Urgent Action - Honduran rights defender threatened, support letters needed

Threat to Oscar Anibal Puerto, Honduran activist and friend of the SJC, is the latest in a series of threats and murder of rights defenders in Honduras.

Oct. 6, 2005 - The Social Justice Committee and COFADEH (Comite de Familiares de Desaparecidos de Honduras) request messages in support of Oscar Anibal Puerto and other human rights defenders in Honduras. Mr. Puerto is the executive director of IHDER (Honduran Institute for Rural Development). His home was broken into in the presence of his wife and handicapped child. COFADEH sees this as the latest act of intimidation against Honduran human rights defenders. Oscar was of great help in making of SJC's The Silent Killer: Debt and Honduras and appeared in the video.

Events
On September 22, at about 11:45 am, an unknown man entered the home of Lic. Oscar Anibal Puerto, under false pretences, telling Mr. Puerto's handicapped son that his father had sent him to varnish the doors because it would soon be Christmas. He managed to convince Mr. Puerto's son to let him in by saying that he was known to a family friend who owns a building firm. When Mrs. Puerto became aware of his presence she asked why he was there but he didn't answer. He then proceeded to walk around the house taking notes. When he got to the bedroom, he locked himself in despite orders from Mrs Puerto to get out immediately. Five minutes later he left the house without any explanation. After his departure, Mrs. Puerto discovered that the main door of the house had a brick propping it open as if in preparation for a quick escape.

COFADEH states that this is only the latest of a series of threats to and attacks upon human rights defenders in Honduras, such as the July 2005 break-in of the home of Juan Barahona, Coordinator of the Bloque Popular, the assassination of union leader Francisco Cruz in September, and the series of break-ins at the Centro de Prevención Contra la Tortura (Centre of Prevention Against Torture), and death threats against the director of the Centre, Juan Almendares Bonilla.

Background

Mr. Puerto campaigned on behalf of respect for human rights during the 1980s as Vice-President of CODEH and Vice-President of the Central American Commission for Human Rights (CODEHUCA). At the time he was the frequent target of death threats and was forced to leave the country. He later returned to Honduras where he eventually became director of IHDER. CODEHUCA cited him for his human rights work in 1997.

Actions requested:

1. Please send a message to Honduran authorities expressing your concern about this event and other attacks on human rights defenders in Honduras. Ask that they: 

• protect the life and security of Lic. Puerto and his family, 
• investigate this break-in and punish those found guilty, 
• guarantee the effective protection of all human rights defenders, and 
• respect the right to defend human rights as was established by the UN Declaration of Human Rights Defenders and the Organization of American States resolutions on Human Rights Defenders.

2. Please forward a copy of your message to Canadian authorities and COFADEH.

Addresses

Her Excellency Ana Carolina Galeano Burgos, Ambassador
Embassy of the Republic of Honduras
151 Slater Street, Suite 805, Ottawa, ON K1P 5H3
Fax: 1 (613) 232 0193
e-mail: embhonca@embassyhonduras.ca 

Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs
Hon. Pierre Pettigrew 
House of Commons, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6
Fax: (613) 995-9926 
Email: Pettigrew.P@parl.gc.ca

COFADEH
Apartado Postal No.1243
Tegucigalpa, Honduras
E-mail: cofadeh@sdnhon.org.hn