domingo, 7 de febrero de 2010

HONDURAN “TRUTH COMMISSION” AMIDST TORTURE & ASSASSINATIONS

by Annie Bird, Rights Action co-director, annie@rightsaction.org, 202-680-3002
On Tuesday, February 4, Profiro Lobo, the Honduran president “elected” in the fraudulent November 27, 2009 elections, gave the mandate to create a proposal for a “Truth Commission” to former Guatemalan vice president Eduardo Stein.
The same day, a union leader active in the pacific Resistance movement was murdered, and on February 2nd, two cameramen from the national Television outlet Globo TV were kidnapped and tortured by Honduran state security agents (see articles below).
The unionist’s murder and the two journalist’s testimonies confirm fears that repression will continue or increase against sectors that express opposition to the Lobo government, report on the ongoing human rights violations or advance the call for a new constitution in Honduras.
On January 27, 2010, Porfirio Lobo was sworn in as president of Honduras in a ceremony attended by few international diplomats, while hundreds of thousands of Hondurans marched from the National Teaching University to the airport to see off the plane that carried President Manuel Zelaya Rosales to the Dominican Republic.
In an attempt to strengthen the very weak image of his government, Lobo has constructed the appearance of what he calls a “government of national reconciliation,” including political parties considered to be left leaning, but whom the National Resistance movement has stated that in no way represent the Resistance. Also, as part of this attempt to strengthen his government’s legitimacy, Lobo is promoting the structuring of a Truth Commission.
The proposal to create a Truth Commission first appeared in the so-called San Jose-Tegucigalpa accords, and was an initiative of mediator Oscar Arias. While the National Popular Resistance front and ousted President Manuel Zelaya consider that “accord” to be null since Zelaya was not restored to the presidency, the Truth Commission continues to be promoted by the Lobo government and by the US government which supported the illegal coup regime and supported the original design of the Truth Commission.
Promotion of a Truth Commission in the midst of on-going State repression, without the participation at any level of Honduran society, including the Resistance Movement, members of which have been most targeted for repression (including assassination, disappearance, rape, torture), and direct coordination with the author of the State repression - the military-oligarchic regime installed after the military coup – is an attempt to lend legitimacy to those carrying out violations without the conditions necessary to allow victims to clarify the truth.
The Resistance continues to set their sights on the establishment of a National Constitutional Assembly to draw up a new constitution that incorporates proposals from a broad sector of the society. The current constitution was the result of a process that initiated in 1981 following a military coup.
Even as we must denounce the on-going repression and human rights violations, in the short term, and view the “Truth Commission” with extreme caution and skepticism, we must work with and support the Resistance Movement in its medium and long-term struggle to establish the National Constituent Assembly and to refound their country and society.
Fuente: elquinceavopaso.blogspot.com
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