Honduras: News & Updates

With deep concern, IRTF has been following reports of violence against and the murders of many LGBTQ rights defenders and members of the community in Honduras for many years. In 2009, well-known activist Vicky Hernández was killed, and since then, many more people have died or have had to flee Honduras because of serious safety threats.  Impunity and injustice in cases of violence against LGBTQ people has been an ongoing pattern.

Mario Membreño, member of the national coordination of the Convergence Against Continuity (CCC), appeared on the program Voices against Oblivion, to analyze the issue of the first 100 days of the government of Xiomara Castro. An editorial of the Committee of Relatives of Disappeared Detainees in Honduras (COFADEH), entitled "The three months of the government in Alliance and Justice", refers to the inaccuracy by the media to promote the evaluation of the famous 100 days of government of Xiomara Castro, considering that after the departure of the narco-dictator, the nationalist Juan Orlando Hernández, the nation was left bankrupt, its territorial sovereignty exposed and with high rates of poverty and corruption. The editorial points out that "that is why we have insisted that these are not the first 100 normal days from one government to another, this is the transition from a 12-year corrupt and drug-trafficking dictatorship to a popular government."

Reproductive rights activists across Latin America have vowed to protect hard-fought gains in their own territories as they brace for potential ripple effects if the US supreme court overturns Roe vs Wade – the 1973 ruling which guarantees the right to abortion. Latin America has some of the most draconian anti-abortion laws in the world. But feminist movements have fought for decades to chip away at the prohibitions, and in recent years a younger, diverse generation of activists has mobilized in massive numbers to help clinch a string of victories in traditionally conservative countries.

Honduras: In 2021, according to data from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Honduras (OACNUDH), 302 attacks on human rights defenders were reported, of which 169 are dedicated to the protection of human rights. common goods of nature in indigenous, peasant or Afro-descendant communities. Likewise, until April 20, 2022, 27 attacks on human rights defenders have been registered: 5 were victims of murder and 19 are dedicated to protecting the environment.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopes Obrador is going on a 4-day tour of Central America to talk about the possible migration surge if Title 42 is ended by the Biden Administration. The Mexican leader has urged the United States to invest in economic development in Central America to generate jobs so people do not need to flee poverty. US President Joe Biden "agrees that the causes must be addressed, but Central America is still waiting for several billion dollars pledged by Washington.

A plan to create special self-governing zones for foreign investors in Honduras has been thrown into limbo with the new government’s repeal of a law many criticized as surrendering sovereignty. The zones were inspired by libertarian and free-market thinkers as a way to draw foreign investment to the impoverished country. Critics were worried that the zones could become nearly independent statelets and President Xiomara Castro, who took office in January, campaigned against the law. On Monday, she signed a measure passed by Honduras’ Congress to repeal it — though the permission for the zones still remains in the constitution. Castro called the repeal “historic” and said Honduras was “recovering its sovereignty.” Her administration said it did not want to destroy what had already been built, but that changes were coming.

Step by step, the nefarious legacy of the 12 years of the JOH regime are being dismantled in Honduras. Two key steps took place this month, the first being the extradition of JOH himself to the US. What seems unthinkable after his illegal reelection backed by the US in 2017 and still very unlikely just some months ago, has now passed in record speed. A second cornerstone of JOH’s reign were the ZEDEs, the private cities. Their legal basis were outright repealed, unanimously, by Congress this month. A huge victory for Honduras’ social movements, while still leaving many questions unresolved regarding the existing ZEDEs in Honduras. The Xiomara administration and its allies in Congress further reformulated the 2022 budget which includes more spending on education and public health, but also rose some questions. Welcome to another month in Honduras.

The National Congress decided to approve the repeal of the Employment and Economic Development Zones, ZEDE, for projects that divide the country and sell the territories, directly attacking national sovereignty. The Employment and Economic Development Zones are widely rejected by the Honduran population. It became a campaign promise to end their use, today fulfilled, of the government of Xiomara Castro Sarmiento.

Please see a summary of the letters we sent to heads of state and other high-level officials in Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, urging their swift action in response to human rights abuses occurring in their countries.  We join with civil society groups in Latin America to (1) protect people living under threat, (2) demand investigations into human rights crimes, and (3) bring human rights criminals to justice…..IRTF’s Rapid Response Network (RRN) volunteers write six letters in response to urgent human rights cases each month. We send copies of these letters to US ambassadors, embassy human rights officers, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, regional representatives of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and desk officers at the US State Department. To read the letters, see https://www.irtfcleveland.org/content/rrn , or ask us to mail you hard copies.