Honduran dictatorship, day 61

First, this amazing news: [corrected, thanks to Alfredo]

The Central American Parliament (Parlacen) has been caught up in the political confrontation in Honduras between Manuel Zelaya, the president who was ousted on Jun. 28, and the leader of the coup government, Roberto Micheletti, because the regional body is having a hard time deciding which of the two it should accept as a member.

There has been more violence since this series was last updated, and again Adrienne Pine has been one of the few English-language sources on the Net to aggregate the events.

Via Adrienne as translator, a report on Vos from Cesar Silva, “This morning journalists José Bayardo Mairena Ramírez and Manuel Juárez were murdered, killed by numerous [60] gunshots. The murders took place in the department of Olancho, on the highway to the city of Juticalpa….Reporter José Bayardo Mairena Martínez worked in the local Canal 4 and was considered one of the most hard-hitting journalists in the region of Olancho department, who strongly questioned the coup d’etat carried out June 28, 2009. He also had systematically denounced the constant human rights violations carried out by the army and police against citizens in resistance on the radio station in Olancho where he worked. For his part, journalist Manuel Juárez, who worked at Radio Excélsior and Canal 4, also had strongly criticized the violent acts going on in the country.”

The slaughter of journalists is so prevalent that even the AP has taken brief notice (not mentioning that all these murders are probably by the government).

In addition, Silva says:

The executive board of the labor union of the workers at the National Autonomous University of Honduras (UNAH) were arbitrarily arrested on the afternoon of Thursday, March 25th and immediately sent to prison with their hands and feet cuffed like terrifying criminals.

The union leaders, 16 in all, are accused of the crime of sedition. Of those, 11 were jailed. Five of those were given house arrest on account of their advanced age, and the other six were sent to prison. The remaining five have gone into hiding to escape capture.

The individuals under arrest include the union president René Andino, and Orbelina Zúñiga Gutiérrez, Óscar Orlando Salgado and Marco Antonio Moreno.

Via Adrienne, a report from CDM-CIPRODEH-CODEH-COFADEH-CPTRT-FIAN translated by Sandra Cuffe complains about the use of the military against squatters (who may be the rightful landowners) in Bajo Aguan, including human rights offenses such as “arrest and detention of minors (children between 5 and 8 years of age); confinement in places of detention with no legal authorization (a case in which detainees were held in military facilities in the region); the supposed authorities did not identify themselves at the moment arrest, and did not read the detainees’ rights or inform them of the supposed charges.”

Speaking of Sandra Cuffe she also adds this interesting wrinkle from the Garifuna organization OFRANEH: they say that right-wing Venezuelans are part of the repression in Bajo Aguan, repression instigated by Miguel Facusse apparently because he wants to plant African Palms, presumably for palm oil production. The Venezuelan, Marieanella Salazar, published that the FARC is training 22 Hondurans in destabilizing Honduras on NoticieroDigital.com [like the coup hasn’t already succeeded in that?]

Sandra Cuffe also translated this report from CODEH, saying: “Witnesses on the scene saw two pickups approach the rear of the [San Jose del Pedregal High] school premises, apparently 2009 models, one green and white. Professor [of Social Science Jose] Manuel [Flores], as his friends called him, was in the back of the facility overseeing pupils, when the assassins found him.  They passed the perimeter fence and fired their guns at close range… The teacher died instantly.”

The Frente says that the oligarchy is continuing the looting of the country through privatization, cutting social spending, and handing over natural resources. The have expressed a desire to close the National University. They are persecuting union leaders. They have recently murdered, José Manuel Flores, Francisco Castillo, José Antonio Cardoza, José Carías and Nahun Palacios.

Speaking of looting, according to Tiempo, the Congress just enacted the “paquetazo.” [financial blow]. They claim to have equalized the pain inflicted on all classes by reducing the deductibility of the “temporary/temporal solidarity contribution” (social contribution tax), by taxing dividends at 10%, rents in excess of $750/month are taxed at 10%. They decided not to tax telecomm, electrical, imported used vehicles, or cigarettes at this time.

There’s so much more going on, but only a finite amount of time in which to describe it.