Honduras: UN officials sound alarm over crackdown on freedoms

2 October 2009 – The head of the United Nations agency tasked with upholding the freedom of expression today led a chorus of UN voices expressing concern over the suppression of civil liberties in Honduras following a coup d’état in the Central American country in June.

Since the return of ousted President José Manuel Zelaya to Honduras on 21 September, authorities have declared a state of emergency, suspending freedom of opinion and expression, movement and association.

“I am deeply concerned about the situation in Honduras,” said UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura.

“Freedom of expression is a particularly important human right that must be preserved if a durable solution, acceptable to all, is to be found to the crisis,” stressed Mr. Matsuura.

The authorities who took power in June have issued a decree sanctioning the suspension of any media outlet that “attacks peace or public order,” or that broadcasts messages that “offend human dignity, officials, threatens the law or government resolutions” after Mr. Zelaya returned to Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital, and sought shelter in the Brazilian embassy.

“It is important that political tensions in the country be resolved in a manner that is mindful of the rights of citizens to engage in informed debate,” said Mr. Matsuura in a message calling on authorities to reconsider their position in the light of democratic principles.

A group of independent UN human rights experts noted that the decree also allows the police to repress all non-authorized public meetings or demonstrations, and had resulted in the deaths of five people in the last few rallies, including an 18-year-old youth.

“It is worrying that police and military officers are resorting to the use of excessive force, including beatings and shootings, in order to dissolve street protests,” the group of four experts said in a joint news release.

“The result of these interventions has been large-scale detentions, in some cases in non-authorized detention facilities, where those arrested run the risk of being subjected to torture or other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment,” the experts added.

The group of experts, who report to the Human Rights Council in Geneva on an unpaid basis, consisted of El Hadji Malick Sow, Chairperson-Rapporteur of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention; Margaret Sekaggya, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders; Frank La Rue, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, and Manfred Nowak, Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

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Human Rights Council deplores violations in Honduras following coup

1 October 2009 – Strongly condemning the coup d’état in Honduras in June, the Human Rights Council today called for the restoration of democracy and the rule of law in the Central American country and an immediate end to all violations of human rights. Council members, meeting in Geneva, adopted a resolution in which they expressed concern about the ongoing situation in Honduras, particularly in the wake of the return of President José Manuel Zelaya to the country on 21 September.

Mr. Zelaya sought shelter in the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital, after he returned, and since then the authorities who took power in June have curtailed media outlets and restricted the supply of food, water and electricity to the embassy.

The resolution, which was adopted without a vote, calls for “unconditional respect” for all human rights and fundamental freedoms in Honduras and stresses the need for all sides to refrain from violence and to respect the rule of law.

The text also voices support for regional efforts to restore the democratic order in Honduras and asks UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay to present a comprehensive report on the situation since the coup occurred.

The resolution on Honduras was one of 15 adopted by the Council today, along with two decisions, on issues ranging from the elimination of discrimination against people affected by leprosy to the independence and impartiality of the judiciary.



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News Tracker: past stories on this issue

Recent coup oppresses Honduran people, ousted leader tells General Assembly>>>

A revolution is being born there

Reflections of Fidel

ON July 16, I stated textually that the coup d’état in Honduras "was conceived of and organized by unscrupulous individuals on the extreme right, dependable officials of George W. Bush and promoted by him."

I quoted the names of Hugo Llorens, Robert Blau, Stephen McFarland and Robert Callahan, yanki ambassadors in Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua, appointed by Bush in the months of July and August of 2008, the four of them following the line of John Negroponte and Otto Reich, both of a shady history.

I indicated the yanki base of Soto Cano [Palmerola] as a central support point for the coup d’état and that "the idea of the a peace initiative from Costa Rica was transmitted to the president of that country from the State Department when Obama was in Moscow and stated, in a Russian university, that the only president of Honduras was Manuel Zelaya." I added that "the Costa Rica meeting called into question the authority of the UN, the OAS and other institutions which had committed their support to the people of Honduras and that the only correct thing to do was to demand that the United States should end its intervention in Honduras and withdraw the Joint Task Force from that country."

The response of the United States in the wake of the coup d’état in that Central American country has been to draw up an agreement with the government of Colombia for the creation of seven military bases, like the one in Soto Cano in that sister country, which are a threat to Venezuela, Brazil and all the other nations of South America.

At a critical moment, when the tragedy of climate change and the international economic crisis is being discussed in a summit meeting of heads of state of the United Nations, the coup perpetrators in Honduras are threatening to violate the immunity of the Brazilian embassy, where President Manuel Zelaya, his family and a group of his followers who were forced to take shelter in that building are to be found.

It has been confirmed that the government of Brazil had nothing whatsoever to do with the situation that has been created there.

It is therefore inadmissible, moreover inconceivable, that the Brazilian embassy should be assaulted by the fascist government, unless that government is attempting to be the instrument of its own suicide by dragging the country into a direct invasion by foreign forces, as was the case in Haiti, which would signify a direct invasion of yanki troops under the flag of the United Nations. Honduras is not a distant and isolated country in the Caribbean. An intervention by foreign forces in Honduras would unleash a conflict in Central America and create political chaos in all of Latin America.

The heroic struggle of the Honduran people after almost 90 days of incessant battling has placed in crisis the fascist and pro-yanki government that is repressing unarmed men and women.

We have seen a new awareness emerge in the Honduran people. An entire legion of social fighters has been hardened in that battle. Zelaya fulfilled his promise to return. He has the right to be reestablished in government and to preside over the elections. New and admirable cadres are standing out among the combative social movements, capable of leading that nation along the difficult roads that await the peoples of Our America. A revolution is being born there.

The UN Assembly could be a historic one, depending on its correct decisions or errors.
World leaders have expounded issues of great interest and complexity. They reflect the magnitude of the tasks that humanity has ahead of it and how scant the time available is.

Fidel Castro Ruz

September 24, 2009

1.23 p.m.

Translated by Granma International

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Only socialism will save the planet, affirms Chávez at the UN

UNITED NATIONS, September 24.—President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela affirmed here today that socialism is the only true way forward for the salvation of the planet. "Only with socialism will we achieve real changes, a new Indo-American, Martí, Bolivarian socialism," stated the Venezuelan leader, speaking at the 64th session of the UN General Assembly.
Prensa Latina notes that, in the context of that idea, the dignitary called on the world to accept that there is a revolution in Latin America of a geopolitical nature and with very profound roots.

"South of the border," he said in reference to the film of the same name by Oliver Stone, "there is a revolution and the world has to see that and take it on, a necessary revolution that is large and will continue growing, nobody can detain it."

Chávez urged his U.S. counterpart, Barack Obama, to take concrete action coherent with his political discourse, which is why he wondered if there were two Obamas.

"I prefer to believe in the Obama who stood here yesterday and said that he would fight for world peace. What he said was that no government should impose on any other nation. So, Obama, why don’t you act accordingly and abandon the savage blockade of Cuba?" he asked.

Referring to climate change, Chávez said that the cause of contamination is hyper-consumerism, noting that reserves of gas and oil are being exhausted and that some people seemed to think that this is a metaphysical preoccupation. He went on to quote various excerpts of Fidel Castro’s Reflection "An endangered species."

He stated that the U.S. president, who advocated the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, should begin that process in his own powerful nation: "destroy your arms," he affirmed.

Applauded at various points of his speech to the Assembly, Chávez also condemned the coup d’état in Honduras.

He made particular reference to the repression unleashed on the Honduran people by the coup government and the harassment of the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa, where the constitutional president, Manuel Zelaya has been staying for three days. He called on Honduran soldiers, the sons of Morazán, to stop repressing the people, a people with 90 days on the streets resisting, he stressed.

Chávez criticized the United States for still failing to recognize the existence of a military coup in Honduras and for the contradictory actions of the White House in response to that grave political situation.

He explained that it has become evident that there is a battle between the State Department and the Pentagon, which latter institution wants to dominate the world and is behind the coup. "We ask for the UN resolutions on the reestablishment of constitutional order in Honduras to be fulfilled," Chávez underlined.

He likewise called on Washington to withdraw the 4th Fleet from Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as to abandon the seven military bases in Colombia, given that they constitute a serious and real threat to regional peace.

According to ABN, referring to the U.S. president’s speech, Chávez commented that it didn’t smell of sulfur, recalling the expression he used three years ago in that same scenario in relation to George W. Bush. "It smells more of hope and we have to give heart to hope." He added that he is of the opinion that, just like Kennedy, the current president is intelligent. "God spare Obama from the bullets that killed Kennedy."

MORE VOICES AGAINST THE BLOCKADE

South African President Jacob Zuma urged a fundamental reform of the international financial institutions and the United Nations, and added, "We also urge the lifting of the economic, commercial and financial blockade of Cuba."

For his part, the president of Sao Tome and Principe, Fradique Bandeira Melo de Menezes, noted that his country is disappointed at the little progress made in relation to the blockade of Cuba. "We hope that the new president of the United States will bring this matter to an end," he stated.

Translated by Granma International

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