[News] Killing Activists in Honduras
Anti-Imperialist News
news at freedomarchives.org
Thu Dec 24 10:37:58 EST 2009
Killing Activists in Honduras
Written by Joseph Shansky
Wednesday, 23 December 2009
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/2278/1/
As a revolutionary I will be today, tomorrow and
forever on the front lines of my people, all the
while knowing that I may lose my life." - Walter
Trochez, 25, murdered in Tegucigalpa on 12/13/09
The bodies of slain activists are piling up in
Honduras. While it's being kept quiet in most
Honduran and international media, the rage is
building among a dedicated network of friends
spreading the word quickly with the tragic announcement of each compañero/a.
Now that the world heard from mainstream news
outlets such as the New York Times of a clean
and fair election on Nov. 29 (orchestrated by
the US-supported junta currently in power), the
violence has increased even faster than feared.
The specific targets of these killings have been
those perceived as the biggest threats to the
coup establishment. The bravest, and thus the
most vulnerable: Members of the Popular
Resistance against the coup. Their friends and
family. People who provide the Resistance with
food and shelter. Teachers, students, and
ordinary citizens who simply recognize the
fallacy of an un-elected regime taking over their
country. All associated with the Resistance have
faced constant and growing repercussions for
their courage in protesting the coup. With the
international community given the green light by
the US that democratic order has returned via
elections, its open season for violent forces in
Honduras working to tear apart the political
unity of the Resistance Front against the coup.
The killings are happening almost faster than they can be recorded.
On Sunday, Dec. 7, a group of six people were
<http://www.tiempo.hn/secciones/sucesos/7055-se-hizo-la-muerta-para-sobrevivir-a-la-masacre>gunned
down while walking down the street in the
Villanueva neighborhood of Tegucigalpa. According
to sources, a white van with no license plates
stopped in front of the group. Four masked men
jumped out of the van and forced the group to get
on the ground, where they were shot. The five victims who were killed were:
· Marcos Vinicio Matute Acosta, 39
· Kennet Josué Ramírez Rosa, 23
· Gabriel Antonio Parrales Zelaya, 34
· Roger Andrés Reyes Aguilar, 22
· Isaac Enrique Soto Coello, 24
One woman, Wendy Molina, 32, was shot several
times and played dead when one of the assassins
pulled her hair, checking to see if anyone in the
group was still alive. She was taken to the hospital and survived.
The Honduran independent newspaper El Libertador
reports that the group members were all
organizers against the coup. According to a
resident in the area, "The boys had organized
committees so that the neighbors could get involved in the Resistance Front."
This massacre was part of a string of
Resistance-related murders during the past few
weeks alone. On December 3, Walter Trochez, 25 a
well-known activist in the lesbian, gay,
bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community was
snatched off the street and thrown into a van,
again by four masked men, in downtown
Tegucigalpa. In the report that he later filed to
local and national authorities,
<http://www.amnesty.org/en/for-media/press-releases/honduras-full-and-prompt-investigation-needed-death-human-rights-campaig>Walter
said he was interrogated for hours for
information on Resistance members and activities,
and was beaten in the face with a pistol for
refusing to speak. He was told that he would be
killed regardless, and he eventually escaped by
throwing open the van door, falling into the street, and running away.
It wasn't the first time Walter had been subject
to these kinds of threats. He was a much-loved
organizer against the coup who had been
documenting human rights violations, particularly
in the gay community. Walter had just published
two articles. One following the elections was
titled "<http://quotha.net/node/645>The Triumph
of Abstentionism", on the success of the effort
by the Resistance to encourage citizens to refuse
to vote. The other was called
<http://quotha.net/node/634>Escalation of Hate
and Homophobic Crimes against the LGBTT Community
Rooted in the Civil-Religious-Military Coup d'état in Honduras.
In both, he concludes: "As a revolutionary I will
be today, tomorrow and forever on the front lines
of my people, all the while knowing that I may lose my life".
On Dec. 13, one week later, Walter was shot in
the chest by a drive-by gunman while walking home. He died at the hospital.
On Dec. 5, Santos Garcia Corrales, an active
member of the National Resistance Front, was
<http://www.telesurtv.net/noticias/secciones/nota/63551-NN/muere-decapitado-miembro-de-la-resistencia-hondurena-de-manos-de-la-policia/>detained
by security forces in New Colony Capital, south
of Tegucigalpa. He was then tortured for
information on a local merchant who was providing
food and supplies to the Resistance. After
reporting the incident to local authorities,
Santos body was found five days later on Dec 10, decapitated.
There have been others as well, notably a rise in
murders in the LGBT community since the coup. In
particular, several transvestites have been
recently killed in similarly gruesome ways. Human
rights advocates
<http://www.mcclatchydc.com/world/story/81019.html>report
that up to 18 gay and transgender men have been
killed nationwide as many as the five prior
years in the nearly six months since a political crisis rocked the nation.
The latest victim, Carlos Turcios, was kidnapped
outside his home in Choloma Cortes, at three in
the afternoon of Wednesday Dec. 16. He was
<http://www.telesurtv.net/noticias/secciones/nota/63551-NN/muere-decapitado-miembro-de-la-resistencia-hondurena-de-manos-de-la-policia/>found
dead the next day, with his hands and head cut
off. Carlos had been vice-president of the
Choloma chapter of the Resistance Front, a town
located a few hours outside of the capital.
Andres Pavón, president of CODEH (Committee for
the Defense of Human Rights in Honduras),
commented: "We believe this horrendous crime
joins others where the bodies show signs of
brutal torture
This aggression is directed to the
construction of collective fear.
It is a sinister effort to shake up a community
that is now in fact stronger than ever. As Walter
Trochez noted (and CNN
<http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/11/29/honduras.election/index.html>confirmed),
most of the country refused to go to the polls
that day. Many of the worlds governments,
including most of Latin America, refused to recognize the results.
In this climate of fierce repression, citizens
can no longer depend on authorities for the most
basic protective rights, and those fearful for
their lives cannot report to the police.
Complaints they file, such as those of Santos and
Walter, could soon become signatures to their own
death letters. Many believe with good reason that
the killings are state-sponsored. At the very
least, they are the result of new conditions
which allow for the widespread deterioration of state protection.
Pavón and other human rights leaders in Honduras
have been extremely vocal in denouncing these
atrocities, but the story has remained under the
radar for most Hondurans and almost all
international media. At the time when Hondurans
most need exposure to these abuses, theyve been left to fend for themselves.
How did this happen? Why are people being
randomly executed in dark corners of the country
for simply standing in opposition to a military coup?
Most of the bloodshed is on the hands of coup
president Roberto Micheletti and other leaders of
the regime. However, President Barack Obama and
the US State Department played a major role in
allowing conditions to get to this point. The US
government took no concrete action against the
thousands of documented violations since the coup
took place June 28. Its no shock that the
violence has worsened dramatically with the eyes of the world now averted.
In a recent interview, Francisco Rios of the
National Front Against the Coup reiterated Frente
communiqués which stated that the Resistance,
though now lying low, is preparing a massive
organization effort for next year and beyond.
Rios reported that they have stopped meeting
publicly as a safety measure for now, but will
soon begin dividing into chapters around the
country with plans to emerge as a new,
strengthened political force. Walter, Santos,
Carlos, and all of the Resistance fighters who
gave their lives have inspired others in the
movement to continue the struggle for justice in Honduras.
Joseph Shansky was reporting from Honduras during
the recent military coup, and can be reached at
<mailto:fallow3 at gmail.com>fallow3 at gmail.com.
Freedom Archives
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