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Honduras

Honduran President Xiomara Castro Rejects US Interference

Honduran President Xiomara Castro announced on August 28 that she ordered the suspension of the extradition agreement between her country and the United States. The move was in response to comments made by the US Ambassador to Honduras, Laura Dogu, regarding different high-ranking Honduran officials who had traveled to Venezuela. The Honduran head of state wrote in a post, “The interference and interventionism of the United States, as well as its intention to direct the politics of Honduras through its Embassy and other representatives, is intolerable. They attack, disregard and violate with impunity the principles and practices of international law, which promote respect for the sovereignty and self-determination of peoples, non-intervention and universal peace.

US Exploits Animosity Towards Migrants To Demonize Socialist Countries

The Republican party has been waging a blatantly racist campaign to criminalize migrants. Instead of pushing back on that narrative, the party that purports to be for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (Democrats) is exploiting this racist anger to discredit a country it has targeted for regime change—Nicaragua—apparently for not sufficiently suppressing the rights of migrants. As Congresswoman Maria Salazar (R-FL) told a Biden administration representative at a recent hearing, “We agree on the end goal.” This is part of a relentless campaign to punish countries that dare to resist Washington’s agenda with suffocating unilateral coercive measures (aka “sanctions”).

How Safe Is Nicaragua? A Comparative Reflection

Nicaraguan children march before a baseball tournament in Matagalpa. Having a government that promotes communitarian trust and supports meeting the needs of everyone seems to be a crucial factor in whether people feel “safe.” On the night before I was married in 1985, during the wedding rehearsal dinner, my “best man,” Gary MacEoin, knew that my wife and I were heading to Nicaragua a week later, where the country was in the middle of the Contra War. My wife’s parents were concerned for our safety. Gary proposed a toast, “To the second safest city in the hemisphere…Managua!”

New Bill In Honduras Seeks To Rectify 1980s Human Rights Violations

In Honduras, family members of the victims of state violence in the 1980s have been marching for 40 years to demand justice for the disappearance and death of their loved ones. Now, there’s a chance they may see reparations. An unprecedented bill that would provide compensation for the family members of the victims is working its way through Congress. In June 1981, Bertha Oliva was three months pregnant and had only been married for four months when she witnessed the kidnapping of her husband by the country’s death squad. “I was there when they took him away from me,” she said, adding, “I am a witness to the brutality. I am a survivor of that moment.”

Honduras, 2009: Legacy Of A Coup

In June 2009, Honduras faced a devastating coup that shattered the country’s fragile democracy and sunk the country into violence, repression, and a decade-long narco-dictatorship. But the people fought back. In this continuation of Episode 7, host Michael Fox looks at the fallout of the 2009 coup in Honduras, walking from 2009 into the present. He takes us to Tegucigalpa to dive into the fraudulent U.S.-backed elections that ushered in a narco-dictatorship, and also the resistance movement that, after years of struggle, ultimately did what it set out to do: remove the dictatorship and return democracy to Honduras.

Former Honduran President Convicted Of Drug Trafficking

The former president of Honduras Juan Orlando Hernández was found, this Friday, guilty of international drug trafficking by a jury in New York. His tax process, considered historic, concluded in his guilt of three crimes imposed by the US prosecutor, the former president may even face life imprisonment for their charges. According to the prosecutor’s office, Hernández created a narco-state during his eight-year presidency, 2014-2022. He was also convicted of arms trafficking and weapons possession.

Testimony In JOH Trial Shows How US And Canada Ignored Warnings

In 2013, the Honduras Solidarity Network (HSN) and over 170 electoral observers warned the U.S. and Canadian governments about the narco-violence and drug interests we witnessed during the 2013 general elections in the municipality of El Paraíso, Copan in Honduras. Last week in Juan Orlando Hernández’s trial in New York, more details about the violent electoral fraud in El Paraíso were outlined by Alexander Ardón, the government’s collaborating witness, confessed drug trafficker, and the former mayor of El Paraíso.

Former Honduran President On Trial; US, Canada Are Complicit In His Crimes

The former president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernandez (JOH), is currently being tried in New York City for narco-trafficking during his presidency. Activists from the United States and Canada have launched a new campaign to raise awareness of both the US and Canadian governments' complicity in the crimes committed by the JOH administration. Clearing the FOG speaks with Karen Spring, co-coordinator of HondurasNow.org, which is hosting the campaign, about the US-backed coup in Honduras in 2009, the damage done by subsequent administrations that has driven migration of Hondurans north, the efforts of the current Castro government to reverse those damaging policies and ongoing efforts by the US to undermine the Castro government.

Honduras: US-Supported Right Wing Escalate Attacks Against Government

2023 saw aggressive actions from the remnants of the narco-dictatorship and their supporters, encouraged by the State Department, fanning fears of the possibility of a political coup in Honduras. At the end of October, the National Congress's 2023 session came to its scheduled close in the grips of a crisis caused by the determination of right-wing congress members to keep the office of Attorney General under their control. Taking action to counter this, the President of Congress, Luis Redondo, created a Permanent Council of 9 members of Congress based on articles in the Constitution.

Delegation To Honduras Launches Campaign To Indict The US, Canada

Members of a ten-day US/Canada delegation hosted by the Cross Border Network of Kansas City and the Honduras Solidarity Network of North America have investigated how their two nations prioritize protecting the political, economic, and military interests of their governments and corporations over the rights and interests of the Honduran people. The delegation visited communities affected by mining and land grabbing, met with labor movement activists, and spoke with US, Canadian and Honduran officials and found that the continuing poverty, inequality, and dispossession of the Honduran people result from the crimes of the narco-dictatorship that ruled Honduras since the U.S. and Canadian-supported coup in June 2009.

Humor In The Headlines Over China In Latin America

In a break from its hysterical coverage of the existential threat posed by Donald Trump, the Washington Post – house organ of the Democratic National Committee – cautions us of the other menace, China. “When the leader of this impoverished Central American country visited Beijing in June,” we are warned, “China laid out the warmest of welcomes.” Apparently in a grave threat to US national security, the president of Honduras attended a state banquet and actually ate Chinse food. What next for the country the Post affectionately describes as “long among the most docile of US regional partners”?

Trial Of Honduran Ex-President Reveals Washington’s Protection Of ‘Narco-State’

“Juan Orlando effectively operated Honduras as a narco-state, acquiring political power through narcotics-fueled bribes and maintaining it by allowing the free flow of drugs through Honduras,” US government prosecutors alleged in a May 1 motion filed in the Southern District of New York. Federal prosecutors unsealed an indictment targeting Hernández on April 21, 2022, the same day that Honduras extradited him to the US. He currently faces three drug and weapons smuggling charges in the Southern District of New York, including one count of conspiracy to import cocaine to the United States. His trial begins this week, on September 18.

Hondurans Mobilize In Support Of Xiomara Castro’s Government

Thousands of people took to the streets of the Honduran capital Tegucigalpa on the afternoon of Tuesday August 29 to express their support for the government of President Xiomara Castro. The head of state had called for the mobilization in response to the attempt by right-wing opposition deputies to impede the election of a new Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General. Xiomara and others from the Liberty and Refoundation Party (Libre) have warned that the moves by the National Party, which ruled for 12 years following the coup against Manuel Zelaya in 2009, and its allies from the Patriotic Alliance and Salvador Honduras parties, are part of a broader campaign of destabilization with the objective to carry out a coup against her.

Restoring The Land Rights Of The Garifuna African People Of Honduras

The ages-long severe oppression of descendants of West African slaves in Honduras has yet to receive wide attention. The Garifuna African people in Honduras are increasingly being denied their lands and livelihoods by the Honduran government and the multilateral institutions of the Global North. The plight of the Garifuna African people and their fight to restore their lands and livelihoods should no longer be left only to them to face, especially considering their small population of about 300,000. Continental Africans and those in the diaspora should raise awareness about the case. The Garifuna people are a part of Africa.

The Country Is Not For Sale

On May 3, Democratic U.S. lawmakers urged the U.S. Trade Representative and State Department to eliminate investor-state dispute settlement provisions from current and future trade deals and to intervene on behalf of Honduras against a U.S. company's nearly $11 billion claim against the country. In a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Trade Representative Katherine Tai, 33 lawmakers said that investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) systems in trade deals constitute a "problematic corporate handout" that violates countries' sovereignty and democratic rights. ISDS mechanisms enable multinational corporations to sue the governments of foreign trading partners for profits they claim have been forfeited as a result of domestic policies designed to protect workers, consumers, and ecosystems.
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