http://quotha.net/node/1870 Father Fausto Milla and his assistant flee Honduras (from COFADEH) Mon, 07/11/2011 - 10:50 AP
Father Fausto Milla and his assistant flee Honduras Friday, July 8, 2011 Translation courtesy Honduras Accompaniment Project, Friendship Office of the Americas <http://friendshipamericas.org/> *Father Milla has been subjected to harassment, constant stalking and death threats* The death threats against Father Fausto Milla, a commissioner with the Commission of Truth, and his assistant Denia Mejía have escalated recently, resulting in their decision to leave the county this Friday. They said good-bye to fellow Hondurans during a press conference at the Committee of Families of the Detained and Disappeared in Honduras (COFADEH). Milla's parish is in Corquín, in the department of Copán, and his parishioners are mostly rural poor and indigenous peoples, and Milla has initiated efforts to organize the population to defend their human rights and reclaim their culture. He has helped many poor families with illnesses to survived, helping them with nutritional techniques. Previous persecution In the 1970s and 1980s he was followed by the police and the military, who classified him as a guerilla, resulting in Milla taking refuge in Mexico, where he learned more about natural medicine and dedicated himself to healing. At that time, besides being parish priest in Corquín, Milla also worked as director of Caritas (Catholic Charities) in his diocese. As part of that work he gave protection to Salvadoran refugees, resulting in the persecution from police and military. His public denouncement of the massacre of Río Sumpul, which occurred on May 14, 1980, aggravated the situation. More than 600 inhabitants of the Salvadoran towns of San Jacinto and La Arada were fleeing, terrified, from the Salvadoran and Honduran police and military when they were murdered in a matter of hours. Few survived. Saturday, May 24th of the same year, Milla denounced the act from his pulpit, saying it was being ignored by the responsible authorities, and that's when he was accused by the military and police of organizing guerilla groups and amassing arms. Kidnapping En February of 1981, Milla returned from Mexico to participate in the Permanent Peoples' Tribunal. He was kidnapped by a Battalion 3-16 death squad who held him for six days in La Flecha, Santa Bárbara, where they tortured him and later abandoned him. Current Attacks *In the decades of the seventies and eighties the police and military followed him because they catalogued him as a guerrilla* Father Milla has been the object of acts of harassment, surveillance, and death threats. On Wednesday, June 29th, his assistant Denia Mejía, who will accompany him in his exile, found a death threat in the institutional email account of the Honduran Ecumenical Institute for Community Services (INEHSCO). The e-mail was sent as a warning, and included threats veiled as extortion attempts, where the authors granted a period of 48 hours to make a deposit of $35,000, or Milla would be killed. In the past two weeks there have been calls made from unknown numbers demanding to know Milla's daily routine, an unusual presence of police offices in the vicinity of his health centre in Corquín, unknown men entering the health centre where Milla's patients are resting, and he has continued to be followed at a short distance by vehicles with tinted windows. Solidarity Bertha Oliva, the co-ordinator of COFADEH, stated that leaving one's country is not an easy decision. We hope that his leave is for a short time, we have to insist on the necessity of their return to their people. There is no doubt that we are in a state of total defencelessness, where they are asking for amnesia for past crimes, they are demanding that we forgive them, put look what happens to Enrique Flores Lanza, who believed in the agreements, he came back to his country and now he's facing a political trial. The human rights defender informed journalists that information regarding the threats against Father Milla and Denia were presented to the corresponding instances, but nothing has been done, they have responded with silence. The scene became emotional when when Nohemí Pérez, in the name of COFADEH, offered Father Milla a white handkerchief, which is a symbol of the organization's struggle since the 1980s in search of their family members who were forcibly disappeared by State security apparatus of Honduras. With sadness in my hard and in the name of our organization I offer you this handkerchief as a simple of hope, and that we are not saying 'good-bye,' but 'see you soon'. The words of Gladys Lanza, National Co-ordinator of the 'Visitación Padilla' Women's Movement for Peace moved those in attendance when she placed a hand on her chest and expressed to the priest the pain that she felt over the situation he was going through, and assured him that he would return to his homeland. Oscar Flores, on behalf of the National Front of Popular Resistance, offered Milla a red handkerchieff with an image of Che Guevara, and with tears in his eyes showed the priest the affection held for him by the population in resistance. In a press release, the Union of Workers of the National Autonomous University of Honduras (SITRAUNAH) expressed their solidarity with the religious leader and registered their condemnation in relation to the death threats he had received from the oligarchy and other power groups and demanded an end to the persecution against Father Milla. They have as their weapon the millions they've stolen from children Milla put special emphasis on the fact that poverty in Honduras is a consequence of the millions that the oligarchy has taken from the mouths of approximately 400 thousand malnourished children. Stolen mouthfuls: this is how they've accumulated their millions, this is how they've gained control of the country. They have the military, the police, their private armies, and they have the authority to commit the worst barbarities against young people. He added that the oligarchs are trying to paralyse the country; we will not let ourselves be paralysed, they want us to leave here, they want the campesinos (peasant farmers) in the Aguán to leave there as a result of so much torture, and they want to convert the land into dollars. I leave with great sadness *Denia Mejía* Denia Mejía expressed that she is leaving the country with great sadness because she is leaving her family, with whom she has not even been able to share all the details of what has happened, because of concerns for their well-being and her own. Below is the statement that COFADEH released at the press conference: We condemn the fact that Father Fausto Milla must leave in forced exile The Committee of Families of the Detained and Disappeared in Honduras (COFADEH) profoundly laments to the national and international community that Honduras must leave their country in exile. This time it is Father Fausto Milla, a Commissioner with the Commission of Truth, along with his assistant Denia Mejía, who due to repeated acts of surveillance and persecution, who has recently decided that to best protect his life he must leave his homeland, which he has fought for for decades in order to achieve social transformation that will result in a more dignified live for all. This decision has been difficult, but the incidents of insecurity have been increasing in intensity, which it is believed clearly demonstrates a strategy to obstruct his community work and particularly his work with the Commission of Truth, which will be presenting it's report on the events that occurred before and after the coup d'état, as well as the serious human rights violations that took place, and who was responsible for them. Other members of the Commission have also been subject to attacks, which have been made known nationally and internationally. This systematic pattern, occurring since September 2010, concerns us. We offer an embrace of solidarity to Father Milla and Denia, we consider exile to be an act that violates human rights and that results in feelings of rootlessness in those who are subject to it. Since the coup d'état in Honduras on June 28, 2011, 200 people have fled persecution in the country in order to save their lives, and they can't return because the human rights situation in the country is worse than when they left. We denounce that although the formal denouncement has be made to the Ministry of the Attorney General, no investigative actions have been taken to bring the perpetrators of these attacks to justice or to protect the lives of Padre Milla, Denia, and other members of the Commission of Truth. We demand that immediate action be taken to cease the insecurity that Father Milla and Denia are experiencing so that they can return to their country, which they never should have had to leave. Death threats send Father Fausto Milla into exile Mon, 07/11/2011 - 10:34 AP Original on FNRP website: Death threats send Father Fausto Milla into exile<http://www.resistenciahonduras.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3241:death-threats-send-father-fausto-milla-into-exile&catid=103:human-rights&Itemid=352> Sunday, July 10 Translated by V. Cervantes *COFADEH say that there are still more than 200 people in political exile* Tegucigalpa July 8, 2011. Today COFADEH announced that the organization has undertaken the obligation to facilitate the process necessary for the exit from Honduras of Father Fausto Milla who this Friday, July 8th in morning hours left for Nicaragua. The Father has had to leave for a time, getting him to safety was our obligation said Berta Oliva, director of the organization, who also stated that the threats are directed at the True Commission (Commision de Verdad) of which Fausto Milla is a commissioner. The threats that Fausto Milla has received are very strong, messages, emails, with death threats and lastly a group of men who arrived in a car with tinted windows, with an unfriendly attitude, looking for him at his Corquin clinic in Copan", Oliva added. Berta Oliva also announced that there are still more than 200 people in exile because they have been seriously threatened and the conditions for their return do not exist. For his part, Milla holds Miguel Facusse responsible for these threats since he recently received information from a trustworthy person; he said he learned From a call that I had last night from a very close friend, it seems that recently he insisted on this accusation, that Miguel Facusse clearly figures in this, as the one trying to commit this deed. I carry the hope of the Honduran people with me on this new exile, the hope that truth and life will triumph. At the same time, Milla calls on all Hondurans to double their capacity for struggle to rid the country of the beasts that are devouring it, at the same time he denounces that there are 400,000 malnourished children in Honduras and the power structures that totally control the police and the army have the millions that they squeeze from the people. ------------ http://quotha.net/node/1871 The U.S. embassy's lies continue Mon, 07/11/2011 - 11:26 AP Llorens may have skipped town on July 3rd to work for the National Defense University in DCleaving the embassy under the charge of USAID until the new Biofuels ambassador arrives (presumably to work for Miguel Facussé)but nothing in the bunker on the hill above Guanacaste has changed. Silvia Eiriz, Political Counselor for the U.S. embassy in Tegucigalpa, recently sent this absurd email to a member of the board of Alliance for Global Justice, a group that recently sent a delegation that witnessed the aftermath of the Rigores attack, in which police, without any warning, burned the houses of an entire Bajo Aguán community, along with its schools and church. The AFGJ delegation interceded to prevent traumatized community members from being kicked out of the small community center where they had sought refuge, after two women had suffered miscarriages from the Honduran-government-imposed and U.S.-supported violence. In Eiriz's email, she makes three particularly absurd and offensive claims: 1. "Let me assure you that ensuring respect for human rights has been, is, and will continue to be a top priority for the United States Embassy in Tegucigalpa." The only top priority of the U.S. government has been the continuing neoliberalization of Honduras's economy, to the detriment of Honduran democracy, sovereignty, and health. This has directly contradicted any respect for human rights, as is evident in the vile statements coming from people like Jeremy Spector and Llorens, blaming the resistance for the violence and deaths its own members have suffered at the hands of the Honduran State under both Micheletti and Lobo. Also, the downplaying of the horrific ongoing human rights violations perpetrated by the State in the country human rights reports demonstrates the use of human rights discourse as a political tool, with no real respect for the concept. 2. "I would note that President Porfirio Lobo was elected president with the greatest number of votes in Honduran history in an election held on November 29, 2009 that was recognized as credible by most of the international community. This election was organized before the coup that took place on June 28, 2009 and was carried out by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, an independent body." It was actually unbelievable for me to read this. I'm used to absurdities coming out of State, but there is not even a hint of truth to these statements. Even the TSE, illegally appointed and part of the coup structure (i.e., by no means independent), admitted that its claims of high voter turnout were a lie very soon after the election, and that voter turnout (according to them) was only 49% (although dozens of accounts from around the country demonstrate that it was far lower). That Eiriz would continue with this fiction is frankly astounding. 3. "Concrete examples of the Lobo Administrations commitment are the creation of a Secretariat of Justice and Human Rights and the creation of a special unit in the Secretariat of Security to investigate human rights violations." And again, wow. Repeating Llorens' mantra that because a human rights unit exists, therefore the Lobo administration respects human rights is like claiming that because we have a Department of Homeland Security, we are now more secure (thanks to the suspension of all those pesky civil rights). Or because the National Endowment for Democracy is spending money on infiltrating democratic movements in countries around the world, they are now more democratic. Or that because Lobo calls his government the government of unity and reconciliation, there has been anything resembling that, instead of burnt-down peasant communities; ongoing targeted assassinations of journalists, teachers, *campesinos*, and others; the destruction of public education; and the auctioning of of national resources and the environment to the highest corporate bidder. The email: From: "Eiriz, Silvia" Date: July 8, 2011 5:30:07 PM EDT To: "George Pauk" Subject: RE: Honduras Thank you for your message expressing your concern regarding the human rights situation in Honduras. Let me assure you that ensuring respect for human rights has been, is, and will continue to be a top priority for the United States Embassy in Tegucigalpa. You can rest assured that the Embassy will continue to advocate with the Government of Honduras for thorough and transparent investigations into all alleged violations of human rights. Regarding your characterization of the Government of Honduras as a coup government, I would note that President Porfirio Lobo was elected president with the greatest number of votes in Honduran history in an election held on November 29, 2009 that was recognized as credible by most of the international community. This election was organized before the coup that took place on June 28, 2009 and was carried out by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, an independent body. In addition, Honduras was readmitted into the Organization of American States on June 7, 2011. There was a significant deterioration in the human rights conditions in Honduras during the time that the de facto regime installed after the coup was in power. However, the situation has improved measurably since President Lobos inauguration. Concrete examples of the Lobo Administrations commitment are the creation of a Secretariat of Justice and Human Rights and the creation of a special unit in the Secretariat of Security to investigate human rights violations. There is no doubt that Honduras faces serious challenges posed by impunity, corruption, a lack of public confidence in the police and judiciary, and organized crime. The Government of the United States strongly believes that the solution to these problems is continued engagement with and assistance to Honduran authorities so that they can effectively address them. Only with the full engagement of the international community can Honduras overcome the difficulties that it faces. I would ask that you notify the Embassy when you learn of any specific cases of concern and I assure you that we will follow up quickly and thoroughly. Silvia Eiriz Political Counselor/Consejero para Asuntos Políticos U.S. Embassy Tegucigalpa/Embajada de los Estados Unidos en Tegucigalpa [email protected] Tel: (504) 2237-9699 (504) 2236-9320 X4356 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digest: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help: <mailto:[email protected]?subject=laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! 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