Appendix 3 – Former President Zelaya’s Report on the Situation of

ORIGINAL TEXT IN SPANISH

REPORT ON THE SITUATION IN HONDURAS Santo Domingo, July 9, 2010

Regarding the resolution adopted at the fortieth regular session of the General Assembly of the Organization of American States “[t]o form a High-Level Commission composed of persons appointed by the Secretary General to analyze the evolution of the situation referred to in Resolution AG/RES.1 (XXXVII-E/09).”

FACTORS AND BACKGROUND WORTH NOTING

The report of the OAS Secretary General on the status and situation of the resolution on the coup d’état in Honduras (AG/RES.1-XXXII-E/09), which he submitted to the OAS General Assembly at its fortieth regular session in Lima, Peru states and concludes that all the efforts and initiatives undertaken by the Organization to comply with the mandate assigned therein were in vain. /San José Agreement. The Agreements and suggestions promoted by diplomatic efforts and initiatives, backed by governments, were never implemented because of the de facto regime’s radical refusal to comply with them, which effectively doomed them to failure.

That was what happened with the so-called Tegucigalpa/San José Agreement or “Guaymuras Dialogue,” the main purpose of which was to restore President Zelaya to office, along with other related obligations, such as the establishment of a Commission to verify compliance with the Agreements, the organization of a Government of Reconciliation and Unity, the holding of elections under the reconstituted rule of law, and the installation of a Truth Commission. Since the principal obligation related to the OAS mandate of restitution of the Constitutional President was not met, the legitimate Government denounced the Agreement to the OAS because of noncompliance with the Agreement on the part of those who had perpetrated the coup d’état. Consequently, all the obligations derived from the Agreement were then null and void.

ASSESSMENT OF THE SITUATION REFERRED TO IN OAS RESOLUTION AG/RES.1 (XXXII-E/09), COUP D’ÉTAT IN HONDURAS

1. The restoration of democracy and the rule of law (AG/RES.1 / XXXII-E/09)

According continuity to the coup d’état, and in violation of all the resolutions adopted and the mandates contained therein, the de facto regime of Baín

1 Appendix 3 – Former President Zelaya’s Report on the Situation of Honduras managed to achieve its goal of holding elections under duress and handing over government to his successor, . Having assumed office, and despite acknowledging that there had been a coup d’état in Honduras, Lobo Sosa has neither made an effort nor complied with even elementary requirements to restore democracy and the rule of law and thereby achieve international recognition.

During Mr. Lobo Sosa’s government, the immunities, privileges, and impunity of the perpetrators and instigators of the violent disruption of the constitutional order have been systematically reinforced. The institutional integrity of the Honduran State is still being usurped by the perpetrators and accomplices of the coup d’état, who continue to hold public office and take steps impeding the restoration of democracy and the rule of law in Honduras.

The most glaring evidence of that is the following:

 No punishment has yet been meted out to those who violated State institutions by forging, executing, legitimizing, and justifying the coup d’état of June 28, 2009 and all the offenses and breaches of the law that went with it.

 The National Congress appointed Roberto Micheletti Baín a Congressman for life, as a reward for having violated the constitutional order; suspended constitutional rights and guarantees; permitted and abetted falsification of the Constitutional President's signature in order to publish his fictitious resignation; allowed and attempted top legitimize the kidnapping, expulsion, and persecution of President Zelaya and senior officials in his government, and installed a regime for massive and selective repression of peacefully demonstrating citizens: a flagrant violation of human rights and crimes against humanity, in this case against the Honduran people, as well as other related crimes and offenses.

 The National Congress adopted an amnesty decree applicable only to the perpetrators of the coup d’état, granting impunity to the most abominable crimes and violations of human rights to the detriment of the defenseless population of Honduras.

 The Supreme Court dismissed all proceedings against the military command responsible for executing the coup d’état and for crimes against humanity.

 The Supreme Court dismissed judges opposed to the coup d’état.

 Perpetrators and accomplices of the coup d’état remain in office and unpunished, as do the Attorney General and the Magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice, who are engaged in politically motivated judicial prosecution of President Zelaya and senior officials in his government. Proceedings fabricated after the coup d’état are

2 Appendix 3 – Former President Zelaya’s Report on the Situation of Honduras still running their course.

 The Government of Porfirio Lobo Sosa has incorporated into his government perpetrators and accomplices of the coup d’état, who are currently performing the most important functions directly for the Executive Branch.

 The wave of repression, persecution, and political crime which began on June 28, 2009 has systematically increased and become consolidated and institutionalized.

 No initiatives have been taken that suggest a political will to restore democracy and reconciliation by re-establishing the freedoms, rights, and civil and political guarantees of President Zelaya, senior officials in his Government and opponents of the coup d’état and current regime who are members of the National Popular Resistance Front and victims of repression and politically motivated judicial persecution, of defamation in the media, and of threats to their physical safety and honor, as a means of intimidating and sidelining them proper to the reign of terror created in Honduras.

2. Restitution to office of the Constitutional President, José . AG/RES.1/XXXII-E/09):

President Zelaya was not restored to the office to which he was elected, in free, transparent, and legitimate elections, by the Honduran people, in the presence of OAS, , and observers. Valiant efforts by the international community and governments in the Americas, mediation initiatives, and agreements to that end were all totally in vain and were never implemented.

Before and after his government was installed, Porfirio Lobo Sosa publicly acknowledged that a coup d’état had been carried out in his country and, in the Agreement signed with the President of the , Leonel Fernández, on January 20, 2010, he recognized the ongoing validity of the investiture of José Manuel Zelaya Rosales as Constitutional President.

Nevertheless, nothing has yet been done to restore the rights and guarantees that, in his own right and because of that investiture under the Constitution, pertain to former President Zelaya after the conclusion of the period for which he was elected legitimate representative of the sovereignty of the people.

On the contrary, like other senior officials in his Government, President Zelaya remains in exile, still deprived of his constitutional rights and guarantees. He and his officials are being persecuted politically with judicial proceedings invented after his kidnapping and expulsion from his country, in an attempt to justify the coup d’état. Meanwhile the repressive regime remains implacable in its flagrant violation of the human rights of the population in general and of the regime’s opponents in particular.

3. Refusal to recognize the regime that arose from a rupture of the constitutional order (AG/RES.1 (XXXII-E/09)

3 Appendix 3 – Former President Zelaya’s Report on the Situation of Honduras

Although the international community resolutely refused to recognize the de facto regime led by Roberto Micheletti Baín, the elections of November 30, 2009 created a transition to impunity and contempt of international opinion that is still in effect today.

The elections were challenged as illegal and not recognized by the majority of Hondurans, and as having taken place without the participation of a considerable number of candidates for elected office, who decided not to run. The elections were held without the presence of international observers to validate the results and in violation of international treaties and conventions to which Honduras is party (Vienna Convention, human rights, and democratic rights). The elections of November 30 were held in the midst of a bloody repression, with civil rights suspended and harassment of the opposition media, in a militarized country subjected to systematic violation of human rights. The opposition in resistance had no part in the elections, after hundreds of candidates elected in primaries the year before resigned, and the Constitutional President was exposed, along with his family, fellow citizens, journalists and embassy officials, to constant harassment and torture in the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa.

IN CONCLUSION

1. The initial coup d’ état, assessed as such by the OAS and condemned by all, could not be reverted, due to the failure of all the diplomatic moves undertaken by the Organization of American States, despite all its efforts to “achieve the restoration of democracy and the rule of law in Honduras and the reinstatement in his office of the Constitutional President, José Manuel Zelaya Rosales.”

The coup d’état led to the suspension of the State of Honduras and, to cite the Declaration, the “refusal to recognize the regime that arose from a rupture of the constitutional order. “ Neither that suspension nor that refusal has so far been revoked because the circumstances that gave rise to them have not been overcome in any way, as the above points demonstrate.

2. There is no political will to restore the democratic order. The government of President Porfirio Lobo Sosa, which took office in the aftermath of the coup, is obligated by Articles 2, 3 and 375 of the , which it swore to respect, to guarantee the democratic order. However, as we can see, it shows complete indifference to, and publicly ignores, violations of the Inter-American Democratic Charter and of all the agreements and resolutions issued by the Organization of American States.

Likewise, that same government refuses to admit that the State and the de facto regime failed to comply with the Tegucigalpa/San José Agreements.

Moreover, human rights violations have increased, along with politically motivated crime and persecution, as can be inferred from the reports of the Inter-American Commission

4 Appendix 3 – Former President Zelaya’s Report on the Situation of Honduras on Human Rights (IACHR) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Special mention is made of the execution in the first 60 days of this government of nine journalists, one in reach region of the country. The number of persons killed by organized crime has tripled, with the perpetrators enjoying complete impunity.

There has been no sign of any serious intention of permitting the return and repatriation, with adequate guarantees and the restitution of their rights, of former President Zelaya, several of his ministers, senior officials and the more than 170 Honduras living abroad because of persecution.

This is no democracy, when it tramples upon and persecutes the opposition we represent, excluded from the Truth Commission and from the amnesty that only covers those who perpetrated the coup, with no attempt at a process of reconciliation.

3. The OAS cannot endorse elections conducted by a regime engendered by a coup d’état. Those elections have been challenged because they were conducted without international observers, during repression against the Constitutional President and those who opposed the coup d’état, with unprecedented levels of abstention, without a mandate or representation of the sovereign people of Honduras, and the OAS should verify those challenges. Under those circumstances, what happened was a transition from the de facto government to that of now President Porfirio Lobo Sosa, which has arisen without legal, political, social or international legitimacy.

4. The OAS must say what it thinks about the public pressures of certain of its member states, intentionally designed to ignore the impunity prevailing since the coup d’état for its perpetrators and instigators.

Only if the international community acts in unison will international mechanisms and instruments be able to prevent, reverse, and avoid the collusion of de facto interests in favor of using violence to disrupt democratic institutions, human rights and hemispheric security.

5. The Organization of American States must be governed by respect for international law and the mandate conferred upon it by its resolutions. Therefore, it has the inalienable obligation to declare null and void the actions of the de facto regime of Roberto Micheletti Baín and the actions attempting illegally to give continuity to that regime by consolidating the coup d’état and guaranteeing impunity for those responsible for the violent disruption of the constitutional order in our country.

These crimes against the Constitution and the laws it upholds, human rights violations, persecution, and crimes against humanity are by definition and their very nature permanent and imprescriptible.

6. We consider that the only way to OVERCOME THE CRISIS is a political agreement with all the opposition forces and the government of Porfirio Lobos Sosa that guarantees governance, reconciliation, and the restoration of the constitutional

5 Appendix 3 – Former President Zelaya’s Report on the Situation of Honduras order and democracy. Such an agreement must involve the genuine opposition and political groups, the Frente Nacional de Resistencia Popular, and President José Manuel Zelaya Rosales himself. That dialogue must take place under circumstances allowing complete freedom for the exercise of constitutional rights, with a complete cessation of political and judicial persecution, repression, and human rights violations. All that is a prerequisite for beginning the quest for solid and lasting solutions aimed at restoring the democratic process in Honduras, which was violently disrupted by the coup d’état of June 28, 2009.

THE PROPOSED “POLITICAL AGREEMENT FOR THE RESTORATION OF DEMOCRACY AND RECONCILIATION” PRESENTED BY FORMER PRESIDENT ZELAYA

The 8-point proposal we are forwarding to the Organization of American States and the international community attempts to forge Agreements for Democracy and Reconciliation in our country, along with the restoration of the full freedoms and constitutional guarantees still being forcibly denied to our citizens and the nation as a whole.

In keeping with and out of respect for the legitimate right of the Honduras people to achieve restoration of the constitutional and democratic order; the international conventions and treaties signed and ratified by the State of Honduras; and democratic practices and human rights,

WE PROPOSE:

A. That the OAS verify that at no point in the agreements was an amnesty included and that the one unilaterally passed by the National Congress reaffirms all the criteria invoked by the military coup, setting a disastrous precedent for impunity and destabilizing the democratic states in the Americas.

B. That the OAS verify that the GOVERNMENT of President Lobo puts an end to, and declares null and void, all acts of judicial persecution against the opponents of the regime who are suffering, in the case of President Zelaya and senior officials in his Government, even exile. We attach documentation of the illegal acts committed by representatives of the de facto regime who, together with the dictator Micheletti, took part in the coup d’état and today are operating with impunity the institutions supposed to administer justice. Under Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution of our Republic, all their actions are NULL AND VOID.

In order to guarantee the opposition’s rights, as an initial prerequisite for the establishment of democracy, persecuted individuals and their families who are living in exile must be allowed to return to the country with full enjoyment of their civil and political rights: a petition backed by the Honduran people, governments in the region, and the international community.

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C. That a High-Level OAS Commission monitor and verify the State’s guarantee to put an end to repression and human rights violations, by deploying the security agencies, as required by the Democratic Charter, thereby putting an end to the crimes, politically motivated assassinations, judicial prosecution, repression, and persecution by the para-military forces that need to be disbanded by the police and the armed forces.

D. The OAS must by consensus request the dismissal from their posts of the principal protagonists of the coup d’état who are still running justice system institutions, the attorney general’s office, and the supreme court and who have explicitly admitted their participation in the coup d’état, as well as the dismissal of those who have been appointed to senior positions and secretariats of state in the government of Porfirio Lobo Sosa. Next week we will attach a list of military officers and senior officials in the de facto regime who have been ratified and placed in senior positions in the current government of Porfirio Lobo.

E. That citizen José Manuel Zelaya Rosales take up the position he is entitled to in the Central American Parliament, in his own right and by virtue of his investiture as a former Constitutional President, with all his rights restored.

F. That an end be put to the impunity of the coup d’état and human rights violations. Under the auspices of the OAS, specialized jurists should be appointed to advise plaintiffs and ensure that those responsible for crimes against humanity are subjected to due process of law and tried by the appropriate international courts, the International Criminal Count and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, acting on complaints that have already been filed and are in their possession.

G. That the OAS verify that guarantees are established in the country for the exercise of DEMOCRATIC FREEDOM, that nobody is persecuted for his or her ideas, that citizens are allowed to debate and decide on the need for the establishment of participatory democracy and that society in opposition to the coup can exercise its right to freedom of opinion, to be recognized as a belligerent force, and to demand a new Constitution.

H. That the OAS reconsider its support for the flawed Truth Commission process, because that process is being conducted unilaterally by the government’s officials and persons associated with the coup d’état, without the participation of the victims. All of us want to know the truth and for that we must recognize the existence and guarantee the right of all those involved to express their opinion. Next week we will present annexes on the Truth Commission, in which we victims want to play a part, as well as a brief analysis of the coup.

Finally, the time has come to acknowledge and recall that throughout the year that has elapsed since the coup d’état of June 28, 2009 the convictions of our people and of the international community have been put to the test. The Honduran people have demonstrated their yearning for peace and democracy and their ability to put up heroic resistance to barbarity and violence.

7 Appendix 3 – Former President Zelaya’s Report on the Situation of Honduras

Therefore, faced with the tragic reappearance of the coup d’état, a crime we had wrongly imagined was dead and buried, let this be the opportunity for the OAS to secure for us a tool to prevent a recurrence, to act as a brake and warning to those forces that strike blows against our democracies and our right to live in freedom, by saying a LOUD AND CLEAR NO TO IMPUNITY.

José Manuel Zelaya Rosales, 2006-2010 Dominican Republic, July 9, 2010.

[Signature] Rodolfo Pastor Fasquelle, representative of former President Zelaya

This document, written by former President Zelaya himself and setting forth the historical truth of the coup d’état in Honduras and its repercussions, will be officially presented in Washington, D.C., at 9:30 a.m. on July 9, 2010, to the Secretary General and High-Level Commission of the OAS, signed by former secretary of state Rodolfo Pastor Fasquelle. I thank him for his contribution and impeccable work in Washington and for his conviction and commitment to the cause of democracy in Honduras and .

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