Tegucigalpa.
Several organizations have formed a committee with the objective of achieving the freedom of political prisoners and the end to judicial persecution against those who protest electoral fraud and the dictatorship of Juan Orlando Hernández.
Representatives of human rights, teachers, campesino, union and other organizations met at COFADEH’s center for historic memory, the Hogar contra el Olvido, in Santa Ana, Francisco Morazán.
Concerned about the situation of political prisoners and their families, COFADEH has promoted the creation of this committee which has been embraced by various social organizations because those who have been detained in protests and deprived of their freedom come from various sectors of society.
COFADEH’s coordinator, Berta Oliva, stated that the gathering was to determine collective actions and to see in what ways the organizations can commit to the struggle to free the political prisoners and how to do it and in the context of the repressive regime of Juan Orlando Hernández.
She indicated that one of the emblematic cases is that of Edwin Robelo Espinal, imprisoned in La Tolva. Since 2009 he has been the victim of surveillance, persecution and attacks by police authorities, suffered the loss of his partner who was overcome by tear gas, a brother was murdered and he was forced to abandon his residence by FUSINA (National Inter -Institutional Security Force.)
Robelo Espinal was detained the night of January 19 of this year, accused of being the “head” of the incident at the Marriot hotel, on January 12 following brutal police-military repression.
Oliva said that people should understand that all persons detained during protest are detained for political reasons, despite the fact that the government wants to whitewash this by accusing them of common crimes and giving the impression that that they are imprisoning people for common crime and not for political reasons.
“This is one of the clearest decisions that we can make. It is obviously it is work that is needed; we need to keep our finger on the wound because families are suffering and the regime is simply deceiving people as if all is the color of roses” said Benedicto Santos, attorney and human rights defender who has been present in police stations and courts providing legal accompaniment of those detained during protests. “
Following the elections on November 26, 2017, when electoral fraud began to force the imposition of Juan Orlando Hernández, protests erupted and the repressive state forces began to violently attack protestors who took to the streets, acting against the will of the Honduran people.
In light of these violations, human rights organizations began to carry out denunciations and actions at the international level where it has been demonstrated that Honduras is living in the one of the worst dictatorships.
People are being detained during protests and the authorities of the police and the Public Ministry charge them with crimes that are not related to the political struggle but rather with common crime with the objective of whitewashing the fact that there are political prisoners in Honduras.
“They are not filling the jails with delinquents, rather with political prisoners but calling them delinquents, which is the intent of the state.” said attorney Santos.
He said that over 200 Hondurans have been processed and prosecuted in the struggle against the regime of Juan Orlando Hernández and the real reason that the army and police captured these people is to repress and to stop these people from protesting.
“The right to protest is being criminalized to such an extent that the government has created at the international level the image that there are not political prisoners in Honduras. They have changed the charges against them, but they are political prisoners because they have been detained because of participation in political protests and not because of common delinquency.” underscored attorney Benedicto Santos.
For Daniel Esponda, representative of the teachers sector, families of political prisoners nor those who are illegally imprisoned should be abandoned in this struggle or left without defense because there is no rule of law in Honduras.
“In Honduras there is no rule of law. What has been orchestrated is a state that represses, intimidates and uses every effort, judicial, penal, and manipulation of the law to teach those who oppose a lesson.” said the leader from the teachers sector.
The Terrorism Law was passed because the electoral fraud was already planned and they were aware that the people were going to protest in insurrection and struggle against the fraud. Today that law serves them in the political persecution and criminalization of protestors.
One thing that should be clear in this country and the international community is that a dictatorship has been installed that appears to have a veneer of constitutionality but is clearly in violation of the law and of the laws that they have generated to peruse all those who oppose their processes of corruption, illegal enrichment and staying in power no matter what,” stated Esponda.
The Coordinator of Vía Campesina, Rafael Alegría stated that there is a clear intention by the dictator to imprison a large number of protestors who are opposed to the regime of Juan Orlando Hernández to intimidate the people.
“We have organized this committee for the liberation of political prisoners and permanent mobilizations will be carried out, national and international denunciations, and we hold firmly the hope that they will soon be released from this terrible captivity to which they are submitted, including maximum security cells as if they were big criminals,” stated the campesino leader.
He added that in this struggle there are people who are imprisoned from all sectors and this committee will unify all of the organizations and sectors and it is hoped that other social organizations and people who are defending democracy in the country join in this space of struggle for the freedom of political prisoners.
He also said that no one will rest until those guilty for the murder of over 36 Hondurans in this struggle against electoral fraud and the dictatorship of Juan Orlando Hernández are held responsible.
“As of now, there is no investigation on the part of any state institution into the murder of approximately 40 Hondurans who have been killed and the international community, the state and the people of Honduras know this. This committee is going to lead a national and international campaign so that the world knows what is happening in Honduras in term of human rights violations,” said Rafael Alegría.
Regarding the formation of the committee, Carlos del Cid, director of the International Ecumenical Observatory for Human Rights (Observatorio Ecuménico Internacional de los Derechos Humanos – OEIDH), stated that political prisoners will not be left alone because collective actions will be taken to get them free.
One action in the short term that the committee will take is to raise awareness of the existence of political prisoners at the national level, organize the families and take political actions of protest to free political prisoners.
This Thursday, February 15, the committee will hold a press conference regarding the formation of this space in support of political prisoners and those facing political persecution and the activities that will be carried out in the following months.
