Hondouras

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Re: Hondouras

Post by blindpig » Mon Feb 21, 2022 1:50 pm

Relative of former Honduran President Juan O. Hernández arrested

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Juan Orlando Hernández has been arrested and accused of drug trafficking, a crime for which his brother has already been sentenced to life imprisonment. | Photo: EFE
Published 19 February 2022

The arrest occurred just when the former president is in prison with a view to his extradition to the US.

A cousin of the former president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández, was arrested this Friday with a suitcase loaded with cash for the equivalent of 16,300 dollars, according to information provided by the police and local security services.

The operation, which took place in the city of Gracias, Lempira, western Honduras, took place in the context of the case against the former president for an extradition request from the United States, which accuses him of several crimes related to drug trafficking.

The cousin, identified as Marlon Salvador Hernández Quintanilla, according to police reports, would have entered one of Juan Orlando Hernández's residences in Gracias on several occasions and that in the last one he took out approximately the equivalent of 16,300 dollars in cash, which he intended to move to an unspecified site.


The money is already in the possession of the Administrative Office of Seized Assets (OABI), according to the Police, who explained that the detainee entered the residence of Juan Orlando Hernández, with the aim of removing a fishing net.

Upon leaving the residence, police officers questioned him and inspected the backpack he was carrying. The money was found there, according to the police report.

The case gains notoriety after the arrest this week of Juan Orlando Hernández, to answer, by the Honduran justice if the extradition to the United States proceeds.

https://www.telesurtv.net/news/detencio ... -0012.html

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They ask to know if the former Honduran president has pending cases

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The former Honduran president is charged with conspiracy to import a controlled substance, among other causes. | Photo: @AristeguiOnline
Published 20 February 2022

Judge Edwin Ortez's request responds to article six of the extradition treaty between the United States and Honduras.

The Honduran judge Edwin Francisco Ortez in charge of the extradition request of former President Juan Orlando Hernández (JOH) asked the Public Ministry to investigate whether there are pending cases or complaints against JOH.

Judge Ortez's request responds to article six of the bilateral extradition treaty between the United States and Honduras, which states that if the requested party, in this case the former president, maintains proceedings in the territory of origin, he must first clarify his legal situation.

In Honduras, most of those accused and requested by Washington served trials and sentences in the United States. According to experts, JOH's extradition is unstoppable, because if there was a process against him, the request should have been issued before knowing the extradition. extradition request.


The former Honduran president weighs, among other charges, conspiracy to import a controlled substance and the use or possession of firearms such as machine guns and destructive devices; They also accuse him of introducing 500 tons of cocaine into the US market.

The evidence issued by the US embassy. in the Central American country places the crimes in the period of his presidency of the National Congress (2010-2014) and then as the highest figure of the executive from 2014 until January 27 when Xiomara took office. Castro.

After the extradition request, the Honduran authorities complied with his capture on Tuesday, February 15 and, a day later, the former president appeared at a hearing before Judge Ortez, who granted the lawyers one month to present the defense arguments.


https://www.telesurtv.net/news/juez-hon ... -0005.html

All above Google Translator

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Just a little reminder of who installed this crook because the guy he overthrew was getting chummy with Venezuela and Nicaragua. Better dead than Red, I guess...
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: Hondouras

Post by blindpig » Sun Feb 27, 2022 6:57 pm

Castro Assumes as Chief Commander of the Honduran Armed Forces

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President Xiomara Castro (C), Honduras, Feb. 25, 2022. | Photo: Twitter/@ronymartinezhn

Published 25 February 2022

She announced that the Armed Forces would gradually cease to administer the country's prison system as of February 28.

On Friday, Honduras President Xiomara Castro took office as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces.

Judge: Former Honduran President To Remain in Custody

During the ceremony, the Chief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Armed Forces handed over the baton to the President and declared her Commander-in-Chief.

Besides expressing her support for all women in the Armed Forces, Castro told them that she will make every effort to guarantee their fair and equal participation within the institution.

The President also announced that she will seek resources to improve military equipment and stressed the need to strengthen the Honduran Air Force..


Castro encouraged women to crusade for their rights on the occasion of the Honduran Women's Day on January 25. She emphasized that the Presidency of the Republic works permanently to strengthen gender rights.

She announced that the Armed Forces would gradually cease to administer the country's prison system as of February 28. During the ceremony, the new commander in chief reviewed the troops.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Cas ... -0015.html

There's a headline to freak out the gusanos.

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Honduran court ratifies arrest of expdte. Juan O. Hernandez

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Juan Orlando Hernández will continue to be detained at the Cobras Special Command. | Photo: The Press
Published 24 February 2022

The US requested the extradition of Juan Orlando Hernández for alleged links to drug trafficking.

The plenary session of the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ) ratified the detention of former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, who was not granted house arrest after filing an appeal.

The Supreme Court of Honduras indicated that the former head of state will remain in the facilities of the National Directorate of Special Forces after being captured on February 15 at his home in Tegucigalpa.

With fourteen votes in favor and one against, the judge's decision was reiterated, which on February 16 issued the provisional arrest of the former president of Honduras from 2014 to 2022, when Xiomara Castro was elected by democratic elections.


On February 20, the Honduran judge Edwin Francisco Ortez in charge of the extradition request of former President Juan Orlando Hernández asked the Public Ministry to investigate the background of the former president to determine if there are pending cases.

The US Embassy in Tegucigalpa has accused Juan Orlando Hernández of conspiring to import controlled substances into that country, including 500,000 kilograms of cocaine since 2004.


The report presented by the Supreme Court of Justice stated that “the Federal Court of the Southern District of New York requires citizen Hernández Alvarado for the crimes of Conspiracy to import a controlled substance into the United States from a place outside of the United States, manufacture and distribute a controlled substance.

At the same time, the United States requested the capture of the former Honduran politician, for extradition purposes, on charges associated with drug trafficking and the use of firearms.

https://www.telesurtv.net/news/corte-ho ... -0032.html

Google Translator

Those shackles gonna be the fashion accessory for the Ruling Class one of these days.

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Honduran environmentalists jailed for fighting mining company released

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Those involved had been behind bars for more than two years after they were denounced in 2019 by the Los Pinares company. | Photo: @radiohrn
Published 25 February 2022


Six of the eight environmentalists involved in the case were released after the ruling of the judicial entity.

The Trujillo Sentencing Court of the department of Colón, Honduras, ruled on Thursday in favor of six of the eight Honduran environmentalists prosecuted for the Guapinol case, for which they were released, the judicial entity reported.

The institution's resolution was executed two weeks after the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ) ordered the release of Guapinol's defenders by granting two amparo appeals in their favor.

Environmentalists José Daniel Márquez, José Abelino Cedillo, Ewer Cedillo, Kevin Romero, Orbin Nahúm Hernández and Porfirio Soto left the Olanchito penitentiary, municipality of Yoro.


In February of this year, a Honduran court had convicted six of the eight environmental defenders of aggravated damages, simple damages and unjust deprivation of liberty to the detriment of the Los Pinares mining company.

It is worth mentioning that those involved had been behind bars for more than two years after they were denounced by the company in 2019 following the protests against the mining project in the Guapinol community in Colón.


For its part, the Office in Honduras of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights welcomed the decision to release the six environmentalists who "continued to be arbitrarily deprived of their liberty and urges the prison authorities to proceed without delay."

Likewise, the entity recalled that the Honduran State must attend to the integral reparation of the damages caused by the detention of these citizens and investigate the causes that generated it in accordance with the provisions of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.

https://www.telesurtv.net/news/ambienta ... -0005.html

Google Translator
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: Hondouras

Post by blindpig » Wed Mar 09, 2022 2:21 pm

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Honduras: ‘We, the Social Organizations, Must Remain Active’
March 9, 2022

On January 27th of this year, Xiomara Castro assumed the presidency of Honduras. Within a coalition of parties, organizations, and social movements, the president faces a seemingly unmanageable number of challenges; among them, to stop the plundering of the nation and to fulfill the demands that the indigenous peoples and peasants of the Central American nation have issued for decades.

Castro must also face a far-right opposition that, together with the Armed Forces and the United States, were the architects of the overthrow of her husband, Manuel Zelaya, who served as president between 2006 and 2009.

To delve deeper into the current situation in Honduras, at La Tinta we spoke with Bertha Zúñiga Cáceres, general coordinator of the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH) and daughter of Berta Cáceres, the Lenca leader and environmental defender, assassinated by hired killers on March 3, 2016, six years ago today.

At COPINH, what are the expectations with the government of Xiomara Castro?

We understand the difficulties faced by a government that has, among its challenges, to overcome—or lay the foundations to overcome—12 years of coup and post-coup. The government has some goodwill and popular slogans, however, there are going to be many difficulties to bring to reality many of those proposals. There is still a complex configuration of power, in the sense that the Judicial Power is still controlled by the most reactionary sector, which has served to maintain impunity in the country. In the National Congress, as we have seen in these first months, there is a power struggle and this erodes somewhat the formal institutionality needed to get things done.

Apart from that, there is a bankruptcy in several State institutions, which implied new indebtedness for the new government which are concessions that have been made on the sovereignty of the peoples of Honduras. In addition, it must be said that the de facto power continues to be disputed and controlled by, above all, economic groups which, in turn, control the power of the state.

We remember very well the thoughts of our comrade Berta Cáceres, who always said that just being president does not give you power, as in the case of Mel Zelaya. We see how these real power brokers are manifesting themselves to continue controlling the institutional framework. Our expectations are to lay some foundations to solve structural problems, especially on issues of territory and rights of indigenous peoples. It is going to be a complex and difficult path, but we social organizations must maintain our spirit and willingness to struggle.

What are COPINH’s main proposals and demands to the new government?

We, within the transition commission created by the government as a way to communicate with the social movements, raised some very important issues. On the one hand, the issue of territory; that the state should recognize the historical possessions of the indigenous peoples, and that it should do so formally, through the National Agrarian Institute; that it should issue the necessary community titles for the communities that are litigating for land, not only of the Lenca people, but also of other indigenous peoples who are in similar situations.

In addition, we have proposed to declare that concessions to rivers and subsoil for hydroelectric, mining, and other energy exploitation are in violation of the law. These have been granted behind closed doors following the coup d’état, and have not honored the right to prior, free, and informed consultation.

We also proposed the creation of a law for the protection of life, in which the life of communities that may be threatened would always be prioritized over economic, political, or any other type of interests. This would imply not only indigenous communities, but also peasant communities. In Honduras we have many conflicts in this sector, to protect and always prioritize life. And in that sense we must advance on this issue, of preventing a repeat of the crimes of the previous period.

In addition, Xiomara made justice for Berta Cáceres a part of her campaign. We proposed the creation of a high-level round table between state institutions and international organizations that can help in the investigation, and that the victims and COPINH be part of it, in order to prosecute the intellectual authors and crimes related to the murder of Berta Cáceres, such as corruption, possibly money laundering, and other crimes, which paved the way for the violation of the rights of indigenous communities and the use of violence.

In this first moment of the government, what position did the opposition sector take?
The opposition sector, the National Party, which is the most conservative sector in Honduras, is really cowering, silent and humiliated, because its defeat was due to the accumulation of social unrest of the Honduran people, and above all due to the corruption scandals, which generated a very significant malaise. All this, in the midst of the extradition process of (former president) Juan Orlando Hernandez, which is a very important development for the people of Honduras.

These political sectors belong to criminal networks, and that is more than proven. Outside of the public sphere, they continue to operate, and that demonstrates the crisis that the National Congress has. They continue to operate to ensure their impunity, and the economic benefits they get from state concessions. Furthermore, they have representation within this government. This is a government born from a pact, in which several parties participate, which created an opposition alliance. This, from the beginning, implied negotiating certain approaches, especially at the economic level. They continue to operate in a very active way to ensure their impunity and to continue operating in a context that allows them to make excessive profits.

How do you think the Armed Forces will behave before the new administration?
The government has been clear that the Armed Forces, which participated in the coup d’état against Manuel Zelaya Rosales, is an institution at the service of interests that do not coincide with those of the majority. Even the issue of the investigation of drug trafficking would be a blow to the leadership of the Armed Forces. Appointments have been made of people very close to the government, such as the secretaries of defense and security, in order to somehow have some kind of control over that institution.

However, neither the people nor the government is confident of any progressive role they can play at any time, if there is instability. The Armed Forces have always been considered as an institution that threatens the popular interests of the Honduran people and that has to be kept under close scrutiny. It does not represent any kind of reliability. Now there is a transition in which they are settling into, so we will see how they operate.

How is the legal case for the murder of Berta Cáceres proceeding?

We are just a few days away from commemorating six years since the vile crime concerning our colleague Berta Cáceres. Despite the efforts and some very minimal victories we have had, but also very important ones, we continue to demand that the state pay its debt to justice, prosecute the mastermind, and dismantle the criminal network that led to the murder of Berta Cáceres. This network, which involved private business sectors, international banking, the Armed Forces, members of the judiciary, all led to the prosecution and criminalization of Berta Cáceres. In addition, we call for the dismantling of private security companies that participated in actions and attacks against social activists, especially those who defend the territory. And we warn of the danger that the communities of Rio Blanco face today, as their lands can be privatized.

All this emphasizes and highlights the importance of continuing to fight for justice and, perhaps, this will push the new government to channel a more suitable scenario to promote the change of the institution of justice so that, with independence, professionalism, and political will, we can reach those most responsible and all those involved in this crime.

https://orinocotribune.com/honduras-we- ... in-active/
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: Hondouras

Post by blindpig » Mon Jun 27, 2022 1:49 pm

Honduras: man who planned Berta Cáceres’s murder jailed for 22 years
Roberto David Castillo sentenced for role in assassination of Indigenous environmentalist in 2016

The US military trained him. Then he helped murder Berta Cáceres

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Berta Cáceres was killed for her opposition to a hydroelectric dam on the Gualcarque River. Photograph: Orlando Sierra/AFP/Getty Images
Nina Lakhani

Mon 20 Jun 2022 18.08 EDT
A US-trained former Honduran army intelligence officer who was the president of an internationally financed energy company has been sentenced to 22 years and six months for the assassination of the Indigenous environmentalist Berta Cáceres.

Cáceres, winner of the Goldman prize for environmental defenders, was shot dead by hired hitmen on 2 March 2016, two days before her 45th birthday, after years of threats linked to her opposition of the 22-megawatt Agua Zarca dam on the Gualcarque River.

On Monday, Roberto David Castillo – the former head of the hydroelectric dam company Desarrollos Energéticos, or Desa – was sentenced for his role in ordering and planning the murder.

The sentence was handed down almost a year after Castillo was found guilty, and falls short of the 25-year maximum – a decision condemned by Cáceres’s supporters outside the high court in Tegucigalpa. Castillo will be required to carry out public works coordinated by the prison service as part of his sentence and is responsible for any future civil claims brought by the victims, the court ruled.

Cáceres, the coordinator of the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (Copinh), was best known for defending indigenous Lenca territory and natural resources, but she was also a respected political analyst, women’s rights defender and anti-capitalist campaigner.

Her youngest daughter, Laura Zúñiga Cáceres, welcomed the sentencing as another step in the fight for justice. “This is an important advance but the masterminds of the crime are still enjoying impunity thanks to their political and economic power. As victims of this crime, we, her family, members of Copinh and the Lenca people will continue demanding justice from the Honduran state.”

Castillo is the eighth person to be sentenced for killing Cáceres. The court has ruled she was murdered for leading the campaign to stop construction of the dam, which led to delays and financial losses for the dam company controlled by members a powerful clan.

Castillo used paid informants as well as his military contacts and skills to monitor Cáceres over years, information which was fed back to the company executives. He coordinated, planned and obtained the money to pay for the assassination of the internationally acclaimed leader, which was carried out by seven men convicted in December 2018.

Castillo’s sentence is significantly lower than the other seven convicts, who received jail terms between 30 and 50 years, due to recent changes in the criminal code.

Outside the court, supporters gathered around a spiritual offering and demanded that authorities continue investigating until those who ordered, paid for, enabled and benefited from the murder are exposed and brought to justice.

“David Castillo is just one link in the chain of command that ordered the murder of the Copinh leader,” the group said. “The struggle of the Lenca people for justice will not cease.”

During last year’s 49-day trial, Daniel Atala Midence, Desa’s financial manager, was summoned to give evidence due to his role in running operations with Castillo – which included authorising payments to informants used to monitor Cáceres.

But Atala Midence was excused at the last minute after state prosecutors revealed that he was under investigation for the murder. No further information has been released but upon sentencing Castillo, the court ordered that the case files be kept under wraps as the investigation remains open.

Atala Midence’s father and two uncles, the Atala Zablah brothers, who are part of one of the country’s most powerful economic and political families, are the majority shareholders in the dam company. There is no suggestion from prosecutors that they were involved in the assassination.

The project on the Gualcarque River, considered sacred by the Lenca people, was sanctioned even though it had not complied with national and international environmental and community requirements.

Castillo also faces charges of fraud in a separate case involving the dam licence, which is scheduled to begin in July. The Desa board member, Jacobo Atala Zablah, will be required to testify.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/ ... r-22-years

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Plaza inaugurated in honor of martyrs of the Honduran resistance

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The Isy Obed Murillo square has a guardhouse, public toilets, flower pots, commemorative plaques, as well as a torch that remains lit and spaces for community meetings. | Photo: @GildateleSUR
Published June 26, 2022 (10 hours 6 minutes ago)

"We are representing the blood of our children," said one of the mothers of the young martyrs after the 2009 coup.

The Government of Honduras inaugurated this Sunday the Isy Obed Murillo square in honor of the martyrs of the resistance, the site is on the south side of the Toncontín airport in the city of Comayagüela.

"We are representing the blood of our children, we thank the Presidency and all those who have been involved so that we have to fight to see everything that has been done in memory of the martyrs," said Silvia Mencías, the mother of one of the young martyrs.

Both the Government and municipal authorities restored and conditioned the site, where residents can visit it and remember the victims during the coup d'état perpetrated against then Manuel Zelaya in 2009.


The Isy Obed Murillo square has a guardhouse, public toilets, flower pots, commemorative plaques, as well as a torch that remains lit and spaces for community meetings.

The site bears the name of Isy Obed Murillo in memory of the 16-year-old who, during the 2009 coup d'état, arrived outside the airport terminal to reject the breach of constitutionality in his country, later and in that place Murillo lost life.

https://www.telesurtv.net/news/honduras ... -0019.html

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"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: Hondouras

Post by blindpig » Thu Jul 21, 2022 1:53 pm

Honduran Government Rejects US Engel List for Interventionist

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The 2022 Engel list includes 16 people from Guatemala, six from El Salvador, 15 from Honduras and 23 from Nicaragua. | Photo: AA
Published July 21, 2022 (9 hours 18 minutes ago)

"The nature and intention of this list denotes a permanent manipulation and an interventionist policy," highlights the Honduran government statement.

The Government of Honduras, headed by President Xiomara Castro, rejected this Wednesday, as "interventionist", the so-called Engel list published by the United States Department of State (USA) and which includes 15 Hondurans for alleged acts of corruption.

"The nature and intention of this list denotes a permanent manipulation and an interventionist policy, which many times in the past ignored the reasons it now invokes," revealed the note published by the Foreign Ministry.

The document went on to highlight that the list published in recent days, which mentions, among others, the current vice president of Parliament, Rasel Tomé, never included former president Juan Orlando Hernández who, however, after leaving office, was accused of drug trafficking by the northern nation and extradited.


"We categorically reject the actions and nonsense of this publication that unequivocally constitute an attempt to validate that crime (coup d'état) and ignore that a narco-dictatorship imposed on us," asserts the text of the presidency.

The 2022 Engel list includes 16 people from Guatemala, six from El Salvador, 15 from Honduras and 23 from Nicaragua.

The strategy of the United States Department of State consists of pointing out the names of people close to power in the aforementioned nations to take measures against them, such as the prohibition of visas to the northern nation.

https://www.telesurtv.net/news/gobierno ... -0043.html

Drip, drip, drip, the dam of hegemony is leaking...

'Lawfare', having blown up in the face of the US in Brazil, though you wouldn't know it from US media, is more easily blown off as regional solidarity increases. Fuck Monroe and the gunboat he sailed in on.
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: Hondouras

Post by blindpig » Mon Oct 10, 2022 2:28 pm

NicaNotes: “We Want to Live in Peace!” The Speech of Honduran President Xiomara Castro before the United Nations
October 6, 2022

In 2009 a US backed military coup in Honduras shocked the region, sparking massive national and international outcry which demanded restoration of the democratic order. Nicaragua’s solidarity with the people of Honduras was clear and decisive. In support of international attempts to reverse the coup, United Nations General Assembly President Miguel D’Escoto (formerly Nicaraguan Foreign Minister) accompanied President Manuel Zelaya to Honduras days after he was illegally ousted. The Honduran military blocked their plane from landing and fired on the crowds that had gathered at the airport to receive them. Nicaragua’s solidarity continued throughout the 13-year crisis that ensued.

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On September 20, 2022, Honduran President Xiomara Castro addressed the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly, speaking truth to power and establishing historical memory about the devastating impact of the 2009 US-backed coup, a coup that was finally reversed thanks to the courageous resistance of the Honduran people and international solidarity.

Honduran President Xiomara Castro’s Speech at the UN

[The speech can be watched here: https://www.latribuna.hn/2022/09/20/vea ... en-la-onu/. The Spanish transcript can be read here: https://confidencialhn.com/blog/2022/09 ... vir-en-paz]

Not only am I the first woman to have the honor of leading our Central American nation, but I also represent the first democratically elected government after going through 13 years of dictatorship, the 2009 coup d’état, full of cruel assassinations and death squads, two separate electoral frauds, a pandemic and two hurricanes. It is impossible to understand Hondurans and the great caravans of migrants without recognizing this context of cruel suffering that we have had to go through.

But electoral democracy is not enough to obtain the material and spiritual well-being of our people.

Thirteen years of a dictatorship, protected by the international community, led the country to multiply by six its public debt and reach a poverty rate of 74 percent, the highest rate in the history of Honduras.

Five out of ten of my compatriots live in extreme poverty, but I am clear that none of these figures impresses anyone in the world today that lives under the monetary dictatorship that imposes the most draconian measures of fiscal discipline on the poorest, that increases the suffering of the neglected majorities, and where speculative capital has no limits.

It is evident that for our country to survive today we must reject this presumptive austerity that rewards those who concentrate wealth in a few hands and exponentially increases inequality.

Since we arrived [in office] at the end of January, we have shown a strong desire for consensus, always expressing the firm decision to achieve agreement on our commitments without denying any of them. But attempts to undermine the will of the people come at us from all directions. Conspiracies are fomented among the same sectors that looted the country and from their coup allies emboldened by a brazen anti-democratic attitude, sometimes disguised as diplomacy.

The public policies endorsed by the rentier economic model* of the international financial community during the last 13 years have dragged us into a world full of violence and poverty with failed and abandoned projects, corruption, looting and drug trafficking.

None of the international witnesses to the electoral frauds of 2013 and 2017 were ignorant of those who were condemning our people [to suffering], and yet they were complacent about the worst plague that has hit our country. The arrogance of capital and petty interests made many opt for deception while organized crime led the country to the abyss.

The poor nations of the world will no longer endure coups, the use of lawfare**, or Color Revolutions, usually organized to plunder our vast natural resources. The industrialized nations of the world are responsible for the serious deterioration of the environment but they make us pay for their lifestyle, and for this, they spare nothing to plunge us into their plans and into an endless crisis, trying to tie us hand and foot.

The Honduras that I direct is being built with a vision of humanistic refoundation, imbued with dignity and sovereignty, which will do what is legally possible to recover our environment, and achieve the common good for all our population.

This arbitrary world order is unacceptable to us: where there are third and fourth category countries, where those who think they are civilized do not tire of carrying out invasions, wars, financial speculations and crucifying us with their inflation over and over again.

I take this platform to demand that we be respected, we want to live in peace! DO NOT continue trying to destabilize Honduras and dictate its measures or choose to whom we should relate.

The people are sovereign and they demonstrated it last November 28, supporting my victory, the largest in history. And the resistance that fought against the imposed dictatorship during these 13 years accompanied me en masse in the streets this September 15, the day of our independence, casting out the public threats and the custom of delivering national assets to the highest bidder.

Never again will we carry the stereotype of the Banana Republic; we will end the monopolies and oligopolies that only impoverish our economy.

A generous people, who have defended our forests and rivers, will not forget the hundreds of murders of young people and of our comrade Berta Cáceres, nor the forced disappearance of Honduran men and women because of their way of thinking, like the five Garífuna comrades two years ago.

Every millimeter of the homeland that was usurped in the name of the sacrosanct freedom of the market, including the Zones for Employment and Economic Development (Zedes) and other regimes of privilege, was irrigated with the blood of the original peoples. My social and democratic government will return to a state of justice and law, so that this does not happen again.

We are working hard to prioritize stimulus and the elimination of fiscal abuses. We have already started promoting a law for energy as a public good, the restoration of rights to workers, support for our internal market by investing in agriculture for food security, and subsidizing the poorest so they no longer pay for electricity.

We have proposed renegotiating free trade agreements. We have made the sovereign decision to invest in our development with import substitution, competing in international markets without subsidizing the excesses of developed nations.

For women, who have been denied their inclusion in development for centuries, we will recognize their importance in society as part of its backbone. We will provide health, quality education, security and food sovereignty to our children and youth.

For Honduras, each caravan of migrants fleeing from the dictatorship that was set up for more than a decade is a hard loss for our country and for their families. This exodus, caused by neoliberal injustice, generates more unemployment and binds us to an undesirable dependency. In our country, paradoxically, emigrants generate more foreign currency income than many of the traditional exports. Our solidarity and accompaniment are with the TPS*** recipients.

In Honduras we cannot continue to support the hypocrisy of a system that now judges a few people for crimes related to drug trafficking, but supported them for more than a decade in the commission of criminal actions, two electoral frauds, and crimes against the homeland and against millions of Hondurans.

For all this, we are going to set up an international commission to combat corruption and impunity with the support of the Secretary General of the United Nations. Honduras will only have a future if it takes firm steps to dismantle the neoliberal economic dictatorship.

That is why we have already begun the refoundation of our homeland and of education with the ideals and values of our national hero, Francisco Morazán Quezada.

*Rentier capitalism describes the economic practice of gaining large profits without contributing to society.
**Lawfare is the use of legal systems and institutions to damage or delegitimize an opponent, or to deter individual’s usage of their legal rights.
***Temporary Protected Status (TPS) allows people to live and work in the US for a period when their country is experiences war or environmental disaster.


https://afgj.org/nicanotes-10-06-2022
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Re: Hondouras

Post by blindpig » Thu Oct 27, 2022 1:43 pm

US Ambassador to Honduras Summoned for Meddling

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Honduran Foreign Minister Enrique Reina has asked U.S. Ambassador Laura Dogu to rectify her positions, considering that she intends to interfere in the country's internal affairs. Oct. 26, 2022. | Photo: Twitter/@CDNHND

Published 26 October 2022

The U.S. Ambassador Laura Dogu is summoned by Honduran Foreign Ministry at noon [18:00 GMT] on October 31.

The action is intended to formally protest the interference of U.S. Ambassador Laura Dogu in the country's internal affairs.

The ruling Libre party said via Twitter, "On instructions from the President of the Republic, Xiomara Castro, Foreign Minister Enrique Reina summons the U.S. Ambassador to Honduras at noon [18:00 GMT] on October 31 to formally protest her interference."

Yesterday, during a meeting with executives of the Honduran-American Chamber of Commerce, the ambassador raised U.S. concerns about the treatment of foreign investment in Honduras.

As a reason for concern, Dogu brought up land invasions and digital piracy. "We are very concerned about reports from U.S. and Honduran companies about increased land invasions and digital piracy."


In statements to TN5, Foreign Minister Enrique Reina reported that on October 31 at noon, he will deliver a "written protest" to the U.S. ambassador, Laura Dogu. "We have warned the ambassador several times," Reina said.

Honduran Foreign Minister Enrique Reina has asked the U.S. ambassador to rectify her positions, which show an intention to interfere in the country's political affairs.

Last May, Reina also described Dogu's statements on the energy reform plan proposed by the Honduran government as "ill-advised." The foreign minister called the measure a "critical" plan for economic development.

Dogu became the U.S. ambassador to Tegucigalpa on April 12. She previously served as Nicaragua's ambassador and foreign policy advisor to the U.S. Army Chief of Staff.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/US- ... -0011.html

This ambassador is cut from the same cloth as Victoria Nuland. Ain't it wonderful how 'diverse' the State Department is...as long as you're an imperialist thug.

Not hard to imagine what comes next... Pres Castro should have a chat with Pres Ortega, he's proven he knows how to deal with Yankee interference.
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: Hondouras

Post by blindpig » Fri Oct 28, 2022 2:11 pm

Why Is the US Condemning Honduras For Fighting Corruption?
OCTOBER 25, 2022

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The Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris, together with the President of Honduras, Xiomara Castro. Photo: Twitter @VP.

By Brett Heinz and Beth Geglia – Oct 06, 2022

Xiomara Castro, the president of Honduras, won a major victory for democracy earlier this year when Congress repealed the country’s Zonas de Empleo y Desarrollo Económico law (ZEDE, or “Economic Development and Employment Zones” in English). The legislation enabled the creation of special governance zones, which have “functional and administrative autonomy” from the national government. The zones allowed investors to create their own governance systems, regulations, and courts, providing room for experimentation with privatized government to create a “legal environment adequate … to be competitive at the international level.”

This policy was highly controversial, earning the opposition of Honduran labor unions, campesinos, Indigenous organizations, and even the nation’s largest business groups. As described by the US State Department, the zones “were broadly unpopular, including with much of the private sector, and viewed as a vector for corruption.” When President Castro proposed abolishing the policy, the Honduran legislature repealed it unanimously.

The Biden administration has argued that corruption is one of the largest barriers to development in Central America. The Biden administration’s “U.S. Strategy for Addressing the Root Causes of Migration in Central America” promises to “[p]rioritize an anticorruption agenda .…” But when this goal conflicts with others, like promoting US investment, which is more important? A recent report from the State Department criticizing President Castro for eliminating the ZEDE law suggests that private interests take priority over public transparency and accountability.

“Commitment to Commercial Rule of Law”

The Biden administration’s agenda for Central America is ostensibly meant to address the “root causes” that lead to migration to the US. But the plan’s heavy reliance on attracting private investment from multinational corporations undermines many of its most laudable goals. By ignoring corporate exploitation of land and workers as a root cause of migration in itself, the White House’s plans will support some of the very businesses creating the problems that they hope to solve.

Each year, the US State Department releases “Investment Climate Statements” for countries around the world, identifying foreign policies which are viewed as beneficial or harmful to the interests of US companies. The reports serve as a signal to investors, but they also help to shape the government’s priorities when interacting with other countries and with US diplomats “working with partner countries to address these barriers .…”

The 2022 Investment Climate Statement for Honduras is the US government’s first time issuing such a report for the government of President Castro, who won a landslide victory in last year’s elections. One of the keys to her coalition’s success was their pledge to address the rampant corruption in Honduran politics embodied by the prior president, Juan Orlando Hernández (“JOH”), who is now under indictment in the United States on drug trafficking charges.

When Castro won last year’s presidential election, the State Department congratulated her and said it would assist in “fighting corruption.” Yet when it chose to comment on the repeal of the ZEDE law, the State Department condemned the move in harsh terms: “the [Honduran] government has exposed itself to potentially significant liability and fueled concerns about the government’s commitment to commercial rule of law.”

The report criticizes Castro for eliminating the unpopular policy rather than “pursuing reforms or seeking dialogue with the ZEDE investors.” The move, they claim, “contributed to uncertainty over the government’s commitment to investment protections required by international treaties.”

The US government’s condemnation contradicts their public anti-corruption commitments directly. Even though ZEDE promoters claim that the autonomy of the zones will provide alternatives for Hondurans and foreign investors to the “corrupt” Honduran legal system, the model actually combines a lack of public accountability and embedded conflicts of interest with secretive financing to create a perfect environment for corruption.

The zones are allowed to create “their own police, as well as agencies tasked with criminal investigation, intelligence, prosecution, and … a penitentiary system.” However, these private agencies are under no obligation to share information with local citizens and can even unilaterally decide to limit their cooperation with Honduran government authorities. One zone, Ciudad Morazán, has declared that Honduran police are not allowed inside “without an invitation and supervision.”

The zones themselves are approved and constituted in secret. The body formed in the 2013 law to oversee ZEDE development, the Committee for the Adoption of Best Practices (CAMP), has been scrutinized for its lack of transparency and its antidemocratic nature. While the original members of the international committee had to be ratified by Congress, the committee can replace its own members with no oversight. No one knows who is currently on it, despite multiple requests for disclosure filed by scholars and civil society organizations under access to information laws. A list of members from 2013 includes former members of Ronald Reagan’s Outreach Group on Central America and problematic actors such as Ebal Díaz, a former JOH advisor who may have recently fled the country to avoid a corruption investigation.

The unelected CAMP has a disproportionate amount of power in Honduras. The CAMP approved three known zones behind closed doors, and the committee has yet to publish information about other zones under consideration. In areas of low population density on the northern and southern coasts of Honduras, the CAMP has exclusive authority to approve new zones; no congressional approval is needed. The CAMP can even intervene in a zone’s internal policy-making and influence the selection of its leader, the “Technical Secretariat.” Meanwhile, there is nothing barring CAMP members from holding positions of power within ZEDE governments.

Indeed, corruption is one of the only reasons the ZEDE policy came into place. After the 2009 coup d’etat against Xiomara Castro’s husband, then president Manuel Zelaya, the coup government of Honduras launched their first attempt at creating special jurisdictions, much to the pleasure of wealthy libertarian investors from the US. Paul Romer, a Nobel Prize-winning economist who helped inspire the policy, quickly distanced himself from it, citing concerns about a lack of transparency.

The policy, then known as the “Regiones Especiales de Desarrollo” (RED) law, was quickly challenged by Indigenous, Afro-Indigenous, and land rights groups throughout the country. It was soon deemed unconstitutional by the Honduran Supreme Court. In 2012, the Honduran legislature responded by replacing four of the five Supreme Court judges. The only judge who voted in favor of the RED zones, Oscar Chinchilla, was subsequently made attorney general of Honduras. With all judicial opposition eliminated, the modified ZEDE law was reintroduced and formally added to the national constitution. Thus, the law’s very passage was made possible by Honduran elites bending the law to the benefit of investors.

Who Benefits?

The first zone to open in Honduras, “Próspera,” quickly became a magnet for controversy. It provoked resistance from the nearby village of Crawfish Rock, where the project interfered in local affairs and water access. More recently, the zone has joined the neighboring country of El Salvador in accepting Bitcoin as currency. While Próspera claims to adhere to anti-money-laundering standards, organizations from Fitch Ratings to the International Monetary Fund have cautioned that such a policy could increase opportunities for money laundering.

Who are the investors backing these zone projects? No one knows for sure. “Honduras Próspera, LLC” is a trademarked subsidiary of NeWay Capital, an investment firm based in Washington, DC. NeWay Capital’s CEO Erick Brimen refers to himself as “Founder and CEO of Próspera” and serves on the Council of Trustees that governs the zone. He has also suggested to the Financial Times that the Próspera project had the backing of the US Embassy.

Many of Próspera’s board members and known investors are associated with the libertarian “free cities” movement and conservative politics generally. One investor is Pronomos Capital, a fund led by Milton Friedman’s grandson and supported by far-right billionaire Peter Thiel. Another is Free Private Cities Inc., whose CEO remarked in an interview that Próspera may be selective about whom it allows into the zone: the private government “reserve[s] the right not to accept serious criminals, communists and Islamists.”

Despite the law’s repeal which authorized their existence, ZEDEs are still in operation today. The Honduran government is insisting they reorganize to follow the legal standards used by other special economic zones, but Próspera has suggested that it will ignore them. The company seized upon the State Department’s report to claim that it does not have to change, arguing that “[t]he repeal of the ZEDEs cannot be legally interpreted as the elimination of the existing ZEDEs.” Even in defeat, these private territories are refusing to acknowledge the higher authority of the Honduran government.

Accountability and Democracy Must Come First

In condemning the repeal of the ZEDE law, the State Department continues to place the interests of the US business sector above its own stated intentions in Central America. In fact, such a stance reveals a loyalty to “commercial rule of law” at the expense of democratic rule of law. By prioritizing US-based investment firms like NeWay Capital over basic transparency, accountability, and participatory democratic governance, the US government is contributing to the issues plaguing the region.

In a nation where corruption is already entrenched, private governmental zones with opaque cash flows and little oversight can serve as a breeding ground for foul play. If the Biden administration is serious about tackling the root causes of forced migration in Central America and genuinely wants to support constitutional democracy in the region, then it should recognize the end of the ZEDEs as a positive step forward.

https://orinocotribune.com/why-is-the-u ... orruption/

Honduras: Xiomara Castro’s Government, Advancing Along a Mined Road
JUNE 20, 2022

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Five months with eyes on the re-foundation of Honduras and watching their backs

By Giorgio Trucchi — Jun 15, 2022

On January 27, Xiomara Castro took office as president of Honduras. It was a vibrant speech in which she made it clear that she was going to receive a country in bankruptcy, plundered, with a debt totaling more than 20 billion dollars, and with a clientelist structure practically intact of corruption and impunity, which in the last 12 years has been taking over public and private spaces.

A people devastated by poverty – almost 74% of the population and with 50% in absolute misery – and hopelessness. A growing number of people looking northward, not so much attracted by the “American dream”, but fleeing misery, violence and lack of opportunities.

A people that, in spite of everything, decided to go out massively to vote in November last year to punish the perpetrators of the coup, the white-collar butchers, the thieves and corrupt who put the country, its best lands, common goods, sovereignty and the very dignity of the nation up for sale.

A vote also for change, for the hope that a different Honduras is still possible. A vote for the woman who fought in the streets, together with her people, against the rupture of the constitutional order, the collapse of democracy, against bullets and batons, military and police, denouncing illegal detentions, physical and psychological repression, disappearances, torture and assassinations.

The expectations of a wounded people, disillusioned with politics and traditional politicians, were very high. Xiomara Castro’s promises were nourished.

In May, almost four months after taking office, the president made a first evaluation of the things done, the difficulties faced, the challenges ahead.

“With responsibility I have assumed the challenge of leading Honduras, a country subdued by a violent and corrupt narco-dictatorship, which handed over all control of the State to the oligarchy, in exchange for its complicit silence, in the face of the dismantling of our homeland,” said the president on national television.

“We anticipated the darkest forces and the most conservative and extremist sectors of Honduras, who tried to deal us an early blow by taking control of the Congress, but they failed thanks to the popular mobilization that accompanied me to defend what we won overwhelmingly at the polls”, she added.


The call for unity as a fundamental and essential element to face the offensive of the most retrograde and reactionary sectors of the Honduran society and to promote the re-foundation of the country, has characterized the political action of the new government, especially of the President.

In spite of the differences and conflicts within the ruling Liberty and Refoundation Party (Libre), the parliamentary bench of the first political force of the country seems to have found a certain stability.

In fact, this June 14, deputies met with President Xiomara Castro and Libre’s coordinator, Manuel Zelaya, to reaffirm that the collective and party unity is the same that was forged during the resistance struggle against the 2009 coup.

Likewise, they clarified that in Congress there is no independent bench within the Libre bench – as some media reported – and reaffirmed their total and unconditional support to the government presided by Castro.

Internal unity and parliamentary alliances made it possible to advance in the fulfillment of some of the electoral promises.

Dismantling the dictatorship

The Amnesty Law[1] was approved, facilitating the release of political prisoners and the return to the country of dozens of exiles, the bloody coup of 2009 was officially condemned, and the responsibility of the State was recognized in emblematic cases such as the murders of Vicky Hernández[2] (2009) and Herminio Deras[3] (1983), initiating a process of reparation for the victims.

For the Committee of Relatives of Disappeared Detainees in Honduras (Cofadeh), the new authorities are demonstrating to Honduran society and the international community the political will to generate a structural change in the approach to the issue of human rights and memory.

The Women’s Secretariat was also created and progress is being made towards the approval, in consensus with women’s and feminist organizations, of a comprehensive law against violence against women.

Likewise, the Hourly Employment Law was repealed, which for eight years has deepened the deregulation of the labor market, institutionalizing labor precariousness, promoting new forms of capitalist accumulation and generating a change in the correlation of forces in labor-management relations[4].

Similarly, all the norms and constitutional reforms related to the questioned Employment and Economic Development Zones (Zede) and their organic law[5] were repealed, as well as the controversial Official Secrets Law.

The general budget was reformed and increased by more than 2 billion dollars, prioritizing investment in social spending, especially health, education and social compensation programs, and job creation.

The gradual liquidation of trust contracts and public-private alliances, used by the governments that continued the coup as legal tools to privatize public finances, in the framework of shady deals that severely damaged the interests of the Honduran State, was promoted.

In this sense, a new decree has already been requested to Congress to allow the cancellation of trusts and to return the funds to the State’s coffers, while at the same time “the layers of inoperative public administration that served the dark management of public affairs” have begun to be eliminated, said the President.

In order to face the serious economic crisis, Xiomara Castro’s government initiated a fuel and electric energy subsidy program, benefiting 1.3 million families. It also undertook the task, not an easy one, of rescuing the public energy company (ENEE), which had been ruthlessly plundered for more than twelve years, and a new law was passed recognizing electric energy as a public good of national security and a human right.

The National Bank for Agricultural Development (Banadesa) was also authorized to place 40 million dollars in credits for some 7500 small agricultural producers at reduced interest rates. It is worth remembering that Banadesa was on the verge of being liquidated by the regime of Juan Orlando Hernández due to its high level of delinquency.

Finally, the Secretariat for Transparency and Fight against Corruption was created, a dialogue was initiated with the United Nations for the installation of an International Commission against Impunity in Honduras (CICIH), one of the most heartfelt demands of the Honduran people, broad powers and autonomy were granted to the Specialized Prosecution Unit against Corruption Networks (UFERCO) and an Anti-Corruption Commission was created in the National Congress.

Several measures were also taken in the areas of health, education and environmental protection, such as the creation of “green battalions” to defend forest reserves and combat illegal logging.

“It is like walking along a mined road, but we are moving forward. This privatizing model and the most ruthless accumulation of wealth is living its most savage phase that destroys everything. They are capable of doing whatever they have to do to ensure their profits.

I have received a country in ruins and I am building the basis for human development, respect for the environment and justice. The future is ours, nothing is immutable, history is made by the people, in dialectics and always tends towards the liberation of the most neglected”, said President Castro.

“The new government found a totally denaturalized State, that is to say that it does not fulfill its social functions in favor of the population, but has become a machinery to enrich even more the ruling classes.

We are talking about the new national oligarchy, linked mainly to Colombian, Israeli and US transnational capital, and to corrupt sectors of traditional politics,” explained Gilberto Ríos Munguía, political analyst and leader of Libre.

“Corruption is strictly linked to the capitalist system and model. It is estimated that through corruption something like 3 billion dollars are lost every year, that is, almost 33% of the general budget,” he added.

“Fighting this state of affairs is essential, even if it leads us on a collision course with the oligarchy and big capital. The government, alone, is not going to be able to. It needs all possible support,” warned Ríos Munguía.

Successes and challenges

The Centro de Estudios para la Democracia (Cespad) made public the document “Four months of administration: successes and challenges of Xiomara Castro’s government”, where a first assessment is made, focused on key issues such as, for example, rule of law and human rights, transparency and fight against corruption, environmental justice.

Cespad valued as positive the effort of the new government to modify national priorities, strengthening the role of the State in national development, reversing the privatization of public goods and recovering social spending.

At the same time, it was concerned about the high level of public debt and military spending, as well as “the weak signs of demilitarization of the State and society”.

The report evidenced “notable progress in the area of anti-corruption and transparency”, as well as in “territorial and environmental management”. However, it also points out the need to quickly promote “strategic political actions aimed at dismantling the extractivist policy of land dispossession and the agrarian policy of land concentration”.

Regarding women’s rights, Cespad urges the new authorities to establish “a strategic route to turn the historical demands of women into public policies and affirmative actions”.

Among the major challenges for the new Castro administration, the report highlights the renegotiation of the public debt and the reduction of military spending, more resources for public investment and to address the major problems affecting the historically excluded sectors of Honduran society.

Likewise, to advance in the transformation, democratization and demilitarization of the State and society, to carry out an agrarian reform with a gender focus, to proceed with the dismantling of the regulations and the extractivist model and to advance in the establishment of an independent justice system, among other points.

Popular power

According to Ríos Munguía, for the government it is fundamental to work on three strategic axes: strengthening the party and its structure at national level, maintaining a multi-party alliance as far as possible, and strengthening the relationship, collaboration and exchange with the social and popular movement”.

In December of last year, prior to the inauguration of Xiomara Castro, the Transition Commission set up several tables where different sectors of Honduran society presented their demands[6].

In particular, the Transition Commission for social movements covered three axes: national sovereignty, access to indigenous and peasant land, human settlements; extractivism, defense of water, environment, animal welfare and autonomy; public institutionality of environment, land and territory; and the protection of the environment.

From these meetings, 33 proposals were systematized and the next phase was the search for legal tools and funds to support these proposals.

In mid-May, the National Meeting of Popular Power for the Refoundation was held, where dozens of activists and organizations met with the objective of advancing, from the autonomy of the social movements, towards the re-foundation of society, through the construction of proposals to be implemented by the new government.

“There will not be changes without popular support. I am inclined towards a strong alliance and unity of the social and popular movement with the government, in full autonomy and based on programmatic proposals”, stated Sosa.

Notes

[1] http://www.rel-uita.org/honduras/amnist ... ciliacion/

[2] http://www.rel-uita.org/honduras/estado ... hernandez/

[3] http://www.rel-uita.org/honduras/una-re ... oscuridad/

[4] https://www.pressenza.com/es/2022/05/ho ... -por-hora/

[5] https://nuevanicaraguaymas.blogspot.com ... -zede.html

[6] https://nuevanicaraguaymas.blogspot.com ... olcan.html

(Internationalist 360)

https://orinocotribune.com/honduras-xio ... ined-road/

Honduras: Garifuna Communities Threatened at Bay of Tela
OCTOBER 27, 2022

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Featured image: Garifuna woman, from the Tela Bay, singing traditional songs. Photo: Radio Progreso (Honduras).

Garifuna territory, October 24, 2022 (OFRANEH)— Recently, the communities of Tela Bay (Triunfo de la Cruz, San Juan, Tornabé, Rio Tinto and La Ensenada) have faced a cruel and cowardly wave of threats, persecution and attacks against their leaders, particularly against the young “Leménigi Durugubuti,” the Rastas group and their Land Defense Committee. All of these attacks, made possible by the complicit passivity of the local and national authorities in Honduras intended to impose fear on the population and for the monopolization of the territory by third parties who seek to remove and displace the communities.

These Garífuna communities, located in the Bay of Tela, not only fight for their territory with organized crime gangs, but also with the monocultures of death, with the tourist industries which aim to displace them, mainly Indura Beach Resort, Shores Plantations, Marbella, Playa Escondida, Rosa Negra and other properties which were improperly acquired and legalized by the Municipality of Tela. Today, they develop large-scale cattle ranches and build beach houses within Garífuna communities for the rich who control the country.

This week the groups in power, and the elites of the transnational capital have released an audio clip that contains fearful death threats aimed at those who defend the territories of the communities of Tornabé, San Juan and Triunfo de la Cruz. In the audio clip you can clearly hear a recorded conversation between a member of the community and one of the third parties issuing the threats. Armed men have also been reported patrolling the communities and asking about the homes of the compañeros who defend them.

It is worrisome that criminals are using Garífuna people to identify and to send death threats to the leaders of their own communities. Moreover, a member of the San Juan community also stated that certain third party groups have offered him money to identify and hand over some leaders of his community.

The community of Triunfo de la Cruz relives the tragic morning of July 18, 2020, where an operation of more than 30 heavily armed men, commanded by official forces of the Honduran Investigative Police Department (DPI), disrupted the peaceful community, kidnapped then disappeared the community president of the board of trustees, Sneider Centeno, along with three other young people, with the aim of removing him from the board of trustees, and to silence his demands for respect and the restitution of the territory belonging to his community. The operation occured during a day with a strict curfew (COVID-19), in which only security forces of the country could move about freely. These forced disappearances occurred along other acts of violence, murders, persecution and intimidation against land defenders of the Garífuna ancestral territories.

The Garífuna communities rely on precautionary measures from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). They have filed innumerable complaints and have even resorted to the protection mechanism. Additionally, in 2015 the Inter-American court issued a ruling in Triunfo de la Cruz and Punta Piedra for violation of the right to collective property of both communities; meanwhile the community of San Juan this year held a hearing before the same instance for a similar case.

The non-compliance with the ruling of the Inter-American Court, not only shows the lack of will of the State of Honduras to respect the human rights of the Garífuna people, which are internationally recognized, but also deliberately puts members of the Garífuna communities in danger and increases conflict in these communities.

The Inter-American Court has stated that “the lack of land protection and the disregard for the special meaning that this land has for the Garífuna community of Triunfo de la Cruz, implies that in denying of the exercise of territorial rights, it impairs the values which are representative of the members of these peoples, who are in danger of losing or suffering irreparable damage to their life and cultural identity and to the cultural heritage passed down to future generations.”

Workers Building New US Embassy in Honduras Strike Over Severed Fingers, Illegal Contracts


Those who have mobilized at the national and international level, allies, organizations and governments in solidarity, have been called to maintain the demand for justice and an end to the persecution and threats to the leadership of our Garífuna people. Additionally, Indura Beach Resort, Shores Plantations, Marbella, Playa Escondida, Rosa Negra and others, are being held responsible for any attack that causes emotional, physical or damage of any other nature towards the defenders of the Garifuna communities of Triunfo de la Cruz, San Juan, Tornabe, Rio Tinto and La Ensenada.

Stop the implantation of terror in our Garifuna communities!!

The Garifuna People deserve to live in peace!

Our youth deserve another future!!

Stop institutional racism against our Garifuna people!!

We demand compliance with the rulings of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights on the Garifuna People!!

We demand Truth and Justice for the Forced Disappearance of our Youth from Triunfo de la Cruz!

Honduran Black Fraternal Organization, OFRANEH


https://orinocotribune.com/honduras-gar ... y-of-tela/
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: Hondouras

Post by blindpig » Sun Jan 29, 2023 3:02 pm

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President Xiomara Castro’s Speech to CELAC
January 26, 2023CELAC, Honduras, Xiomara Castro

Below is a transcription of President of Honduras Xiomara Castro at the VII Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States on Tuesday, January 24th in Buenos Aires.

Distinguished President of Argentina, Alberto Fernandez. Thank you for the hospitality and especially for the hospitality we have received from the Argentine people.

Distinguished Presidents and Foreign Ministers of the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean:

In this historic meeting, I would like to begin my words by acknowledging the enormous solidarity and unconditional support, which we received in those difficult moments during the coup d’état in Honduras, planned by the international right wing against the government of President Manuel Zelaya Rosales.


Thank you Latin America, for your support!

After 12 years of resistance, thanks to the support of our people, of our martyrs, of the international community, with a resounding victory we reversed the coup d’état! Thank you Cristina, thank you President Lula, Correa, Leonel, Lugo, Evo, Ortega, Fidel, Raul, Diaz Canel, Nicolas and thanks to Commander Hugo Rafael Chavez Frias.

I attend this forum with great hope, at a critical moment for our region, in the face of the failure of the OAS, today CELAC is more necessary than ever.

The right wing does not rest, cynically, speaks of development and plans coups d’état. Through their media machinery, economic boycott and lawfare political persecution, they maintain a permanent aggression against our peoples.

They are the main ones responsible for the plundering of our natural resources and the accelerated deterioration of the environment and climate change.

From the Rio Bravo to Patagonia, we are fighting a common battle against neoliberalism, which in its wake has left only poverty, hunger and misery.

Only united can we shield ourselves from the ferocious attacks of neo-fascism, which seeks to impose the selfish interests of the great economic powers on our peoples.

Presidents, it is essential that we assume a leading role in multipolarity, and that we denounce the asymmetrical policies of globalization that drag us to suffer the consequences of war such as the one in Ukraine, subjecting our peoples to intolerable levels of injustice, poverty and corruption.

We combat neoliberalism, and denounce the policies of aggression and economic boycott against Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela. No brother should risk his life migrating to countries that treat them as second-class citizens. Latin America is the great homeland, which embraces its sons and daughters without distinction of origin.

The power lies in our people, in the people. I myself am the expression of 12 years of resistance in the streets. I am the first woman president in the history of the Honduran people.

I have received a country in ruins, mired in poverty, drug trafficking and violence. The reconstruction of Honduras is underway.

Presidents, it is time for solidarity!

My congratulations on the recent triumph of President Lula da Silva in Brazil and President Gustavo Petro in Colombia. My full support to the Vice President of the Republic of Argentina, comrade Cristina Fernandez, victim of the relentless judicial persecution.

We condemn the coup d’état in Peru and the aggression to which the Peruvian people are subjected, our solidarity with the legitimately elected President, Pedro Castillo, we demand his immediate release.

There is much to do, we must continue tirelessly seeking the path of democratic and socialist unity.

My condolences to the family of the former president of Guatemala, Alvaro Colom.

Receive fraternal greetings from the land of the Central American Unionist, General Francisco Morazán.

We are resistance!

Thank you very much.

https://kawsachunnews.com/president-xio ... h-to-celac


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Peru withdraws ambassador from Honduras after Xiomara Blasts Coup at CELAC
January 26, 2023Dina Boluarte, Honduras, Peru, Peru coup, Xiomara Castro

Peru’s defacto government has announced that it is removing its ambassador to Honduras, following the speech by President of Honduras, Xiomara Castro, at this week’s CELAC Heads of State and Government Summit.

The Peruvian Foreign Ministry said in a tweet thread: “The Government has definitively withdrawn the Ambassador of Peru in Honduras in response to the unacceptable interference in internal affairs of President Xiomara Castro in her intervention in CELAC, ignoring the constitutional Government of President Dina Boluarte.”

“As a consequence of the position adopted by Honduras, bilateral relations with that country will be maintained, indefinitely, at the level of business managers.”

In her speech, Xiomara condemned the coup and demanded the immediate release of jailed President Pedro Castillo, who has been a political prisoner since early December, saying “We condemn the coup d’état in Peru and the aggression to which the Peruvian people are subjected, our solidarity with the legitimately elected President, Pedro Castillo, we demand his immediate release.”

Colombian president Gustavo Petro was also outspoken against the Peruvian regime, which continues to order brutal repression against anti-coup demonstrators and indigenous people in rural areas. A protest was held outside of the U.S. embassy in Lima on Wednesday, calling for Boluarte’s resignation and demanding justice for the more than 60 people killed by the regime’s security forces.

https://kawsachunnews.com/peru-withdraw ... p-at-celac
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Re: Hondouras

Post by blindpig » Mon Feb 13, 2023 2:22 pm

Honduran Congress will try again to elect CSJ members

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Redondo said the ex-magistrates of the CSJ "are no longer the authority of the State and (...) any act they carry out is void and implies civil, criminal and administrative liability." | Photo: EFE
Posted February 13, 2023 (4 hours 13 minutes ago)

The president of the parliament, Luis Redondo, said that this Monday he will meet with the heads of the benches, in the search for consensus and call a session for the election.

The Honduran Congress will try again this Monday to achieve the necessary consensus to define who will be the 15 new magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ), after the mandate of the previous ones expired last Saturday.

The president of parliament, Luis Redondo, issued a statement this Sunday night in which he announced that a meeting with the heads of the congressional blocs (unicameral) was scheduled for this Monday, in the search for consensus and to convene a session for the election.

Last Saturday, Honduran deputies concluded a debate without reaching an agreement to elect the 15 members of the country's highest court of justice for the period 2023-2030, in what was a third attempt.


Redondo, in a tweet in which he included a statement, informed the Honduran people "that the constitutional mandate of the former magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice (2016-2023) expired or ended on Saturday, February 11, 2023."

The leader of parliament highlighted in the text that as of February 12, the former CSJ magistrates (2016-2023) “are no longer an authority of the State. And in accordance with the Constitution and the laws of Honduras, any act that they execute is null and implies civil, criminal and administrative responsibility”.

In this context, the CSJ magistrate, Edgardo Cáceres, announced this Sunday that this Monday he will present his “irrevocable” resignation from office before Parliament, after concluding his seven-year term.

Cáceres said that although the Constitution states that as long as Parliament does not choose their substitutes, the magistrates must continue to lead the Supreme Court, he understands that, in his particular case, he thinks that his term has already ended, on February 11, "so that tomorrow (Monday) I will present my resignation”.

https://www.telesurtv.net/news/honduras ... -0004.html

They denounce the murder of a peasant leader in Bajo Aguán, Honduras

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Despite the harassment by the landowners and the assassination of their leaders, the peasants of Bajo Aguán continue to fight. | Photo: Let's get misinformed
Posted 12 February 2023 (12 hours 50 minutes ago)

Santos Hipólito Rivas is the seventh peasant defender of land and water assassinated in the area during 2023.

The Honduran Agrarian Platform and the Coordinator of the Popular Organizations of Aguán (COPA) denounced this Sunday the murder of the peasant defender of land and water Santos Hipólito Rivas and his 15-year-old son Javier Rivas.

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The leader and the young man were riding a motorcycle when they were shot in the community of Ilanga, Trujillo, department of Colón, in the Honduran Caribbean. He is the seventh land and water defender assassinated in the area, known as Bajo Aguán, in less than two months of 2023.

In this regard, both groups demanded the urgent intervention of the Prosecutor for Crimes against Life to investigate what happened and find those responsible for the crime. Santos Hipólito Rivas was known for his work as founder of the Gregorio Chávez peasant company.


According to the Agrarian Platform and COPA, the rural leader had denounced on several occasions that "he was the victim of threats, persecution and surveillance by members of the armed group led by alias Piturro, which has been operating within the Paso Aguán farm for several years , a situation that is known to the authorities of the region”.

Due to this, members of the peasant community of Panama together with the Agrarian Platform filed a complaint in June 2019 with the then Attorney General of Honduras, Óscar Chinchilla, against said armed group.

According to alternative media, in addition to intimidating community leaders, this paramilitary formation seeks to sow terror among the population and the members of the Gregorio Chávez peasant company, which today guards an area in recovery won after years of peasant struggles against interests of a powerful group of palm landowners.

The statement from both groups states that Santos Hipólito Rivas "had internal protection measures from the Protection Mechanism since March 28, 2019." However, they indicated that the State of Honduras has been "incapable of protecting the defenders of land and water in the Aguán."

The murder of Santos Hipólito and his son was condemned by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (Oacnudh), which urged the authorities to investigate this incident and take urgent measures to prevent more murders in the region.

https://www.telesurtv.net/news/honduras ... -0021.html

Google Translatyor
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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