Report of the Commission of Truth The Voice of Greatest Authority is that of the Victims Tegucigalpa, Honduras April, 2013 2 Index Index…………………………………………………………………………………………………….…………………….............3 Abbreviations Used…………………………………………………………………………….….…………………………….6 Dedication and Acknowledgements………………………………………………….………………………………....8 Members of the Commission of Truth……….…………………………………..………………………………..…10 Supporters……………………………………………………………………………………………………..……………………11 PART 1…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..…………12 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………………..………………....13 1.1 Presentation of the Report………………………..………………………………………………………………….18 1.2 Methodology/ Sources Consulted…………………………………………………………………….…………..21 1.3 The Mandate of the Commission of Truth……………………………………………………………….……25 PART 2……………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………...28 The Keys to the Coup d’état…………………………………………………………………………………………….29 2.1 Historical Precedents…………………………………………………………………………………….…………..…30 2.2 Institutional Keys of Political Power and the State in Honduras…………………….……………..34 - Structural conditions of the economy: concentration of wealth and unequal income distribution……………………………………………………………………..………………..…………….34 - The economic elites and military control…………………………………….………………..…….………37 - Economic groups controlling the political parties………………………….….……….…….…………38 - The other institution: impunity………………………………………………………..………….……….…….39 - The business groups and conflicts of economic power……………………..……………….….……39 2.3 The importance of the United States' involvement in the Coup d’état……………………..…52 - The U.S. Embassy in Honduras…………………..…………………………………………………………….…57 2.4 The Social Context……………………………………………………………………………………………….….…..63 - Human Rights Organizations: 1980-2009…………………………………………………………………...65 - The campesino movement and land conflict………………………………………………………….….68 - Women's organizations and feminist groups………………………………………………………….………..70 - The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Transvestite and Intersex Community………….….71 - The Resistance and Social Movements…………………………………………………..………………….73 - The Mobilization of Original Peoples: The Case of COPINH……………………………………….74 - The Honduran trade union movement and its impact on political life…………………….…76 2.5 The reasons for the coup d’état of June 28, 2009……………….………………………………….…..81 PART 3………………………………………………………………………………………………….……………….86 3.1 Patterns of human rights violations…………………………………………………………….……………87 Pattern 1: Repression of public demonstrations, use of excessive force during repression by state security agents and the criminalization of public protest…………….…….87 Pattern 2: Selective repression or repression targeted at people considered by the de facto government as attempting to destabilize the regime……………………………….….91 3 Pattern 3: Institutional dysfunction - responding to the needs of the regime imposed by the coup d’état to the detriment of the population………………………………….…..92 1. National Human Rights Commissioner………………………………….……………………………..94 2. National Congress………………………………………………………………….…………………………….94 3. The Media……………………………………………………………………………….…………………………..95 4. National Court of Auditors……………………………………………………….…………………..……..96 5. Ministry of Education……………………………………………………………….………………………....96 6. National Institute for Women…………………………………………………….………………..………97 7. The dysfunction of the justice system………………………………………….…………………......98 The international responsibility of the state of Honduras………………….…………………....102 3.2 Cases illustrating patterns of human rights violations…………………………...………….……117 Cases to illustrate pattern 1: The repression of public demonstrations, the excessive use of repressive force by state security agents and the criminalization of public protest..118 1.1 Repression of demonstrators in Toncontín airport, July 5, 2009…………………..…………….118 1.2 Repression in El Paraíso. Arrests, torture, killing of a protester…………………………………..120 1.3 Repression of protesters in El Durazno, July 30, 2009………………………………………………….128 1.4 Repression of a demonstration, July 30, 2009 in El Pajonal, Comayagua……………………..132 1.5 Repression of the demonstration on August 12, 2009 in the vicinity of the National Congress, in Tegucigalpa……………………………………………………………………………………………..136 1.6 Repression in Choloma. Sexual violence against a protester, August 14, 2009…………….139 1.7 Repression of protesters outside the Brazilian Embassy, September 22, 2009…………….143 1.8 Repression of protesters in San Pedro Sula, September 15, 2010………………………………..151 1.9 Repression of the teaching profession. Killing of teacher Ilse Ivania Velásquez Rodríguez, March 18, 2011……………………………………………………………………………………………………………153 1.10 Repression in different regions of the country March 30, 2011……………………………..157 Illustrative cases for pattern 2: Repression which is selective or targeted at people considered by the de facto government to be destabilizing the regime……………………………………………….161 2.1 Patricia Rodas Baca – Foreign Secretary……………………………………………………………………….161 2.2 The media: Channel 36 and Radio Globo……………………………………………………………………...165 2.3. Kidnap and torture of journalist César Omar Silva Rosales…………………………………………..175 2.4 Torture and cruel, inhuman y degrading treatment of Manuel de Jesús Varela Murillo.178 2.5 Execution of Walter Orlando Tróchez……………………………………………………………..…………….182 2.6 Reprisals against the COMAL Network and its staff……………………………………………………….187 Illustrative cases for pattern 3: Dysfunction of institutions responding to the needs of the coup regime to the detriment of the population………………………………………………………………...192 3.1 President José Manuel Zelaya Rosales…………………………………………………………………………..192 4 3.2 Fired Judges…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..198 3.3 Secretary to the President’s Office Enrique Alberto Flores Lanza………………………………….201 3.4 Alba Leticia Ochoa and others……………………………………………………………………………………….205 3.5 Augustina Flores López………………………………………………………………………………………………….207 3.3 Analysis of Human Rights Violations……………………………………………………………………………210 Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………210 1. Rights violated and types of aggressions…………..…………………………………………………………….210 2. Forces and groups responsible for the violence………………………………………………………………213 3. Serious acts of violence, by perpetrator………………………………………………………………………….214 4. The instruments of aggression………………………………………………………………………………………..214 5. The geographical distribution of the violence………………………………………………………………….215 6. The faces behind the human rights violations: Statistical data on the victims………………….216 3.4 Victims of Human Rights Violations Recorded by the Commission of Truth……………….219 3.5 Psychosocial impacts of human rights violations in Honduras. Psychosocial consequences of the coup………………………………………………………………………………………………….220 Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………220 Methodology of the analysis of the testimonies………………………………………………………………….220 Analysis of the psychosocial impact, by category………………………………………………………………..222 1. By Leaders of trade unions and of social protest movements………………………………………….222 2. Former state officials…………………………………………………………………………………………………......231 3. Housewives………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………236 4. Campesinos……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..237 5. Teachers………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….247 6. Journalists………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..255 7. Exiled and displaced people……………………………………………………………………………………………..258 Part 4 Conclusions and Recommendations…………..…………………………………………………..…268 4.1 Conclusions…………..………………………………………………….…………………………………………………….269 4.2 Recommendations…………………………………………………………….……………………………………………272 4.3 Biographical notes………………………………………………………………………………………………………….277 4.4 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………279 5 Abbreviations Used ACD Alianza Cívica por la Democracia (Civic Alliance for Democracy) AFE Administración Forestal del Estado (State Forestry Administration) AJD Asociación de Jueces por la Democracia (Association of Judges for Democracy) ALBA Alianza Bolivariana para los Pueblos de Nuestra América (Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America) ANACH Asociación Nacional de Campesinos de Honduras (National Association of Honduran Campesinos) ANAMIMH Asociación Nacional de Minería Metálica de Honduras (Honduras National Association of Metal Mining) CCR Center for Constitutional Rights (United States) CDH-HAS Colectivo de Derechos Humanos Herbert Anaya Sanabria (Herbert Anaya Sanabria Human Rights Collective) (El Salvador) CDM Centro de Derechos de Mujeres (Centre for Women's Rights) CEDHU Comisión Ecuménica de Derechos Humanos (Ecumenical Human Rights Commission) (Ecuador) CIA Central Intelligence Agency (United States) CIPRODEH Centro de Investigación y Promoción de Derechos Humanos (Center for the Investigation and Promotion of Human Rights) CLADEM Comité de América Latina y el Caribe para la Defensa de los Derechos de la Mujer (Latin American and Caribbean Committee for the Defense of Women’s Rights) CNRP Coordinadora Nacional de Resistencia Popular (National Coordinating Body for Popular Resistance) COBRAs Police officers specialized in riot control and special and tactical operations. CODEH Comité para la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos en Honduras (Committee for the Defense of Human Rights in Honduras) COFADEH Comité de Familiares de los Detenidos y Desaparecidos en Honduras (Committee of the Families of the Detained and Disappeared in Honduras) COHDEFOR Corporación Hondureña de Desarrollo Forestal (Honduran Forestry Development Board) COHEP Consejo Hondureño de la Empresa