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Honduras: News & Updates

Honduras did not experience civil war in the 1980s, but its geography (bordering El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua) made it a key location for US military operations: training Salvadoran soldiers, a base for Nicaraguan contras, military exercises for US troops. The notorious Honduran death squad Battalion 316 was created, funded and trained by the US. The state-sponsored terror resulted in the forced disappearances and extrajudicial killings of approximately 200 people during the 1980s. Many more were abducted and tortured. The 2009 military coup d’etat spawned a resurgence of state repression against the civilian population that continues today.

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RRN Letter
RRN Letter: Honduras, 1/14/2021
January 14, 2021
There was an attack on the home of LGBTI rights defender José Zambrano., who is receiving death threats. The day after he received the Franco-German Award for Human Rights and the Rule of Law in recognition of his four decades of human rights work, attackers set fire to his home. After he and three members of his family took shelter in another house, unknown individuals sent him death threats. We are urging that officials in Honduras: 1) investigate those responsible for setting fire to José Zambrano’s house and threatening his life, publish the results, and bring those responsible to justice; 2) ensure the right of human rights activists to carry out their work for justice in safety, under protection of the law.
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RRN Letter
RRN Letter: Honduras, 12/30/2020
December 30, 2020
We wrote once again regarding the ongling criminalization of eight environmental defenders from the community of El Guapinol in Tocoa, Colón Department, who have been imprisoned in “preventive detention” awaiting formal charges since September 2019. A petition for their release was again denied on December 18. To bring attention to several identified environmental, social, human, and economic impacts of large scale mining projects in the Atlantic zone, residents of El Guapinol and surrounding communities (including the eight who are imprisoned) organized the Encampment on the Defense of Water and Life in August 2018. They pointed to contamination of the Guapinol and San Pedro Rivers resulting from an iron ore mine. There are legitimate concerns that the mine is contaminating drinking water sources for populations across three departments in northern Honduras. These eight environmental defenders are: Ewer Alexander Cedillo Cruz, José Abelino Cedillo, Cantarero, José Daniel Márquez Márquez, Kelvin Alejandro Romero Martínez, Porfirio Sorto Cedillo, Orbin Nahúm Hernández, Arnold Javier Alemán, and Jeremías Martínez. Because of the COVID-19 health crisis, their continued imprisonment exposes them to serious risks to their lives. We are therefore urging that authorities in Honduras: 1) immediately release them from preventive detention; 2) condemn the misuse of criminal law to control, neutralize and punish people who exercise the right to organize resistance in defense of land and waterways
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RRN Letter
RRN Letter: Honduras, 12/29/2020
December 29, 2020
We are demanding an investigation into the assassination of Lenca indigenous leader Félix Vásquez at his home in La Paz Department on December 26. Four armed men in balaclavas entered his home and shot him in front of his adult children. Félix Vásquez was well-known nationally for his work in defense of indigenous land rights (since the 1980s) and for organizing opposition to environmentally destructive megaprojects such as mines, hydroelectric dams, wind farms and logging, as well as for helping dispossessed communities recover ancestral land titles. He was the Secretary General of the Union of Rural Workers (UTC) in La Paz. He was also a pre-candidate for Congress for the Libertad y Refundación (LIBRE) party.
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News Article
Indigenous environmental defender killed in latest Honduras attack
December 29, 2020

Nina Lakhani

Another indigenous environmentalist has been killed in Honduras, cementing the country’s inglorious ranking as the deadliest place in the world to defend land and natural resources from exploitation.

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News Article
Immigrant Support & Defense: Volunteers Needed
December 28, 2020

We continue to organize our communities in support and defense of immigrants, especially those in vulnerable situations. Connect with Immigration Working Group CLE, a collaborative of community advocates and organizations across NE Ohio. Ask about the group’s Immigrant Defense Fund, Rapid Response Team, Bond Reduction Project, volunteer needs, legislative advocacy, vigils, rallies, marches, and more. Contact iwgcle@gmail.com or see www.facebook.com/iwgCLE

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RRN Letter
RRN Letter: Honduras, 12/21/2020
December 21, 2020
On December 1, security forces used a disproportionate amount of lethal force during in an eviction that occurred on the banks of the Río Blanco in San Pedro Sula, Cortés Department. Rafael Flores Hernández died after being shot several times by Municipal Police agents, who, accompanied by military personnel, carried out the violent eviction. Several others were wounded. We are urging that officials in Honduras: 1) investigate the methods used by security forces to forcibly evict the residents of the Río Blanco riverbank on December 1 and publish a report of the incident; 2) investigate the killing of Rafael Flores Hernández and bring those responsible to justice ; 3) guarantee safe housing for the people affected by hurricanes Iota and Eta; 4) comply with Honduras’ international commitments regarding humanitarian law and the use of militarized force against civilian populations
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News Article
HURRICANE RELIEF FUNDS: Donations needed now for affected communities in Central America
December 17, 2020

Solidarity donations are being distributed through social movement organizations and collectives in Central America that are working in the communities most impacted by flooding and government neglect.  Tens of thousands of dollars have been raised through grassroots channels, but the need is much greater. Please give what you can to help these families in desperate need.

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News Article
Honduras Hurricane Emergency Fund
December 15, 2020

The Honduras Solidarity Network (HSN) started a hurricane relief fund. Those wanting to help get funds to grassroots organizations, rescue teams, and humanitarian support on the ground, can donate here: http://Bit.ly/emergencyresponsehn. Read the short article to learn about the podcast series Honduras Now, hosted by HSN co-coordinator Karen Spring.

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News Article
Honduran Supreme Court rules against Aura Minerals (MINOSA) illegal grave digging & destruction of Azacualpa cemetery
December 1, 2020

The Bufete de Estudios para la Dignidad, in conjunction with the Movimiento Amplio por la Dignidad y la Justicia, MADJ, makes public the sentence resolution issued by the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ), in which the CSJ orders the municipal government of La Union, Copan and the Ministry of Health to reject any authorization of exhumations in the Cemetery of San Andres (Azacualpa) carried out by Aura Minerals (MINOSA).The ruling restores the right to self-determination of peoples, personal integrity, culture and the right to protection of the family. It constitutes a precedent that vindicates and strengthens community struggles and the exercise of sovereignty against the abuses and violations of rights by companies and, in general, by the extractive model in Honduras.

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RRN Letter
RRN Letter: Honduras, 11/30/2020
November 30, 2020
Political prisoner Raúl Álvarez (currently released pending trial after spending 20 months in “pretrial detention” at the maximum-security, military-run La Tolva prison) was stabbed on November 29 in Tegucigalpa. He was rushed to the Hospital Escuela (at the National Autonomous University) and admitted into surgery at 8:30pm. His condition was stabilized. Raúl Álvarez, a former police officer, was arrested along with Edwin Espinal in January 2018 during a period of nationwide protests about the legitimacy of the re-election of President Juan Orlando Hernández. The two were accused of vandalizing the Marriott Hotel and a Burger King in Tegucigalpa during a large demonstration march. They were released from prison in August 2019, but their trials are still pending. Both men continue to be active in the campaign to release a third political prisoner, Rommel Baldemar Herrera Portillo, who is still being held in “pretrial detention” at La Tolva. He is facing criminal charges of “damages” and “aggravated arson” against the United States Embassy in Honduras during a peaceful protest march.
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