CRLN is a member of the national Honduras Solidarity Network, which put out a statement recognizing today as the 9^th anniversary of the U.S.-supported coup in Honduras. 9 years later, the oligarchy that initiated the coup has consolidated its power and democratic norms have eroded.

Click here to read the statement and to take action on three items:

1. Sign an Amnesty International action alert to free political prisoner Edwin Espinal
2. Send an email to demand fundamental changes in U.S. policy on Honduras
3. Ask your Representative to cosponsor the Berta Caceres Human Rights in Honduras Act (in Illinois, Reps. Rush, Lipinski, Gutierrez, Quigley, Davis, Schakowsky, and Foster are already co-sponsors)

On Sunday, Guatemala’s volcano Fuego erupted twice with explosive force, sending ash skyward upwards of 15 kilometers and releasing lava and 100 m.p.h. pyroclastic flows that buried communities close to it.  At present, more than 3,200 people have been evacuated, but the death toll is at 69 and expected to increase.

We’ve listed below links to trustworthy organizations in Guatemala that are doing direct relief work and receiving donations to help assist with buying medicine, cleaning supplies, and clothing; rebuilding homes and communities; and other aspects of disaster relief. Some of these organizations are also posting daily updates on their work.

Common Hope: https://www.commonhope.org – click on the “For more information” in the red bar. There is a donation link at the bottom of the information.

Wings:  https://wingsguate.giv.sh/6a14

Friends of Guatemala: https://www.facebook.com/fogrpcv/posts/1638548842927425?hc_location=ufi – earmark “Volcan de Fuego” (donation button is on the facebook page)

Alticultura: https://www.gofundme.com/Alticultura – earmark donations for “Volcan de Fuego”

11 CRLN staff, board and members will travel to DC April 20-23 for Ecumenical Advocacy Days and advocate for legislation that would improve the lives of Central Americans and other immigrants with Temporary Protected Status and would suspend U.S. military aid to Honduras. You can help us by giving your permission by Tuesday, April 17 to sign your name onto letters we will deliver to members of Congress or call your Representatives to support the following House bills:

American Promise Act of 2017 (H.R. 4253)

Background: Until the recent past, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has granted Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for renewable periods of 6 to 18 months to immigrant applicants from countries in which civil unrest, violence, epidemic or natural disasters made it unsafe for them to return to their countries. In return, immigrants could get registration documents and authorization to work. Up through January 1, 2017, there were people from 13 countries eligible for TPS.

Under the Trump Administration, DHS is conducting a country by country review to assess whether or not to extend TPS. So far, DHS has ruled that TPS holders from Haiti, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Sudan will have to leave the U.S., despite continuing violence or lack of recovery from natural disasters in their countries of origin. TPS will continue for Syrians who came to the U.S. before August 2016, but those who came after that date cannot apply for TPS, despite the continuation of the war. The decision on whether or not to extend TPS for Hondurans has been delayed until June 2018.

Bill summary: H.R. 4253 would change the status of eligible immigrants from 13 countries with Temporary Protected Status (TPS) or Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) to a status of LPR, lawfully admitted for permanent residence. Immigrants would be eligible to apply if they were granted or were eligible for TPS status, or granted DED, on or before October 1, 2017. Immigrants must apply for this status change within 3 years of the bill’s date of enactment. After 5 years of LPR status, immigrants could apply to become U.S. citizens.

Status: Currently has 97 co-sponsors, is in the House Judiciary Committee, and has been referred to the Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security. Call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121, ask to be connected to the office of your U.S. Representative, and ask them to co-sponsor H.R. 4253. Below are some talking points you can use:

1. TPS holders have been in the U.S. for a long time and are well integrated into U.S. communities: Most TPS recipients have been in the U.S. for at least 15 years and many over a couple of decades. They have married U.S. citizens and/or have U.S. citizen children who were born here. It makes sense to naturalize TPS holders rather than deport them and separate them from their families and communities. In addition, 88.5% of TPS holders are in the labor force, higher than the national average. They have jobs that are essential to the economic health of the U.S.
2. TPS holders contribute a great deal to the U.S. economy. Salvadoran, Honduran, and Haitian TPS recipients alone are projected to contribute an estimated $164 billion to America’s GDP over the next decade, according to the American Immigration Council. The AFSC cites the $6.9 billion the contribute to Social security and Medicare. They pay income taxes. Their work is integral to large industries such as construction, home health care, and hospitality.

The Berta Cáceres Human Rights in Honduras Act (H.R. 1299)

Bill Summary: This bill prohibits U.S. funds from being made available to Honduras for the police or military (including for equipment and training), and directs the Department of the Treasury to instruct U.S. representatives at multilateral development banks to vote against any loans for the police or military of Honduras, until the Department of States certifies that the government of Honduras has:

• prosecuted members of the military and police for human rights violations and ensured that such violations have ceased;
• established the rule of law and guaranteed a judicial system capable of bringing to justice members of the police and military who have committed human rights abuses;
• established that it protects the rights of trade unionists, journalists, human rights defenders, government critics, and civil society activists to operate without interference;
• withdrawn the military from domestic policing; and
  brought to trial and obtained verdicts against those who ordered and carried out the attack on Felix Molina and the killings of Berta Caceres, Joel Palacios Lino, Elvis Armando Garcia, and over 100 small-farmer activists in the Aguan Valley.

Status: Currently has 71 co-sponsors and is in the House Foreign Affairs Committee. It needs more co-sponsors, preferably some Republicans, to get out of Committee. Call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121, ask to be connected to the office of your U.S. Representative, and ask them to co-sponsor H.R. 1299. Below are some talking points you can use:

1. The U.S. should not fund security forces that have committed such an alarming number of human rights abuses with a 97% impunity rate. Some argue that U.S. training for Honduran troops will professionalize them or that funding Honduran troops will give the U.S. influence over them, but there is no evidence of improvement since the 2009 military coup d’etat. Those who planned that coup are still in power. In fact, there is credible evidence that units of the Honduran military trained by the U.S. are operating as “death squads” and have hit lists of the leaders of various social movements. Berta Cáceres was one casualty. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/28/berta-caceres-honduras-military-intelligence-us-trained-special-forces
2. The U.S should not entrust funds to an administration as corrupt as that of Juan Orlando Hernández’ in a country with such a weak judicial system. There is rampant institutional corruption in Honduras. High-level officials siphon off money from public institutions for their own gain or for political advantage. The looting of at least $350 million from the social security system by its chief administrator, part of which funded National Party efforts to elect current President Hernández in 2013, is an example. Officials also have been implicated in taking bribes from drug trafficking gangs in exchange for allowing gangs to operate without police interference. http://www.insightcrime.org/news-analysis/corruption-honduras-result-of-functioning-system-report
3. The U.S. should not fund security forces used by an illegally installed president to repress nonviolent dissent against his electoral fraud. President Hernández ran for a second term, forbidden by the Honduran Constitution, and the vote count was labeled “highly irregular” by the Organization of American States, whose initial call for new elections was rebuffed. The U.S. congratulated Hernández on his “victory.” Hondurans call this a “second coup.” Hernández uses the military in domestic policing, also forbidden by the Constitution, and has formed a Military Police Force in addition to the National Police. All security forces have been deployed against the many people who protested the election results, with 30 people killed, scores wounded, and many rounded up and thrown into prison since the November elections. https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/us-policy-perpetuates-violence-honduras

1. Contact Honduran Authorities

2. Contact US and Canadian Representatives

Long-time Honduran activist Edwin Espinal was arrested by US-trained police forces
on January 19, 2018, on trumped up charges related to protests against the
presidential election fraud on November 26, 2017. Since the elections, at least 35
demonstrators and bystanders have been killed during anti-fraud protests, the
majority carried out by state security forces which routinely fired live bullets at
protesters. In the same context, according to data from Honduran human rights
organizations, at least 393 people were injured and 76 people tortured. The Public
Prosecutor’s Office, which has two embedded US advisors, has yet to prosecute any
of the murders by state forces, but instead, has arrested and pressed charges
against dozens of pro-democracy demonstrators.

We encourage you to join the Global Day of Action today, March 19,
2018, to demand the immediate freedom of Edwin Espinal and all political prisoners in                                                                                                        Honduras.

Edwin Espinal and other 25 political prisoners have been targeted for their role in the
opposition to the elections and involvement in anti-fraud protests. They face
fabricated charges including accusations of terrorism, arson and criminal
association. Some cases are being reviewed by judges embedded in military-led
task forces and many arrests were carried out by US-trained, vetted, and financed
security forces like the special forces TIGRES unit. The majority of the 26 Honduran
political prisoners are being held in newly built US-modeled, military-run, maximum
security prisons and their cases have been plagued by the refusal of Honduran state
prosecutors to share information with their attorneys. Judges ordered pretrial
detention for all 26 political prisoners who could remain in prison for years while
awaiting trial. The political prisoners are being held in jails across the country – in the
northern cities of Tela and El Progreso, in the “La Tolva” prison in Morecelí, El
Paraiso, and the “El Pozo” jail in Ilama, Santa Barbara.

US-trained security forces and officials have not only carried out the arbitrary
detentions of political opposition and social movement leaders, but in some cases
run the prisons. Human rights defenders, journalists, and even the attorneys and
families of the accused have been denied access making it extremely difficult, if not
impossible, to verify their conditions. We know that some political prisoners have
been held for long periods in solitary confinement and denied their essential rights
under the law. This is deeply regrettable but not surprising in a political environment
where corruption and impunity are rampant.

Edwin Espinal has been subject to state harassment, violence, and threats since the
2009 US-backed coup, which has led him to receive precautionary measures by the
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. On March 3rd, Edwin Espinal began
a hunger strike to demand that he, political prisoner Raúl Eduardo Álvarez, and other
inmates be taken to see a physician. There is some sort of flu-like virus circulating
inside the jail module where approximately 200 prisoners are being held. Edwin and
other prisoners have been refused medical attention for several days. In another
maximum security prison where 15 political prisoners are being held, a tuberculosis
outbreak was recently reported, suspecting at least 30 cases and 5 deaths. The
prevalence of these illness can be linked to the poor conditions inside the prison
including severe water shortages and less than adequate amounts of food provided
to prisoners

On Sunday, the Organization of American States (OAS) reaffirmed its stance that there could be no certainty about election results in Honduras, because of the extent of the “irregularities” in the vote-counting process and failure to reach standards of democracy, and it called for new elections to be held. On the same day, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) declared Juan Orlando Hernandez the winner. On Monday, the vice-president of Honduras declared that no new elections would be held.

Some excellent articles are getting into the press, which is finally questioning what role the U.S. plays in Honduras and why the State Department has been largely quiet in the midst of the corruption of a basic democratic electoral process and state-sponsored violence against unarmed protesters in the streets:

NYT Op-Ed by Silvio Carrillo, Berta Caceres’ nephew:
“America’s Blind Eye to Honduras’ Tyrant”

Council on Hemispheric Affairs article by Patricio Zamorano:
“The Silent Cry of Honduras”

The New Yorker article by Jonathan Blitzer:
“In Honduras, Calls Rise for New Presidential Elections”

Black Lives Matter:
“Chicago and Honduras: Laboratories for Neoliberalism”

CRLN hosted Padre Ismael “Melo” Moreno, who heads a Jesuit-run radio station in Honduras, as its Annual Luncheon Speaker after the 2009 coup in Honduras. There are very few opposition media outlets in Honduras, but Radio Progreso is one of them.Last weekend, their radio tower that transmits to the entire southern half of Honduras was sabotaged, and they can no longer broadcast in this area that includes Tegucigalpa, the capital city. Recently, they have experienced interruptions to their signal in the town of Progreso. UNE-TV, another station that was reporting on violence by the security forces, had their fiber optic cable destroyed. Like during the coup, it now appears that there are forces trying to shut down any critical voices in the media. During this Christmas season, if you would like to contribute to a fund to raise Radio Progreso’s tower, as well as to fund emergency medical, housing, transportation, and legal aid for people protesting the fraudulent elections, click here.