Relations with China
On July 6th, the Chinese representative for international business and Vice Minister of Business Wang Shouwen, arrived to Honduras to begin negotiating a free trade agreement between China and Honduras.
IMF negotiations
The Government of Honduras continues negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). According to Finance Minister Rixi Moncada, 98% of the negotiation is complete but an agreement has not been reached on two major points: foreign currency exchange and monetary financing. According to Moncada, the Honduran government refuses to cede to the IMF’s wishes on both points.
New York Drug Trials: JOH’s trial date moved once again
On June 29, Juan Orlando Hernández, Mauricio Hernández, and Juan Carlos Bonilla had a hearing in Judge Castel’s courtroom in New York. In an agreement reached between the defense counsels and the prosecutors, their trial date was changed from September 18th to February 5, 2024.
A few days later, JOH’s attorney Raymond Colon made alleged declarations to the press that he may terminate his work with JOH if he did not receive payment for his services. JOH’s spouse, Ana García de Hernández clarified via her Twitter account that Colon would remain as JOH’s defense and that the rumors are false. In the same alleged press statement, Colon also clarified the role of the controversial ‘detective’ Angel Martínez’s role in the defense, indicating that Martínez is NOT part of JOH’s defense team. Colon also refuted a rumor that was circulating in Honduras that 11 National Party activists would be called to testify at JOH’s trial.
Business issues
In a press conference on July 4th, the Minister of Infrastructure and Transportation announced that the concession and contract between the Honduran government and the Palmerola International Airport (PIA) will be reviewed. The Minister outlined how the Honduran government paid more than $22 million to construct projects essential for the functioning of the airport, which favored the private company owned by Honduran businessman Lenir Pérez. In addition, the Minister announced that key information about the bidding process and the decision to locate the airport in Comayagua is missing. Significant irregularities also surround the concession including the lack of experience of the company and lies regarding its construction, and the overvaluation of the contract.
In response, PIA representatives refuted the claims, stating that they would seek international remedies against the government’s decision. In the same government press conference, the Minister indicated that a delegation of the Honduran government will travel to Florida, where Pérez currently lives. According to the Minister’s statements, Pérez is restricted from leaving the U.S.. This statement adds to the rumors that Pérez, who also owns the Inversiones Los Pinares mine is under investigation by the FBI.
https://tiempo.hn/concesion-de-palmerola-pasara-a-pgr/
Canadian company, Gildan Activewear announced that it will be closing its San Miguel factory located in Choloma. Approximately 2,700 employees will be laid off. (See violence and security policies section about murders of unions leaders from the same factory).
The business lobby, COHEP and others used the announcement to accuse the President Castro administration of not generating favorable conditions for businesses and investment. The Honduran Ambassador to Canada, Beatriz Valle clarifies that Gildan’s decision was made because of internal restructuring and the company has no additional plans to close more factories.
After Gildan’s announcement, the Honduran Women’s Collective (CODEMUH) published a statement saying that the factory closure is more about firing organized workers with health problems caused by the repetitive and exploitative work inside Gildan’s factories. CODEMUH insists that Gildan and the Government of Honduras must ensure that workers are paid their pensions and ensure that workers, particularly those with injuries caused by factory conditions, continue to have access to social security benefits after the factory closes.
https://www.laprensa.hn/honduras/cohep-reacciona-cierre-planta-gildan-choloma-HN14080135
https://twitter.com/reporterosdeinv/status/1674122839195111430/photo/1
Violence and Security Policies
A wave of violence has hit Honduras once again, but this time causing a chilling effect around the country. On June 20th, over 46 women were killed inside the women’s section of the Tamara prison, just outside of the capital city. According to press reports, some women were burned alive and others shot to death. The violence was reported in the international press. Following the prison massacre, President Castro call for 46 days of national mourning. Foreign Affairs Minister, Enrique Reina said the violence aims to destabilize and sew chaos against the Castro administration.
The massacre comes after President Castro had named a Prison Intervention Commission in April 2023 following violence and riots inside several maximum-security prisons. The Intervention Commission was headed by the Vice Minister of Security, Julissa Villanueva. Upoin appointment, Villanueva had promised to apply ‘mano dura’ policies against corruption in the prison system.
Following the prison massacre, President Castro fired the Minister of Security, Ramón Sabillón, and named the Director of the National Police, Gustavo Sánchez to take his place. Villanueva was also fired from her position as head of the Prison Intervention Commission. On June 21st, the Vice Minister of Defense, Elías Melgar, previously denounced as being involved in drug trafficking and death squad paramilitary killings in the Aguán Valley during the post-coup governments, also resigned from his position. It is unclear if Melgar’s resignation is linked to the prison violence.
While many, including the international press, blamed the massacre on gangs, others like the Honduran Minister of Transparency, Edmundo Orellana, reminded the public of the organized criminal networks operating inside the police force [and I would add, the military], who are responsible for operating the prison system prior to the massacre.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-65969092
In response to the violence in the Tamara prison, President Castro announced that the Honduran government will build a new prison in the Isla del Cisne off the Caribbean coast of Honduras, raising concerns from environmental organizations. In addition, President Castro announced that the JOH-created Military Police will take control of the Honduran prison system. Shortly after, images of prisoners being rounded up in their underwear and lined up on the ground were circulated on social media by the Minister of Defense and re-tweeted by President Castro. The images raised alarm for their similarity to President Bukele’s crackdown against gangs and prisons in El Salvador. In response to Castro’s decision, human rights organizations once again raise concerns about the return to militarization of Honduran society and the prison system, noting that Castro had been critical of the Military Police under JOH’s government, including their role in killing protesters during the 2017 electoral crisis.
Two days after the prison massacre, several public acts of violence were reported around the country. Erika Julissa Bandy García, the spouse of drug trafficker Magdaleno Meza was murdered by heavily-armed, professional hitmen wearing police bulletproof vests, inside a bake shop in San Pedro Sula. Her bodyguards were also killed. The videos of the killings were widely circulated.
Meza himself was murdered inside the maximum-security El Pozo prison in 2019. His killing is believed to be linked to drug ledgers found in his possession when arrested, that implicated both Tony Hernández and JOH in drug trafficking. Prior to his murder, Meza showed a willingness to testify against drug traffickers, including members of the Hernández administration.
Then four days after the prison massacre, 13 people were massacred inside a billiards hall in the northern sweatshop city of Choloma. Among the 13 killed were four people involved in the textile union in the San Miguel Gildan (Canadian company) plant including union president Xiomara Cocas, her son, and two others. National and international unions and federations published statements condemning the violence, particularly in the context of Gildan’s announcement that they will be closing the exact plant where the union is based (see business issues section above). The massacre is believed to be unrelated to the factory closing down. Since the massacre, police have arrested members of the 18 Street gang believed to be involved.
https://www.laprensa.hn/sucesos/caen-cuatro-pandilleros-18-vinculados-masacre-choloma-CC14258875
In response to the massacre in Choloma, President Castro announced a military curfew in Choloma from 9 pm to 4 am that began the following day (June 25th) and another in San Pedro Sula the following week, beginning on July 4th. The measure will be applied for 15 days with the possibilities of renewal. Local businesses express concern of the impact of the military curfew on commerce in the region. The temporary suspension of constitutional rights in many parts of Honduras remains in place, despite these new recently announced measures.
Protest outside the OAS
Hondurans protest outside the OAS headquarters during the 53rd session of the OAS General Assembly calling on the President Castro administration to fire the Honduran representative to the OAS, Roberto Quesada. Quesada has been publicly accused several times of sexual abuse and inappropriate behavior towards Honduran migrants and women. To date, the Castro administration has oddly ignored the allegations and protests against him.
https://criterio.hn/roberto-quesada-es-una-verguenza-gritan-migrantes-frente-a-la-oea/
Anniversary of the 2009 coup d’état
As part of the commemoration of the coup, the Honduran government led by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transportation, inaugurated the ‘Museum of Memory” in the old Presidential palace (close to the National Congress in the center of Tegucigalpa). President Castro, Presidential Advisor Manuel Zelaya, the President of the Supreme Court, Rebeca Raquel Obando, and other government figures participated in the ceremony. In addition, family members of the victims of the coup were also present.
No protests or other public events were held after President Castro, requested that all events be canceled following the prison killings (see the violence and security policies section).
The HSN released a statement on the 14th anniversary of the coup: “We say, “Never again!” to coup-mongering and interventions against peoples movements in Honduras. We encourage our supporters and allies to stay tuned for the upcoming New York-based trial of ex-President and accused drug trafficker Juan Orlando Hernández … the HSN will aim to put the U.S., Canada, and all those that rallied behind the narco-dictatorship ‘on trial’ for the destruction and damage that their support for the dictatorship has and continues to have in Honduras”
Read the statement in English here: http://bit.ly/43ZNzcv
In Spanish here: bit.ly/3PA8n62
Natural Resources and Land Issues
On Jun 27, the Minister of the Environment and Natural Resources (SERNA), Lucky Medina announced via Twitter that operations at the Los Pinares mine will be suspended until mid-2025 because the mine has not received environmental licenses for the ASPII area (the name of part of the concession). With this announcement, Medina confirms what community members have been saying for months. (See also ‘Attacks Against Land and Water defenders for violence related to Los Pinares mine).
Miriam Miranda of OFRANEH denounces that a delegation including officials from the National Agrarian Institute (INA), prosecutors, and police visited 8 sites around the Trujillo Bay area (home to 6 Garifuna communities with ancestral titles) on request from the wealthy Crespo family. Miranda notes that this is why the Commission for Agrarian Security and Access to Land was formed.
After creating the Commission for Agrarian Security, Honduran police evict families from the Lenca Indigenous Council of the community of Cacao, Santa Rosa de Yojoa. Six people were detained including a minor & a human rights defender from the Lenca indigenous org, MILPAH #Honduras
Land and Water Defenders and the Social Movement
On June 15th, Oscar Orquelí Domínguez, the brother of Guapinol water defender Reynaldo Domínguez was murdered in his home by unknown men riding a motorcycle. His mother, Catalina Ramos was also injured in the attack.
Oscar is the second Domínguez brother murdered in the last 5 months in relation to what many suspect to be retaliation for the family’s activism in defending the Guapinol river against mining company Inversiones Los Pinares linked to U.S.-based Nucor Corporation. On January 7, Ali Domínguez was also murdered, along with Jairo Bonilla near the community of Guapinol. The targeted violence was widely condemned across Honduras and internationally.
On July 7th, several campesino organizations and indigenous communities met to form the Popular Campesino and Indigenous Block in Tegucigalpa. Leaders from the Aguan Valley and others denounced the Commission for Agrarian Security and Access to Land formed by the Castro administration, including the threats of evictions that many face around the country. Read the Block’s statement here:
In early July, the Convergence Against Re-election held a press conference and released a statement six years after the space was originally formed in 2017 to confront the re-election campaign of JOH. The Convergence warns of the growing power and attempt of “anti-democratic” sectors, national and international, to return Honduras to what it was like prior to the Castro administration. The Convergence calls on the Honduran movement to act and organize to avoid the “emergence of a fundamentalist, neo-fascist coalition that will squash popular aspirations” of the Honduran people.
Corruption Issues
In mid-June and in an unclear & ambiguous way, Gabriela Castellanos, the director of the Anti-Corruption Council (CNA) said she was facing threats & left the country. Other reports including a tweet from the US Embassy, state she traveled to DC to participate in an OAS Assembly. Days later, it was clarified that Castellanos did indeed need to leave the country for security issues. Her decision to leave without informing the Minister of Human Rights and the Public Prosecutor’s office was seen as unusual.
Castellanos told the press that the threats against her come shortly after the CNA released two reports. The first in May 2023 called “Concentration of Power” which heavily criticizes the Castro administration of nepotism and concentrating power in both the Zelaya Castro family and others. The second was formal legal complaints against the mismanagement of funds destined to the Security Tax by members of the Juan Orlando Hernández narco-government.
Election of the New Attorney General and Assistant AG
The Proposal Board responsible for filtering the list of possible nominations for the new Attorney General and Assistant Attorney General published a final list of 26 self-nominated candidates. Four candidates were then eliminated for a current total of 22.
Currently, the Board is receiving feedback from the public including denunciations of any of the candidates before finalizing a list of 5 candidates that must be sent to Congress by August 1st. CESPAD publishes a deeper analysis of the AG selection.
https://criterio.hn/junta-proponente-contra-reloj-para-nominaciones-de-fiscal-general-y-adjunto/
https://www.latribuna.hn/2023/07/05/dos-candidatos-mas-quedan-fuera-de-lista-de-fiscal-general/
Attack against the President of Congress, Luis Redondo
On July 7th, the President of the Honduran Congress Luis Redondo suffered an attack denounced as an assassination attempt. So far, the details that have emerged report that broken glass was found in the food that he, his spouse, and possibly members of his security team had consumed. Redondo was reportedly taken to the hospital but further details are unknown.
https://apnews.com/world-news/general-news-9334f6f1321d3bef6ea3c8cc272cb13c