U.S.-related policies
FICOHSA bank announces that they have been appointed to the Partnership for Central America, the public-private initiative set up by the U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris to “expand jobs, investment and financial inclusion in the Northern Triangle.” It’s worth mentioning that COPINH has denounced the role of FICOHSA in the conflict related to Rio Blanco and Berta Cáceres’ murder.
The FBI “recognizes the work” of Honduran judge Claudio Aguilar in the so-called War on Drugs and the arrest of Honduran drug trafficker Fredy Mármol. Aguilar is arguably one of the most corrupt and most denounced judges in Honduras and is known to be protected by the JOH dictatorship and the U.S. Embassy. Over 50 legal complaints have been filed against Aguilar including by political prisoners Edwin Espinal and Raul Alvare, who were sent to prison by Aguilar in the context of the 2017 electoral crisis.
https://www.latribuna.hn/2023/08/02/fbi-reconoce-labor-del-juez-claudio-aguilar/
The U.S. State Department published the Engel’s list which included three members of the Liberal Party (among others) including Alexander López, the current mayor of El Progreso and the Congressional representative Samuel García. In the included explanation, the U.S denounces that some of the individuals listed attempted to manipulate the election of the new Supreme Court for their own personal interests.
Honduran Congress: Laws approved/overturned & protests
The Honduran Congress overturned Decree 116-2019, the Special Law for Management, Designation, Execution, Liquidation and Accountability of Public Funds for Social, Community, Infrastructure and Social Programs also known as the “Impunity Pact.” Overturning the decree was a United Nations’ recommendation (requirement?) to advance the creation of the U.N.-supported Anti-corruption body (the CICIH). The Impunity Pact limited the ability of the Public Prosecutor’s office to investigate the criminal use/misuse of public funds until after the Superior Auditing Court (Tribunal Superior de Cuentas, TSC) carried out a three-year auditing process, thus slowing down important investigations related to corruption. Overturning the law could reopen corruption investigations that have been closed or slowed.
https://cespad.org.hn/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Pacto-de-impunidad-WEB.pdf
On August 9th, National Party congressional representatives began to disrupt a Congressional session with whistles and other props to protest that their proposal to overturn decree 04-2022 would not be brought forward for discussion. Decree 04-2022 has been controversial since it was approved and involves the political amnesty that both provided an amnesty to public officials accused around the 2009 military coup, and protesters, land defenders, campesinos, political prisoners, etc. The concerns about the amnesty surround the public officials that have been relieved of charges believed to be political motivated.
During the disruption, a female security guard was injured by National Party Congressional representatives, according to the President of Congress, Luis Redondo. Equipment was also damaged.
After weeks of debate, controversy, and protests, President Xiomara Castro announced that she would veto the Law for Integrated Education for the Prevention of Teenage Pregnancies approved by the Honduran National Congress in March 2023. The law was an attempt to address pregnancy, sexual education, and sexual abuse in girls and teens. Feminist organizations question whether Castro caved to the conservative groups lobbying against the law despite Castro indicating that her veto came after she was unsatisfied that the law would address early pregnancies. The veto means that the law will be returned to Congress for additional debates.
In May, the Congress approved Honduras’ membership to the CAF. Following the approval, opposition political parties refused to ratified the document suggesting that the Executive branch could not sign off on the decision and therefore, stall the process. After months of uncertainty, the President of Congress sent to the document to the Executive branch, ignoring a very public campaign that he was violating legal Congressional procedures. However, lawyers such as Omar Menjivar (also the Vice Mayor of San Pedro Sula) and the legal advisors for the National Congress carried out a legal analysis arguing that the decision to join CAF did not have to be ratified before sending the decision to the Executive branch for approval.
https://tiempo.hn/congreso-rechaza-ratificacion-adhesion-al-caf/
https://tiempo.hn/congreso-nacional-acta-adhesion-al-caf-no-necesita-ratificacion/
International Monetary Fund (IMF)
The Honduran government and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have reached a 36-month agreement totalling $830 million USD for to contribute to the urgent need in social spending and investment, macroeconomic stability, strengthen the management of the government, guarantee the sustainability of the National Electrical Energy Company (ENEE) and improve resilience to climate change. (NOTE: This is what the IMF states in their announcement but it is hard to understand what these policies actually mean in reality).
https://www.imf.org/es/News/Articles/2023/08/11/pr23287-imf-and-honduras-reach-staff-level-agreement
Attorney General selection process
The final five candidates for Attorney General and Assistant Attorney General have been chosen and now must be reviewed and voted on by the National Congress. The final process that eliminated several candidates, included last minute scandals involving the elimination of two candidates – current anti-corruption prosecutor Luis Javier Santos and Mario Urquía– both of whom contested their elimination by presenting motions before the Constitutional chamber of the Supreme Court. Luis Javier Santos was eliminated from the selection process before the list of five was finalized for being involved in a case against the state of Honduras and Urquía’s candidacy was questioned because he oversaw the selection process of the current Supreme Court magistrates, suggesting a conflict of interest.
Of the five candidates chosen, two will be selected and voted on by the Honduran Congress if the National Party and other opposition parties agree to attend a Congressional session and contribute to selecting the new AG and assistant AG. Congressional secretary, Carlos Zelaya told the press that he thinks it will be difficult for Congress to choose a new AG, suggesting that elections may be stalled despite the term of the current leadership in the Public Prosecutor’s office ending as of September 1st. All political parties seem bent on their candidates being the ones chosen. Knowing the resistance that the President of Congress will have to face to elect the new AG, President Castro calls for a national mobilization on July 29th.
Of the five candidates, the top-rated individual is the only woman. Jenny Gabriela Almendares is also the daughter of long-time, well-respected, social and human rights leader and former rector of the National Autonomous University, Dr. Juan Almendares.
https://www.latribuna.hn/2023/07/28/solo-cinco-van-ir-al-congreso/
Land issues and land defenders
Human rights organization, ACI Participa condemns the decision of a court in Nacaome (southern Honduras) to find land defender Santos Hernández from the Association of the Defense of the Peninsula of Zacate Grande (ADPEZA) guilty of illegal possession of land. He has yet to be sentenced, which will indicate how much time he will spend in prison.
Hernández has faced constant persecution by the Public Prosecutor’s office and Honduran courts. Since 2014, he has been criminalized five separate instances for defending his and his land in Playa Blanca, Zacate Grande against illegal land claims made by large land owners Jorge Luis Casis Leiva and Heriberto Cruz. Another defender, Abel Perez was also found guilty a few months prior. On August 14th, a request for a political amnesty was presented on behalf of Hernández and Perez.
Land defender and leader of the Agrarian Platform in the Aguán, Jaime Cabrera, was conditionally released pending trial. Cabrera has been in hiding for several months after a laundry list of trumped-up charges (aggravated illegal possession of land, criminal association, and unjust detention of individuals) were filed against him by the Public Prosecutor’s office working on behalf of internationally-financed African palm company, Dinant Corporation. Cabrera decided to voluntarily appear before court leading the judge to conditionally release him pending his initial hearing currently scheduled for September 15th.
After a long and concerning delay, the Tri-Institutional Commission proposed in the Agreement between the Honduran government, the Agrarian Platform and the Coordinator of Popular Organizations of the Aguan (COPA) has been officially formed. The Commission seeks a solution to the historical land and human rights issues in the Aguan. Despite the signing of the formation of the Commission, campesino leaders from the Aguan Valley denounce a conspiracy and plan to murder leaders of the campesino movement led by agro-industrial companies including Dinant Corporation.
OFRANEH denounces the approval of the Special Law of Forest Carbon Transactions for Climate Justice by the National Congress in late July without the approval and consultation of Indigenous groups expected to be the most affected by the law. The law regulates the use of Honduras’ forests for carbon trading and other market-based ‘solutions’ to climate change.
https://www.poderpopular.hn/vernoticias.php?id_noticia=4797
Various human rights groups are denouncing the expulsion of 17 Lenca Indigenous families from their ancestral land in Rio Bonito, Siguatepeque (central Honduras). A constitutional challenge was presented to the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court in favor of the families.
The Agrarian Platform denounces the illegal land evictions of the Indigenous Council Renacer in Marcala, La Paz. The eviction was carried out by the Commission of Agrarian Security and Access to Land and involved participation from the National Police and the special TIGRE police force.
Around the three-year anniversary of the forced disappearances of the four Garifuna leaders from Triunfo de la Cruz, OFRANEH and allies held a press conference in Tegucigalpa to discuss the on-going struggle for justice, land defense, and demanding the implementation of the InterAmerican court rulings.
The Movement of Campesinos Without Land in the department of Yoro denounces that land owner and sugar company, AZUNOSA has a criminal plan to evict and criminalize their movement. In late June, the same movement was evicted by Honduran police.
https://www.facebook.com/100077651395462/videos/3526752094203368
Anti-Corruption Council (CNA) & the United Nations
The head of the National Anti-Corruption Council (CNA), Gabriela Castellanos has returned to Honduras after receiving threats (see last month’s news summaries). In a press conference, Castellanos denounces corruption inside the Castro government, criticisms the executive branch for calling a protest while in power, among other points. The panel included representatives of U.S.-funded NGO Association for a More Just Society (ASJ), the pro-dictatorship former Rector of the National University Julieta Castellanos, and the UN Representative in Honduras, Alice Shackelford.
The presence of the UN Representative in the panel caused outcry from the Honduran government that denounced the political error of Shackelford for standing next to NGOs that worked with the JOH dictatorship and failed to denounce many abuses over a period of 12 years.
https://twitter.com/cnahonduras/status/1682224042986680324?s=20 (a CNA propaganda video but it shows a clip of President Castro denouncing the CNA for staying silent during the dictatorship)
In response to the press conference, the Honduran government accuses the CNA of representing the interests of the U.S. government, stating that the CNA receives $902,153 USD of their budget from the USAID. See link to the press statement:
Castellanos and the CNA are denouncing the government’s decision to join the Latin American Development Bank (CAF by its Spanish acronym, see above in the ‘Honduran Congress: Laws approved/overturned & protests’ section for more on the approval of CAF in Congress) and taken aim at CAF calling it an “ideological bank” and accusing the bank of corruption. Castellanos has never criticized or said anything about the ideology of the World Bank, InterAmerican Development Bank or International Monetary Fund, making it clear that she and CNA are more interested in U.S.-dominated and controlled development banks as the U.S. is not a member of CAF.
https://www.elheraldo.hn/opinion/columnas/la-gaceta-IG14650855
Gatherings in favor of government’s reforms
On July 18th, LIBRE party supporters mobilized in Tegucigalpa to show support for the Tax Justice Law (not yet presented to Congress), the formation of the Anti-Corruption body (CICIH) and Honduras’ membership to the Latin American Development Bank (CAF)