[News] Behind Bars in Honduras: An Interview with a Women's Rights Leader

[Anti-Imperialist News]

Behind Bars in Honduras: An Interview with a 
Women's Rights Leader Before the 'Free' Election


Written by Tamar Sharabi
Thursday, 03 December 2009
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/2239/1/

Merlin Eguigure helped organize an event on Nov. 
25 for the UN International Day for the 
Elimination of Violence Against Women. The next 
day while leaving a restaurant in Tegucigalpa, 
Honduras, members of COBRA, the special police 
force, ambushed her. They searched her car and 
detained her and two companions for having spray 
paint in the car. They were jailed for almost 24 
hours. Merlin had used the paint to create 
artistic banners for the previous day's 
activities. The District Attorney's office 
charged her with 'property damage', but her case 
is still under investigation, and other charges can still be added.

Her real crime is being a part of the “Movement 
of Women for Peace Visitacion Padilla” and a 
'Feminist in Resistance,' and for speaking out 
against the coup regime that took power on June 
28. The organization, founded in 1984, is named 
after a Honduran heroine who fought for women 
civil liberties and political rights, and was 
especially vocal in 1924 against the US Marine Military presence in Honduras.

The following is an interview conducted while she 
was behind bars in a police station in downtown Tegucigalpa, known as 'Core 7.'

Tell me, how are you?

I am OK, so, so. For me this is just a test, and 
here, you have to resist against the appearance 
of the rule of law. Of all the impunity, we have nothing left but to resist.

Do you have a message you would like to share?

I want to say that this is a struggle of dignity 
against the barbarism, it is the struggle of the 
power of ideas against the power of arms, and 
considering this, we have nothing more that we 
can do, like we say in our organization, but to 
continue resisting, to continue fighting. Until 
the rule of law is restored we expect anything to 
happen, and this [my imprisonment] is an example 
of that. We didn't do anything, but regardless we are here.

Will you continue in the struggle?

Of course, of course, with much more force and 
more commitment, because one cannot leave the 
country behind in these conditions. These bars 
and this prison does not intimidate me to keep me 
from fighting, my commitment is even stronger, 
especially when I see that the companions of my 
organization are here and have been here all day 
waiting for my release. This makes me even more 
committed to continue fighting for women's 
rights, because women can be recognized as real 
citizens and because reason imposes over the 
truth. This is a commitment that I reaffirm, and 
I see this as a test of tranquility, as further 
proof of how the coup plotters are mistaken.

Why do you think you were arrested?

We were in the context of a day of demanding 
nonviolence against women and since the coup 
detat occurred, we have been having a huge 
presence. We have denounced the police brutality, 
we have condemned their negligence, we have said 
that they have been complicit in the abuse of 
women and in human rights violations. Just 
yesterday we were in the Central Park making a 
symbolization of what 'Femicide' [homicides 
against women] means, for our homes and for the 
Honduran society. We were condemning it and we 
were holding the national police, the armed 
forces, the direction of criminal investigation 
and all the groups that form that chain, so that 
women can identify them. It's precisely because 
we were exposing that more than the 350 murders 
of women so far this year remain unpunished. I 
think not even 1% of the men have been sentenced. 
So therefore I believe that now more than ever, I 
am empowered even more to continue in the efforts 
for justice in this country, so that human rights 
of women are not really a theory and discourse, 
but become a real practice that my daughter, or 
grandchildren if I ever have some, so that they 
may enjoy a society where we are not really inferior. That is the purpose.

Do you think the situation would be different if 
you didn't have so many people protesting outside, demanding your freedom?

I believe so, from the information I have 
regarding legal issues, the situation would be 
very different. We have received many visits here 
from international agencies like Amnesty, COFADEH 
[Committee of Relatives of Disappeared and 
Detained persons in Honduras], JEGIL [Center for 
Justice and International Law], many institutions 
that promote human rights have come that have 
been vital. I think at this time, like in the 
80's, international support for the rule of law, 
was the same as in the 80's, in the Cold War, it 
was vital to save lives of many people with the 
support of the international community. So I have 
infinite gratitude to those who have come, not to 
see me, Merlin is only one piece of the whole 
wave of repression and barbarism that has been 
implemented. The truth, I'm just a piece, this is 
really a chain. There are a lot more people who 
really suffered worse taunts, that have lost 
their lives. So we have to continue preparing and 
looking for tools and mechanisms to protect us, 
because we are women of peace and our struggle is 
with ideas. We do not have weapons, we do not 
have bombs, our only weapons are our ideas.

Do you think there can be free elections?

I, Merlin, freely, will not participate in the 
electoral process. I will not vote, I will not 
use my vote to endorse this fraud that has been 
in the works for some time now. I do not want to 
be irresponsible with my homeland, I do not think 
that the solution comes in this way. I think the 
solution is actually to listen to the people, to 
listen to its citizens. The elections only try, 
as the popular saying here is, 'to cover the eye 
of a bull', trying to resolve a crisis with the 
same hands of those who carried out the coup 
d´etat. Really the electoral process in the 
conditions that they are in, give no guarantee 
other than entrenching the power of those who 
already have it, and with no doubt increase some levels of repression.

Two days before the election, do you think there 
is still time to solve this crisis?

I think there's always time to solve this 
problem. The problem of this coup has many roots. 
The military, the hawks in the USA, the powerful 
groups in America. So we need those who carried 
out this coup detat, also to have the strength 
and values to respect this homeland, because this 
country may be small but is full of decent and 
noble people that we love, and we struggle, and 
we will continue to fight for all the time 
necessary. But we will not permit them to 
continue damaging us, especially us. As women we 
have the name of the first national heroine, 
teacher Visitacion Padilla, who gave an example 
of civic citizenship. We are her followers. That 
is why we proudly carry her name, because we 
continue to demonstrate that the Hondurans want 
to do things right, things that we need. 
Therefore, those who run this country should 
direct it from the heart, thinking of the people 
and not thinking about money, not from 
air-conditioned desks not knowing the reality of this country.

Did you ever imagine in your life that you could be put in prison?

I believe that those who have taken the path in 
fighting for justice, at some point we expect 
something like this might happen to us. The 
truth, its nothing pleasant (being in prison), 
but they are the challenges that need to be 
faced, and which contribute to set precedents for dignity and justice.

Do you have any fear for what might happen in the coming days?

Well, I have a lot of fear, not personally, but I 
believe that many worse things may  happen in 
this country. As I have said, fascism is in 
control of the state at this time, and fascism is 
quite simply that­fascism; it does not think, 
there is no reason, it imposes, dominates, and 
conforms. So I think these two days will be 
definitive and people have to be very careful. We 
must be prepared for the worst because all 
indications suggest that we are under the wave of terror.

Tamar Sharabi is a an environmental engineer and 
freelance journalist living in Tegucigalpa, 
Honduras. She is originally from Queens, NY.




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