United States policies encourage and support corruption and rightwing death squads in Central America. Our hypocritical "War on Drugs" funds the death squads, who profit from drug traffic, and encourage corruption, rape, torture, and murder.
Honduran Journalist Dina Meza threatened with Sexual Violence! Many journalists have been threatened or killed.Dina Meza, a Honduran journalist and human rights activist, has received a series of threats of sexual violence against her in recent weeks. Her safety is at risk. Additional Information Dina Meza is a well-known journalist and human rights defender. As part of COFADEH she has worked on the land conflict in the Lower Aguán region of Honduras. The Lower Aguán region is at the centre of a series of land disputes between peasant farming communities and various companies and private landowners that have erupted into violent clashes. In March Dina participated in a session of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in Washington DC, regarding the human rights situation and legal framework in Honduras. Comando Álvarez Martinez (CAM) is a pseudonym which has been used in threats to human rights activists and journalists in the aftermath of the 2009 coup d’etat. Álvarez Martinez was a General in the Honduran armed forces between 1982 and 1984 at the time of grave human rights abuses, and has been linked by local human rights groups to paramilitary death squads in that period. In 2007, Dina Meza received Amnesty International UK’s "Special Award for Human Rights Journalism Under Threat" for her journalism for the website Revistazo, which she carried out in spite of harassment and intimidation after investigating several private security firms for labour rights violations. In 2006, Dina Meza and colleagues at online publication Revistazo.com and its publisher the Association for a More Just Society (ASJ), were subjected to a campaign of harassment and intimidation after investigating several private security firms for labour rights violations. ASJ lawyer Dionisio Díaz García, was shot dead in December 2006 while on his way to the Honduran Supreme Court to prepare for a related case taken up by the organization. The investigation and trials on Dionisio Díaz García’s case were carried out from 2007 to 2009 and resulted in the sentencing of a former security guard, who had worked for SETECH, and a police officer for his killing. In the months leading up to his murder, Dionisio Díaz García and Dina Meza were followed by unmarked cars. Dina Meza’s children were followed home from school and personal, derogatory comments were posted about her on the Revistazo.com online message board. Amnesty International issued an urgent action on behalf of the ASJ, including Dina Meza who was at the time one of its members, in 2006 – Honduras: Fear for Safety/ Death Threats (AI Index AMR 37/007/2006). Several other Urgent Actions followed in 2007 on behalf of ASJ. Dina Meza’s case was also featured in the report “Persecution and resistance: the experience of human rights defenders in Guatemala and Honduras” (AI Index AMR 02/001/2007). Human rights defenders and journalists in Honduras are at risk: they are threatened, attacked or killed because of their work, often exposing human rights violations. In January 2012, journalist Gilda Silvestrucci received telephone death threats. (UA 78/12 AMR 37/004/2012). In February, Wilfredo Paz and Juan Chinchilla, two human rights activists campaigning for land rights of peasant farmers amid ongoing disputes over land ownership in the Lower Aguan region, received a death threat by text message. (UA 66/12 AMR 37/003/2012). In March, journalist Mavis Ethel Cruz received a telephone death threat. (UA 28/12 AMR 37/002/2012). Please write immediately in Spanish or your own language:
PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 30 MAY 2012. Attorney General, Sr. Luis Alberto Rubí, Fiscal General de la República, Lomas del Guijarro, Avenida República Dominicana, Edificio Lomas Plaza II, Tegucigalpa, Honduras Fax: +504 2221 5667 Salutation: Sr. Fiscal General/ Dear Attorney General Minister of Interior, Sr. Pompeyo Bonilla, Secretaría de Estado en el Despacho de Seguridad, Plantel Casamata, subida al Picacho, Tegucigalpa, M.D.C, Honduras Fax: +504 2220 1756 Salutation: Dear Minister / Estimado Sr.Ministro COPIES TO Comité de Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos en Honduras (COFADEH), Barrio La Plazuela, Avenida Cervantes, Casa No. 1301, Tegucigalpa, Honduras Fax: +504 2220 5280 (Ask “me da tono de fax, por favor”) Ambassade de la République du Honduras, Rue Crevaux 8, F - 75116 Paris. Fax: 00331 47 55 86 48 E-mail: [email protected] Like the work AFGJ is doing? Please support us now. |
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