Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders Annual Report 2003 - Honduras

Reprisals against environmental activists

Assassination of Mr. Oscar Arturo Reyes¹²⁷

On 18th July 2003, Mr. Oscar Arturo Reyes, involved with the Environmental Social Pastoral (Pastoral Social del Medio Ambiente) run by the Catholic Church in Olancho Department returned to his home around 8 p.m. A few minutes later he entered the yard, where he was shot dead by three men who fired six shots and then fled along the canal. In March 2003, Mr. Reyes had been transferred from Guata to Rosario because he had received serious threats. The murder occurred the day after a press conference on 17th July 2003 by the Committee of Families of Disappeared Detainees in Honduras (COFADEH, Comité de Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos en Honduras) and the Olancho environmental movement. At the press conference, a list of environmental activists to be assassinated, including Mr. Reyes, was circulated. After the conference, requests for measures to protect the people on the list were sent to the Public Prosecutor's Office, the Olancho police, the Ministry of Security, the environment secretary and the special human rights prosecutor. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has also been informed of the situation and requested measures of protection to protect persons in imminent danger.

The situation appeared to be the consequence of the president of Honduras's attitude to the March for Life, which began on 20th June, and of his refusal to listen to the concerns raised by the organisers of the march.¹²⁸

Assassination attempt against Mr. Gilberto Flores¹²⁹

On 14th July 2003, Mr. Gilberto Flores, another figure involved in efforts to preserve the environment and halt deforestation and a participant in the March for Life,¹³⁰ was the target of a murder attempt outside the Pastoral Social office in Juticalpa. Armed men arrived in a vehicle with tinted windows and no registration plates. They apparently withdrew because there was a three-year-old child in the vicinity.

On 20th June 2003, in La Venta, Olancho Department, the Ministry of Security withdrew Mr. Flores's police escort, which had been requested by the Organisation of American States (OAS).

Threats against Father José Andrés Tamayo threatened¹³¹

Father José Andrés Tamayo, a priest in the municipality of Salamá, Olancho Department, involved in efforts to halt deforestation, was threatened at the beginning of the year by a group of people involved in the timber trade, and was ordered to leave the country by the end of May. The mayor of Salamá apparently said on four occasions on 5th and 6th May 2003 that "Olancho's environmental problems would only be resolved by the murder of Father Tamayo". Father José Andrés Tamayo had already been threatened and harassed because of his campaign alongside rural communities from North Olancho against deforestation and logging in the region. In October 2001, a police officer aimed his gun at the priest during an environmental demonstration. Father Tamayo was also threatened by local criminals who received money to eliminate him.

Orlando Nájera threatened¹³²

Mr. Orlando Nájera, a community leader and campaigner against the construction of a hydroelectric dam in Olancho Department, was intimidated by representatives of the police and local authorities. In one incident, police officers fired their guns opposite his house.

Father Osmin Flóres threatened¹³³

On 18th July 2003, in Catacamas, in the department of Olancho, Father Osmin Flóres, a priest in the environment movement who was threatened several times, was watched and harassed by armed men who parked behind the presbytery in the parish of Santo Tomás. Noticing their presence, the priest remained in the presbytery until 1 a.m., when he notified the police. One of the police officers who arrived at the scene said he saw the vehicle and considered it suspect, but since no crime had been committed he could not do anything.

CPTRT office raided¹³⁴

On 12th May 2003, the office of the Centre for the Prevention, Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture Victims and their Relatives (CPTRT, Centro de Prevención, Tratamiento y Rehabilitación de Víctimas de la Tortura y sus Familiares), in the San Rafael district of Tegucigalpa, was burgled. The door was forced and documents and computers containing confidential information were raided. Given that no valuable items were stolen, it was probably not an ordinary burglary but rather at attempt to obtain confidential information and to intimidate the staff of the centre. The act could be linked to the CPTRT's support for Mrs. María Luisa Borjas, head of the Internal Affairs Unit of the National Police. In September 2002, Mrs. Borjas denounced the participation of members of the Security Ministry and the National Police in at least 20 unlawful killings of children and youths in Honduras. After these declarations, María Luisa Borjas was immediately the target of threats and intimidation, her staff were reduced and her correspondence was intercepted. Two months later, she was suspended on the grounds that she had failed to provide proof to support her claims. The CPTRT publicly denounced the burglary of its office after informing the police. On 21 May 2003, a private company hired by the director of the CPTRT, Mr. Juan Almendarez, found that five individuals had broken into the centre.

CODEH members harassed¹³⁵

On 20th December 2003, at 11:15 a.m., three armed men entered the home of Mr. Andrés Pavón, president of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights in Honduras (CODEH, Comité para la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos en Honduras). In the house were his wife, Mrs. Ritzy Xiomara Almendarez, his eight-year-old son and three friends of the family. After entering the house, the unknown persons threatened those present and forced them to lie face down on the floor. Then they forced open the doors of two bedrooms and rummaged through the bookshelf, dumping books all over the floor. They took a barrister's seal belonging to Mrs. Ritzy Xiomera Almendarez, who also coordinates the legal department at the central office of CODEH, personal documents belonging to Mr. Andres Pavon, the house keys and around $ 1,500 in cash, as well as some household appliances.

The break-in lasted around seven minutes. After the incident, the criminal investigation division was called, who sent two investigators who began to take fingerprints. Although a complaint was filed that included information about the perpetrators, the enquiry has not yet made any significant progress and the police have not done everything they could to find the suspects.

In August 2002, Mr. Santos Callejas, treasurer of the Regional Division of CODEH and coordinator of the Children's Defender's Office in Alcadia in Másica Municipality, Atlántida, had been murdered. Mr. Callejas had denounced impunity for organised crime and violations of social and economic rights committed by large landowners. According to the police, the murder was committed by organised crime.

However, at end-December 2003, the suspects had not been apprehended and the police claims about them had not been verified.

[Refworld note: This report as posted on the FIDH website (www.fidh.org) was in pdf format with country chapters run together by region. Footnote numbers have been retained here, so do not necessarily begin at 1.]

127. See Urgent Appeal HDN 002/0703/OBS 035.

128. The "March for Life" (Marcha por la Vida), which took placed from 20th to 26th June 2003, was a walk from Olancho to the capital, Tegucigalpa. The march was organised by religious groups, workers, students and human rights organisations. The participants demanded the suspension of logging in Olancho Department so that a "forestry audit" could be conducted and a plan for sustainable development of forestry resources designed. For more information, see Appeal OMCT HND 230703 ESCR of 22nd July 2003.

129. See Urgent Appeal HDN 002/0703/OBS 035.

130. Idem.

131. See Urgent Appeal HDN 001/0503/OBS 024.

132. Idem.

133. See Urgent Appeal HDN 002/0703/OBS 035.

134. See Urgent Appeal HDN 001/0503/OBS 024.

135. See Annual Report 2002.