IRTF News

 The development promised by Minerales de Occidente S.A. (Minosa) in La Unión, Copán, has cost the inhabitants of Azacualpa the destruction of the historic Maya-Chortí cemetery of San Andrés, despite the fact that two high courts of Honduras have ruled to protect it. Minosa, a subsidiary in Honduras of the transnational Aura Minerals, imposed its project against the will of the Maya-Chortí people of Azacualpa, while at the same time promoting campaigns on social networks about the supposed economic development that mining produces for the communities. However, for the member of the Asociación de Organismos No Gubernamentales (Asonog), José Ramón Ávila, this development promoted by mining is not reflected in the municipality of La Unión. In fact, he believes that a socioeconomic study would find the same or greater poverty than in any other municipality.

"Poverty and desperation" led to the deaths of at least 50 migrants abandoned in a Texas lorry, Mexico's president has said. Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador blamed trafficking and "a lack of control" at the border - the worst case of migrant deaths due to smuggling in the US. Nearly two dozen Mexicans, seven Guatemalans and two Hondurans were among the dead. The survivors were "hot to the touch" and suffering from heat stroke and heat exhaustion. Edward Reyna, a security guard at a lumber yard just metres away, said he was not surprised to arrive for his night shift and hear the news. He said he had lost count of the times he had seen migrants jumping off the train that passes right next to where the truck was found. "I thought sooner or later, somebody was going to get hurt," Mr Reyna said. "The cartels that bring them over don't care about them."

"The government of Honduras should adopt reforms that provide greater protection for fundamental rights and the rule of law after years of setbacks since the 2009 coup", Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to President Xiomara Castro. The letter is accompanied by a 14-page report outlining the main human rights challenges in Honduras, as well as a series of key recommendations to address them. The main issues Human Rights Watch addresses in the report are the independence of the judiciary and the Public Ministry, the fight against corruption, the rights of women and girls, the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people, the independent work of civil society and journalists, the land rights of communities, and migration and internal displacement.

On behalf of IRTF's Rapid Response Network (RRN) members, we wrote six letters this month to heads of state and other high-level officials in Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico, 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, (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.

by Francesca Volpi

Thousands of women and young girls living in poverty are forced to turn to a deadly illegal trade – risking jail and their lives

It is a secret that spreads by word of mouth in poor neighbourhoods across Honduras; where to buy the pills, how to use them without being discovered, what to say if you have to go to the hospital. Blunt objects, herbal infusions, plant medicine all become tools of a deadly trade in illegal abortions when no other option exists.

Everything about the Supreme Court’s handling of Biden v. Texas, an important immigration decision it handed down on Thursday, emphasizes how easily the Court can sabotage President Joe Biden’s policies — even as it rules narrowly in Biden’s favor. The justices are sending the case back down to Trump-Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk to resolve a few other lingering questions. And given Kacsmaryk’s past behavior, and his commitment to an extraordinarily conservative ideology, it is very likely that he will find a new excuse to order the Biden administration to reinstate the Remain in Mexico program once the case is back in his hands.

In February, four women sat down before the full glare of El Salvador's press. Between them, they had served nearly 50 years in prison. Their crime was to have the misfortune of suffering a miscarriage - in a country with one of the strictest abortion laws in the world. As recently as May, a woman identified as "Esme" was sentenced to 30 years, also for aggravated homicide following a miscarriage. But protests have been difficult since the country's controversial president, Nayib Bukele, imposed a state of exception giving the police wide-ranging powers of arrest. 

Antonio de la Cruz, 47, was shot on Wednesday as he was leaving his house with his 23-year-old daughter, who was seriously injured, according to state prosecutors and the newspaper that employed him. This brings the number of journalists killed this year in the country, one of the world’s most dangerous for media workers, to 12. Attacks on the press have increased 85% in the three years since president Andrés Manuel López Obrador took power. Seven journalists were killed in the whole of 2021, compared with 12 so far this year.

When you walk down the grocery aisle, you’re bound to see any number of stickers and labels – more every passing year – proclaiming the sustainability, fairness, and transparency of a product. Not surprisingly, one of the most common questions farmworkers in Immokalee get is this:  What’s different about the Fair Food label, anyway?  What makes the Fair Food Program stand out in the field of social responsibility?