Assasination Attempt Against MUCA Leaders and LIBRE Candidate: Terror and fear in the Aguan Valley in the context of the Honduran primary election

Photo caption (Karen Spring): One of many brutal murders of campesinos in the Aguan Valley. Gregorio Chavez’s tortured body was found by buried in Miguel Facusse’s African palm PasoAguan finca on July 4, 2012 after being disappeared five days earlier. No investigation has been conducted 

Two campesino leaders from the Movimiento Unificado Campesinos del Aguan (MUCA) barely escaped a death squad assassination attempt as they returned to their homes on November 10, 2012. Joni Rivas and Vitalino Alvarez were driving close to the turn off point to the MUCA community La Confianza between 7:00 and 7:30 pm when they heard approximately six machine guns discharge two rounds of shots roughly 300 metres from their vehicle.

Joni Rivas is also a congressional candidate in the department of Colon for the LIBRE party, the political arm of the broader social movement, the Frente Nacional de Resistencia Popular (FNRP).

MUCA reports that the vehicle passed their car on the main road and then fired in the air roughly thirty seconds after passing them. Many believe that the unusual vehicle that Rivas and Alvarez were driving at the time may have confused the attackers that had received word of their location. Both leaders turned to see bursts of light produced by the gunshots but are unable to determine the description of their attackers and their vehicle because of the darkness.

Marking the night before the final day of campaigning for all candidates participating in the upcoming primary elections, Rivas and Alvarez were returning from an event in San Pedro Sula where they were promoting food and agricultural products produced by MUCA. The attempt generated fear in the Aguan region and hindered the ability for LIBRE pre-candidate Rivas from actively participating in electoral campaigning the following day. This attempt as well as the strong militarization of the zone, have affected the freedom of movement of pre-candidates like Rivas and their ability to campaign and organize their supporters for the November 18 primaries.

The US has actively participated in the militarization of the region by sending US soldiers including the US Army Rangers to train on the 15^thBattalion located in the Aguan Valley. Despite dozens of reports and international complaints in front of the Inter American Commission of human rights abuses by the Honduran military and private security guards of large landowners in the region, the US continues its political and economic support to Honduras and the military. Reports have also indicated that US Border Patrol have participated in highway checkpoints in the region and US Marines were present in the 4^th Infantry base located in La Ceiba (1).

The assassination attempt against the MUCA leaders is one of many attempts, threats and violent actions against the campesino movement in the Aguan Valley. Both MUCA leaders reports varies threats against their persons which only add to the countless reports of assassinations, violent evictions, rape and threats against the campesino movement in the Aguan that has led to over 70 deaths of campesinos.

(1) Bird, Annie. (March 1, 2012). Repression is the negotiating strategy in Honduras. Available at: http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/3487-repression-is-the-negotiating-strategy-in-honduras

US Soldiers Threaten to Arrest International Human Rights Observers in Honduras: Terror and Fear in the context of the Honduran primary elections

November 13, 2012

    (photo by Karen Spring July 2012) 

A US Forward Operating Base (FOB) or a temporary military outpost outside of Puerto Lempira, La Moskitia, Honduras. Locals and communities have repeatedly reported that US soldiers come and go and are present on the base that housed a large rotating satellite, various military tents and vehicles.

Within one day of arriving in Tegucigalpa, members of the Honduras Solidarity Network human rights delegation were instantly reminded of the strong US military presence and authority in the country. Upon stopping at the Soto Canal Air Base in Comayagua on November 13, 2012 (day one of the delegation), two US military soldiers – one identified as a US Joint Task Force Bravo soldier – came out accompanied by two Honduran soldiers and threaten to arrest us for taking pictures in the visitor parking lot outside the base.

US soldier Matos with his hand on his gun strapped to his leg wearing a uniform with a US flag on his shoulder walked over to the delegation and aggressively ordered us to stop taking pictures and that we would be arrested if we did not delete them from our cameras.  

Within five minutes of our exchange with soldier Matos, US soldier Gonzalez with a leather armband with ‘JTF-B US’ on his arm and a Honduran soldier asked our contracted driver for his identification, vehicle registration, name and phone number of the transportation company for which he works. There was no identification of the US soldiers’ rank on the uniform.

The delegation is concerned about the role of the United States government and military in Honduras. During a delegation in June2011 at the entrance of Palmerola, a human rights delegation, upon requesting a meeting with an US officer in charge, was told that US soldiers are invited guests by the Honduran government and that Palmerola is not a US military base (1). We are unclear why US soldiers were enforcing Honduran law at the entrance of a Honduran military base despite having Honduran soldiers at their side.  For many members of the delegation that have visited Honduras consistently for the last five years, it is the first time they have been confronted in such an aggressive manner by US soldiers.

The US military presence and authority in Honduras has previously been questioned particularly since the participation in the deaths of four indigenous Miskito peoples in La Moskitia on May 11, 2012 in a ‘drug interdiction mission’. Despite the role of US personnel and US State Department helicopters in the mission, no US investigation has been conducted to clarify US participation in the mission or why four innocent Hondurans were killed (2).

Indeed, the growing US presence in Honduras is concerning to us. Since the June 28, 2009 military coup in Honduras, the US has increased its presence in Honduras including funding the expansion or construction of two new military bases in Caratasca (in Puerto Lempira, Gracias a Dios) and Guanaja (Honduran island off the Caribbean coast); the establishment of three Forward Operating Bases in the country; and the reported citing of heavily armed US soldiers accompanying Honduran soldiers in communities in La Moskitia.

1. Group exchange with Honduran soldier outside the Soto Canal Air Base, Comayagua, Honduras. June 28, 2011. The same statement has also been repeated by various US officials when question about US bases in Honduras.
2.  Bird, Annie and Main, Alex. Collateral Damage. Available at: www.cepr.com

Open letter to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.S. Ambassador to Honduras Lisa Kubiske regarding human rights delegation to Honduras, Nov 12-21, 2012

U.S. Delegation to travel to Honduras in support of human rights. Delegation especially vital with recent assassinations, assassination attempts of candidates for office in primary elections.

November 12, 2012

Dear Secretary of State Clinton and Ambassador Kubiske:

From November 12 through November 21, 2012, a delegation of persons active on human rights issues and organized with the Honduras Solidarity Network will travel to Honduras. The delegation includes people from communities across the United States from California, Arizona, Florida, North Carolina and a multitude of places in between. The participants include people as young as 23 years of age and as old as 79. The group will be joined by representatives from other countries, including Canada, Poland, Costa Rica, Norway, El Salvador and Japan.

What unites this diverse group of people is their commitment to human rights in general and their concern about the ongoing escalation of human rights violations in Honduras in particular. As you know, since the military coup on June 28, 2009 that ousted the democratically elected government of Manuel Zelaya, there has been a systemic rise in violations of basic human rights in Honduras.

This situation has only worsened recently as Honduras enters into the primary elections that will choose candidates for the 2012 national elections. On November 3, 2012, LIBRE primary candidate for mayor of Morazan, Edgardo Adalid Motiño, was assassinated at LIBRE’s office in Morazan. On November 2, an attempt was made on the life of María Luisa Borjas, a primary candidate for mayor of Tegucigalpa and Comayaguela. These are just two examples of a wave of repression that has included the murders of other LIBRE organizers and candidates; the continuing murder of campesinos and their supporters- including four persons killed since November 5 - and threats made this year against human rights activists such as Bertha Oliva of COFADEH. These and other forms of repression against those viewed as opponents of those who perpetrated the coup have tragically marked the Honduran political scene since June 2009. We also want to note that members of a September 2012 delegation of members of the Honduras Solidarity Network and La Voz de los de Abajo of Chicago were shot at by armed gunmen in the Aguan region.

It is in this context that we travel to Honduras to provide human rights accompaniment to those who feel threatened by these attacks and by the legal impunity that has followed. The irony of Honduras voting in primary elections in the midst of such repression just after the United States completed its general elections on November 6 is worth considering. As U.S. leaders who hold their posts either directly through elections or via appointment by the highest elected official of the United States, the office of the president, we trust you understand the value of all people having the opportunity to express their right to suffrage without fear of intimidation and repression.

Therefore, our delegation is writing to you, Secretary Clinton and Ambassador Kubiske to inform you of our trip and to request the following:

· That you communicate to your colleagues in the current Honduran government of Pepe Lobo Sosa the Honduran government’s responsibility to provide a climate free of fear and repression for all Hondurans at all times and particularly throughout the electoral process over the next year.

· That as U.S. officials committed to the principles of democracy and human rights, you express to your Honduran colleagues in the government of Pepe Lobo Sosa that the members of our delegation have the right to travel freely and without fear in Honduras in order to carry out our human rights accompaniment work. If we find that we cannot carry out our work effectively because of acts of intimidation, we will contact you and we expect that you will act quickly and in good faith to protect the rights of all those involved in ensuring Hondurans can freely express themselves.

Finally, we also want to make clear the position of the Honduran Solidarity Network that until human rights and democracy are respected by the government of Honduras, we continue to call for the suspension of all U.S. Military and Police Aid to the Honduran government.

On behalf of the Honduras Solidarity Network delegation and all the member organizations of the Honduras Solidarity Network, we thank you for your attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

Member Organizations of the Honduras Solidarity Network

Agricultural Missions

Alliance for Global Justice

Bay Area Latin American Solidarity Committee

Center for Constitutional Rights

Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America

Comite de Solidaridad Graciela Garcia

Colectivo Honduras USA Resistencia

Comite de Solidaridad Seattle

Friends of Honduras

Friendship Office of the Americas

Hands off Honduras

Hondureños por la Democracia

Interfaith Committee on Latin America

Celeveland InterReligious Task Force on Central America

International Action Center

La Voz de los de Abajo

Latin America Grassroots International

Latin America Solidarity Organization

Madre Tierra

Marin InterfaithTask Force on the Americas

Milwaukee Latin America Solidarity Committee

National Lawyers Guild Task Force on the Americas

Portland Central America Solidarity Committee

Proyecto Hondureño

Rhode Island Mobilization Committee to Stop War and Occupation

Rights Action

School of Americas Watch

Tonatierra

U.S.- El Salvador Sister Cities

US Peace Council

Witness for Peace 

Purpose of Delegation

Since the military coup that overthrew the democratically elected government of President Manuel Zelaya June 28, 2009, a vibrant, nonviolent democratic resistance has demanded a “refounding” of the State. Democratic popular movements including unions, teachers, students, indigenous and Afro-descended, human rights, LGBTQ, and campesino groups united to form the National Front for Popular Resistance (FNRP). The FNRP last year formed a political party, LIBRE, to compete in the national elections of November 2013. Primary elections for LIBRE and Honduras’ traditional parties will be held November 18, 2012. Four LIBRE primary candidates have been killed to date and violence against FNRP activists and members is committed daily, with total impunity by the private armies of rich Hondurans and the police and army of defacto president Porfirio Lobo.

North American governments have continued their economic and political support of the Pepe Lobo regime despite ongoing human rights violations against members of the FNRP and the LIBRE party. The FNRP and LIBRE have called for international accompaniment during the elections and the Honduras Solidarity Network, a coalition of 30 groups in the US, has responded by sponsoring this delegation. We will be hosted in Honduras by the FNRP and LIBRE. In the context of the elections, delegation members will examine, investigate and report on the human rights situation including the role that their government has played in the human rights situation in Honduras. 

Our delegation will be will be reporting from Honduras about our experience. Stay tuned!