Honduras: The Resistance Marches On Despite Targeted Violence

On February 25, 2010 thousands of men, women, and children marched the streets of Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula in Honduras in protest against the largely unrecognized current government of Porfirio “Pepe” Lobo and the attacks against members and supporters of the National People’s Resistance Front (FNRP).  The FNRP has documented at least 254 human rights violations, including murder, kidnappings and rape, since Lobo’s inauguration on January 27.

Members and supporters of the Resistance have rallied and marched on various occasions since the June 28 coup that ousted President Manuel Zelaya, but yesterday’s march was particularly meaningful following the February 24th assassination of well-known activist and supporter of the Resistance, Claudia Larissa Brizuela.  Claudia was shot in the head numerous times in her home in San Pedro Sula.  Her two young children, ages 2 and 8, witnessed the macabre assassination.  According to reports, a neighbor who also witnessed the event was taken in by police yesterday for questioning and as of this morning (Feb. 26) has not been heard from or seen since.  

Claudia was the daughter of high-profile Resistance leader and former trade union leader, Pedro Brizuela.  Pedro Brizuela is a frequent co-host of the independent radio show, Radio Uno, which consistently denounces the abuses and corruption of the post-coup government.  Guests and hosts of Radio Uno have consistently become targets of threats and many feel Claudia’s murder was a cowardly message to the FNRP and the independent media in Honduras.

According to the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and independent media organizations in Honduras, at least 14 trade unionists have been murdered since the coup of June 28, 2009.  The murder of Claudia Brizuela marks the third documented death under the Lobo administration.  All three victims had ties to the Honduran labor movement with two of them being trade union leaders.  In the first two weeks of February, unionists and FNRP members Yaneth Zepeda and Julio Funez Benitez were murdered near their homes.

The February 25 peaceful march that headed first towards the official presidential residence and later towards the National Congress was organized on the same day that the formation of the polemical Truth Commission in Honduras was to be completed.  After granting amnesty to all of those implicated in the coup and the events that subsequently took place, Lobo later submitted a proposal for the formation of a truth commission.  The proposed commission is supposed to analyze the events leading up to the June 28 ousting of Zelaya and all that has transpired since then.  The formation of a Truth Commission was one of the proposals in the San Jose-Tegucigalpa accords mediated by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias.  Until now, the U.S. has been very supportive of the post-coup regime accepting as legitimate the November 2009 elections that brought Lobo to power and backing the original design of the Truth Commission.  The FNRP considers the accord invalid since it was predicated on the reinstatement of Zelaya, which never happened and therefore does not recognize the Truth Commission. 

In support of the people of Honduras, 57 international, national, state, and citywide organizations including USLEAP signed and published a Spanish ad in the Honduran newspaper, El Tiempo that was timely published on February 25, 2010.  In the ad, the organizations pledge to continue working in solidarity with the Honduran people and states, “The installation… of the so-called Truth Commission, organized by the criminals themselves, is a travesty of justice.  There can be no ‘truth’ and no ‘reconciliation’ without the end of impunity and the restoration of the Honduran people’s democratic sovereignty.” Click here to view the English text of the ad.

Please take action in solidarity with the people of Honduras.  The Central American solidarity movement is asking U.S. citizens to call the State Department’s Human Rights desk in order to demand that our government cease ignoring the systematic human rights violation.  The United States is one of only a minority of governments that has officially recognized Lobo's coup-stained administration, which is not recognized by the UN, OAS, and the majority of Latin America.

Dial 202-647-4000 and ask for Human Rights Desk at the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor