Anti-Militarism: News & Updates

The Six Guapinol water defenders have finally been freed!! 

 

A few hours ago, they walked out of the Olanchito prison where they have been held for over 900 days. Outside the prison, their families and community members gathered to greet them. Several Honduran media were there covering their release and all travelled in a large caravan to Guapinol where the six defenders were greeted by the community. 

Augusto Cesar Sandino was one of the most important and successful guerilla fighters of the 20th century, successfully driving the US Marines out of Nicaragua against nearly impossible odds. His image continues to be the most ubiquitous symbol in Nicaragua – a country led by the Sandinista Front, named in his honor. Sandino was not a revolutionary by training or study; he was drawn into the armed struggle in response to the US Marine invasion and occupation of his country which began in 1911 with the goal of ousting Liberal Party President Jose Zelaya. As the US State Department itself explains, American opposition to Zelaya stemmed from his intention to work with the Japanese government to develop a canal from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast of Nicaragua which would rival the US-controlled Panama Canal. This flew in the face of the Monroe Doctrine of 1823, which holds that the US has sole dominion over the Western Hemisphere and the right to intervene in any country therein to prevent the influence of other nations. Sandino and his forces, though not great in number and certainly not as well-armed as the United States Marine Corps, proved to be a formidable force which could neither be caught nor vanquished.

COFADEH documented the case of José Antonio Torres Meza, 40 years old, originally from Catacamas, Olancho. He lived 11 years in exile, until last February 11, when he entered through the customs of El Amatillo to attend his mother's funeral, but was captured. He was being prosecuted since August 2009, for the alleged crimes of terrorism and aggravated arson to the detriment of the State of Honduras, the group Industrias Turísticas (INTUR) and Ladislao Augusto Servellón Aguilar. The Public Prosecutor's Office, who accused Torres 12 years ago, had no choice but to follow COFADEH's demand for release and Judge 2 of the Criminal Court of Tegucigalpa ruled the immediate release of the victim, which will be effective tomorrow.

The January inauguration of Xiomara Castro Sarmiento Zelaya from the Liberty and Refoundation Party was a political landmark in Honduras. Castro became the Central American country’s first female president, winning 51.12 percent of the vote. She has promised to convene a National Constituent Assembly to rewrite the constitution. “For us to have the first female president in Honduras means 67 years of struggle (since it was in 1952) that us women fought for the right to be citizens — for the right to vote and the right to be voted for,” Wendy Cruz, member of the international peasant movement La Vía Campesina, told Truthout. Castro campaigned on an agenda that will strongly empower lower-income Honduran women, who have been one of the hardest-hit sectors in a country ruled through aggressive neoliberal policies for the last 12 years. Castro’s task of governing will be particularly hard given the high levels of corruption and ties to the drug trade that have been linked to Honduras’s former president, Juan Orlando Hernández.

Sister Dianna Ortiz was a catholic nun and - after being tortured in Guatemala - became a human rights and anti-torture activist. As a teenager, she joined the Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph and taught kindergarten for several years before moving to Guatemala in 1987 at the age of 28, where she wanted to teach indigenous children. With the 36-year civil war following the 1954 CIA coup not far in the past, it was a dangerous time to work with the oppressed people in Guatemala. In 1989, Ortiz was kidnapped and tortured for 30 hours, and returned back to the US after that. In her desire to defend human rights and torture victims, Dianna Ortiz founded Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International (TASSC) - the first organization led by torture survivors to support other survivors - in 1998, continuing to advocate against torture and seek justice for what happened to her in 1989. After a battle against cancer, Dianna Ortiz died on February 19, 2022, at the age of 62. But her legacy continues to live - it is a witness to suffering the unimaginable and coming out on the other end with love.

The Court of Appeals of Francisco Morazán, in respect to the resolution of the Constitutional Chamber that annulled the criminal proceeding against the eight defenders of Guapinol, resolved the appeals filed by the defense on March 3, 2020, in relation to the indictment for the crimes of unjust deprivation of liberty and aggravated arson. Said court ordered that the proceedings be sent back to the court of origin, which is the Court of Trujillo. It should be noted that this judicial body has tried by all means to keep the defenders in prison despite the fact that it has never had any argument to do so, much less after February 9 of this year when the Constitutional Chamber admitted two appeals filed by the defense against the indictment and the denial of the change of measures of preventive detention to defend themselves in freedom.

The new e-book, International Solidarity in Action: The Relationship Between the United Electrical Workers (UE) and Frente Auténtico del Trabajo, by Robin Alexander tells some of this history from a first-hand perspective. As the first International Affairs Director of the UE, Alexander was there at the start of cross-border labor union campaigning against NAFTA, through to the deal’s 20-year anniversary. It was their shared opposition to NAFTA that led the UE and the FAT, both independent unions, to develop a close working relationship, beginning in 1992. As Alexander details, the bonds between the two unions soon became much closer, and their combined efforts came to include support for shop organizing, strike support, fundraising, labor law reform, and other activities. Along the way, the FAT and other independent unions in Mexico scored historic victories, leading eventually to the labor law reforms that made organizing wins, like the one at Silao, possible. These included holding the first secret-ballot union election in Mexico’s history (in the early ‘90s), and, along with the UE and other unions such as the Teamsters, lodging some of the first complaints under the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation (NAALC), NAFTA’s labor side-agreement, in attempts to defend workers’ rights (in 1994).

Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley and Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL-09) today led a group of 21 lawmakers in urging the Biden administration to form a strong partnership with Honduras’ new leader, President Xiomara Castro. In a letter sent to Secretary Antony Blinken, the bicameral group of lawmakers emphasize the urgency of U.S. and international backing for Castro’s platform of human rights, economic, and anti-corruption reform, including her pledges to strengthen human rights protections, form a new, United Nations-led anti-corruption commission, and combat poverty and inequality. They encourage the administration to seize the opportunity presented by new Honduran leadership to seek a fresh and more constructive pathway for U.S.-Honduran relations, one that prioritizes human rights, respect for the rule of law, and inclusive economic development that all Hondurans deserve.

The Guatemalan Prosecutor's Office confirmed the arrest of two assistant prosecutors from the Special Prosecutor's Office against Impunity (FECI), the latest in a string of detentions of anti-corruption officials. Both assistant prosecutors were involved in uncovering a corruption plot between lawyers, politicians and businessmen to elect judges. Guatemalan authorities say arrest warrants are pending against two other assistant prosecutors involved in that case. Human rights organizations and the international community condemned the arrests of anti-corruption officials.