Lica. Karla Eugenia Cueva Aguilar, Secretary for Human Rights of Honduras

December 1, 2021

Dear Commissioner Izaguirre and Secretary Cueva:  

We are dismayed to learn of the arbitrary arrest and police assault of Lucía Enamorado, a local leader of the National Network of Human Rights Defenders. Police also arrested her partner JuniorOyuela and journalist Nancy Paola García, a columnist for the feminist publication Tinta Verde.

In the early hours of the morning of November 14, the three were riding in a vehicle with other young people in Comayagüela, Francisco Morazán Department. Uniformed officers of the National Police stopped their car. When Junior Oyuela expressed verbal concern that “the police in Honduras disappeared people,” the police arrested him.  When Lucía Enamorado questioned why they were being detained, the police took her into the patrol car and beat her.  She was taken to the hospital to suture her wounds.

Katherine Cruz, another human rights defender, arrived at the hospital and asked to speak with Lucía Enamorado. The police impeded her from doing so. A security guard tried to remove her, despite the fact that she explained her work and showed her human rights defender's identification card.

Lucía Enamorado and Nancy Paola García were detained at the Fourth Police Station in the Belén neighborhood of Comayagüela. They were released at 12:00pm after a social media campaign that pressured the National Police.

We are deeply concerned about arbitrary arrests and assaults committed by the National Police. We urge that you

• carry out a thorough, impartial, and transparent investigation into the detention of Lucía Enamorado, Junior Oyuela, and Nancy Paola García
• investigate the police assault on Lucía Enamorado, publish the results, and bring those responsible to justice

Sincerely,                                                        

Brian J. Stefan Szittai  and Christine Stonebraker-Martinez         

Co-Coordinators

copies:        

Oscar Chinchilla Banegas,  Attorney General of Honduras ~ via email

Luis Suazo Barahona, Ambassador of Honduras to the US ~ via email and US mail

Joel Hernández García, Rapporteur for Honduras, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights ~ via email and US mail

Isabel Albaladejo Escribano, Representative to Honduras of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OACNUDH) ~ via email

Alice Shackelford, UN Resident Coordinator in Honduras, Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights ~ via email

Red Nacional de Defensoras de Derechos Humanos en Honduras ~ via email

US Embassy in Honduras: Colleen Hoey, Chargé d’Affaires; Nate Rettenmayer, Political Officer; Ariel Jahner, Human Rights Officer ~ via email

US State Department: Molly Runyon, Honduras Desk Officer  ~ via email

US Senators Brown & Portman ~ via email

US Representatives Beatty, Gibbs, González, Johnson, Jordan, Joyce, Kaptur, Latta, Ryan  ~ via email

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