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