Honduras 10 jaar na de VS coup: het verzet is springlevend en de repressie groot

Posted on July 20, 2019April 7, 2026 by Telmo Claro

10 jaar na de door Hillary Clinton en de CIA opgezette bloedige coup (28 juni 2009) is het intussen al meer dan 60 dagen onrustig in het land, dit als reactie op het plan om ook op gezondheidszorg en onderwijs te bezuinigen….. Middels massaal verzet, ook van de beroepskrachten, is deze bezuiniging van de baan, maar het verzet blijft doorgaan daar de ellende groot is onder het gewone volk, ook al is er gevaar voor arrestatie waarbij mensen in op VS leest gebouwde extra beveiligde gevangenissen worden opgesloten……

De internationale neoliberale uitzuigorganisatie IMF heeft een akkoord bereikt met de regering van Honduras over privatisering van staatsbedrijven, het programma dat hiervoor wordt gevolgd is door sommigen als ‘neoliberalisme op steroïden’ weggezet….

De vrouw van een criticaster van dat programma vertelt dat haar man in de gevangenis zit, NB betaald middels de Hondurese veiligheidsbelasting, een belastingsturing die werd gesteund door de regisseur van de coup in 2009, hare kwaadaardigheid Hillary Clinton, destijds minister van BuZa onder Obama, waarbij de politie en leger, plus de geheime diensten kapitalen extra kregen, terwijl de rest van de departementen in feite moesten bezuinigen, of rond zien te komen van een veel te laag budget….. De gevangenis waarin de bewuste man vastzit en die op VS leest is gebouwd, werd betaald uit die veiligheidsbelasting…….

Het neoliberalisme heeft ervoor gezorgd dat een groot aantal mensen in diepe armoede is beland, niet voor niets dat velen het land uitvluchten, als ze dat al niet uit angst voor overheid en doodseskaders hebben gedaan………

Lees het volgende ontluisterende verhaal en lees de interviews (via link) en begrijp waarom zoveel Hondurese mensen het land zijn ontvlucht, mensen worden vermoord door doodseskaders die niet zelden uit overheidsfunctionarissen bestaan en zoals al vaak vertoond in Latijns-Amerika: ‘mensen verdwijnen……’ Overigens ook drugsbendes zorgen voor grote ellende en vermoorden mensen als waren het insecten….. Bij de protesten die hebben geleid tot het stopzetten van de bezuinigingen op onderwijs en gezondheidszorg zijn een groot aantal studenten neergeschoten, als gevolg daarvan is een aantal van hen overleden……

In het hierna volgende artikel spreekt de schrijver over de neoliberale agenda van ‘president’ Hernandez (JOH), die illegaal een tweede termijn dient met steun van de VS, echter gezien het verhaal kan je niet anders concluderen dan dat we hier met een fascistisch beleid te maken hebben……

Dat de mensenrechten met grote platvoeten worden getreden, leek me aanvankelijk overbodig te melden. Alexander Rubinstein van MintPress News(MPN) is de schrijver van het volgende artikel, ook is hij de fotograaf die de beelden maakte van een veel gebruikt ‘protestinstrument’ in Honduras: graffiti op muren en deuren:

A NEOLIBERAL AGENDA

“The US Got Scared” Voices of the Resistance in Post-Coup Honduras

Members of the resistance in Honduras tell MintPress how a US-backed coup – and the Neoliberalism it brought with it – have impacted their country.

by Alexander Rubinstein

EGUCIGALPA, HONDURAS — MintPress News went to Honduras and spoke with a number of leaders of the Honduran resistance amid a 66-day uprising over a neoliberal austerity deal reached between the government as the country marked the 10-year anniversary of the U.S.-backed coup d’etat.

Last Thursday, the Honduran government passed a privatization law, the run-up to which had triggered uprisings challenging the mandate of President Juan Orlando Hernandez and protesting the implementation of a privatization deal reached with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) — a deal kept secret until this week. The battle against it was fought tooth and nail, with average Hondurans following the lead of healthcare and education activists.

MintPress has obtained a copy of the law. The document details the government’s plan to sever 6 billion lempiras ($242 million USD), and includes instituting a maximum wage on public sector contract “technical and professional” workers amounting to $2,426 a month, but promises not to cut healthcare and education. An agreement with the IMF over the state-run electrical company remains in question.

What is known is that the deal consists of more of the same neoliberal remedies that have already devastated Honduran civil society. One person interviewed by MintPress called the approach “neoliberalism on steroids.” And she would know: her husband is a political prisoner sitting in a U.S.-designed maximum security facility. The prison was paid for under the Honduran Security Tax, a program backed by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that bankrolls the military and police while the rest of the government is gutted.

Honduras Coup
Photo | Alexander Rubinstein

Adrienne Pine, a Professor of Anthropology at American University in Washington and expert on Honduras, told MintPress:

“The fact that education and healthcare were left out is a pretty big win for the movement because that is what they were planning to cut, and the healthcare and education workers who have led this struggle against this have prevented those cuts even though there has been this very radical reduction in public spending.”

On May 6, the IMF announced it had reached a “staff level agreement” that was believed to be targeted towards healthcare, education and more. That same day, protests started breaking out.

But as news emerged on Tuesday of the deal becoming law, the IMF also announced its approval of a plan to restructure the public electric company and said it would give the Honduran government $311 million in loans over the next two years. Around the same time, a fresh corruption scandal was unfolding at the electric company. Professor Pine explained to MintPress:

“ENEE [the Honduran public electric company] has already been subject to privatization measures over the past few years that have significantly weakened it. Problems in the ENEE have to do, at their root, with the privatization itself, but right now it looks like the IMF and the U.S. are justifying the privatization by using examples of corruption at the agency rather than addressing the underlying structural issues.”

Honduras Coup

Photo | Alexander Rubinstein

The resistance in Honduras fought off further privatization of health care and education in a struggle that left piles of students shot and scores of people killed, as well as resulting in the political imprisonment of a young man who is accused of fueling a fire at the U.S. Embassy in the capital. Romel Valdemar Herrera Portillo, 23, sits in a military-run prison, designed by the United States, called La Tova alongside political prisoners Edwin Espinal and Raúl Álvarez.

In this article, MintPress will feature exclusive interviews not just with leaders of the Honduran resistance but also with people who have been directly affected by the coup and all that it has brought.’

Ten years of resistance

The history of the past decade in Honduras is among the most telling examples of U.S.-backed regime change in the Western Hemisphere. A powder keg for the migrant crisis that popped up under Barack Obama and worsened under Donald Trump, the military operation that deposed leftist reformer Manuel Zelaya from the presidency informs Honduran life at every level today.

MintPress News traveled to Honduras around the 10-year anniversary of the coup d’etat, speaking to a range of leaders of the resistance against the National Party, which has dominated politics in the country since the coup. The National Party is led by President Juan Orlando Hernandez (JOH), a widely reviled neoliberal leader believed to be involved in drug trafficking, electoral fraud and death squads.

The post-coup neoliberal policies ramped up under JOH’s reign have rendered Honduras a playground for the business elite and drug cartels and brought the poverty rate to levels unrivaled in the region. Disappearances and lethal violence from police, private mercenaries and drug cartels have also skyrocketed.

Honduras Coup

Photo | Alexander Rubinstein

Revelations that JOH has been under investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) since 2013, according to U.S. federal court documents released this year, came as little surprise to many in the resistance; JOH’s brother is himself in prison in the U.S. on drug trafficking charges. But it did pour salt on fresh wounds, as the United States backed JOH’s re-election in 2017, even though the Honduran constitution explicitly forbids second terms.

While in Honduras, MintPress examined the effects of the coup from multiple angles, including: cuts to education; repression against students and teachers; cuts to the healthcare sector; the political development of Hondurans; electoral fraud; death squads linked to big business; the conditions of political prisoners and the plight of human rights workers; and the effects of neoliberalism on the healthcare sector. MintPress also looked at the role of creative culture in the resistance.

As MintPress previously reported, staff journalist Alex Rubinstein was detained immediately upon landing in the capital, Tegucigalpa. It was “a testament to the government’s unease” around the anniversary of the coup and in the face of more than 50 days of active uprising.

Alex Rubinstein

✔@RealAlexRubi

 I was just let out of detainment at the airport in the capital of Honduras. They didn’t explain why the detained me, just asked a bunch of questions. 
Stay tuned to @MintPressNews as we approach the 10yr anniversary of the US-backed coup in this country. Much more to come

Embedded video
(dit is een still van een 2 minuten video die ik niet over kan nemen, zie het origineel)

MintPress spent nearly a week in the capital, Tegucigalpa, a city that is both militarized and yet ruled by crime at night, a dynamic that makes the often cozy relationship between the state and organized crime palpable throughout much of the city. The prevalence of anti-JOH and anti-National Party graffiti appears as a glimmering of an uprising in a city otherwise divided into quarters of poverty and opulence: from poor, Libre strongholds like El Carrizal to areas where Burger King and Little Caesar’s are second and third only to Juan Orlando. United States colonialism is, basically, omnipresent. American fast-food restaurants, mostly a luxury for the country’s tiny middle class, operate tax-free in the country, while those who can’t afford a Big Mac get squeezed on their electricity, for example.

The streets of Tegucigalpa tell the story of the resistance, to a degree. One tag in the city refers to the use of graffiti as a means of communicating a message: “When justice is silenced, the walls speak.”

Honduras Coup
Photos | Alexander Rubinstein

What follows are excerpts of MintPress News interviews from a range of leaders of the resistance against JOH.

Lees het vervolg

======================================
Zie ook:
‘BBC volkomen krom over de vluchtelingen uit Honduras die wel degelijk door Trump met geweld worden bedreigd‘

‘Door VS gesteunde bewind in Honduras heeft de staat van beleg afgekondigd……..‘

‘VS heeft Hondurese speciale eenheden getraind die protesten tegen een waterkrachtcentrale gewelddadig hebben neergeslagen……‘

‘Hillary Clinton mede verantwoordelijk voor moord op Berta Cáceres………..‘

‘Hondurese activiste ontvoerd en vermoord (alweer…), met instemming van de VS………‘

‘Berta Cáceres voorvechter gelijke rechten en milieuactivist vermoord in Honduras‘

‘Bolton geeft toe dat de VS een fascistisch beleid voert……‘

Vrijwilligers die vluchtelingen in de woestijn van de VS proberen te redden worden gevangengezet……

Posted on January 26, 2019 by Telmo Claro

Leden van de vluchtelingenhulpgroep ‘No More Deaths’ proberen al een paar jaar vluchtelingen die de grens van Mexico naar de VS oversteken te helpen, door voedsel, water en kleding achter te laten in de woestijnachtige gebieden die zich daar bevinden. Zeer tegen de zin van inhumane schoften die het liefst alle vluchtelingen dood zien, dat vinden fascisten namelijk een humane dood……

Deze vrijwilligers wordt o.a. verweten dat ze zich zonder vergunning in een ‘beschermd’ natuurgebied bevonden en daar de de boel hebben vervuild met jerrycans gevuld met water, aangevuld met achterlating van voedsel en kleding…… Dit in een land waar men schijt heeft aan welk natuurgebied ook, zeker als het winstgevend is om daar zaken te ontwikkelen, of een oliepijpleiding over dit land aan te leggen (die zoals bekend uit de geschiedenis) altijd gaan lekken, zo lekken ook de laatst aangelegde pijpleidingen….)….. Onder Obama was het al bar en boos wat betreft de bescherming van natuurgebieden, echter onder Trump is het hek helemaal van de dam…..

Vergeet bij dit alles niet dat de VS de boel in veel Latijns-Amerikaanse landen zo heeft verziekt dat mensen op de vlucht slaan, verziekt middels het organiseren van opstanden, met de opzet onwelgevallige regeringen te laten vallen, veelal voorafgegaan door economische oorlogsvoering (neem Venezuela….*)…. Waar de VS deze staatsgrepen regisseert dan wel deze zelf uitvoert…..

Zo zat de vluchtelingenkaravaan die door Midden-Amerika naar de grens met de VS trok, bomvol met vluchtelingen uit Honduras, waar de VS in 2009 de staatsgreep regisseerde en waar nu de door de VS geparachuteerde fascistische dictator Hernandez met de scepter zwaait…… Hernandez, een fascist die alles wat naar links of armoede ruikt wil uitroeien en al zeker geen actie wil tegen drugsbendes die deze mensen belagen……. Voorts zijn er doodseskaders, bestaande uit leger- en politiepersoneel, verantwoordelijk voor het uitschakelen van vakbondsleiders, mensenrechtenactivisten en milieuactivisten……. Voor deze coup in 2009 zijn Hillary Clinton, destijds minister van BuZa onder Obama en Obama zelf de hoofdverantwoordelijken…….

Lees dit artikel, eerder geplaatst op Cronkite, door mij overgenomen van GreedMedia en verbaas je ook over deze nieuwste inhumane kronkel in het ‘land van de ongekende mogelijkheden…..’ (vooral in negatieve zin!)

WHAT’S NEXT FOR NO MORE DEATHS AFTER LATEST CONVICTIONS OF VOLUNTEERS?

JANUARY 24, 2019 FRIENDS OF GREED 3 ACTIVISM, CRONKITE, HUMAN RIGHTS, IMMIGRATION, REFUGEES

United States (Cronkite) – More than a decade ago, No More Deaths volunteer Dan Millis left plastic water jugs in the desert for migrants crossing the Mexican border into the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge.

Federal authorities charged him with littering in 2008, and he was found guilty by U.S. Magistrate Judge Bernardo Velasco.

Millis’ case was overturned two years later by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, and it’s considered a win for the volunteer organization pledged to provide food, water and clothing for migrants crossing forbidden stretches of the Sonoran Desert.

Last week, Velasco found four more No More Deaths volunteers guilty of misdemeanor charges, not only for leaving aid, but also for trespassing on the national wildlife refuge. The four face possible prison time and a $250 fine. Sentencing has not been scheduled.

Velasco found No More Deaths volunteer Natalie Hoffman guilty of all three charges brought against her; Oona Holcomb, Madeline Huse and Zaachila Orozco-McCormick were found guilty of the two charges brought against them.

In his verdict, Velasco asserted the four defendants knowingly broke the law by entering the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge without a permit.

“The Defendants did not get an access permit, they did not remain on the designated roads, and they left water, food, and crates in the Refuge,” Velasco wrote. “All of this, in addition to violating the law, erodes the national decision to maintain the Refuge in its pristine nature.”

Millis agrees wildlife refuges are “set aside to protect the cultural and natural resources of those of areas.”
However, he doesn’t think government organizations are responding adequately to what he said is an increasing number of human remains found across the desert.

“When we look at what’s happening on Cabeza Prieta, we see that there are people dying there in large numbers,” Millis said. “That is not part of what these lands were set aside for by the federal government, they’re not set aside as some sort of place where poor people can be punished as they try to migrate to survive.”

Given his own legal battle, Millis has hope for the four women found guilty Friday.

“(Velasco) said similar things about me with the bogus conviction 10 years ago. He was wrong then, and he’s wrong now,” Millis said.

Four more No More Deaths volunteers are scheduled to begin their trials Feb. 26 and March 4. Caitlin Deighan is charged with driving in a wilderness area. Deighan, Zoe Anderson, Logan Hollarsmith and Rebecca Grossman-Richeimer face charges of entering a national wildlife refuge without a permit.

A fifth volunteer, Scott Warren, is facing felony charges of harboring and conspiracy related to humanitarian aid work. His trial is set to begin in late May. Warren has taught in the past as a faculty associate at Arizona State University.

With Velasco’s decision last week, No More Deaths now has four more guilty verdicts to add to its legal history. But what do the recent convictions and upcoming trials mean for the future of providing potentially life-saving aid in Arizona’s borderlands?

The Rev. John Fife, one of the founders of No More Deaths in 2004, said the group’s guilty verdicts won’t change the work the group does.

“(The convictions) will have no impact,” said Fife, a retired Presbyterian minister. “We have a responsibility, not only to the right to provide humanitarian aid in the event of a tragedy like this, but we have a responsibility to see that the right to provide humanitarian aid is maintained.”

Katherine Franke, a legal expert on the defense’s side, said the criminalization of No More Deaths’ humanitarian work can spill over to the work of other aid organizations.

“I think any of the people who are providing social services to a range of communities in southern Arizona, some of whom might include undocumented people, are vulnerable to being prosecuted as well,” Franke said. “I’ve spoken to some of those people in southern Arizona, and they’re very worried and are watching how these cases go.”

Fife said the guilty verdicts for the four volunteers will be appealed.

“The ruling will be appealed, as have other rulings that tried to criminalize the provision of humanitarian aid in the midst of this terrible tragedy that’s going on in our desert and has for years,” he said.

The prosecution has declined to comment.

Fife, asked whether No More Deaths will continue to work in Cabeza Prieta, responded, “I think those questions, which are very detailed and very strategic, are under discussion right now because of the verdict that just came down on Friday.”

This report prepared by Nicole Ludden for Cronkite News

==========================
* Zie o.a.: ‘VS coup tegen Maduro in volle gang……..‘ (zie ook de de links in dat bericht)

Zie ook:
‘Putin misbruikt vluchtelingen om een hele grote witte voet bij Trump te halen‘

‘ICE runt concentratiekampen in de VS voor vluchtelingen en kinderen‘

‘ELIZABETHWARREN CONDEMNS ICE’S “CRUEL AND UNNECESSARY” USE OF SOLITARYCONFINEMENT, DEMANDS ANSWERS‘

‘AHOMELAND SECURITY WHISTLEBLOWER GOES PUBLIC ABOUT ICE ABUSE OFSOLITARY CONFINEMENT‘

‘Thousands of Immigrants Suffer in Solitary Confinement in ICE Detention‘

‘Humanitaire hulp aan vluchtelingen in woestijn: gevangenisstraf tot 20 jaar‘

‘De VS geeft miljarden uit om verkiezingen elders te beïnvloeden en daar blijft het niet bij…….‘

‘Obama steekt zichzelf volkomen onterecht een grote veer in de vieze bips‘

‘VS gebruikt chemische wapens tegen ongewapende vluchtelingen waaronder kinderen‘

Mensen dat was het voor deze dag, morgen meer berichten. Maak er, als het een beetje meezit, een mooie dag van.

Posted on November 5, 2018April 7, 2026 by Telmo Claro

Trump letterlijk: “Barbwire used in the right way can be a beautiful sight” Trump op een verkiezingsbijeenkomst over het ‘probleem van de vluchtelingenkaravaan’ uit de door de VS gecreëerde ellende in Honduras

(vluchtelingenkamp op Lesbos >> ja ook de EU kan er wat van als het over vluchtelingen gaat die voor NAVO terreur op de vlucht zijn)

‘Beautiful barbwire’ om ten einde raad zijnde mensen te weren, mensen die moesten leven onder de bloedige dictator Hernández in Honduras, een dictator die de VS heeft geparachuteerd, na het door diezelfde VS afzetten van de democratisch gekozen president in 2009….’ (het overgrote deel van de vluchtelingen komt uit Honduras)

Zie ook:
‘VS gebruikt chemische wapens tegen ongewapende vluchtelingen waaronder kinderen‘

‘BBC volkomen krom over de vluchtelingen uit Honduras die wel degelijk door Trump met geweld worden bedreigd‘

‘VS stuurt 5.000 militairen extra naar de grens met Mexico, als wapen tegen de karavaan met armen uit Latijns-Amerika‘

‘Trump stuurt 800 militairen naar de Mexicaanse grens met de VS om arme vluchtende drommels tegen te houden……‘

‘Door VS gesteunde bewind in Honduras heeft de staat van beleg afgekondigd……..‘

‘VS heeft Hondurese speciale eenheden getraind die protesten tegen een waterkrachtcentrale gewelddadig hebben neergeslagen……‘

‘Hillary Clinton mede verantwoordelijk voor moord op Berta Cáceres………..‘

‘Hondurese activiste ontvoerd en vermoord (alweer…), met instemming van de VS………‘

‘Berta Cáceres voorvechter gelijke rechten en milieuactivist vermoord in Honduras‘

en terzijde, maar allesbehalve oké:
‘13.000 kinderen van vluchtelingen zitten gevangen in VS ‘detentiekampen’‘

‘Bolton geeft toe dat de VS een fascistisch beleid voert……‘

PS: hoorde vanmorgen dat de karavaan is aangekomen in Mexico-Stad, ofwel de midterm verkiezingen (voor het congres) in de VS die morgen plaatsvinden, zullen al lang en breed zijn afgelopen, voordat de karavaan met vluchtelingen aan de VS – Mexicaanse grens staat…….

VS heeft Hondurese speciale eenheden getraind die protesten tegen een waterkrachtcentrale gewelddadig hebben neergeslagen……

Posted on May 18, 2018 by Telmo Claro

De VS traint niet alleen geheime diensten in het buitenland hoe ‘het best’ te martelen, of doet de training van ‘gematigde rebellen’ (psychopathische moordenaars, verkrachters en martelbeulen), maar traint ook de speciale troepen van dictaturen, zoals die van Honduras (waar meteen het martelen wordt ‘meegenomen in de training…’)….

Al meer dan een jaar verzetten bewoners van Pajuiles in Noord-Honduras zich tegen een elektriciteits-dam in de Mezapa rivier en al net zo lang is de uiterst agressieve houding van de overheid tegen de mensen van Pajuiles……

Het is duidelijk dat door de VS getrainde speciale eenheden TIGRES en COBRAS verantwoordelijk zijn voor talloze moorden in Honduras. De VS ontkent e.e.a., maar ja, tegen feiten in liegen is uitermate moeilijk….

Hillary Clinton kan overigens worden aangewezen als hoofdverantwoordelijke voor de bloedige staatsgreep die in 2009 in Honduras plaatsvond, alleen al daarmee is de VS hoofdverantwoordelijk voor het grote aantal doden die sindsdien zijn gevallen in Honduras, waaronder milieuactivisten en activisten die zich inzetten voor de arme oorspronkelijke bevolking van Honduras……..

Rusland wordt door het westen beschuldigd van bemoeienis met interne aangelegenheden van andere landen, dit zonder enig bewijs, echter de VS die dit daadwerkelijk wel doet en dat al meer dan 100 jaar wordt niet aangesproken op bijvoorbeeld het enorme aantal oorlogsmisdaden, of misdaden tegen de menselijkheid, misdaden waarvoor niet één enkel bewijs beschikbaar is, maar een enorme berg aan bewijzen, neem bijvoorbeeld de misdaden die vermeld zijn in de Wikileaks documenten, documenten van de VS overheid………

Lees het volgende artikel van Sandra Cuffe, gepubliceerd op Truthout:

US-Trained Special Forces Joined Police Crackdown on Dam Protesters in Honduras

Police from various units are present May 3 in Pajuiles, in northern Honduras, to escort dam construction machinery past a community resistance camp. (Photo: Witness for Peace)

Thursday, May 17, 2018

By Sandra Cuffe, Truthout | Report

It started at dawn. A vehicle full of Honduran police officers showed up at around 5 am on May 3 in front of the community protest camp in Pajuiles, where residents have been present day and night for more than a year to prevent the passage of hydroelectric dam construction machinery. Less than two hours later, the whole area was crawling with hundreds of members of various police units, including regular national police, the Police Investigations Directorate, the elite COBRAS unit and the TIGRES special forces, which are heavily supported by the US and trained by Green Berets from the 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne).

“It was like a war zone,” Pajuiles community leader Albertina López told Truthout.

Police forces lined the immediate area along the nearby highway that runs from El Progreso up to Tela, along the Caribbean coast in the Atlántida Department. Soon they were also lining the road past the camp and up to the contested construction site of the Mezapa River dam. They showed up in convoys, escorting machinery, construction materials and company personnel up to the site, where the Honduran company HIDROCEP has been trying to build a 1.3 megawatt dam.

“People were scared,” said López. Nevertheless, she and a few other women made an attempt to stop the machinery, lying down in the road in front of the protest camp to try to stop the machinery’s passage. “That’s when they started firing tear gas at us,” she said. People scattered, ushering a 75-year-old protester and children to safety, but López and others maintained their permanent presence at the roadside resistance camp throughout the police operations that lasted two full days.

State violence against community resistance to natural resource exploitation projects continues unabated in Honduras. The recent crackdown in Pajuiles to impose a fiercely contested hydroelectric dam project is just one of the latest incidents, but it provides a clear example of the involvement of US-trained and -supported special forces in repression against community activists.

Honduran Security Forces Trained by Green Berets

The Pajuiles community protest camp in northern Honduras celebrates its one year anniversary on March 22, 2018. (Photo: Movimiento Amplio por la Dignidad y Justicia)

“Honduran security forces, including those receiving funding and training from the United States, have been implicated in human rights violations in recent years,” Christine Wade, a Washington College professor of political science and international studies, told Truthout. “The targeting of environmental and land rights activists is just one facet of this.”

“Despite these abuses, funding continues to flow from the US, our military installations remain open to train Honduran security forces and impunity reigns. Unless the US acts decisively to suspend aid to security forces, these abuses will continue,” said Wade.

The Intelligence and Special Security Response Group Units (TIGRES, an acronym that spells “tigers” in Spanish) were created back in 2013, when current Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández proposed a bill as president of Congress. The initial proposal was for more of an explicitly military-police hybrid force that would have been transferred from civilian oversight to the Secretariat of Defense in times of war, but those elements were removed from the bill before its passage. The TIGRES now fall under the police Directorate of Special Forces.

Training of the first TIGRES recruits, drawn from military and police forces, began in 2014, the year Hernández took office as president of Honduras. They were trained by Green Berets from the 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) and Colombian members of the Comandos Jungla special police force. The same US and Colombian forces trained the following year’s recruits in a 12-week Comando basic course. Some TIGRES agents also received advanced training from Green Berets at the Eglin Air Force Base in Florida in 2015.

In their first year in action, the TIGRES were implicated in a massive theft and corruption scandal. More than 20 TIGRES agents were suspended following the theft of more than $1 million during operations against a drug trafficker in western Honduras. Late last year, as reported by The Intercept, TIGRES were involved in raids and arrests targeting people who had been protesting the contested outcome of the November 2017 elections that officially resulted in Hernández’s re-election amid widespread reports of vote-rigging and fraud.

A Green Beret from the 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) and TIGRES engage in advanced marksmanship training during a 2014 tour by Honduran President Juan Orlando HernÃ¡ndez of TIGRES training facilities. (Photo: Spc. Steven Young / DVIDS. The appearance of U.S. Department of Defense visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement.)

A Green Beret from the 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) and TIGRES forces engage in advanced marksmanship training during a 2014 tour by Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández of TIGRES training facilities. (Photo: Spc. Steven Young / DVIDS. The appearance of US Department of Defense visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement.)

On April 10 of this year, a new TIGRES base, completed with US financing, was inaugurated in El Progreso. It is the second TIGRES base, joining the installations 25 miles west of Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital. High-ranking Honduran and US government officials attended the inauguration in El Progreso, including Honduran President Hernández; Richard Glenn, acting deputy assistant secretary of state in the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs; and Heide Fulton, the chargé d’affaires at the US Embassy in Honduras, and currently the highest-ranking embassy official.

Less than one month later, TIGRES were involved in the crackdown in Pajuiles, only 23 miles north of the new installations. Media reports and Honduran and US officials highlight the TIGRES’ focus on combatting drug trafficking and organized crime, but on May 3, they were escorting dam company personnel and construction machinery along with other police forces that cracked down on community protest.

The Honduran Secretariat of Security did not provide a response to Truthout’s requests for comment or even confirm basic details, such as a ballpark figure of how many total police participated in the operations in Pajuiles. López, other local residents, and human rights observers estimated that approximately 250 to 300 members of the various police forces and units were present.

The US government did respond and is aware of the deployment of TIGRES to Pajuiles. “There was no U.S. involvement in this operation,” a Department of State spokesperson wrote in a response to Truthout’s request for comment.

“While we support the TIGRES professional development and specific missions related to key U.S. interests in Honduras, particularly combating drug trafficking and organized crime, we do not dictate their deployment or other operations they conduct. We aggressively review any allegation of wrong doing by the TIGRES or any other units of the security forces we support, irrespective of whether it is a mission we actively supported,” the Department of State spokesperson wrote.

Ryan Morgan, a member of the in-country human rights accompaniment team of Witness for Peace, a US nongovernmental organization, witnessed the presence and participation of TIGRES agents in operations in Pajuiles on May 3, following his arrival at the community a couple of hours after the police convoys began escorting the dam machinery.

“There were a lot of US taxpayer dollars in Pajuiles that day,” Morgan told Truthout. With regard to the TIGRES, Morgan believes their presence there should be considered problematic even by US lawmakers and embassy officials who believe their mandate is important for US national security in terms of fighting drug trafficking and organized crime.

“It would be very hard to explain or justify the involvement of the TIGRES in Pajuiles,” said Morgan. “This use of the TIGRES should outrage even people who on paper support their existence and US support for them,” he said.

TIGRES agents were the first police forces Morgan and his colleague saw when they were arriving at Pajuiles. They were stationed along the highway approximately a quarter of a mile south of the road leading to the protest camp, where a police roadblock was set up nearby. Morgan and his colleague stayed at the camp all day, until 5 pm or so. Convoys and machinery came and went up to the construction site, but by the camp itself it was mostly COBRAS who were guarding the area, armed with riot gear, tear gas and maybe only a pistol or two among the dozen or so agents who swapped out every two hours. Escorts for dam machinery were also largely provided by COBRAS, said Morgan, but that changed later in the afternoon.

At approximately 3 pm, a convoy came down from the dam construction site, reportedly escorting HIDROCEP executive Jason Hawit. Morgan didn’t see whether Hawit was in fact there or not, but he did note the difference in police forces accompanying the vehicles.

Pajuiles residents and the Broad Movement for Dignity and Justice celebrate the December 2017 acquittal of Albertina LÃ³pez (in the blue dress) and three other protest camp participants. Other Pajuiles residents still face trial. (Photo: Movimiento Amplio por la Dignidad y Justicia)

Pajuiles residents and the Broad Movement for Dignity and Justice celebrate the December 2017 acquittal of Albertina López (in the blue dress) and three other protest camp participants. Other Pajuiles residents still face trial. (Photo: Movimiento Amplio por la Dignidad y Justicia)

“I was really surprised to see two or three trucks full of TIGRES, all with automatic weapons, obviously, that had apparently been up at the construction site, providing security there all day,” Morgan told Truthout. Shortly thereafter, TIGRES also showed up in the area of the protest camp. “At 3:30 or so, rather than a new unit of COBRAS coming to relieve the one that was there, it was a mixed unit of COBRAS and TIGRES,” he said. As with those providing escort, the TIGRES carried automatic weapons, not riot gear. The TIGRES presence continued until the following night, on May 4.

Earlier in the morning of May 3, before Morgan arrived, police arrested a local Pajuiles resident while he was filming the security forces’ operations. Albertina López’s brother Nolberto López was taken into custody, accused by police of causing a public scandal. According to locals, however, he was arrested simply for recording police. He was released without charges later that afternoon. He is far from the first to suffer criminalization related to the protest camp, however. His sister was acquitted, but 11 Pajuiles residents are still facing trial.

Organized in local community groups by sector, Pajuiles residents are members of the Broad Movement for Dignity and Justice (MADJ), which grew out of a prosecutor’s hunger strike against corruption and now also focuses on natural resources and human rights issues. MADJ leaders and community members alike have been subject to a barrage of threats, intimidation and attacks, particularly in connection with the dam protest camps in Pajuiles and in Arizona, also located in the Atlántida Department.

“Pajuiles has been subject to intense repression,” MADJ coordinator of organization Saúl Ávila told Truthout. Many residents still face trial for criminal charges linked to the camp, and there have been past instances of police repression and militarization in Pajuiles.

One local resident, Geovanny Díaz, who had participated in the dam resistance camp was among the more than 35 people killed during the nationwide violent crackdown on protests against election fraud. Díaz was dragged out of his home in Pajuiles by men dressed in police uniforms, shot and killed shortly after a protest ended in the wee hours of January 23.

“There’s collusion between the dam company and state forces, but local divisions also aggravate the situation,” said Ávila. “The [company] completely divided the upper communities and turned them against the lower communities, which are the communities that will suffer from water shortages if the hydroelectric dam is built,” he said.

The Uphill Battle Up North to Cut Deadly Security Aid

TIGRES and other police unit members maintain a presence May 3 near the Pajuiles protest camp along the road leading to a contested dam construction site. (Photo: Witness for Peace)

Alex Main visited Pajuiles this past March for the one-year anniversary of the protest camp. A senior associate at the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) based in Washington, DC, Main has reported on Honduran movements and US aid to security forces for years.

US congressional efforts to cut or condition security assistance to Honduras began in earnest back in 2010, according to Main. At the time, there was increased attention to the country in the wake of the June 2009 coup d’état that removed the elected president from office and led to a marked spike in homicides, state violence and murders of activists. Community-based land, environmental and Indigenous activists have been particularly targeted.

“Given that the situation has only grown worse since then, and that horrifyingly frequent reports of police and military involvement in activist killings have been met with near impunity, members of Congress have continued to demand full suspension of security assistance to Honduras in increasing numbers,” Main wrote in an email to Truthout.

One initiative to that effect is the Berta Cáceres Human Rights Act, a bill named in honor of the well-known Honduran Indigenous rights and social movement activist murdered in 2016. “[It] would instruct the US administration to suspend all security assistance to Honduras and to veto any loans from multilateral development banks to Honduran police and military forces. It has so far garnered 70 House co-sponsors,” Main noted.

Green Berets from the 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) assist TIGRES during a 2015 shooting drill at the Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. (Photo: Capt. Thomas Cieslak / DVIDS. The appearance of U.S. Department of Defense visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement.)

Green Berets from the 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) assist TIGRES forces during a 2015 shooting drill at the Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. (Photo: Capt. Thomas Cieslak / DVIDS. The appearance of U.S. Department of Defense visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement.)

At the moment, legislative action with regard to aid to Honduran security forces is limited to elements incorporated into appropriations legislation that condition half of US aid to Honduras on Department of State certification of compliance with a series of loosely worded human rights measures.

“These or similar requirements have been incorporated into appropriations legislation for a number of years now, and have had no observable positive effect to date,” wrote Main. “The last time they certified the government’s compliance was actually just two days after last year’s incredibly problematic elections, providing the government with a needed boost just as they began deploying security agents, including TIGRES, military police and conventional military troops, to violently repress protests.”

Back in Pajuiles, many residents are still shaken from the recent massive deployment of security forces there. Police took photographs of protest camp participants and community leaders during the operations, and they have been informed by other residents that death threats against them continue to circulate, said Albertina López. They’re planning to formally report the latest threats to Honduran authorities, but don’t have much faith it will result in any action.

“State institutions don’t function. They don’t function at all — not for us,” said López. However, López and other activists at the protest camp are not giving up and have vowed to resist the dam. “We continue the struggle,” she said.

Copyright, Truthout. May not be reprinted without permission.

SANDRA CUFFE

Sandra Cuffe is a freelance journalist reporting on Indigenous land and resource struggles, militarization and human rights issues in Canada and Central America. Follow her on Twitter: @Sandra_Cuffe.

Door VS gesteunde bewind in Honduras heeft de staat van beleg afgekondigd……..

Posted on December 4, 2017April 7, 2026 by Telmo Claro

Het door de VS gewilde en gesteunde bewind van president Juan Orlando Hernandez heeft de staat van beleg afgekondigd, nadat er rellen uitbraken als reactie op overduidelijke manipulaties van de verkiezingsuitslagen….. Burgerrechten zijn buiten werking gesteld, waarnaast politie en leger grote bevoegdheden zijn toegekend, bovendien is er een avondklok ingesteld……

Overigens was het opgaan voor een tweede termijn door president Hernandez al zeer omstreden, daar dit verboden is volgens de Hondurese grondwet, een eerdere president, de socialist Zelaya, wilde dit nog geen 10 jaar geleden, waarop het leger onder regie van de VS (Hillary Clinton) een bloedige staatsgreep pleegde….

Ontslagen en nieuwe benoemingen in het hooggerechtshof, door destijds parlementsvoorzitter Hernandez, werd het eerdere verbod op herverkiezing geschrapt door de nieuw benoemde rechters….. Daardoor kon dezelfde Hernandez nu wel opgaan voor een tweede termijn……. (zonder dat het leger, onder supervisie van de VS, ingrijpt……)

Lid van het congres in de VS, Jan Schakowsky sprak haar ernstige zorgen uit over de verkiezingen in Honduras en zij eist dan ook volledige transparantie van het hoogste Hondurese verkiezingstribunaal (TSE) over de afwikkeling van de verkiezingen. De uitslagen zijn nog steeds niet bekend, het autocratische bewind van Hernandez schijnt de telling stil te hebben gelegd……

Overigens is het de vraag voor de grote onderlaag onder de Hondurezen of ze wat opschieten met de tegenkandidaat van Hernandez, Salvador Nasralla, daar deze lid is van de centrumrechtse coalitie……. En u weet het: waar ‘rechts’ aan de macht is, is de menselijke maat ver te zoeken en is de grote arme onderlaag altijd de klos…… Gelukkig stelt Nasralla wel dat hij de grootschalige corruptie zal aanpakken, al is het maar de vraag of de VS daar blij mee is, immers met een bak geld kon en kan de VS invloed kopen in Honduras………

Intussen treden het leger en politie keihard op tegen demonstranten die vinden dat hun stem is gestolen door de zittende president, daarbij zijn al meerdere doden gevallen…….

Videos: US-Backed Regime in Honduras Imposes Martial Law, Slaughtering Civilians

December 2, 2017 at 1:04 pm

Written by Anti-Media Team

(ANTIMEDIA) — In 2009, a U.S.-backed coup ousted the democratically elected government of Honduras and replaced it with the regime currently in power. Last Sunday, Hondurans went to the polls to elect a new leader. The contest was primarily between the current President Juan Orlando Hernández and Opposition Alliance candidate Salvador Nasralla.

As BBC summarized:

“Monday 27 November, 02:00 local time with 57.2% of votes counted:

Salvador Nasralla leads by 5 percentage points (93,975 votes).

Tuesday 28 November, 18:15 local time with 65.7% of votes counted:

Salvador Nasralla leads by 3.3 percentage points (72,697 votes).

Wednesday 29 November, 16:58 local time with 82.9% of votes counted:

Juan Orlando Hernández leads by 0.1 percentage points (2,911 votes).

Thursday 30 November, 05:00 local time with 88.8% of votes counted:

Juan Orlando Hernández leads by 0.8 percentage points (22,677 votes).”

Thursday’s updated vote tally inspired Salvador Nasralla to accuse the electoral court of manipulating the results. “They take us for idiots and want to steal our victory,” he claimed before calling on Hondurans to take to the streets in protest. Nasralla said he will not accept the poll count.

U.S. Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky issued the following statement in response to the presidential election that took place in Honduras on Sunday:

“Confusion and chaos reign in Honduras following Sunday’s presidential election. I am deeply troubled by the delays and lack of transparency that we have seen from the Honduran Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE). I have serious concerns that they are engaging in election tampering and falsifying the results of the election. I am joining the European Union’s electoral observer mission and the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights in Tegucigalpa in calling for the TSE to be fully transparent and immediately offer clear, detailed updates on the results of the election. I hope that our State Department can for once put aside their blind support for President Juan Orlando Hernandez and evaluate this election fairly and objectively. We owe it to the Honduran people to put our support behind free and fair elections – not our candidate of choice. The eyes of the world are on Honduras. Democracy must prevail.” [emphasis added]

Following the release of the disputed results and their candidate’s call for protest, Nasralla’s supporters filled the streets. They claim to have evidence of vote tampering and are refusing to end their protests until the electoral court hears their grievances.

Clashes quickly resulted in the use of tear gas against protesters on Thursday before descending into chaos Friday night after senior government official Ebal Diaz announced on television that the Honduran government had suspended constitutional rights, giving the army and police more power to crush the protests.

“The suspension of constitutional guarantees was approved so that the armed forces and the national police can contain this wave of violence that has engulfed the country,” Diaz said.

Government minister Jorge Ramon Hernandez announced in a statement simultaneously broadcast to TV and radio that beginning immediately, a nationwide curfew would run from 6 pm to 6 am and would continue for 10 days. Under the decree, all local authorities must obey the orders of the army and national police.

On Saturday, Anti-Media readers in Honduras contacted the outlet in an attempt to share their perspective of the grim situation with the world. Hondurans have claimed that state-funded media is neglecting to inform both Hondurans and the world of the violence the army and national police are using against protesters during the suspension of constitutional rights.

The violence includes the use of tear gas, batons, and lethal fire that has resulted in the deaths of multiple Hondurans, which can be seen in the raw video shared with Anti Media below.

(WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT BELOW)