No Political Will to Clean up Honduran Police Force: Paving the Way for Further Militarization of Honduran Society

Military Police in Flor del Campo, October 2013

The role of the Honduran police is shifting (once again) and it has a lot to do with the expanding presence and role of the Juan Orlando Hernandez’s hybrid military and police units, the Military Police for Public Order and the Intelligence Policing Troops or TIGRES on Honduran streets.

Honduras is on a path of increasing militarization and we should expect more TIGRES, more Military Police, and more militarization proposed as the solution to the failed police reform and insecurity.

Both elite units are supported and trained by the United States government, funded by the “Security Tax”, and in the case of the TIGRES, funded by the InterAmerican Development Bank (IDB).

Some recent developments that have caught my eye:

One. The recent decision by the Honduran government to send the TIGRES into take over a major police post “La Granja” in Comayaguela. La Granja is the command post for various neighborhoods and police posts in Comayaguela.

The reason it was taken over: Police corruption. The Honduran media is citing two specific cases to justify the take-over, both cases involving active police officers kidnapping and stealing from or bribing civilians. Definitely not new corruption issues.

Two. The closure of the police post in Flor del Campo, one of the highest populated neighborhoods in Comayaguela. The Military Police have maintained a permanent post in the center of the neighborhood since October 2013. This has not necessarily eliminated the control of the Mara 18 either. Taxi and bus drivers are still paying (and being killed over) the “impuesto de guerra” (war tax), business owners are still being murdered, and on August 14, a curfew was imposed allegedly by the Mara 18 and residents of Flor del Campo were told not to leave their houses after 7 pm or they would be killed.

The possible reason for closing the police post?: Flor del Campo doesn’t need a civilian police force when the Military Police have maintained a permanent presence in the center of the community since October 2013.

Three. One of the biggest proponents of police reform in Honduras, the head of the National Autonomous University, Julieta Castellanos is back in the media discussing La Granja post and police corruption. Castellanos is saying that the police reform “has been a failure.” She tells the University Press, “There is a change in the security model of this country, where the police are being displaced by new military structures that have been created, this change of model has to do with the corruption, the failure of the police and the failed reform process that began in the year 1993.”

Why this all matters? Police corruption is not new, neither is the idea that the police reform has failed. It was doomed from the beginning because of the lack of political will to adequately investigate and prosecute police involved in criminal activities.

Its failure will now be used to further militarize Honduran streets.

Victor Jara's last poem - Ay, canto que mal me sales (Canta Isabel Parra)

HONDURAN VICTIMS OF U.S. DRUG WAR NEED YOUR HELP TO GET JUSTICE: Support their journey to Tegucigalpa

UPDATE AND FUNDRAISING APPEAL – JULY 10, 2014


Over two years has passed since four indigenous Miskitu people were violently killed, and three gravely injured during a joint Honduran-U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) anti-drug interdiction operation in the Moskitia region in eastern Honduras. This mission was one of many promoted by the U.S. government and its allies, in the failed and on-going War on Drugs in the region.

Since the night of the May 11, 2012 massacre, the lives of the survivors and their family members have been forever altered. They still lack any effective judicial, economic, medical, and political remedies despite reassurances from the U.S. Embassy in Tegucigalpa that the matter has been handled.

It has become extremely important given recent developments, that all family members and victims of the massacre participate in a meeting to share and discuss the legal developments of their case, and clarify a recent alleged State Department-funded reparations project that has created tension, stress, and confusion among them. Many are interested in traveling to Tegucigalpa to discuss the following, but they need your help to do so:

• Legal Strategy:
Between February and March 2013, a Honduran judge acquitted three Honduran agents for their involvement in the May 2012 drug interdiction operation. Not surprising given the corruption and lack of political will to persecute and punish human rights violations in Honduras, the judge ruled in a flawed trial that the agents in the anti-drug mission used legitimate force. The Committee of the Relatives of the Detained and Disappeared of Honduras (COFADEH), the legal representative for the Ahuas victims, recently appealed the decision. No U.S. agents have been investigated, charged, or arrested. Reports indicate the U.S. Embassy refused access to the weapons and names of U.S. agents involved, impeding any legitimate investigation. Any further national and international steps in this case will need to involve the input of all family members and victims.

• (Failed and Suspected) U.S. Reparations Attempt:
Unwilling to recognize responsibility and provide a transparent reparations process, the U.S. State Department provided funds in late 2013/early 2014 to the Honduran government, reported to be $150,000 thus far with another $50,000 in the pipeline, for regional ‘development’ in Ahuas to the non-governmental organization INGWAIA. INGWAIA, run by Hondurans with close ties to the National Party, approached victims and family members on an individual basis and failed to disclose the source and reason for the financial support, committing to housing improvement, reportedly with a total cost of no more then $1,200 per victim . INGWAIA ignored the victims’ most pressing needs –such as medical assistance and support for those disabled by the attack and education and support for the orphaned children. At least one family member was asked to purchase significant quantities of construction materials before INGWAI would agree to initiate the house construction project. The irresponsible, even abusive manner of dispersing the funds has been predictably divisive, causing misunderstandings, and tensions between victims and family members as they witness some receiving support and others not. A meeting of all victims will provide a space for a discussion about the alleged reparations project and the necessary steps required to handle the mismanaged situation on a local level and at the level of the U.S. government responsible for initiating it.

• Investigations Being Conducted by the Office of Inspector Generals (OIGs) in the Department of Justice and State Department:
In May 2014, the OIG of the US Department of Justice announced that they were conducting a joint review with the Department of State OIG of three drug interdiction missions in 2012 involving the use of deadly force in Honduras. The impact this investigation will have on the Ahuas victims and family members, if any, is unknown. However, what it entails and involves as disclosed to the general public should be communicated directly to those affected by the May 2012 massacre.

• On-going Needs:
Living in different communities in the large, and geographically-isolated Moskitia region has made contact among them and their allies very difficult. A meeting in Tegucigalpa of those affected by May 11, 2012 will encourage greater communication and mutual support. Touching base and outlining their on-going needs will also be beneficial for future engagement with the U.S. government and judicial system in Honduras as well as reignite public interest in the case.

We need to raise $4,266 so that all victims can travel to Tegucigalpa to meet, discuss, and act to denounce the developments of this case.

(Full budget included in complete fundraising appeal)

This month, the survivors and allies hope to meet to advance their campaign to hold the DEA and Honduran authorities accountable, but distances and travel costs along the jungle rivers, and their extreme poverty have prevented them from gathering until now. The Moskitia has become a major front in the drug war, and the Ahuas victims know that they must pursue a just resolution or many more of their Moskitu indigenous brothers and sisters will wrongly die. With your help and together they will support each other to survive the hardships while demanding peace in their communities.

Please make a donation for travel and meeting expenses.

Donations can be made at: https://www.crowdrise.com/ahuas

Photo caption: The Landín where the incident on May 11, 2012 took place in Ahuas, La Moskitia, Honduras.

Honduran news round-up: July 12, 2014

By: Daniel Langmeier

El Libertador published some more information on the visit by US congresswo/men to Honduras. Out of the seven, five are Republicans and two Democrats, and they will meet with JOH, the First Lady and the Special Task Force on Migrating Children. The sociologist Victor Meza proposes the creation of a state migration policy based on four pillars: creating local job opportunities; migration agreements with other countries; a productive reinvestment of
remittances; deal with migration as a human rights and not a crime.

http://www.ellibertador.hn/?q=article/diputados-de-eeuu-visitan-honduras-para-analizar-tema-de-ni%C3%B1os-migrantes

http://radioprogresohn.net/index.php/comunicaciones/noticias/item/1169-crisis-humanitaria-de-ni%C3%B1os-migrantes-representa-el-fracaso-institucional-en-honduras

The Economist has another lead article on the failed policy of mano dura in Latin America, taking Honduras and Guatemala as two telling examples.

http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21606830-iron-fist-not-way-tackle-regions-most-pressing-problem-cage

http://www.economist.com/news/americas/21606864-citizens-security-regions-biggest-problem-time-improve-criminal-justice-broken

ADEPZA, the human rights organization in the Southern island of Zacate Grande, greatly worries about the planned charter city project in their area.

http://zacategrande.blogspot.ch/2014/07/invasion-y-migracion-poblacional-en.html

OFRANEH took up the tragic event in the mine San Juan de Arriba and links the widespread illegal mining projects in Honduras to organized crime. Mining (the Canadian kind) also causes new problems in Azacualpa, Copán, where the military has moved in to repress the people demanding a stop to the mining activities.

https://ofraneh.wordpress.com/2014/07/11/el-derrumbe-de-honduras-mineria-y-crimen-organizado/

http://radioprogresohn.net/index.php/comunicaciones/noticias/item/1165-amenaza-minera-acecha-de-nuevo-a-comunidad-organizada

COFADEH, the International Ecumenical Human Rights Observatory and CIPRODEH held a conference in Talanga with some 500 students against all kinds of discrimination.

http://www.defensoresenlinea.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3220:juventud-de-talanga-abordo-los-ddhh-en-el-foro-no-a-la-discriminacion&catid=42:seg-y-jus&Itemid=159


Today San Luis will have a second chance to elect its mayor - the Liberal Leny Flores or the National Rony Flores.
For some observes, this election is living proof of the great need for a new Electoral Law.

http://radioprogresohn.net/index.php/comunicaciones/noticias/item/1166-a-6-meses-de-ingobernabilidad-san-luis-comayagua-elegir%C3%A1-a-su-alcalde

http://www.proceso.hn/2014/07/11/Pol%C3%ADtica/E.CIn.C/89190.html

In its weekly newsletter, Radio Progreso also dedicates a long article to the visit by the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, Rashida Manjoo, and her troubling findings.

http://radioprogresohn.net/index.php/comunicaciones/noticias/item/1168-informe-preliminar-de-relator%C3%ADa-revela-violencia-agudizada-que-viven-mujeres-en-honduras

Campesinxs organization demand that the second part of the exhumations taking place these coming days will be done with greater care and transparency to counteract the ongoing impunity in these cases. They fear that this process is only used to clean the image of Dinant and Facussé in front of the World Bank.

http://radioprogresohn.net/index.php/comunicaciones/noticias/item/1170-exigen-que-exhumaciones-de-cad%C3%A1veres-v%C3%ADctimas-del-conflicto-agrario-sean-serias-y-eficientes

JOH announced that the bidding for the construction of his Government City will start in the next three weeks. He wants all state institutions to be located in the same area, in buildings possessed by the state and therefore not paying rent. He promises savings in millions in the next 20 years and some 10'000 jobs during the three years construction. More probable is that some more people linked to the construction sector get
filthy rich while not much else changes.

http://www.radiohrn.hn/l/noticias/lanzar%C3%A1n-licitaci%C3%B3n-para-la-construcci%C3%B3n-de-ciudad-c%C3%ADvica

Denouncing Recent Threat: STOP HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS OF PRIESTS AND OTHER HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS IN HONDURAS

The Broad Movement for Dignity and Justice (MADJ), condemns the criminal action which César Augusto Espinoza Muñoz and Abel Carbajal, priests of the parish of Arizona, Atlántida and international human rights volunteers with PROAH who were accompanying them, were victims of when yesterday, July 3rd at approximately 7 pm, when armed men driving a tourism vehicle, intercepted the vehicle that the priests and accompaniers were traveling in near Siguatepeque. The armed men forced them to stop their vehicle, pointed guns at them and took their vehicle and other belongings. They were then taken to another location in Siguatepeque where there were abandoned.

The priests Cesar Espinoza and Abel Carbajal as well as other leaders of the Atlántida department, are beneficiaries of protective measures from the Inter American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) as of December 2013; measures which have not been implemented by the State despite the fact the beneficiaries as well as MADJ have made concrete proposals to the State of Honduras for the protection of the lives and other rights
of the beneficiaries who are under threat due to their legitimate opposition to mining operations on the part of businessmen in the department of Atlántida.

MADJ denounces that days before this criminal action against the priests, several beneficiaries of protective measures issued by the IACHR and other members of MADJ of the Florida sector, have received repeated threats and harassment on the part of people linked to the mining company Minerales La Victoria, which is responsible for mining
project Buena Vista I which is opposed by the communities as it violates their individual and collective rights. MADJ warns that all of these actions which threaten the lives and security of leaders who denounce corruption and oppose the destruction of natural resources in the department of Atlántida occur following the June 30 hearing in Tela during which, thanks to the opportune action on the part of the victims, an attempt on the part of the Public Ministry to benefit the head of security for Minerales la Victoria, Wilfredo Funes, was rejected. Funes is in prison for crimes committed against human rights defenders in the zone.

MADJ again holds the State of Honduras responsible for failing to uphold its responsibility to respect and guarantee the human rights of priests Cesar Espinoza and Abel Carbajal, and leaders of MADJ, beneficiaries of
protective measures from the IACHR. MADJ demands that these and the many other criminal acts that we have denounced before the appropriate State institutions, be investigated and that the businessmen and corrupt functionaries who violate human rights and destroy the peace and tranquility of many rural communities that today suffer persecution on the part of national and transnational companies and corrupt state actors.

¡POR LA DIGNIDAD NO MÁS IMPUNIDAD!

July 4, 2014.

Original Spanish version: https://www.facebook.com/MADJhn?fref=ts