[News] Honduras - Resistance Leaders Disappeared - Raids against campesinos

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PRESS RELEASE
November, 30 2009
http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?id=ENGPRE200911301429&lang=e


Honduras: Authorities must reveal identities and 
whereabouts of people detained today


(Tegucigalpa) Amnesty International today urged 
the Honduran authorities to reveal the 
identities, whereabouts and charges against all 
people detained on the eve and day of the presidential elections.

In one of the most worrying cases, the 
whereabouts of Jensys Mario Umanzor Gutierrez 
remains unknown. He was last seen at 2:30am this 
morning in the custody of a Police Patrol whose 
identification number was recorded by witnesses.

After finding about the case, the Amnesty 
International delegation in Honduras assisted in 
the filing of an habeas corpus – a legal 
procedure to find the whereabouts and well being 
of someone detained by police -- at the Juzgado Penal Francisco Morazan.

The Supreme Court, amongst several other courts, 
was closed and noone was available by phone 
either to receive the petition. The court should 
have a judge or other court appointed official 
always available to deal with such urgent matters.

“Filling a petition to find where a detainee has 
been taken is an almost impossible task in 
Honduras ,” said Javier Zuñiga, head of the 
Amnesty International delegation in Honduras . 
“The delays and barriers imposed by the 
authorities to find even basic information goes 
to show the extent of violations taken place in 
Honduras today, and how vulnerable Honduran 
citizens are to abuses by the police and security forces,” said Javier Zuñiga.

Habeas Corpus is a legal procedure by which a 
judge is required to demand the police reveal the 
whereabouts of a person who is believed to have 
been detained and allow the judge to see the 
detainee. This is a basic guarantee needed to 
protect people from torture, ill-treatment and enforced disappearance.

“When someone is taken by the police and nobody 
knows where to, that person is at serious risk of 
abuse such as torture. Habeas Corpus is an 
essential protection mechanism which cannot be 
suspended or denied even during a war or state of emergency,” Javier Zuñiga.

The Amnesty International delegates also met with 
two men who were arrested today under terrorism 
charges. The men alleged they were beaten and 
forced to sign statements which they did not 
agree with. It is unclear what will happen to them.

“We are very worried about the way these two men 
were arrested and for their wellbeing,” said 
Javier Zuñiga. “We have very serious doubts over 
the allegations made against the individuals and their chances of fair trial.”

In a separate incident, today at 12.30 a local 
human rights organization discovered 14 minors 
detained at Jefatura Metropolitana No.3, police 
station in Tegucigalpa . The minors had been 
arrested while they were chatting in small groups 
on street corners near polling stations.

During two of the multiple arrests the police 
asked the minors: “Why are you here meeting in 
groups of more than four people when there is a 
decree which prohibits you from doing so?”. The 
police were referring to a decree issued last 
September which was officially annulled on 19 
October. All fourteen were released without charge.
Amnesty International also received information 
that several people have been detained across the 
country. In San Pedro Sula , people have reported 
having been beaten while participating in a 
demonstration and subsequently taken into 
detention. In one instance, demonstrators threw 
stones at the police, causing a journalist to be injured.

In other parts of the country, human rights 
organizations suffered attacks and acts of 
intimidation. On 28 November, Red Comal, a 
collective of farmers and small scale 
agricultural producers in Siguatepeque had their 
offices raided, computers and cash seized

“Justice seems to have been absent also on 
Election Day in Honduras electoral,” said Javier 
Zuñiga. “It is therefore essential the 
whereabouts of all people detained are made 
public and all incidents of abuse, investigated. 
The rule of law must fully be restored.”

For more information or to set up an interview, 
please contact: Josefina Salomon, 
<mailto:jsalomon at amnesty.org>jsalomon at amnesty.org 
, Mobile ( Honduras ): 504 957 77 162.


***********************************************
Nov 28, 2009

http://americasmexico.blogspot.com/2009/11/coup-security-forces-raid-campesino.html?utm_source=streamsend&utm_medium=email&utm_content=7506561&utm_campaign=Coup%20Security%20Forces%20Raid%20Campesino%20Organization%20Day%20Before%20the%20Elections


<http://americasmexico.blogspot.com/2009/11/coup-security-forces-raid-campesino.html>Coup 
Security Forces Raid Campesino Organization Day Before the Elections

Today, heavily armed members of the national 
police, military and criminal investigation units 
under the coup regime raided the Honduran farm 
organization COMAL (Alternative Community 
Marketing Network) in Siguatepeque, in Comayagua. 
COMAL is a coalition of 42 small-scale farming 
and women's organizations from throughout Honduras.

At 1:40 p.m. about fifty members of the security 
forces broke into the offices of COMAL. After 
breaking down the doors with their guns and 
intimidating the employees, they produced a 
search order a full twenty minutes later. The 
offices were ransacked, under an order that 
stated authorization to search for weapons and 
"materials that could threaten lives".

At 2:30 the raid spread to the training center of 
the organization. Security forces confiscated 
four computers, including the accountant's 
computer. They also took educational materials 
used in community workshops to analyze the 
current political situation and publications from 
the non-violent resistance movement. The soldiers 
referred to these materials as "proof" of 
subversive activities. Intelligence agents 
removed a list of all the people who had attended 
workshops in the organization and employees. They 
took the entire petty cash fund as well.

The offices were left in total disarray, 
employees were stripped of their cellphones and 
held in the offices during the raid. No one had 
been arrested at last report. Security forces 
continued to ransack the offices until 5:20 p.m.

Miguel Alonzo Macias, director of planning and 
projects for COMAL, stated that the police and 
soldiers entered heavily armed and nervous. Among 
the information they took from the offices were 
computer archives containing photographs of the 
peaceful marches where members of the 
organization demonstrated against the coup, 
"where they can see the faces of everyone of us 
who participated," and testimonies from 
communities describing violations of human rights 
under the coup. The group fears further persecution.

In a phone interview, Macias stated, "What just 
happened to us is evidence that basic guarantees 
of individual human rights and institutional 
rights do not exist in Honduras. As a result, the 
objective conditions in terms of the personal 
security for people to be able to vote freely don't exist either."

"It's important for the international community 
and international human rights groups to be aware 
that this is happening and of what kind of 
military actions are being carried out. These 
actions are clearly meant to intimidate the 
population that sees things differently than the 
de facto regime and that condemns the coup."

"The security forces have our names, 
identification numbers, vehicles and photographs. 
We now have to take precautionary measures to 
protect ourselves and our families. The 
international community should demand respect for 
human rights in our country, where these rights 
are being constantly violated. We also demand 
assurances for the safety of our people and other 
detained and identified as under watch by security forces."

Write letters of support to:
info at redcomal.org.hn

For more information:
www.redcomal.org.hn
Posted by Laura Carlsen at 
<http://americasmexico.blogspot.com/2009/11/coup-security-forces-raid-campesino.html>4:20 
PM




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