Honduras News Labor Update
Events in March 2011
Published by USLEAP
www.usleap.org
Background: On June 28, 2009, democratically-elected President Manuel Zelaya was
overthrown by the Honduran military and removed from the country, precipitating violence,
diplomatic isolation, and the persecution of human rights defenders, indigenous leaders,
journalists, and trade unionists. On January 27, 2010, Porfirio “Pepe” Lobo became President
of the de facto coup government following widely boycotted and denounced fraudulent elections.
Today, as violence continues, the resistance continues. Honduran trade unions have taken a
central role as leaders in the National Popular Resistant Front (FNRP) and have requested
international solidarity. This includes rejecting the coup, giving visibility to the struggles of the
resistance and the Honduran labor movement, and denouncing on-going human rights
violations.
The articles below provide a snapshot of news from Honduras in March 2011.
UNION NEWS
Honduran Unions Denounce the Lobo Administration’s Assault on Labor
The United Federation of Honduran Workers (FUTH) has denounced what it is calling the
targeted extermination of unions, led by the Lobo Administration. The denunciation comes on
the tails of antiunion sentiment in the form of an increased number of threats, attempted murders,
violations of collective bargaining agreements and illegal layoffs.
Juan Barahona, President of FUTH, said that, "We denounce the persecution and criminalization
of the working class by the regime, as well as the harassment, destabilization and criminal
attacks levied against union leaders.” Barahona additionally cites the stigmatization of union
participation and leadership as damaging to the labor movement.
The FUTH has held a number of demonstrations in recent months to denounce the assault on
unionization and is calling on unions around the country to demand an end to the systemic
violence and stigmatization.
Telecommunication Union Takes Over State Facilities
On March 14, the Union of Telecommunication Workers (SITRATEL) took over the principal
state telecom facilities in order to protest a series of layoffs led by General Romeo Vásquez
Velásquez, the military leader of the 2009 coup and now the head of the state-owned telephone
company Hondutel. Workers in the technical sector comprised most of the 50 dismissed workers.
Another STIBYS Trade Union Member Attacked
On March 1, STIBYS union member Eduardo Argueta Santos was shot in the face by two
unidentified men in a taxi-like vehicle on his way to work at a brewery. STIBYS has recently
denounced what it is calling a targeted, systemic campaign of violence directed at its members
and other labor leaders in Honduras.
In addition, on March 30 a leader in the Union of Industrial Beverage Workers (STIBYS) was
injured as a result of tear gas poisoning in Tegucigalpa, and the next morning unidentified men
threw rocks at vehicles parked outside the STIBYS building. Yolanda López, Secretary of
STIBYS central, said that she felt as though she was “being suffocated by tear gas and that [her]
life was in danger.”
STIBYS has also denounced CABCorp (PepsiCo) for continuing to hinder the signing of a
collective bargaining agreement. PepsiCo has delayed negotiations for over three months and
refuses to make positions in the machine shop, vendors, etc. permanent, therefore preventing a
number of workers from joining a collective bargaining agreement and achieving job security.
Negotiations Fail Over Minimum Wage Increases
Following almost two months of negotiations, the Honduran labor movement and the business
sector failed to agree on a minimum wage percent increase for 2011. The labor movement,
represented by the three centrals (CUTH, CGT, and CTH), asked for a 15% raise to respond to
the increase in the cost of living, while the business sector asked for a 3.6% increase. Labor
Deputy Minister Carlos Montes said that the raise could not be less than the rate of inflation,
which has reached 7%.
Ultimately, negotiations faltered because the government and business sector refused to accept
labor’s position that the minimum wage law include workers in the maquiladora sector. The lack
of consensus means that President Porfirio Lobo Sosa is required to set a new minimum wage by
April 30. In 2010 President Lobo did not do so until October when he announced weak increases
that many perceived to be an insult to the working class.
VIOLENCE and REPRESSION
Honduran Teacher Strikes: Systemic Oppression Continues Unabated
A wave of violence and oppression began on March 17 when thousands of protestors took to the
streets in support of public education and in opposition to the rising costs of fuel and food. Led
by the teachers’ unions, which have come out strongly in opposition to the General Education
Law that many believe has laid the foundation for the privatization of education in Honduras,
police and military began to violently repress protesters and passer-bys with tear gas, illegal
detentions, and the occupation of buildings and universities.
The Honduras Solidarity Network, a national network of human rights groups, called for a
National Day of Action on Wednesday, March 30, the same day Honduran labor leaders called a
National Civic Strike.
Two Trade Unionists Killed in Protests; Violence Continues
On March 18, police and military personnel evicted teachers from the National Teacher's Pension
Institute (INPREMA), which they had been occupying for two weeks as a part of their demand
that the government pay back the more than $80 million it owes to the pension fund. Police also
surrounded and threw tear gas inside the building of the Association of Secondary School
Teachers in Honduras (COPEMH), where 27 teachers and parents were eating and recuperating,
and raided the National Autonomous University of Honduras. One teacher, Ilse Ivania Velázquez
Rodriguez, was killed on March 18 when she was deliberately hit by a tear gas canister at close-
range and then struck by a person driving a vehicle who was also affected by tear gas.
On March 25, police detained 18 teachers and 7 youth. While the underage youth were released,
the teachers are undergoing trial on charges of illicit protesting and sedition.
On Saturday, March 26, Jaime Donaire, a member of the Union of Workers in the National
registry (SITRARENAPE) and coordinator of the National Front of Popular Resistance (FNRP)
in the province of Comayagua, was assassinated. On March 28, the renowned Afro-
Honduran Garifuna leader Miriam Miranda was arrested and prevented from receiving medical
attention for more than four hours for the burns she received from tear gas canisters that were
reportedly fired directly at her stomach during her arrest, causing significant damage. She was
also reportedly dragged to the ground, beaten, and subjected to racially-charged insults by police.
Alternative Truth Commission Targeted
On March 31, workers in the recently-opened Alternative Truth Commission office in
Tegucigalpa reported that unidentified people threw rocks in the window of its second floor
public Office Attention to Victims of Human Rights Violations, located the Honduran Secondary
School Teacher’s Association building (COPEMH). The Tegucigalpa office opened on March 8,
International Women’s Day.
The Alternative Honduran Truth Commission, which was established in reaction to criticism that
the official Truth Commission was too limited in its investigation of events leading up to and
following the June 28 coup, has collected more than 2,000 testimonies from individuals affected
by the coup and hopes to release its findings in late 2011.
President Lobo Threatens Teachers
The most recent attacks come on the tail of President Porfirio Lobo’s March 27 threat that
schools will suspend teachers without pay if they do not return to their classrooms by April 4.
Lobo also said that he has the power to dissolve the teachers’ unions for supporting the strike.
The unions immediately rejected the threats, vowing to stay in the streets as more workers and
resistance members join the cause.
Police Shoot Live Ammunition at Peaceful Protesters
On March 30, Honduran police shot demonstrators with live ammunition during the National
Civic Strike called by National Popular Resistance Front (FNRP) leaders. Protestors in the
Department of Colón faced the most brutal repression; 1 person was killed and 12 were injured
by live fire, and at least 9 people were arrested. The police and military fired at protesters around
12:30 pm as they were leaving a roadblock that had been operating since 7:00 am. Reports
indicate that street vendors and families living nearby were also affected by tear gas poisoning.
Honduran Human Rights Group Releases 2010 Statistics on Violence
The Committee of Relatives of the Detained and Disappeared (COFADEH) recently released a
report showing that between January 2010 and January 2011, there were 34 political
assassinations, 431 illegal detentions, 26 cases of torture, 36 cases of political exile, 6 forced
disappearances, and 10 journalists killed, among other crimes. The most murders took place in
the months between the election of Porfirio Lobo and his rise to power.
Femicide, LGBT Hate Crimes on the Rise
The National Campaign Against Femicide has condemned the rise in femicide and called on the
state to take prompt action. During the first two months of 2011, an average of one Honduran
woman was killed each day, more than 60 so far in 2011, in increasingly violent ways: torture,
rape, mutilation, etc. The Campaign also has spoken out against impunity, reporting that of the
2,000 cases of femicide reported in the last 8 years, 97% remain in impunity.
The number of murders committed against LGBT individuals has also increased in number and
severity. Between the June 28, 2009 coup and early March 2011, 37 people were killed for their
sexual orientation compared to the 10 deaths reported from 2000 to 2009.
Former National Human Rights Commissioner Denounces Military Harassment
Former National Human Rights Commissioner Leo Valladares Lanza reported being harassed
and threatened with death by the Honduran Military. The threats began two weeks ago when he
denounced the escalation of militarism in Honduras on a local TV show. Valladares noted that
men in taxis and motorbikes generally perpetrate the harassment, but that he also receives
frequent phone calls at home invoking the death of his son Rodrigo, who was murdered in
January 2009. The former Commissioner is appealing to the Honduran government to protect
human rights defenders.
POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS
Honduras Closes Embassies That Do Not Recognize Lobo Administration
The Lobo Administration announced that it would close its embassies in Argentina, Brazil,
Bolivia, Ecuador and Venezuela, countries that do not recognize the Lobo Administration, and
open trade offices in India, China, Singapore, and Canada. Embassies will remain open in
Colombia, Peru, and Chile.
International Development Bank Grants Honduras Record Amount; U.S. Continues to Aid
Post-Coup Government
The International Development Bank announced on March 3 that it would provide the Lobo
Administration with a $600 million aid package, a record amount from the IDB to Honduras. In
2010 the Bank granted Honduras $350 million, but it dispersed another $170 million in order to
help the Administration through “difficult times” following the 2009 coup. Among the ideas for
the uses of the funds include the controversial “Charter Cities” that would reportedly create a
“perfect” economic and social center to stimulate growth nation-wide. Charter Cities are run by a
majority vote of its citizens, not state, provincial, or national laws. President Lobo recently went
on a delegation to South Korea, Singapore, and Kuwait to observe functioning Charter Cities.
Meanwhile, the 2012 U.S. budget request for foreign military aid to Honduras includes $1
million in financing and $700,000 in military education and training, amounting to $1.7 million
overall. Combined with aid from other anti-drug and police assistance programs, the group Just
the Facts projects that Honduras will receive some $6.3 million from the U.S. government to
support its military and police.
For more information on the human rights situation in Honduras, check out:
The recently-released report by Human Rights Watch on life in post-coup Honduras:
http://www.hrw.org/en/node/94957/section/2.
The findings of an international commission comprised of six networks and international
organizations on the human rights situation in the Bajo Aguán, conducted between February 23
and March 4, 2011: http://www.fian.org/news/press-releases/honduras-international-mission-
warns-about-human-rights-crisis-in-bajo-aguan.
The website for the Committee of Relatives of the Detained and Disappeared of Honduras
(COFADEH, Spanish), http://www.cofadeh.org/, and the Alternative Truth Commission
(Spanish), http://www.comisiondeverdadhonduras.org/.
For more information, please contact the US Labor Education in the
Americas Project (USLEAP), www.usleap.org, (773) 262-6502, rvanhorn@usleap.org