The Committee of the Families of the Detained and Disappeared in Honduras (COFADEH) communicates the following to the national and international public and to human rights organizations:
1.- On March 19th of this year, it was reported that human rights defender, Aleyda Xiomara Huete, member of the Bastión del Sur social movement, is a victim of surveillance and is being followed by the police. Vehicles of the Department of Investigative Police (Dipol) have been monitoring her home since March 18th in the San Pedro neighborhood of Choluteca. Aleyda and her family observed three vehicles, white, grey and red in color with polarized windows.
2.- In the midst of the emergency created by the coronavirus in Honduras, Aleyda Xiomara Huete was captured by the police last Tuesday, March 17th, following several months of persecution and accused with possession of commercial grade explosive material. The court in Choluteca ordered alternative measures to prison while awaiting trial.
3.- Aleyda Xiomara Huete told COFADEH that a reliable source assured her that the they had heard that the order was to disappear her. And in fact, during a brutal repression against the Bastión del Sur in December 2019, Xiomara fled to a pasture to get away from tear gas fired by the police and she heard police agents saying that they had to kill her because they had an order to do it. Aleyda does not rule out the possibility that the persecution against her is politically motivated since she has been a visible face of the Bastión del Sur, which has taken to the streets to demand that Juan Orlando Hernández leave power.
4.- COFADEH affirms that the harassment and persecution that investigative agents carry out against her makes no sense given that she appeared in court which determined alternative measures to prison for the crime that she is accused of committing.
5.- COFADEH demands that regime of Juan Orlando Hernández to guarantee the life of Aleyda Xiomara Huete and her family members and stop the persecution against her by undercover agents. 6.- We hold civil authorities, police or military responsible for any physical or emotional damage that Aleyda Xiomara Huete and her family members may suffer.
Tegucigalpa MDC March 19, 2020
¡¡¡De los hechos y los hechores: Ni Olvido, Ni Perdón¡¡¡
C O F A D E H
