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ACTION ALERT!


CRLN and our partner La Voz de Los de Abajo are sending just shy of 30
people to observe the Honduran elections on November 24th.

The current political climate of Honduras has led to the deaths of 18 candidates
from the opposition party as well as dozens of journalists, lawyers and human
rights defenders, of which only a handful of cases have been solved.

As impunity reigns in Honduras and citizens lose faith in their
governmental istitutions,

Democratic Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia is
circulating a letter to Secretary of State Kerry


demanding that the U.S.

– which has tremendous influence in Honduras –

press the Government of
Honduras to ensure the right of all its citizens to peacefully assemble,
campaign and vote.

Click here to tell your Senator that you want him or her to sign Senator
Kaine’s letter!

Support the Honduran people’s right to a democratic process!
Support the international monitoring efforts!

Click here to make your voice
heard!

You can also call Senator Durbin’s office at 202-224-2152 and ask that
Senator Durbin sign on Tim Kaine’s letter on the Honduran elections. Be sure to
tell them that your friends at CRLN and La Voz de Los de Abajo are going to
Honduras and that you’re looking to your elected officials to support the work
you’ll be doing down there to monitor the November 24th elections.



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Three CRLN staff and board members traveled to Honduras February 28 – March 8 together with La Voz de los de Abajo, one of CRLN’s partner groups. Below is a reflection by Sharon Hunter-Smith upon visiting two communities engaged in land recuperation as part of the National Center of Rural Workers.

Tegucigalpa and La Paz, Honduras; March 6, 2017




(Español Aqui)


Our group from Chicago stood staring at the rough wooden table, which held 2-dozen or so spent tear gas canisters plus a couple of bullet shells, collected by the 9

th

of July community from the area immediately surrounding the place where we stood. The largest one, designed to be fired from a rifle, was stamped “Made in U.S.A.” The connection between U.S. military and police aid to Honduras and the violent persecution of impoverished Honduran farmers was crystal clear in the objects before us.

The original rural community of 28 families has been tear gassed and evicted from their simple hand-built dwellings and cultivated land 26 times by the Honduran military or police. In the last surprise eviction on January 13, 2017, the police followed the fleeing people, even women and children, across the valley, shooting all the way. One man was shot in the leg and a pregnant woman miscarried after running away, panicked, from the “security” forces. They also tore down and burned houses, stole or burned possessions and tools left in and around the houses, and cut down some of the fruit trees and crops. Since then, the women and children, have moved to a nearby community while the men have re-occupied the land.

“Thanks be to God that we continue to live on this land,” said one man. After each violent eviction, the community’s commitment is to return and resettle on the land within 24 hours of being pushed off, rebuilding houses and restoring crops as they are able. The bravery and endurance that this strategy demands is fed by their hope of land ownership. They experience other threats in the form of arrest warrants against them and death threats from the national or military police. “Every time we receive a group of international people who are in solidarity with us, it gives us the strength to keep going on with our struggle,” said another.

This community of formerly landless people, organized by the Central Nacional de Trabajadores del Campo (CNTC–National Center of Rural Workers), settled this abandoned and desert-like land in 2010. They dug trenches and bought plastic pipes to carry water for irrigation and drinking water from a spring 3 kilometers away. They planted fruit trees and other crops to feed their families. A dry hillside turned green and provided a way to make a living. The CNTC works with 203 other communities, like 9

th

of July, who are reclaiming land and putting it to good use in 14 of the 18 Honduran departments (what in the U.S. would be called states).

The National Agrarian Reform Law provides that idle land fit for farming can be expropriated and awarded to indigent and landless persons by the government, but this does not happen often. To force the issue and obtain the land essential for rural people to support themselves and their families, the CNTC works with landless people to settle and plant on unused, undeveloped or abandoned land. The occupants then file for title to the land under the Agrarian Reform Law with Honduran National Agrarian Institute (INA).


The 9

th

of July community is the most persecuted of all the CNTC communities, but others usually are evicted at least several times in their struggle to obtain land. How long do they have to be on the land before they are granted a title? “We don’t know with this administration. They are not on our side,” answered one man. Some of the CNTC communities have lived and worked on their land for 15-20 years and still do not have title.

Putting this into an even larger context for us, CNTC Director Franklin Almendares explained that 64% of Honduran people are rural, impoverished, and displaced or facing displacement from their land for lack of a title to it. 46% live in extreme poverty. “We are not poor—our land is rich—but we are impoverished, because they throw us off the land on which we live and farm. They want to annihilate those who speak out, who protest, who object to and challenge this system.” At the same time, Almendares pointed out, when large corporate landowners take land without having title to it, the government is complicit with their actions and grant them titles.


Visiting a second land recuperation project, CNTC organizers led us to a piece of land on a plantation that had been abandoned for decades, its owner living in Tegucigalpa.14 young men and boys, most in their teens and early twenties, had arrived on the land 11 days earlier at night.They had made pup tents from pieces of plastic and canvas held up by sticks for shelter, and had begun clearing trees so that they could begin to create fields to plant. The youngest among them appeared to be around 11 years old. They seemed wary and shy,  vulnerable and scared. Most did not talk to us, letting the CNTC organizers explain to us their situation.

All wanted to acquire some land to work on and have something to hope for. They eventually wanted to start a family and needed a way to support them. Without land, they had no hope, and without hope, they had no reason to live.

The CNTC organizers used our visit as a training for these young people—how to receive an international group, how to present themselves. They had coached the leader of the group to introduce himself with a brief description of their objectives in occupying this land. He told us that after arriving, they did not sleep for three nights, worried that the police would find them and evict them. They also had not slept outside before with insects and snakes in the area, and they were getting used to that. With encouraging words, the CNTC organizers told the group that eviction is just a passing misfortune on the way to acquiring land and homes and community. Every group had experienced this, and many had eventually earned their titles. They must work and have hope that they, too, will be successful one day, because this path is the only one that offers them any hope.


What can those of us in the U.S. do to stop the persecution of communities working with the CNTC?

Call your Congressional Representative’s office, ask to speak with or leave a message for the staff responsible for foreign policy, and request that they co-sponsor H.R. 2199, the Berta Cáceres Human Rights in Honduras Act.

This would suspend all U.S. security aid to Honduras, including equipment and training, until they cease their human rights violations. We must stop U.S. funding that enables Honduras to use violence against its own people, people who only want a chance to support their families and contribute to the life of their communities!

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For several months, activists, campesinos, students, and trade unionists—this time joined by middle-class and business people–have engaged in hunger strikes, marches with torches, protests in front of government buildings, and calls for the resignation of Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez and Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina. Everyone is fed up with official stealing from the public coffers. Hundreds of millions of dollars from the Social Security Institute have been stolen by officials in Honduras crippling the public health system. CICIG, the UN commission charged with uncovering the connections between organized crime and the government, has issued statements that it has hard evidence that the President and Vice President were at the head of a graft scheme that cheated the state out of tax revenue for social programs and funnelled bribes to multiple Guatemalan officials. Political parties have used pilfered public funds and donations from organized crime to fund the majority of their election campaigns.

While these same states also work to privatize social services, police with their militaries and militarize their police, and commit heinous human rights violations against their own people with impunity, the U.S. turns a blind eye to the devastating corruption and continues to send military and police aid to support those in the upper echelons of power in both countries. In addition, in response to the large numbers of unaccompanied Central American children crossing the US-Mexico border last year, the Obama Administration is requesting an additional $1 billion in aid to Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador under the name “Alliance for Prosperity,” ostensibly to bring about improvements in security, governance, and the economies of these three nations.  However, giving vast sums of money to Honduras and Guatemala begs the question of where, exactly, this money would end up.

As regards El Salvador, evidence was recently marshaled in The Nation magazine that suggests the U.S. is supporting a soft coup in El Salvador to oust its democratically elected and left-leaning government. CRLN will be monitoring the situation with our partners in the region and in the U.S.

Here are some recent articles that provide further updates and background for the situations unfolding in these three countries.

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Tres miembros del personal y la junta de directores de CRLN viajaron a Honduras del 28 febrero al 8 marzo junto con La Voz de los de Abajo, uno de los grupos asociados de CRLN. A continuación se presenta una reflexión de Sharon Hunter-Smith sobre la visita de dos comunidades dedicadas a la recuperación de tierras como parte del Centro Nacional de Trabajadores Rurales.

Tegucigalpa y La Paz, Honduras; 6 de Marzo del 2017

Nuestro grupo de Chicago se quedó mirando la tosca mesa de madera, en la cual habían dos docenas o más de latas de gas lacrimógeno, además de un par de proyectiles de bala, recogidos por la comunidad del 9 de julio en la zona que rodeaba el lugar donde estábamos. El más grande, diseñado para ser disparado desde un fusil, fue estampado “Hecho en EEUU”. La conexión entre el ejército estadounidense y la ayuda policial a Honduras y la violenta persecución de campesinos empobrecidos hondureños fue clara en los objetos que teníamos ante nosotros.

La comunidad rural original de 28 familias ha sido desgastada por gases lacrimógenos y desalojada de sus sencillas viviendas construidas a mano y tierras cultivadas, 26 veces por el ejército o la policía hondureña. En el último desalojo sorpresivo del 13 de enero de 2017, la policía siguió a los fugitivos, incluso mujeres y niños, a través del valle, disparando hasta el final. Un hombre recibió un disparo en la pierna y una mujer embarazada sufrió un aborto después de salir corriendo, presa del pánico, de las fuerzas de “seguridad”. También derribaron y quemaron casas, robaron o quemaron posesiones y herramientas dejadas en y alrededor de las casas, y cortaron algunos de los árboles frutales y cosechas. Desde entonces, las mujeres y los niños, se han trasladado a una comunidad cercana mientras que los hombres han re-ocupado la tierra.

Esta comunidad, la cual no tenía tierra antes, organizada por el Centro Nacional de Trabajadores del Campo (CNTC), se instaló esta tierra abandonada y desértica en el 2010. Ellos cavaron trincheras y compraron tubos de plástico para llevar agua para riego y agua potable de una fuente a 3 kilómetros de distancia. Plantaron árboles frutales y otros cultivos para alimentar a sus familias. Una ladera seca se volvió verde y proporcionó una manera de ganarse la vida. La CNTC trabaja con otras 203 comunidades, como la 9 de julio, que reclaman tierras y la aprovechan en 14 de los 18 departamentos hondureños (lo que en los Estados Unidos se llamaría estados).

La Ley Nacional de Reforma Agraria dispone que las tierras desocupadas aptas para la agricultura pueden ser expropiadas y otorgadas a personas indigentes y sin tierra por el gobierno, pero esto no ocurre con frecuencia. Para forzar el tema y obtener la tierra esencial para que la gente rural se mantenga a sí misma y a sus familias, la CNTC trabaja con gente sin tierra para asentarse y plantar en tierras no utilizadas, subdesarrolladas o abandonadas. Los ocupantes se declaran a favor del terreno bajo la Ley de Reforma Agraria con el Instituto Nacional Agrario de Honduras (INA).

La comunidad del 9 de julio es la más perseguida de todas las comunidades de la CNTC, pero otras generalmente son desalojadas por lo menos varias veces en su lucha por obtener tierras. ¿Cuánto tiempo tienen que estar en la tierra antes de que se les conceda un título? “No sabemos con esta administración. No están de nuestro lado “, respondió un hombre. Algunas de las comunidades CNTC han vivido y trabajado en sus tierras durante 15-20 años y aún no tienen título.

El director del CNTC, Franklin Almendares, explicó que el 64% de la población hondureña es rural, empobrecida y desplazada o que se encuentra desplazada de sus tierras por falta de un título. El 46% vive en extrema pobreza. “No somos pobres, nuestra tierra es rica, pero estamos empobrecidos, porque nos echan de la tierra donde vivimos y cultivamos. Al mismo tiempo, señaló Almendares, cuando los grandes terratenientes corporativos toman tierra sin tener título, el gobierno es cómplice de sus acciones y les concede títulos.

Visitando un segundo proyecto de recuperación de tierras, los organizadores de la CNTC nos llevaron a un terreno en una plantación que había sido abandonada por décadas, su dueño viviendo en Tegucigalpa. 14 jóvenes y niños, la mayoría en la adolescencia y principios de los veinte, habían llegado 11 días antes por la noche. Habían hecho tiendas a partir de piezas de plástico y lona sostenidas por palos para refugiarse, y habían comenzado a limpiar los árboles para que pudieran comenzar a crear campos para plantar. Los más jóvenes de ellos parecían tener alrededor de 11 años. Parecían cautelosos y tímidos, vulnerables y asustados. La mayoría no nos habló, dejando que los organizadores de la CNTC nos explicaran su situación.

Todos querían adquirir un terreno para trabajar y tener algo que desear. Eventualmente, querían formar una familia y necesitaban una forma de apoyarlos. Sin tierra, no tenían esperanza, y sin esperanza, no tenían razón para vivir.

Los organizadores de la CNTC utilizaron nuestra visita como una capacitación para estos jóvenes- cómo recibir un grupo internacional, cómo presentarse. Habían entrenado al líder del grupo para presentarse con una breve descripción de sus objetivos en la ocupación de esta tierra. Nos dijo que después de llegar, no durmieron tres noches, preocupados porque la policía los encontraría y los desalojaría. También no habían dormido afuera antes con insectos y serpientes en la zona, y se estaban acostumbrando a eso. Con palabras alentadoras, los organizadores de la CNTC dijeron al grupo que el desalojo es sólo una desgracia pasajera en el camino hacia la adquisición de tierras, hogares y comunidad. Cada grupo había experimentado esto, y muchos habían ganado sus títulos. Deben trabajar y tener esperanza de que ellos también tengan éxito un día, porque este camino es el único que les ofrece alguna esperanza.

¿Qué podemos hacer nosotros los de Estados Unidos para detener la persecución de las comunidades que trabajan con la CNTC? Llame a la oficina de su Representante del Congreso, pida hablar con el personal responsable de la política exterior o deje un mensaje y solicite que co-patrocinen la Res. H. 2199, Ley de Derechos Humanos en Honduras de Berta Cáceres. Esto suspendería toda la ayuda de seguridad de los Estados Unidos a Honduras, incluyendo equipo y entrenamiento, hasta que cesen sus violaciones de derechos humanos. Debemos detener la financiación estadounidense que permita a Honduras usar la violencia contra su propio pueblo, personas que sólo quieren una oportunidad para apoyar a sus familias y contribuir a la vida de sus comunidades.

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The recent arrests of 18 former Guatemalan military officers has set in motion the formal court proceedings of decades-long delay of justice involving countless human rights violations. The violations, during the country’s thirty-six year long civil war, took place between 1960 and 1996, officially “ending” with the signing of the 1996 Peace Accords. The corruption within the country’s infrastructure, however, is much more deeply rooted. So is the vast gulf between rich and poor, racism directed against the majority indigenous population, and the need for land reform, all issues that remain unresolved after the Peace Accords.

In a country of roughly 15 million, there are roughly


6,000 homicides within Guatemala each year, yet only 2% of those go to trial.


Additionally, the success of organized crime in perpetuating this violence–during the civil war and in recent years–has been possible in part because of government and military involvement in it. For example, former president Otto Pérez Molina, formerly a general during the civil war,


was arrested last year


just hours after his resignation from the presidency for accusations of corruption and fraud.

Now, Guatemala, desperate for social and political reform, has a new, democratically-elected President, former comedian and producer Jimmy Morales, a man who proudly boasted about his neophyte status with the campaign slogan, “Neither corrupt, nor a thief.”  However, all of President Morales’ backers are military men. Will the violence lessen under him?  He was elected, many think, on a “protest vote;” in other words, Guatemalans voted their distrust of the corruption of all political candidates who had any experience in what they see as a corrupt political system.

Morales has a full table in front of him with the trials coming up in his first year as president. One case, involving former dictator Efrain Rios Montt, has been delayed several times over allegations that


his physical and mental health are not well enough


for him to appear in court. Montt and former chief of military intelligence, Mauricio Rodriguez Sanchez, are now facing a retrial


charged with genocide and crimes against humanity


for their roles in relation to the deaths of 1,771 Mayan Ixiles between March 1982 and August 1983. In addition to Rios Montt and Rodriguez Sanchez, former Army Chief of Staff Benedicto Lucas Garcia, brother of former President Romeo Lucas Garcia,


faces charges


for crimes against humanity which took place during Romeo’s dictatorship between 1978 and 1982.  In addition to Perez Molina, Rodriguez Sanchez, Rios Montt and Lucas Garcia, a host of other military officers from the School of the Americas–a combat training school for Latin American soldiers, specializing in counter-insurgency and teaching torture techniques–


were arrested for acts of genocide


, also taking place over 25 years ago.

What is next for the Guatemalan people, who demonstrated in the streets for 5 months last year to force the resignation of Perez Molina and to call for a better system of government? President Morales faces pressure from his military constituents as well as backlash from the anti-corruption, anti-fraud voters who put him in office. The steps he will take in response to the coming trials are nebulous. While the public largely supports prosecuting these criminals to the full extent of the law, his friends in the military have expectations that they will be found innocent and go free, or at the very least, that their trials will be delayed until these octogenarians die. As Jo-Marie Burt, a political science professor at George Mason University and senior fellow at the Washington Office on Latin America,


explains


, “This series of arrests from last week, some of them go right to the heart of the political allies that he has. I think that it’s kind of a little earthquake within Jimmy Morales’ inner circle.”

The importance of these court cases may be felt most deeply by the relatives of those lost during the thirty six year long war. After such a long time, it would be a huge emotional relief for the families of the victims of  these military officers’ crimes  if these violators were brought to justice.  The government has repeatedly sought to deny that there was a genocide against the Mayan people.  A guilty verdict would make the historical record clear and unequivocal. As Anselmo Roldán of the Association for Justice and Reconciliation said on the Rios Montt verdict, “To deny the sentence is to deny the value of lives lost. Each of those who died needlessly has value. The sentence is a recognition of that which was taken from us all.”

Written by Luke Burrows (CRLN Intern)
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Rep. Hank Johnson reintroduced the Berta Caceres Human Rights in Honduras Act in the 115th Congress as House Resolution 1299 (HR 1299) on March 2, the first anniversary of the slain indigenous rights, feminist, and environomental activist. The bill would suspend all U.S. military and police aid to Honduras, including equipment and training, until basic human rights conditions are met. The Honduran police and military have been implicated in hundreds of human rights violations since the 2009 overthrow of the government, and we should not be supporting them with our tax dollars.


We have an amazing opportunity in the two years of the 115th Congress (2017-18) to generate enough support for this bill to get it passed

. Already, Representatives Schakowsky, Lipinski, Gutierrez, Rush, and Davis from Illinois have signed on to co-sponsor. Here are three good reasons you might give us permission to sign your name on a letter to your Representative in support of this resolution, which CRLN staff will deliver when we are in DC for Ecumenical Advocacy Days:


  1. Berta’s family supports this bill

    , and we in CRLN believe in supporting the survivors of human rights abuses. Two of the suspects arrested in connection with Berta’s murder worked in military intelligence and were trained at the U.S. Army School of the Americas, and Berta’s family believes the intellectual authors of the crime occupy positions at the highest levels of government. Withdrawing financial support, along with communicating the reasons for doing so, would be a blow to these forces and might weaken their position within Honduras.

2.

The social movements

in Honduras (LGBT, women, Indigenous, Garifuna, labor unions, environmentalists, small farmers), and the          journalists who cover them,

are under constant threat of violence,

and we in CRLN want to do everything in our power to send the message that they have international solidarity in these dangerous times. There have been credible allegations by an army defector of the existence of death squads within the Honduran military who have received U.S. training and who have a hit list of prominent social movement leaders. We need to stop U.S. training that results in assassinations.

3.

The current President, Juan Orlando Hernandez, and his administration and political party are riddled with corruption. He has been named by a drug trafficker leader on trial in New York as receiving bribes from his cartel, with Hernandez’ brother acting as liaison

. His National Party stole hundreds of millions of dollars from the national health insurance system to fund his first campaign. He will run again for President this fall, which violates the Constitution; and he fired four Supreme Court justices who objected and appointed four who were in favor of his re-election bid in order to be able to run again. The U.S. should not reward with funds someone who seems willing to benefit himself at the expense of his country.

For further reading, here are some recent articles on Honduras:

By Berta Caceres’ nephew on the anniversary of her assassination:


“Berta Cáceres court papers show murder suspects’ links to US-trained elite troops”


https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/28/berta-caceres-honduras-military-intelligence-us-trained-special-forces

By Steven Dudley of InSight Crime on Honduran presidents’ link to gangs:

Another Day, Another Damning Testimony of Elites by Honduras Trafficker


“Protesters in DC confront Honduran president over Berta Cáceres murder”:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/mar/21/berta-caceres-murder-honduras-juan-orlando-hernandez-dc

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Click here to demand justice for the assassination of Berta Cáceres!

From Karen Spring, Honduras Solidarity Network Coordinator (see more statements and news stories below):

“March 3, 2016

This evening at approximately midnight, the General Coordinator of COPINH,

Berta Caceres

was assassinated in her hometown of La Esperanza, Intibuca. At least two individuals broke down the door of the house where Berta was staying for the evening in the Residencial La Líbano, shot and killed her. COPINH is urgently responding to this tragic situation.

Berta Caceres is one of the leading Indigenous activists in Honduras. She spent her life fighting in defense of Indigenous rights, particularly to land and natural resources. In 2015, Berta won the Goldman Prize for her outstanding activism and leadership. Her death will have a profound impact on the many Lenca communities that she worked with, COPINH, the Honduran social movement, and all that knew her.

Berta Caceres and COPINH have been accompanying various land struggles throughout western Honduras. In the last few weeks, violence and repression towards Berta, COPINH, and the communities they support, had escalated. In Rio Blanco on February 20th, Berta, COPINH, and the community of Rio Blanco faced threats and repression as they carried out a peaceful action to protect the River Gualcarque against the construction of a hydroelectric dam by the internationally-financed Honduran company DESA. As a result of COPINH’s work supporting the Rio Blanco struggle, Berta had received countless threats against her life and was granted precautionary measures by the InterAmerican Commission for Human Rights. On February 25th, another Lenca community supported by COPINH in Guise, Intibuca was violently evicted and destroyed.”

CRLN, the Honduras Solidarity Network, and our partners in Honduras are all urgently demanding a thorough and immediate investigation of the circumstances surrounding Berta’s death.



Click here to demand justice for the assassination of Berta Cáceres!



News and statements about Berta’s Assassination:

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El Representante Hank Johnson reintrodujo el

Proyecto de Ley Berta Cáceres de Derechos Humanos en Honduras

, en el 115 Congreso como Resolución de la Cámara 1299 (HR 1299) el 2 de marzo. Esta fecha fue el primer aniversario del asesinato de Berta Cáceres la feminista e activista de derechos indígenas y medioambientales en Honduras. El proyecto de ley suspendería toda la ayuda militar y policial de los Estados Unidos a Honduras, incluyendo equipo y capacitación, hasta que se cumplan condiciones básicas de derechos humanos. La policía y el ejército hondureños han estado implicados en cientos de violaciones a los derechos humanos desde el derrocamiento del gobierno en el 2009, y no deberíamos apoyarlos con nuestros impuestos.

Tenemos una oportunidad asombrosa en los dos últimos años del 115 Congreso (2017-18) para generar suficiente apoyo para este proyecto de ley y lograr su aprobación. Ya, los representantes Schakowsky, Lipinski, Gutiérrez, Rush y Davis de Illinois han firmado para copatrocinar el proyecto de ley.

Aquí hay tres buenas razones por las cuales usted debería firmar su nombre en una carta a su Representante en apoyo de esta resolución. Las cartas serán entregadas por el personal de CRLN cuando estemos en DC para los Días Ecuménicos de Acción (Ecumenical Action Days- EAD):



  1. La familia de Berta apoya este proyecto de ley


    , y nosotros en CRLN creemos en apoyar a los sobrevivientes de los abusos de los derechos humanos. Dos de los sospechosos arrestados en relación con el asesinato de Berta trabajaron en inteligencia militar y fueron entrenados en la Escuela de las Américas de los Estados Unidos, y la familia de Berta cree que los autores intelectuales del crimen ocupan posiciones en los niveles más altos del gobierno. Retirar apoyo financiero, y expresar las razones por hacerlo, sería un golpe para estas fuerzas y podría debilitar su posición dentro de Honduras.


  2. Los movimientos sociales

    en Honduras (LGBT, mujeres, indígenas, garífunas, sindicatos, ecologistas, pequeños agricultores) y los periodistas que los cubren están bajo constante amenaza de violencia

    y nosotros en CRLN queremos hacer todo lo posible para enviar el mensaje de que tienen solidaridad internacional en estos tiempos peligrosos. Ha habido alegaciones creíbles de un ex miembro del ejército de la existencia de escuadrones de la muerte dentro del ejército hondureño, las cuales han recibido entrenamiento en los Estados Unidos y que tienen una lista de importantes líderes del movimiento social. Tenemos que detener el entrenamiento que los Estados Unidos da y que ayuda a lograr estos asesinatos.


  3. El actual presidente, Juan Orlando Hernández, su administración y partido político están plagados de corrupción.


    Ha sido nombrado por un líder de narcotraficantes en un juicio en Nueva York como receptor de sobornos de su cartel, con el hermano de Hernández actuando como enlace. Su Partido Nacional robó cientos de millones de dólares del sistema nacional del seguro de salud para financiar su primera campaña. Volverá a postularse a la presidencia este otoño, lo cual viola la Constitución; despidió a cuatro magistrados de la Corte Suprema que estaban en contra de la reelección y nombro a cuatro que si estaban a favor. Los Estados Unidos no debe recompensar con fondos a alguien que parece dispuesto a beneficiarse a expensas de su país.

Para más información, le presentamos algunos artículos recientes sobre Honduras:

Lea aquí acerca del Padre Ismael Moreno Coto, o Padre Melo, un sacerdote jesuita “que se ha convertido en uno de los principales líderes opositores de Honduras, el país más violento de Centroamérica”:


https://www.nytimes.com/es/2017/03/26/el-sacerdote-que-se-enfrenta-al-pr…

El Blog

Honduras Resiste

por nuestros companerxs de La Voz de los de Abajo tiene muchos artículos en español e ingles sobre la situación de DDHH en Honduras y Berta Cáceres:


http://hondurasresists.blogspot.com

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Haz click aquí para exigir justicia para el asesinato de Berta Cáceres!

Escrito por Karen Spring, Coordinadora de la Red de Solidaridad con Honduras (Vea abajo para más historias, reflecciones, y artículos sobre la vida y asesinato de Berta):

“3 de marzo, 2016

 

Esta noche del 2 de marzo, aproximadamente a las 11:45 pm, la coordinadora general de COPINH,

Berta Caceres

, fue asesinada en su pueblo natal de la Esperanza, Intibucá. Al menos dos individuos rompieron la puerta de la casa donde Berta se hospedaba en el Residencial La Líbano, le dispararon y la mataron. COPINH está respondiendo de forma urgente a esta situación trágica.

 

Berta Caceras es una de las principales líderes indígenas de Honduras. Paso su vida luchando por la defensa de los derechos de los pueblos indígenas, particularmente de su territorio y recursos naturales. En el 2015, Berta ganó el premio Goldman por su lucha y liderazgo incansable como defensora. Su muerte tendrá un impacto profundo en las comunidades Lencas con las que trabajaba, en COPINH, en el movimiento social de Honduras, y en todos quienes la conocieron.

 

Berta Caceres y COPINH han estado acompañando diversas luchas por el territorio en el occidente de Honduras. En estas últimas semanas, la violencia y represión en contra de Berta, el COPINH y las comunidades que apoyan, había escalado. El 20 de febrero en Rio Blanco, Berta, COPINH y la comunidad de Rio Blanco se enfrentaron a amenazas y represión mientras llevaban acabo una actividad pacífica para proteger el Rio Gualcarque de la construcción de una presa hydroeléctrica por parte de la empresa hondureña DESA con financiamiento internacional. Como resultado de el trabajo de COPIHN en apoyo de la lucha de Rio Blanco, Berta recibió múltiples amenazas contra su vida y fue otorgada medidas cautelares de parte de la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos. El 25 de febrero, otra comunidad Lenca apoyada por COPINH en Guise Intibuca fue desalojada violentamente y destruida.”

 

CRLN, la Red de Solidaridad con Honduras, y todxs nuestrxs compañerxs en Honduras estamos exigiendo urgentemente una investigación exhaustiva e inmediata de los hechos ocurridos.



Haz click aquí para exigir justicia para el asesinato de Berta Cáceres!



Otras historias y declaraciones acerca la vida y asasinato de Berta Cáceres:


Declaración (en facebook) de La Voz de Los de Abajo


Historia en Democracy Now!


Artículo en La Prensa del punto de vista de la madre de Berta

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(Español Aqui)

The end of 2016 and 2017 have seen the adoption of Peace Accords between the Colombian government and the largest rebel group, FARC, and a new round of Peace Talks begun between the government and the smaller rebel group, ELN. At this point, the FARC has demobilized and is moving into designated “camps,” where they will live for an allotted amount of time before being free to relocate. They have been given the right to form a political party and run candidates for public office.

However, other armed groups who were not part of the Peace Accords still roam the countryside and are moving with their weapons into the spaces that the FARC used to control. These are the right-wing successors to the paramilitary groups that were supposedly dismantled ten years ago. Local people they terrorize say these newly named groups contain many of the same individuals who belonged to the former paramilitary groups. They also say that the national security forces do nothing to stop paramilitary violence, even when they are stationed nearby and are asked to do so.

These armed groups have often been deployed to further private interests on valuable land—for example, to violently displace communities of small landholders to provide free land for wealthy individuals or corporations to plant palm oil plantations. By 2017, over 6 million people had been violently displaced from their land in Colombia during the course of the 50+ year war.

Since December of 2016, these reorganized paramilitary groups have gone on a rampage, particularly in areas with African-descended and Indigenous populations, and killed hundreds of people. There is no peace, despite the Peace Accords, in the many areas where these groups are active. Without some commitment on the part of the Colombian government to disarm and dismantle these reorganized paramilitary groups, there will be no peace in Colombia. Nor will there be peace unless those in the paramilitary groups who have committed human rights violations are held to the same standards of justice as members of FARC during the period of transitional justice on the road to peace.

Before he left office, President Obama had promised $450 million to Colombia, much of it to be given to NGOs rather than the government, to support the implementation of the Peace Accords. While CRLN appreciated the diversion of military funds to funds for peace, we thought these funds would be better used if distributed directly to grassroots Colombian groups active in the local places where peace must be realized between former combatants on opposite sides in the war or between combatants from either side and civilian survivors of violence. That may be a moot point, as President Trump and his Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, have signaled that the US may withdraw support from Colombia’s peace process entirely. We must advocate for continuing support for the peace process, given its fragility and the challenges it faces.


CRLN will be in DC from April 21-24, visiting Illinois Representatives and Senators. Send your signature to D.C. with CRLN

by singing up HERE.

Our ask will be for funding to implement the Peace Accords in Colombia and for Colombian officials to dismantle paramilitaries still active in the country.​

For further reading, here are some recent articles on Colombia:

Amnesty International report on attacks in NW Colombia:


https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2017/03/colombia-spike-in-attacks-against-peace-community-shows-conflict-still-alive

Telesur article on paramilitary groups moving into territory left behind as FARC demobilizes:

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Paramilitary-Groups-Fight-To-Take-Over-Lands-Left-by-FARC-20170212-0040.html

Washington Office on Latin America on Colombian Congressional efforts to water down Peace Accords:

Colombia’s New Transitional Justice Law Violates the Spirit of the Peace Accords


NACLA (North American Congress on Latin America) on the importance of continued US-Colombia solidarity:


https://nacla.org/news/2017/02/07/continued-importance-us-colombia-solidarity-trump-era?platform=hootsuite&utm_content=buffer3fe1d&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

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