As Congress prepares to vote on a massive military spending bill - the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) - we need strong collective action to end U.S. complicity in state repression and human rights abuses in Central America. Thankfully, progressive leader Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) has heard these demands and introduced an amendment to the NDAA that would withhold U.S. military training and equipment for security forces in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. We need as many US reps as possible to co-sponsor this amendment.
On two occasions, police patrol cars of the National Police went to the house of the Guapinol River defender Juana Ramona Zúñiga, asked for “Monchita” and told her that they had been ordered to pass by her house as a measure of her safety by the National Mechanism for the protection of Human Rights. We warn about this irregular action and not authorized or requested by the defender or her organization. Once again we add this act to the harassment and surveillance that the police exert on the Guapinol community and on Juana Ramona and her daughters, in particular. It should be noted that members of the police took photos of the defender and her home.
Ciudad Jaraguá is a luxury residential complex, developed by the Inversiones MPG and Inversiones en Activo group, located in San Pedro Sula, on the forested slopes of El Merendón. Local residents have been protesting this development for the past several months because the exclusive housing complex is destroying the El Merendón forest reserve, considered the lungs of the country's industrial capital. Hundreds of families are being impacted. Water sources are harmed. There is structural damage to the homes of local families caused by the use of dynamite. Without any consideration for the flora or fauna, developers are causing significant deforestation. On September 3, while covering the protests, journalist Deyni Menjivar was obstructed by security guards, who harassed and threatened her. The TV news reporter, accompanied by her cameraman, was intercepted by a guard, who aggressively ordered her to stop recording and immediately leave the premises, because if she did not do so, "she was going to get into trouble."
