Demonstrations Continue in Tegucigalpa

There may be a new government in Honduras, and the US Secretary of State – Hillary Clinton – may be encouraging other member nations of the Organization of American States to recognize that government, but public demonstrations continue.

On February 25th, around 10,000 of supporters of former president Manuel Zelaya – who had been removed from office by the military coup last June – poured into the streets of Tegucigalpa to protest the continued abuses of human rights occurring since Porfirio Lobo was elected President last November. Protesters also called for reform to the nation’s constitution in order to guarantee the protection of rights. It was Zelaya’s attempt to establish a constituent assembly to review the constitution which provoked the coup; factions resistant to change in Honduras claimed that Zelaya was following the example of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, who had won a constitutional referendum in February 2009 which allowed him to stand for re-election indefinitely.

Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch [http://www.hrw.org] has raised concerns about the continued violations of human rights which have occurred since Lobo took office in January. Human Rights Watch has called upon the Attorney General of Honduras to investigate reports they have received that members of the Frente Nacional de Resistencia Popular [National Front for Popular Resistance] are still the targets of violence. FNRP is a coalition of labor and social groups which opposed the military coup and called for a boycott of November elections. Human Rights Watch states that the reports of murder, rape, kidnapping, and torture of FNRP members are “credible.”

Although Lobo had said during the election campaign that he would work for “national reconciliation and unity,” there is little evidence that he has made efforts to mend relations with Zelaya’s supporters or those who opposed the de facto government of Roberto Micheletti which was installed after the coup. Nor has the new government taken steps to hold accountable the perpetrators of extensive human rights abuses which took place during Micheletti’s administration. On the contrary, Lobo issued an amnesty absolving the organizers of the coup and their supporters as well as the military and police forces.

The Inter-American Commission for Human Rights expressed reservations about the terms of this amnesty. They suggest that such amnesties are often used as a way of avoiding having to investigate criminal activities and amount to a failure of governments to protect the rights of their citizens. The IACHR is an autonomous body of the Organization of American States.

The press release issued by Human Rights Watch points out that there is good evidence that similar types of abuses are continuing today. They site several examples, including: on February 2nd, the kidnapping and beating of cameraman who had been with Zelaya during the time he was given sanctuary in the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa; on February 4th the murder of Vanessa Zepeda, a member of the Social Security Union.

In January, Amnesty International issued a statement saying that "If President Lobo wants to restore the rule of law and confidence in his government, he must ensure the abuses of the past seven months are dealt with quickly and effectively." So far he has not done so.