to north. They took me inside the car, put a handkerchief to my eyes, and a cap they had inside the car.
We drove without knowing where they were taking me. Until that moment, they hadn't searched me, they would just intimidate me. One of them carried a pistol in his waist, saying that I should collaborate, that I should calm down telling me that where we're heading to is where we'd talk. We drove around for almost two or three hours in the car. It was about 7 in the evening, they left me in a place accompanied by one single person. I heard that the car left, they left me with this person still blindfolded, warning me to collaborate. The one who was watching over me warned me to collaborate with the person that was going to interrogate me, who was about to come. I was waiting and they didn't give me water nor anything, just heard the youth who was giving me instructions. During the following three hours, three more people arrived, so they were already four. Three people of military type arrived, came to me and wrote down my name, age, and where I work. To contribute I told him my name, age, and my profession, though not where I worked. They removed my blindfold and I could see them. On a board they carried a list of people, they searched my name there. They asked each other whether or not I was in the list. The names were written in computer, not by hand. The three men told me to stand up, to walk, and to take off my clothes. I assume that it was to make a physical examination. So far, they had not tortured me. One of them told me that if I didn't cooperate I would get into trouble.
At the time they were asking me for information, someone called on the phone of someone else, and I heard when they said that they had made a mistake. Then, another person came to interrogate me, who asked me why I was in the resistance, if I knew the leaders of unions and the resistance, then one of them assured me I was part of the university's resistance without mentioning the name. Afterwards, they went away and left me with some people and blindfolded me once again. We moved from there at around 11 pm, we got inside the car. I felt that we were going somewhere else. I was afraid, because I felt that the rest depended on the interrogatory. Among them, they said that they had made a mistake, that it was not me, that if I cooperated telling them where a university leader lived, and that if I knew someone from the union. I told them I didn't, that I cooperated with them and then they asked me who helps us, how much they pay us for each march, to which I responded that this was a patriotic struggle and he said that no one works for free. One of them told me, "Stand up, we will take you again". They took me to the same house and sat me on a bench, asking me where I was from, how long have I been working where I work, and who did I have relationships with from the resistance, to which I responded that with everybody, since we're all friendly, to which they insisted asking if I knew the university leaders and they kept on saying amongst each other that they had made a mistake. They work with a device to investigate faces, since when they removed my blindfold they had a computer, and there they searched, they stared at me and said that it was not me.
Around 4 in the morning, they returned with a person, I think it was a specialist in identifying people. When he arrived they removed my blindfold and they told me to close my eyes, to which the person said, "This one isn't the one" and I felt that they took pictures of me. Then they left, they turned off the lights, and I stayed blindfolded. I felt that the roosters were singing at that time, therefore I believe that it was about 4 in the morning. In that moment, I felt like going to the bathroom and I told the person that was with me to take me to urinate and he told me to urinate right there, that I had already failed, when suddenly, they opened the door and I could see that there were lights and I could tell that I was near Tamara. I heard shots in the distance, I could hear them running and singing, therefore I suspected that we were close to the batallion.
Today, April 21, 2010 at about 7 am, three civilians who were not the previous ones, grabbed me by my hands and told me to get inside another car with three different people. It was a 4-door car. At that moment, I could not distinguish the color of the car, there were three people with caps, with glasses, I could not identify their features, because I was blindfolded, one of them said "we have lost for being slow. We have to start all over again". They tuned in to a HRN station and one of them said, "they are ahead of us", referring to the journalist's death as they were broadcasting the information through the radio. I don't know exactly where we headed. I reckon that they drove for an hour and a half. The HRN radio news had already completed their news broadcast and they played some music. One of them told me, "look, old man, try to do things better. If we fail this time, next time we won't", only that they stopped at a gas station because they said, "give us three hundred in fuel". It was about 8:40 am. One told another one, "Step on it, man, since it's getting late". We travelled a distance, we were driving at a high speed. One of them answered a call and said that they are already on their way back and that they had to leave me. In that moment one of them squeezed my leg and told me that "This once, we forgive you. Next time we will not make a mistake", and told the other one that "here we will leave this old man", thus slowing down. I think the road was a dirt road, since there were some potholes and I was still blindfolded. So they were willing to go through the dirt road, and two or three kms ahead they took me down and told me to sit on a stick, that if I took off the blindfold I would get into trouble. I followed the instruction, they took the cloth off me with the instruction that I shouldn't look back at them. It was already about 9:05, they didn't take my belongings, they only took my cellphone chip because they were monitoring calls of the people who called me. They were attentive to the calls I received. Walking, I went out to the old street. that leads to Lolo.
Finally, CODEH thanks the militant solidarity of the national and international community, of radio Globo, for dedicating its morning and noon program to press for the release of Oscar Flores.
On April 20, 2010, as usual, I went to the march of resistance which emerged from Square Loarque towards Square Isis Obed. At the end of the march, around 3pm, I went to take the
bus at the station of Las Lomas, I got off at metromall to catch the Fuerzas Armadas(station in a boulevard of Tegucigalpa) bus. When the bus drove through Colonia Centro América, I got off at around 3:40 pm, one station after colonia Centro America.
As I walked about 20 meters after the bus station where I got off, to my surprise I found a car that had driven along the march. It was a white car, double cab, 4x4, no license plates, with three armed men aboard wearing jeans, boots, black sport shirts, the driver wore a white T-shirt, sturdy appearance, the three had military-style hair, no hat, uncovered, the two who were dressed in black, had a goatee beard, Honduran accent. I can assure they were military officers, they intercepted me at three forty at the next stop of the colonia Centro America from south to north. They took me inside the car, put a handkerchief to my eyes, and a cap they had inside the car.
We drove without knowing where they were taking me. Until that moment, they hadn't searched me, they would just intimidate me. One of them carried a pistol in his waist, saying that I should collaborate, that I should calm down telling me that where we're heading to is where we'd talk. We drove around for almost two or three hours in the car. It was about 7 in the evening, they left me in a place accompanied by one single person. I heard that the car left, they left me with this person still blindfolded, warning me to collaborate. The one who was watching over me warned me to collaborate with the person that was going to interrogate me, who was about to come. I was waiting and they didn't give me water nor anything, just heard the youth who was giving me instructions. During the following three hours, three more people arrived, so they were already four. Three people of military type arrived, came to me and wrote down my name, age, and where I work. To contribute I told him my name, age, and my profession, though not where I worked. They removed my blindfold and I could see them. On a board they carried a list of people, they searched my name there. They asked each other whether or not I was in the list. The names were written in computer, not by hand. The three men told me to stand up, to walk, and to take off my clothes. I assume that it was to make a physical examination. So far, they had not tortured me. One of them told me that if I didn't cooperate I would get into trouble.
At the time they were asking me for information, someone called on the phone of someone else, and I heard when they said that they had made a mistake. Then, another person came to interrogate me, who asked me why I was in the resistance, if I knew the leaders of unions and the resistance, then one of them assured me I was part of the university's resistance without mentioning the name. Afterwards, they went away and left me with some people and blindfolded me once again. We moved from there at around 11 pm, we got inside the car. I felt that we were going somewhere else. I was afraid, because I felt that the rest depended on the interrogatory. Among them, they said that they had made a mistake, that it was not me, that if I cooperated telling them where a university leader lived, and that if I knew someone from the union. I told them I didn't, that I cooperated with them and then they asked me who helps us, how much they pay us for each march, to which I responded that this was a patriotic struggle and he said that no one works for free. One of them told me, "Stand up, we will take you again". They took me to the same house and sat me on a bench, asking me where I was from, how long have I been working where I work, and who did I have relationships with from the resistance, to which I responded that with everybody, since we're all friendly, to which they insisted asking if I knew the university leaders and they kept on saying amongst each other that they had made a mistake. They work with a device to investigate faces, since when they removed my blindfold they had a computer, and there they searched, they stared at me and said that it was not me.
Around 4 in the morning, they returned with a person, I think it was a specialist in identifying people. When he arrived they removed my blindfold and they told me to close my eyes, to which the person said, "This one isn't the one" and I felt that they took pictures of me. Then they left, they turned off the lights, and I stayed blindfolded. I felt that the roosters were singing at that time, therefore I believe that it was about 4 in the morning. In that moment, I felt like going to the bathroom and I told the person that was with me to take me to urinate and he told me to urinate right there, that I had already failed, when suddenly, they opened the door and I could see that there were lights and I could tell that I was near Tamara. I heard shots in the distance, I could hear them running and singing, therefore I suspected that we were close to the batallion.
Today, April 21, 2010 at about 7 am, three civilians who were not the previous ones, grabbed me by my hands and told me to get inside another car with three different people. It was a 4-door car. At that moment, I could not distinguish the color of the car, there were three people with caps, with glasses, I could not identify their features, because I was blindfolded, one of them said "we have lost for being slow. We have to start all over again". They tuned in to a HRN station and one of them said, "they are ahead of us", referring to the journalist's death as they were broadcasting the information through the radio. I don't know exactly where we headed. I reckon that they drove for an hour and a half. The HRN radio news had already completed their news broadcast and they played some music. One of them told me, "look, old man, try to do things better. If we fail this time, next time we won't", only that they stopped at a gas station because they said, "give us three hundred in fuel". It was about 8:40 am. One told another one, "Step on it, man, since it's getting late". We travelled a distance, we were driving at a high speed. One of them answered a call and said that they are already on their way back and that they had to leave me. In that moment one of them squeezed my leg and told me that "This once, we forgive you. Next time we will not make a mistake", and told the other one that "here we will leave this old man", thus slowing down. I think the road was a dirt road, since there were some potholes and I was still blindfolded. So they were willing to go through the dirt road, and two or three kms ahead they took me down and told me to sit on a stick, that if I took off the blindfold I would get into trouble. I followed the instruction, they took the cloth off me with the instruction that I shouldn't look back at them. It was already about 9:05, they didn't take my belongings, they only took my cellphone chip because they were monitoring calls of the people who called me. They were attentive to the calls I received. Walking, I went out to the old street. that leads to Lolo.
Finally, CODEH thanks the militant solidarity of the national and international community, of radio Globo, for dedicating its morning and noon program to press for the release of Oscar Flores.
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