Human rights in Honduras - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

pre-1979

During much of the twentieth century, Honduras did not have civilian governments. Military leaders frequently became presidents, either through elections or by coups d'état

Coup d'état

A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...

. General Tiburcio Carías Andino

Tiburcio Carías Andino

Tiburcio Carías Andino was a Honduran military man with a reputation as a strongman. He founded the National Party of Honduras in 1918, and was President of Honduras twice with the first term beginning in April 1924....

was elected in 1932, he later on called a constituent assembly that allowed him to be reelected, and his rule became more authoritarian until an election in 1948. During the following decades, coups d'état occurred in October 1955 by a group of military officers, in October 1963 (1963 Honduran coup d'état

1963 Honduran coup d'état

The 1963 Honduran coup d'état took place in October 1963, ten days before presidential elections were due. Oswaldo López Arellano overthrew Ramón Villeda Morales....

) and December 1972 by General Oswaldo López Arellano

Oswaldo López Arellano

Oswaldo Enrique López Arellano was a two-time President of Honduras, first from 1963 to 1971 and again from 1972 to 1975. He gained power both times via military force....

, in 1975 by Juan Alberto Melgar Castro

Juan Alberto Melgar Castro

Juan Alberto Melgar Castro was a general of the Honduran military who served as the head of state of Honduras from April 22, 1975 to August 7, 1979, when he was removed from power by others in the military....

(1975 Honduran coup d'état

1975 Honduran coup d'état

The 1975 Honduran coup d'état took place on 22 April 1975, with Oswaldo López Arellano being ousted in a military coup led by his fellow General Juan Alberto Melgar Castro. The coup was prompted in part by the "Bananagate" scandal, exposed by the U.S...

) and in 1978 by Policarpo Paz García

Policarpo Paz García

Policarpo Juan Paz García was a Honduran military leader and autocrat who served as President of Honduras from 7 August 1978 until 27 January 1982....

1980s

Following the return to civilian government with a new constitution in 1982, the military unit Intelligence Battalion 3-16 carried out a systematic program of political assassinations and torture

Torture

Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...

of suspected political opponents of the government. Battalion members received training and support from the United States Central Intelligence Agency

Central Intelligence Agency

The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...

both in Honduras

Honduras

Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...

and at United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

military bases and in Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

during the presidency of the dictator Augusto Pinochet

Augusto Pinochet

Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte, more commonly known as Augusto Pinochet , was a Chilean army general and dictator who assumed power in a coup d'état on 11 September 1973...

. Amnesty International

Amnesty International

Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...

estimated that at least 184 people were "disappeared"

Forced disappearance

In international human rights law, a forced disappearance occurs when a person is secretly abducted or imprisoned by a state or political organization or by a third party with the authorization, support, or acquiescence of a state or political organization, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the...

from 1980 to 1992 in Honduras, most likely by the Honduran military. At least 19 members of Battalion 3-16 were graduates of the School of the Americas

Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation

The Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation , formerly the United States Army School of the Americas is a United States Department of Defense educational and training facility at Fort Benning near Columbus, Georgia in the United States...

at Fort Benning

Fort Benning

Fort Benning is a United States Army post located southeast of the city of Columbus in Muscogee and Chattahoochee counties in Georgia and Russell County, Alabama...

in the USA.

In 1982, in response to these human rights violations, 12 families of disappeared

Forced disappearance

Hondurans, including Bertha Oliva de Nativí, whose husband Professor Tomás Nativí was disappeared

Forced disappearance

in 1981, created the human rights

Human rights

Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...

NGO Committee of Relatives of the Disappeared in Honduras (Comité de Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos en Honduras, COFADEH).

Other human rights NGOs, including the Center for the Investigation and Defense of Human Rights in Honduras (CIPRODEH) for the western region of Honduras, the Committee for the Defense of Human Rights in Honduras

Committee for the Defense of Human Rights in Honduras

The Committee for the Defense of Human Rights in Honduras is a human rights NGO in Honduras founded in 1981 by medical doctor Ramón Custodio Lopez.-Background:...

(CODEH), and the Civic Council of Grassroots and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH), were also created.

Zelaya presidency (2006-2009)

Seven former members of Battalion 3-16 (Billy Joya

Billy Joya

Billy Fernando Joya Améndola is a former Honduran military officer who worked in the controversial Battalion 3-16, national security adviser at Manuel Zelaya's government, a post in which he has continued.-Military career:...

, Alvaro Romero, Erick Sánchez, Onofre Oyuela Oyuela, Napoleón Nassar Herrera

Napoleón Nassar Herrera

Napoleón Nassar Herrera is a Honduran military officer who worked in the controversial Battalion 3-16 who successively became leader of the General Department of Criminal Investigation , high Commissioner of Police for the north-west region in the Manuel Zelaya government, and one of the Secretary...

, Vicente Rafael Canales Nuñez, Salomón Escoto Salinas and René Maradianga Panchamé) occupied important positions in the administration of President Manuel Zelaya

Manuel Zelaya

José Manuel Zelaya Rosales is a politician who was President of Honduras from January 27, 2006 until June 28, 2009. The eldest son of a wealthy businessman, he inherited his father's nickname "Mel," and, before entering politics, was involved in his family's logging and timber businesses.Elected...

as of mid-2006, according to the human rights organisation CODEH. Napoleón Nassar was high Commissioner of Police for the north-west region under Zelaya.

Background

Following the 2009 coup d'état

2009 Honduran constitutional crisis

The 2009 Honduran constitutional crisis was a political dispute over plans to rewrite the Constitution of Honduras, which culminated in a coup d'état against Honduran President Manuel Zelaya by the Honduran military...

, in which Zelaya was detained and exiled by Honduran military units, de facto President Roberto Micheletti

Roberto Micheletti

Roberto Micheletti Baín is a former de facto president of Honduras who served as a result of the 2009 coup d'état. The Honduran military was ordered by the Supreme Court to forcefully detain President Manuel Zelaya once the Court stated he was violating the Honduran constitution; Zelaya was exiled...

appointed former Battalion 3-16 member Billy Joya

Billy Joya

as his security advisor, former Battalion 3-16 member Nelson Willy Mejía Mejía

Nelson Willy Mejía Mejía

Nelson Willy Mejía Mejía is a Honduran military officer who worked in the controversial Battalion 3-16 and government employee who is currently Director-General of Immigration.-Military career:...

became Director of Immigration, and former Battalion 3-16 member Napoleón Nassar Herrera

Napoleón Nassar Herrera

, who had already become a high Commissioner of Police, also became a spokesperson "for dialogue" for the Secretary of Security. Zelaya claimed that Billy Joya had reactivated the death squad.

A state of emergency

State of emergency

A state of emergency is a governmental declaration that may suspend some normal functions of the executive, legislative and judicial powers, alert citizens to change their normal behaviours, or order government agencies to implement emergency preparedness plans. It can also be used as a rationale...

was operational for most of July and continued into August. This suspended civil liberties including freedom of transit and due process, as well as permitting search and seizure without a warrant. A curfew

Curfew

A curfew is an order specifying a time after which certain regulations apply. Examples:# An order by a government for certain persons to return home daily before a certain time...

law was introduced, without having been published in La Gazeta, nor being approved by Congress. Curfew times are announced on radio stations, differ daily and between regions of Honduras. Amnesty International

Amnesty International

described the curfew implementation as "arbitrary".

The ambassadors of Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua said that on the 29th they were detained and beaten by Honduran troops before being released. Several government officials were taken into custody by the military. A dozen former ministers from the Zelaya government went into in hiding, some in foreign embassies, fearing arrest. Local media reported that at least eight ministers besides Patricia Rodas

Patricia Rodas

Patricia Rodas is a Honduran politician. She was foreign minister in the government of Manuel Zelaya who was deposed in the 2009 Honduran constitutional crisis in June, 2009...

had been detained.

During the first few weeks of the Micheletti period, hundreds of political arrests were made. COFADEH reported that 609 people, of whom at least 61 minors, were detained for "political scandal

Political scandal

A political scandal is a kind of political corruption that is exposed and becomes a scandal, in which politicians or government officials are accused of engaging in various illegal, corrupt, or unethical practices...

" (participation in political demonstrations), and 158 were detained for violating curfew

Curfew

A curfew is an order specifying a time after which certain regulations apply. Examples:# An order by a government for certain persons to return home daily before a certain time...

, between 28 June and 12 July. Amnesty International

Amnesty International

(AI) stated that during the Micheletti period, "increasingly disproportionate and excessive use of force [was] being used by the police and military to repress legitimate and peaceful protests across the country". AI also said that "some women and girls taking part in the demonstrations are reportedly suffering gender based violence and abuse at the hands of police officers" and that at the same time that "protests increase and spread throughout the country, violent methods of repressing dissent intensify and Honduran citizens are increasingly exposed to violations of their fundamental rights."

On 31 July, Zelaya claimed that Battalion 3-16 was again operating, with a different name, and being led by Billy Joya. Zelaya stated (translation), "With a different name, [Battalion 3-16 is] already operating. The crimes being committed is torture to create fear among the population, and that's being directed by Mr. Joya."

Forced disappearances

On 5 July, in San Juan Pueblo, Atlántida, four people wearing police vests forcefully disappeared Anastasio Barrera, 55 years old, of the National Union of Rural Workers.

On 12 July, in San Pedro Sula

San Pedro Sula

San Pedro Sula is a city in Honduras. It is located in the northwest corner of the country, in the Valle de Sula , about 60 km south of Puerto Cortés on the Caribbean. With an estimated population of 638,259 people in the main municipality, and 802,598 in its metro area , it is the second...

, Manuel Sevilla, 19 years old, was disappeared after returning from a demonstration.

Samuel David Flores Murillo, 24 years old was disappeared

Forced disappearance

on 26 July 2009. His mother, Margarita Murillo, was herself detained and tortured for 22 days in the 1980s.

Extrajudicial executions

The death of Vicky Hernández Castillo (born Sonny Emelson Hernández), a member of the LGBT

LGBT

LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...

community who was killed by a bullet in the eye during the curfew of the night of 29 to 30 June and displayed signs of strangulation, is attributed to the coup d'état by COFADEH.

On 3 July in Tegucigalpa

Tegucigalpa

Tegucigalpa , and commonly referred as Tegus , is the capital of Honduras and seat of government of the Republic, along with its twin sister Comayagüela. Founded on September 29, 1578 by the Spanish, it became the country's capital on October 30, 1880 under President Marco Aurelio Soto...

, Alexis Fernando Amador, 25 yrs old, was found dead in a blue plastic barrel with mortal wounds in his head, wearing a T-shirt referring to the "cuarta urna" (Fourth ballot box) that might have been voted on in the poll relating to organising a constituent assembly in Honduras. His parents said he had disappeared the day before, and insisted that the shirt he was found in was not his, and that he had left for work in a red shirt. COFADEH attributes his death to the coup d'état.

Also on 3 July, journalist Gabriel Fino Noriega

Gabriel Fino Noriega

Gabriel Fino Noriega was a Honduran journalist and radio presenter who presented a daily news show on Radio Estelar. He also worked for Radio America . He was shot dead on July 3, 2009 in San Juan Pueblo, near La Ceiba in the early days of the 2009 Honduran constitutional crisis. Noriega was in...

who had expressed opinions in favour of the project to hold a constituent assembly in Honduras and against the coup d'état, was killed by 7 bullets when he left his workplace. COFADEH attributes his assassination to the coup d'état, while an international human rights mission considered Noriega's political points of view to offer a line of research for understanding the death, but insufficient proof that the reason for the killing was political.

On 5 July, when soldiers prevented a plane carrying Zelaya from landing at Toncontin Airport, Isis Obed Murillo Mencias, the 19 year-old son of a social and environmental activist, Jose David Murillo Sanchez, 57 years old, was shot in the back of the head, while participating in a protest that attempted to tear down a fence. According to the Miami Herald, Isis Obed Murillo was shot by soldiers who tried to prevent people passing through the fence. It was later claimed by unknown sources that the shot did not came from the soldiers' position, but rather from the protest's direction. According to another unnamed source, while the soldiers did carry weapons, they were M16 rifle

M16 rifle

The M16 is the United States military designation for the AR-15 rifle adapted for both semi-automatic and full-automatic fire. Colt purchased the rights to the AR-15 from ArmaLite, and currently uses that designation only for semi-automatic versions of the rifle. The M16 fires the 5.56×45mm NATO...

s, which did not match the 9 mm bullet hole found on Murillo. Isis Obed Murillo was taken to Escuela Hospital and his body taken to the Francisco Morazan Judicial Morgue. On 9 July at 11:30 in the morning, Jose David Murillo was detained by Direccion Nacional de Investigacion Criminal (DNIC) agents when he left the offices of COFADEH. Since then he has been held at the Juticalpa Penal Centre in an isolation cell three metres by three metres in size, without a bed. Images of Isis Obed Murillo's bloodstained body were widely circulated and became a focal point for people opposed to the coup d'état.

Roger Iván Bados (sometimes written Báez), a former union

Trade union

A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...

leader, who had become a member of the Democratic Unification Party

Democratic Unification Party

The Democratic Unification Party is a left-wing political party in Honduras. PUD was founded on 29 September 1992 by the merger of four leftist clandestine or semiclandestine political parties, in the context of the changed political situation in Central America at that period, following the end...

and the Popular Bloque (BP), was "threatened with death immediately after the coup" and shot dead on 11 July next to his house in San Pedro Sula

San Pedro Sula

. According to Dr Luther Castillo of the Garifuna community organisation Luaga Hatuadi Waduheñu Foundation, the assassination "can be directly attributed to" the Micheletti's de facto government. An international human rights mission also attributes Bados' death "in relation to" the coup d'état.

The death of 40 year-old campesino

Campesino

Campesino may refer to:Peasant in Spanish.The arts* Los Campesinos!, an indie pop band from Cardiff, Wales* Teatro Campesino, a theater group founded by the United Farm WorkersPeople...

leader Ramón García, also a member of the Democratic Unification Party

Democratic Unification Party

, on 12 July, after he was forced by unknown people to get off a bus, is also attributed to Micheletti's de facto government by Luther Castillo.

On 24 July, near the border town El Paraíso

El Paraíso

El Paraíso is a municipality in the Honduran department of El Paraíso. The capital is Yuscaran.The town is the site of a cigar factory operated by Nestor Plasencia, in which cigars are made under a variety of labels, including that of Rocky Patel....

, conflict occurred between hundreds of protestors against the coup d'état and security forces. Many people saw protestor Pedro Magdiel Muñoz Salvador, 23 years old, being detained by police and driven to a police station in El Paraíso. The following morning, his body was found in a deserted field at 6:30 in the morning, with 42 wounds from stabbing. Demonstrators and the National Front Against the Coup d'État stated that the murder had all the characteristics of 1980s actions of Battalion 3-16, as a method of "terrorising the masses of people participating in the struggle against the coup regime."

On 31 July, during a peaceful protest that blocked a highway on the first day of a public service national strike against the coup d'état, high school teacher Roger Abraham Vallejo Soriano, 38 years old, was shot in the head by security forces. He died the following day.

Another assassination in the region near the Nicaraguan border near El Paraíso

El Paraíso

took place on 2 August when a soldier at a military roadblock fatally shot Pedro Pablo Hernández in the head. COFADEH attributes his assassination to the coup d'état. The Office of the Public Prosecutor stated to IACHR

Inter-American Court of Human Rights

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights is an autonomous judicial institution based in the city of San José, Costa Rica. Together with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, it makes up the human rights protection system of the Organization of American States , which serves to uphold and...

during the latter's 17–21 August visit that the case was being investigated.

On 8 August in Choloma

Choloma

Choloma is a municipality in the Honduran department of Cortés. The mayor is Polo Crivelli. It is now the third largest city in Honduras.Many factories are stationed in Choloma due to cheap labor which has helped the municipality's economy. As a result of this fast food joints like Pizza Hut,...

, Juan Gabriel Figueroa Tomé, 30 yrs old, who was an active member of resistance to the coup d'état, was taken by armed men who said that they didn't want his motorbike, they wanted him. He was found dead, shot in the head, the following day, 9 August. COFADEH attributes his assassination to the coup d'état.

Zelaya return

Zelaya returned to Honduras on 21 September 2009, and stayed in the Brazilian Embassy

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

, while Micheletti remained the de facto president. Security forces under the responsibility of de facto president Micheletti carried out systematic human rights violations, including a "sharp rise in police beatings," hundreds of arrests of political demonstrators and intimidation of human rights defenders throughout Honduras. On 22 September, 15 police fired tear gas canisters at the building of the human rights NGO Committee of Relatives of the Disappeared in Honduras (COFADEH), at a moment when about 100 people were in the COFADEH office. Dozens of protestors were detained in unauthorised detention sites in Tegucigalpa on 22 September.

On 16 October 2009, Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...

stated that "the small human rights unit of the Office of the Attorney General has begun investigations into numerous cases of killings, alleged excessive use of force by security officials, and illegal and arbitrary detentions" but that the unit's superiors in the Attorney General's office and armed forces members were obstructing the investigations.

The Micheletti de facto government issued Decree PCM-M-016-2009 which officially signed on 22 September 2009 and rescinded on 19 October 2009. The decree suspended five constitutional rights

Constitution of Honduras

The Political Constitution of the Republic of Honduras was approved on 11 January 1982, published on 20 January 1982, amended by the National Congress of Honduras 26 times from 1984 to 2005, and 10 interpretations by Congress were made from 1982 to 2005. It is Honduras' twelfth constitution since...

: personal liberty (Article 69), freedom of expression (Article 72), freedom of movement

Freedom of movement

Freedom of movement, mobility rights or the right to travel is a human right concept that the constitutions of numerous states respect...

(Article 81), habeas corpus

Habeas corpus

is a writ, or legal action, through which a prisoner can be released from unlawful detention. The remedy can be sought by the prisoner or by another person coming to his aid. Habeas corpus originated in the English legal system, but it is now available in many nations...

(Article 84) and freedom of association

Freedom of association

Freedom of association is the individual right to come together with other individuals and collectively express, promote, pursue and defend common interests....

. On 28 September, the decree was used to shut down the television stations Channel 36 and Radio Globo, which were "consistently critical of the de facto government" and removed the stations' broadcasting equipment. Government security forces physically assaulted international journalists covering the raid on Radio Globo. On 29 September, the Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (IAHCR) "expressed its most energetic rejection" of the decree and asked for the immediate suspension of its enforcement, because it "flagrantly [contradicted] the international standards for freedom of expression".

Amnesty International

Amnesty International

protested to the Honduran de facto government about the violation of habeas corpus

Habeas corpus

on 28 and 29 November. One of the people who were allegedly disappeared

Forced disappearance

was Jensys Mario Umanzor Gutierrez, last seen in police detention early on the morning of 30 November. Amnesty International (AI) stated that no courts, including the Supreme Court, were available to receive a petition for habeas corpus. AI also referred to two men arrested under terrorism charges and beaten, and 14 minors detained under decree PCM-M-016-2009 for having been gathered in groups of more than four persons, and later freed without charges. AI also said that human rights organizations in Honduras "suffered attacks and acts of intimidation".

In December 2009 the head of Honduras' anti-drug smuggling operations, Gen Julian Aristides Gonzalez, was assassinated in Tegucigalpa

Tegucigalpa

, as was anti-coup activist and LGBT

LGBT

rights leader Walter Trochez

Walter Trochez

Walter Trochez was a Honduran political activist and LGBT rights leader.On December 13 2009, he was shot as he walked in downtown Tegucigalpa. Friends rushed him to a hospital, where he died...

Porfirio Lobo Sosa

Porfirio Lobo Sosa won the November Honduran general election, 2009

Honduran general election, 2009

The Honduran general election, 2009 was held in Honduras on 29 November 2009, including presidential, parliamentary and local elections. Voters went to the polls to elect:*A new President of Honduras to serve a four-year term starting January 27, 2010....

and took office on 27 January 2010. Under his Presidency human rights abuses continued. According to Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch

, "at least eight journalists and ten members of the National Popular Resistance Front (FNRP)-a political group that opposed the 2009 coup and advocated the reinstatement of the ousted president, Manuel Zelaya-have been killed since President Lobo assumed power on January 27, 2010."

Journalist David Meza

David Meza

David Meza Montesinos was a Honduran radio journalist. He reported for the El Patio radio station for more than 30 years before his murder in 2010...

was assassinated in March 2010; he investigated drug trafficking within Honduras, and reportedly received death threats in 2010, according to the El Tiempo newspaper. Another reporter, Nahúm Elí Palacios Arteaga

Nahúm Elí Palacios Arteaga

Nahúm Elí Palacios Arteaga was a Honduran journalist and reporter. Arteaga was the news director for the Canal 5 television network in Aguán and the host of a news program on Radio Tocoa within the Colón Department along the Caribbean coast....

, was also assassinated in March 2010. Luis Arturo Mondragón

Luis Arturo Mondragón

Luis Arturo Mondragón was an Honduran journalist who worked as the news director for Honduras in El Paraíso, Honduras. Mondragon was shot and killed while sitting with his son outside their home in Danlí, Honduras, on June 14, 2010...

was killed in June 2010.

Human Rights Watch has reported attacks on the independence of the judiciary and public prosecutors. "The May dismissal of four lower-court judges who challenged the legality of the 2009 coup has severely damaged the credibility of the Honduran judiciary." One of the dismissed judges "told Human Rights Watch that, since his dismissal, several judges have confided in him that the fear of dismissal by the government influences their judicial decision-making. A prosecutor from the human rights prosecutor's office said fellow prosecutors had expressed the same concern." Human Rights Watch concluded that "Honduras has made little progress toward restoring the rule of law since the coup."

External links

One Year After Coup, Honduras Repression Continues - video report by Democracy Now!
Democracy Now!
Democracy Now! and its staff have received several journalism awards, including the Gracie Award from American Women in Radio & Television; the George Polk Award for its 1998 radio documentary Drilling and Killing: Chevron and Nigeria's Oil Dictatorship, on the Chevron Corporation and the deaths of...

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