HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION POST COUP

C O N F I D E N T I A L TEGUCIGALPA 000529 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/30/2019 TAGS: PHUM ECPS PGOV SOCI DS HO SUBJECT: HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION POST COUP REF: TEGUCIGALPA 517 AND OTHERS Classified By: Classified By: Ambassador Hugo Llorens for reasons 1.4 ( b & d). ¶1. (C) Summary: The media war over the legitimacy of the Honduran coup has taken front stage with various competing interests protesting either in support of the new regime or for the return of ousted President Manuel "Mel" Zelaya. Both groups claim to be defending the constitution and the rule of law from precarious moral high ground given one supports the end-result of a coup and the other had been supporting Zelaya,s controversial plan to change the constitution for political ends. While many of the allegations of human rights abuses being committed by the military are not corroborated and likely false, there are confirmed reports of the military hindering press freedom and immobilizing potential protesters by limiting their transportation. The Congress has adopted measures to silence opposition by limiting freedom of assembly, and permitting security forces to arrest, detain individuals and enter private residences without a warrant. We plan to speak out on the increasing levels repression, which although not yet at alarming levels are serious cause for concern and are counterproductive. End Summary. PROTESTS CONTINUE -------------- ¶2. (C) While rumors swirl on the internet and in international media of politically motivated arrests, orders to capture labor leaders, military and police brutality, competing protests in Honduras remain fairly modest and peaceful. Reports indicated that approximately 3,000 people filled downtown Tegucigalpa,s Central Park the afternoon of June 30 to listen to coup-leader General Romeo Vasquez Velasquez and newly-anointed President Roberto Micheletti speak on defending the Constitution and the rule of law. Recognizing the need to justify their unlawful removal of Zelaya, both leaders called for a grand dialogue and felt the need to justify their actions on June 28 in the name of protecting the Constitution. ¶3. (C) Conversely, on June 30 some anti-regime protesters, possibly numbering 3,000 people, were prevented from reaching the Presidential Palace, as they did June 29, and instead burned tires approximately one mile away on a major thoroughfare. Similar anti-regime protests in San Pedro Sula were held by labor unionists and campesino groups and were said to fill the central square numbering from 1,000-5,000 people, with reports of minimal violence and no arrests. Police reported the group clashed briefly with an equal-sized pro-coup crowd, but were quickly separated by authorities before the situation could get out of control. Smaller anti-regime protests were held in Santa Barbara and La Ceiba without provocation. One report from the district of Copan stated that all was calm with only small protests there, relaying that most people were happy with the ouster of Zelaya albeit with much trepidation for what may come next. ¶4. (C) Similar protests have occurred throughout the country on July 1 including 6,000 pro-Zelaya supporters marching to the offices of the Organization of American States (OAS) and on to the National Congress. Meanwhile, thousands marched in the southern Honduran town of Choluteca to support the constitution and the new regime. Similar, but smaller, pro-regime marches were held in Copan and Comayagua and one is scheduled for San Pedro Sula on Thursday. MEDIA INTIMIDATION -------------- ¶5. (C) Various media outlets that either previously supported Zelaya or have attempted to cover the pro-Zelaya protests claim they have had their human rights violated by the military. In particular, Radio Globo,s radio broadcasts and internet site have been shut down after refusing to stop covering the pro-Zelaya protests. The owners and reporters of Radio Globo reported to Embassy officials they were assaulted by approximately 40 soldiers on June 28 and told to not broadcast any news on the anti-regime protests or criticize newly anointed president Micheletti. Claiming they feared for their lives, the stations have wavered between reporting their view and only playing music on what was a news station, and several have asked Poloff for safety in the event that they feel their lives are threatened. ¶6. (C) Television stations previously aligned with the Zelaya government have also been forced to cease to transmit programming. Efdras Lopez, who owns Channel 36, which had been a pro-Zelaya media source, said that 22 soldiers showed up to take over the station which has since ceased to broadcast. In contrast, the Commissioner of Human Rights Dr. Ramon Custodio stated that there was no censorship being committed and that only the stations that were "feeding hate" had been closed. Seven international journalists, from the Associated Press and the Venezuelan-based Telesur television network, which is off the air in Honduras, were briefly detained on June 30 when 10 soldiers took them at gun-point into custody and delivered them to an immigration office where they were asked to show their visas. Once they explained they were journalists they were let free. ¶7. (C) Anti-Zelaya media figures who support the new regime have also been the subject of death threats by text messages and ten prominent media figures have been identified in documents floating on the internet as anti-Zelaya media magnates partly responsible for the coup. Carlos Mauricio Flores, the editor of the El Heraldo newspaper, received a message from a Venezuelan woman Carolina Gomez from the Conexion news internet site that stated, "this Thursday I promise you, four of your colleagues from El Heraldo will be killed, I am proudly from Venezuela and get ready you Indians!" ALLEGED HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS -------------- ¶8. (C) Attempts to document human rights violations are difficult given the tense and fluid political situation. According to Reina Rivera of the Center for the Investigation and Promotion of Human Rights (CIPRODEH),through noon local on June 30, they had documented the arrest of 126 people (including 16 minors),who were being held at three police posts in Tegucigalpa. However, as of COB June 30, the Commissioner for the National Director of Criminal Investigations said there had been no arrests of protesters. Rivera also reported that a caravan of three buses loaded with indigenous groups from La Esperanza was commandeered by the military. The claim is consistent with information we have received from other sources. However, the police state that they are only conducting routine surveillance operations on the buses because of the widespread belief that large numbers of foreigners have entered the country to cause insurrection. Rumors of the military forcefully conscripting youth in the departments of Colon and Olancho were denied categorically by military authorities on the evening of June ¶30. Five members of the Environmental Movement of Olancho (MOA) are said to be arrested for leading a protest on June 30, the Center for Justice and International Law has asked the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to investigate and post is working to corroborate these allegations. ¶9. (C) Labor leaders continue to relay reports that warrants for their arrests, along with members of the Zelaya administration, have been made; a charge denied by the Attorney General on June 29. A nationwide strike was called for June 30 by Daniel Duron; Secretary General of the General Workers Federation (CGT),but it gathered few crowds and was not disruptive. (Comment: As the President of the Venezuela-based Latin American Labor Confederation, Duron is a close confidant and allegedly the beneficiary of large quantities of funds from Hugo Chavez. End Comment) ¶10. (C) Former Zelaya administration officials have begun to feel the heat from previous corruption charges which had not been acted upon while Zelaya was in office. Most notably, the Attorney General has announced that he will begin arresting those officials implicated in the Latinode Hondutel Communications bribery scandal. The mayor of San Pedro Sula, Rudolfo Sunseri who is a U.S. citizen, has been removed from his position based on corruption charges filed against him in ¶2008. Sunseri fled the country and is currently in Guatemala. SUSPENSION OF INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS -------------- ¶11. (C) On July 1, Congress suspended Articles 69, 71, 72, 78, 81, 84, 93 and 99 of the Constitution during the hours of the curfew (10 PM to 5 AM) thereby suspending the right of freedom to associate, freedom of expression and the right to meet, and allowing for detention beyond the statutory limits of 24 hours, as well as authorizing the police to arrest suspects and enter homes without a warrant. The move is designed to silence and prohibit many of the anti-regime protests around the country. Speculation indicated that it was a move by the Congress to formalize a curfew which has been in effect since the coup, and the Attorney General affirmed this position to Emboffs July 1. However, Rudolfo Zelaya, a National Party Congressman, stated that they were in fact considering the action as a means to protect Honduran institutions from what they consider a growing threat of Nicaraguan, Cuban and Venezuelan interests in the country. ¶12. (C) Comment: Post will continue to monitor the situation and follow up on any reports of human rights violations. The timing on most of the arrests and corruption charges would lead some to believe that they are politically motivated even though nearly all of these cases had been held up by Zelaya in return for patronage. End Comment. LLORENS