Óscar Fernando Chinchilla Banegas, Attorney General of Honduras
Lica. Karla Cueva, Secretary of State for Human Rights Affairs
Dear Attorney General Chinchilla and Secretary Cueva:
We are deeply concerned about the police and military crackdown on the Honduran population during this health crisis. We understand that more than 500 people have been arbitrarily detained (and some tortured) by the military in various cities as they carry out the executive decree (PCM 021-2020) which was issued by your government on March 16.
The police and military are not respecting international protocols on the use of force. Furthermore, they are preventing freedom of movement, assembly, expression, and association. Harsh crackdowns by security forces against basic human rights will only exacerbate the health crisis. Arresting people and locking them in jails and prisons (in tightly confined spaces) will only lead to more spread of the coronavirus.
In Choluteca, Comayagua, San Pedro Sula, Tegucigalpa, Puerto Cortés, Choloma, La Ceiba and El Progreso, there are have been reports of arbitrary detentions followed by beatings, "moralizing sermons," vulgar insults, and cruel torture in isolated places. Many of those detained have been outside to get food or medicine for their family or neighbors. Yesterday, in a neighborhood of Comayagüela, neighborhood women prepared food and took it to the street. When five men gathered to share the meal, police arrested and locked them up in a nearby police station; police warned the women to stop any such solidarity activities and shut themselves in their houses. (After advocacy by the women, the men were later released.)
To protect health and human rights, and to prevent social unrest, we urge you to:
- issue clear guidelines and training on how to enforce the executive decree and local curfews
- stop unnecessary and arbitrary detention of Honduran citizens
- work to reduce crowding in jails and prisons
- heed the call of several human rights organizations who, on March 24, presented a Habeas Corpus Correctivo to the Supreme Court to release 12 political prisoners, including 8 who are El Guapinol environmental defenders who are imprisoned in the Olanchito prison (cf our letters from 2018: November 11, 23, 26)
We reiterate: The health crisis will only be exacerbated by more violations of human rights.
Sincerely,
Brian J. Stefan Szittai and Christine Stonebraker-Martinez, Co-Coordinators
