http://quotha.net/node/2065
Bajo Aguán gathering and Delegation to Honduras, from Rights ActionMon, 01/09/2012 - 12:22 AP Rights Action - January 5, 2012 HONDURAS - The Pro-democracy Struggle Continues<http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?llr=v9oijwdab&v=001ZxTRMtTNNkguZJ_wfTawLD-kcFqP7wI7HEjv6EFvL79IIVpjytceR_kTOrvCCH5fDhZ_4X69zkvZ2dxO0YAU66dj0z9yIO4T7v_hwp0Ff1c%3D> BELOW: - Fund-raising Appeal for International Human Rights Gathering in Solidarity With Honduras, February 17-20, 2012, in Honduras - Delegation to Honduras, February 12-22, 2012 ------------------------------ *FROM: COPINH (The Honduras Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations)* *INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS GATHERING IN SOLIDARITY WITH HONDURAS Bajo Aguán region of Honduras, February 17-20, 2012* TO DONATE: 1. Please see complete banking details of COPINH below, and make your contribution directly to COPINH. 2. If people or organizations prefer to donate via Rights Action, and receive a tax-charitable receipt in Canada or the USA, or because it makes your life easier, see below, or contact: [email protected] 3. Feel free to send this proposal to your own lists, and raise funds through your organizations for this Gathering. REASON FOR FUND-RAISING APPEAL: We are appealing for funds to help us hold the International Human Rights Gathering in Solidarity with Honduras, which will take place in Bajo Aguan, February 17-20, 2012. The military coup in Honduras - carried out by an alliance of oligarchical sectors with close ties to American interests - was followed by strong militarization of the country that led to eventual control of the region by these forces. They then decided to regain ground that had been lost to the social, campesino, indigenous, Garífuna, black and popular struggle. The military coup and the government it installed brought in a reinforcement of militarism and paramilitarism, with their accompanying operational structures and logic of domination. Since the coup, the number of soldiers in the armed forces has increased and as well, American military occupation has increased openly; new American military bases have been built, and systematically, new exercises such as "Nuevos Horizontes", Panamax, and the Plan Mérida have been introduced. These were identified initially as anti-drugs trade exercises, but the Americans have expanded their mandate and are now describing these operations as being part of an "anti-terrorist accord." This American "cooperation" includes bilateral training activities, educational and knowledge exchanges, humanitarian aid missions and bilateral and multinational training exercises. While the military presence has increased, the drugs trade has not been reduced - in fact, it has expanded, along with paramilitarism and murder. Crimes, violence against the population and threats have become part of daily life and people live in a climate of terror. Assassinations and threats to journalists, prominent resistance activists, students and human rights defenders and an increase in femicide and violence against vulnerable communities have left people feeling defenceless and insecure. This is all reinforced by a hegemonic discourse that tries to present Honduras as a "failed state" and thus set up conditions for the regime to bring in harsh measures and more open foreign intervention. No attention has been paid to the fact that members and directors of popular organizations have been granted cautionary measures by international human rights protection systems. These people have been physically and emotionally harmed and have been arbitrarily and illegally detained. Community radio stations have been harassed and threatened. Some have been burned down others have had their electricity lines sabotaged. Since the Porfirio Lobo government has taken power, 18 journalists have been murdered. The government and the parliament claim to be "resolving" the crisis of authority and of legitimacy of the National Police. There have been denouncements concerning Police participation in corruption, drug-trafficking and their disgraceful role in carrying out "internal security" exercises authorized by the FFAA, an authorization that legalized police repression and persecution of the popular movement, police violation of human rights and an increase in their power. As well, a well-known torturer, Elder Madrid Guerra, has just been appointed as Head of Intelligence for the Honduras Police. One of the regions that has suffered the most, and is still enduring retaliation and repression, is Bajo Aguán, where there is a campesino movement. Terror deterrence operations have increased in the area, with the presence of military and police and hundreds of private guards and hit men who terrorize campesino communities and organizations engaged in a crucial struggle for their lands. A joint military operation known as Xatruch is presently being put into action. The operation involves one thousand police and military from the Naval Force and the Infantry Battalion based in Aguan and from the national Operativo Relámpago (beginning in November, 2011.) There have been denouncements that Operation Xatruch agents have been involved in torture of campesinos and in advising armed forces and private guards working for land holders, as well as American marines and Colombian paramilitaries; there have also been denouncements regarding the presence in the area of Mexican paramilitaries known as "los Zetas" who are linked to the drugs trade. As well, there is the constant aggression, death threats and harassment on the part of armed forces reservists who operate as paramilitaries and from the armed forces and police themselves, all of whom are working with municipal and central authorities. The death squads are also active again. There is also an increase in the number of "private security agencies", which, in fact, are real armed forces under the control of the oligarchy. The so-called "war on drugs" is the excuse used for the increased militarization of our society, especially in campesino and indigenous regions. The same intervention model was used in Colombia and Mexico. The increase in the murder rate in Honduras has been denounced internationally. Between September, 2009 and October, 2011 there were 42 murders related to Bajo Aguan campesino organizations. Some 3,500 campesino families who demanded their rights to land and food have been persecuted, threatened and intimidated. There have been legal proceedings against 160 campesinos and entire villages have been subjected to forced evictions and destruction of their homes and livelihoods. The backdrop to this situation is the reality of Honduras - 600 thousand families are landless while enormous plantations sit in the hands of land owners such as Miguel Facussé, Reynaldo Canales and René Morales Carazo. In an urgent call for solidarity with the Bajo Aguán Campesino Movement, Noble Prize recipient, Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, Nora Cortiñas, - Mother of the Plaza de Mayo, Founding Line, Bertha Oliva -COFADEH- Frei Betto,as well as hundreds of other human rights representatives made the following statement: "Faced with this situation, the international community's response has tended to aggravate the conflicts rather than resolve them. As well as supporting Honduras' full reinstatement into the Organisation of American States, ignoring the wave of repression which has been unleashed and the lack of legal safeguards resulting from the collapse of the justice system and the impunity which prevails, the US has noticeably increased its military presence, training exercises and expenditure in the country, including opening three new military bases in the period following the 2009 coup. >From June this year, in a joint move, involving the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the World Bank, and the USA among others, under the banner of a new Central America Regional Security Initiative which is supposed to be designed to improve the fight against the drugs trade and other forms of organised crime, strong support and increased supplies are being provided precisely to those sectors most implicated in these crimes. This new transnationalisation of a very peculiar concept of security, always under US control, already has many precedents both in the country and in the region, including the 'security chapter' incorporated into NAFTA, the results of which can be seen in Mexico. Its links with policies for investment, indebtedness and territorial control also cannot be ignored, under which, in the Bajo Aguán and the Garífuna coastal areas, as well as other parts of Honduras, there are efforts to impose schemes for 'greened' land theft - 'renewable energy', 'ecological reforestation' and 'sustainable tourism' - despite the opposition of the inhabitants who see their life chances under increasing attack." ACTIVITIES OF THE AGUÁN CAMPESINO MOVEMENT In this context, the campesino organizations of the Aguán, along with a group of social and human rights movements, have set up the Permanent International Observatory of Human Rights of the Aguán with the goal to stop the increase in repression, murder and impunity in the area. The first initiative of this Observatory is to organize this International Human Rights Gathering. Given the precarious situation in which campesino organizations find themselves, it is crucial that this Gathering be supported as a way of putting an end to a massacre that must be stopped before it becomes even more acute than it is presently. OBJECTIVES OF THE MEETING: Demonstrate how the military coup in Honduras is controlling institutional structures responsible for impunity and the increase in state violence. Strengthen solidarity between struggles and peoples of the world, thorough joint action and a common front against the serious situation of violation of human rights in Honduras. Make visible and denounce the violation of human rights in Honduras, especially in Bajo Aguán. Deepen our understanding of the links between militarization, transnationalization, the struggle for land and the violation of human rights in the region and in the country as a whole. GOALS: Active participation of more than 400 national delegates. Participation and presence of more than 200 international delegates. Provide delegates with complete and well-documented information regarding increasing violations of human rights in Honduras, impunity and militarization - data, testimonials, reports, field visits and other documents. Set up an information campaign on the national and international media. Define minimal agreements at the national and international levels to defend human rights in Honduras, in international campaigns against military, repressive and golpista stategies and in social movements across the continent, in struggles against the use of the coup d'etat as a way of intervening in popular processes. Organize a march in the main streets of Tocoa to protest the violation of human rights, militarization, plundering and repression. PARTICIPANTS: Representatives of campesino communities and settlements in Bajo Aguán; indigenous and black communities and urban sectors; human rights and justice representatives, the Frente Nacional de Resistencia Popular, women's, feminist, artists, academic, intellectual, youth and student organizations, ecumenical, religious, political party and progressive organizations; independent, alternative and popular media; environmentalists, anti-corruption groups, and representatives of those fighting for peace. LOCATION AND DATE OF THE MEETING: Tocoa, department of Colón, Bajo Aguán region, north coast of Honduras, February 17- 20 , 2012. Arrival on the 17th, departure on the 20th. BUDGET: Click here<http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?llr=v9oijwdab&v=001ZxTRMtTNNkguZJ_wfTawLD-kcFqP7wI7HEjv6EFvL79IIVpjytceR_kTOrvCCH5fDhZ_4X69zkvZ2dxO0YAU66dj0z9yIO4T7v_hwp0Ff1c%3D>to see budget breakdown BANKING INFORMATION - COPINH, IN HONDURAS: NAME: COPINH Account Number: 22-301-002400-1 Banco de Occidente S.A (Address: Frente al Templo Católico, La Esperanza, Intibucá, Honduras) Tel: (504) 2783-0151 CORRESPONDENT INTERNATIONAL BANK Bank of América Miami, FL, 33131-0000, USA ABA: 026009593 Swift: BOFAUS3M Account: 1901438034 Swift: BOCCHNTETGA ò BOCCHNTE CONTACT: COPINH, [email protected], [email protected] TO MAKE TAX-DEDUCTIBLE DONATIONS in CANADA and the USA: For the "Bajo Aguan Gathering", make check payable to "Rights Action" (writing Bajo Aguan Gathering on the memo-line) and mail to: UNITED STATES: Box 50887, Washington DC, 20091-0887 CANADA: 552 - 351 Queen St. E, Toronto ON, M5A-1T8 CREDIT-CARD DONATIONS can be made (anonymously): http://www.rightsaction.org/ DONATIONS OF STOCK can be made (anonymously): [email protected] ------------------------------ *DELEGATION TO HONDURAS, FEBRUARY 2012* LAND, SURVIVAL AND HUMAN RIGHTS La Voz de los de Abajo is organizing a delegation to Honduras from February 12-22, 2012. The delegation will participate in a human rights conference from February 17-21 in the Aguan Valley on the northern coast of Honduras. The Aguan and northern coast region has long been a center of the struggle for land, livelihood and survival for poor and landless small farmers, and the Garifuna coastal communities. Since the military coup of June 28, 2009 this region has been targeted by the most powerful members of the landed oligarchy and the coup governments for militarization and repression. Since January 2010 when Porfirio Lobo came into power more than 50 people in Aguan have been assassinated by government or private security forces. The call for the February conference and for participation from international and Honduran organizations was made by at the November 11, 2011 opening of a new International Human Rights Observatory in Aguan. The conference will be attended by Honduran human rights, campesino, resistance and indigenous peoples' organizations and by international human rights groups. Prior to the conference the delegation will visit with campesino communities to prepare for the conference. The delegation will also visit human rights organizations, members of the National Front of Popular Resistance, the new resistance political party, LIBRE, community radio and media activists, and with and Garifuna communities. The goal of the delegation is to learn about human rights and the struggle for land and survival of the campesino and indigenous communities since the coup and to provide accompaniment to the communities. A detailed schedule will be developed as the delegation moves forward. The delegation will be led by experienced members of La Voz de los de Abajo. Dates are February 12-22 with an anticipated fee of $800 plus airfare. Fees will cover lodging and transportation in Honduras, plus at least two meals a day and translation. FIND OUT MORE: Vicki Cervantes ([email protected]) (312) 259-5042 Facebook: La Voz de los de Abajo Blogspot: Honduras Resists.blogspot.com ------------------------------ Please re-post this information Get on-off Rights Action's listserv: http://www.rightsaction.org/ Follow Rights Action on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/RightsAction.org - AP's blog <http://quotha.net/blog/1> - [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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