Honduras is just having problems these days. First its president wants to throw selected parts of the constitution out the window. Then the military throws the president out of the country. And now after a month of international diplomatic drama with the interim government, a major collection of human rights groups is accusing it of human rights violations.
In a press conference last Thursday, the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders announced their preliminary findings on the interim government. The Observatory is an ad hoc monitoring group founded in 1997 and made up of major human rights groups from Europe and Latin America. For the past month, they have been monitoring the situation in Honduras and investigating reports of human rights abuses since President Manuel Zelaya was ousted from power on June 28. They reported numerous abuses, including 5 apparently politically motivated killings that have taken place since the political crisis started, as well as 1,046 detentions of protestors and people breaking curfew.
They also accuse the interim government of promoting xenophobia, particularly against Nicaraguans. Of the 189 people who have been expelled from Honduras in the last month, the majority of them have been Nicaraguans. There are concerns in Honduras that war might break out between the two countries over the presidential crisis. Currently, Zelaya is using Nicaragua as his base with the strong support of the government there.
Furthermore, the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression for the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights, Catalina Botero, has said that there is growing censorship in Honduras since the crisis started. She has received several complaints on media shut downs and possible threats against journalists. The crisis is creating a media war with both sides vying for the attention of networks. While Zelaya generally has the ability to get coverage on international stations such as CNN, the interim government controls the state media and has more ability to exert control over local media as well. (for an article en espanõl about the media in Honduras since the crisis, click here)
To top everything off, the US revoked the visas of 4 Honduran government officials. The officials received their visas when they were members of Zelaya’s government, but have continued on in their positions under the interim government. Because of their connection to the new government (which the US does not recognize), their visas were revoked and the US State Department is promising that there is more to come.
So basically, Honduras is just having problems these days.
