Delegación internacional, CNTC denuncian asesinatos, irregularidades en el proceso electoral

THURSDAY, 28 NOVEMBER 2013 14:15 POR SANDRA CUFFE

[Version en español abajo ]
Today, November 28, La Voz de los de Abajo and the CNTC held a joint press conference  at the offices of COFADEH in Tegucigalpa. New testimony about the murders of the was delivered by the Secretary General of the CNTC and by a close personal friend.

Also, La Voz de los de Abajo released a new video of the site of the murder in Cantarranas and other footage related to the murder of “Amparito” Pineda Duarte.

Photo of the President of the Cooperative of “Carbon”,  Department of Fransisco Morazan, affiliated with the National Center of Farmworkers (CNTC) Maria Amparo Pineda Duarte, who was assassinated last night along with Julio Ramon Maradiaga, both CNTC members, while returning a training for LIBRE electoral workers at the election tables MERs.

Audio Interview by Observatory for the Human Rights and Resistance of Women (in spanish)

Spanish: Activistas asesinados en Cantarranas Dos socios de la Cooperativa del Carbon, afiliada con el Central Nacional de Trabajadores del Campo (CNTC), fueron asesinados anoche mientras regresaban de una capacitacion electoral, dado que los dos victimas tenian cargos oficiales electorales para las elecciones de hoy.  Unos hombres encapuchados los emboscaron con armas de alto calibre mientras iban caminando hacia sus casas. Se murieron inmediatamente por los tiroteos. Los hechos ocurrieron entre las 7:30 y las 8:00 PM, en la comunidad de Carbon, Municipio de Cantarranas. Maria Amparo Pineda Duarte era la Presidenta electa de la Cooperativa.  Julio Ramon Maradiaga era socio activo.  Hay una lucha de tierra continua en la zona , y los dos victimas eran socios activos del partido LIBRE. Entrevista by Observatorio de Derechos Humanos y Resistencias de las Mujeres

Video: ARISTEGUI – “Fraude electoral en Honduras”

Release:  Delegation of observers from the Honduras Solidarity Network testify to grave irregularities and does not ratify the official results the Supreme Electoral Tribunal of Honduras

English: http://www.hondurassolidarity.org/report1
Spanish: http://www.hondurassolidarity.org/informe1

Preliminary Report of the Delegation of Honduras Solidarity Network regarding the Honduran Elections of 2013

November 26, 2013
Tegucigalpa, Honduras

This report is a preliminary summary of observations based on the accounts from the US-based Honduras Solidarity Network / Alliance for Global Justice election observation delegation. The HSN/AGJ delegation was comprised of 166 International Accompaniers accredited and trained through the Honduran Supreme Electoral Tribunal. Our election observation delegates were organized into two zones, one in Tegucigalpa and one in the North with a presence in Progreso, Copan, Colon,  Ocotopeque,  Lempira, and Santa Barbara.  This is our initial public statement regarding the work in the northern zone where we observed at least 100 voting tables (MER).

Our goal was to accompany the people of Honduras in their electoral process as they seek social justice in their country. We have been clear that our limited presence – and the presence of election observers in general – cannot guarantee that a fair election would be held. The elections took place within a context where international and Honduran human rights groups have expressed alarm at conditions that could prevent the possibility of fair and free elections. We are concerned by the violence and harassment against the political opposition, human rights defenders, small farmers and indigenous communities.

Continue reading Delegation of observers from the Honduras Solidarity Network testify to grave irregularities and does not ratify the official results the Supreme Electoral Tribunal of Honduras →

Delegacion de observadores del Honduras Solidarity Nework atestiguio  graves iregularidades y no ratifica los resultados oficiales del Tribunal Supremo Electoral de Honduras

Español: http://www.hondurassolidarity.org/informe1
Inglés: http://www.hondurassolidarity.org/report1

Reporte Preliminar de la Delegacion de Honduras Solidarity Network Sobre Las Elecciones
26 de noviembre, 2013
Tegucigalpa, Honduras

Este informe es un resumen preliminar de las observaciones basada en los reportes de la delegación de observación electoral patrocinado por la Red  de Solidaridad con Honduras [Honduras Solidarity Network] / Alianza para la Justicia Global [Alliance for Global Justice] con base en los Estados Unidos.. La delegación HSN / AGJ fue compuesto de 166 acompañantes internacionales acreditados y capacitados a través del Tribunal Supremo Electoral de Honduras. Nuestros delegados de observación electoral se organizaron en dos zonas, uno en Tegucigalpa y otro en el Norte con una presencia en Progreso, Copán, Colón, Ocotepeque, Lempira y Santa Bárbara. Esta es nuestra declaración pública inicial relacionada al trabajo en la zona norte, donde se observó al menos 100 mesas de votación (MER).

Nuestro meta fue el de acompañar al pueblo Hondureño en su proceso electoral en su búsqueda de la justicia social en su país. Nos ha quedado claro que nuestra limitada presencia – y la presencia de observadores electorales en general – no garantiza que una elección justa se celebraría. Las elecciones se llevaron a cabo dentro de un contexto dentro del cual los grupos internacionales y hondureños de derechos humanos han expresado su alarma por las condiciones que podrían impedir la posibilidad de elecciones justas y libres. Estamos preocupados por la violencia y el acoso contra la oposición política, los defensores de derechos humanos, campesinos y comunidades indígenas.

Continuar Continue reading Delegacion de observadores del Honduras Solidarity Nework atestiguo graves iregularidades y no ratifica los resultados oficiales del Tribunal Supremo Electoral de Honduras →

LGBT in Honduras, an interview with LGBT Leader Pepe Palacios post election day

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans people in Honduras face several challenges: one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere, a murder rate that is the highest in the world, brutal opposition by the Catholic and Protestant churches and their allies in the government.

The United States is far from blameless in this situation. In this short film, LGBT Honduran leader Pepe Palacios explains why.

Filmed by Andy Thayer as part of the Honduran Equality Delegation, the first LGBTI-focused solidarity delegation to visit Honduras. Andy is a co-founder of the Gay Liberation Network, a multi-issue LGBTI direct action group

Link: http://www.gayliberation.net
Email: LGBTliberation@aol.com

Video from the Honduran Equality Delegation: Systemic intimidation of the media accompanied vote theft in this year’s Honduran elections, the first contested ones since a U.S.-supported coup.

TelesurTV coverage of police repression of today’s student protests in Tegucigalpa

Honduran Election Results Contested Amid Reports of Fraud, Intimidation

Written by Sandra Cuffe
Tuesday, 26 November 2013 06:33

The tallying and transmission of voting results from the November 24 general elections continue, but so do widespread reports of fraud and intimidation throughout Honduras. Two political parties are not recognizing the results, announcing challenges in the courts and in the streets.

As of 5 p.m. on November 25, ruling National Party presidential candidate Juan Orlando Hernández remains in the lead with 38 percent of votes, according to the results processed by the electoral tribunal from 60 percent of polling stations. Xiomara Castro, the candidate for the upstart Libre party trails with 29 percent. Hernandez and Castro both declared victory on November 24, when less than half of the polling stations’ results had been processed.

The Libre Party emerged this year as a new contender, growing out of the resistance movement to the June 2009 coup that ousted Castro’s husband Manuel Zelaya from the Presidency.

In a press conference on November 25, Libre party leader Manuel Zelaya announced that the party does not recognize the results, claiming that some 20 percent of polling station results that have been processed by the electoral tribunal are inconsistent with the results at the actual voting locations. Anti-Corruption Party presidential candidate Salvador Nasralla, officially in fourth place, has also denounced serious inconsistencies in reported results and vowed to initiate legal challenges.

“If necessary, we’ll take to the streets,” said Zelaya. In San Pedro Sula, the country’s second largest city, Libre and National Front of Popular Resistance activists called for supporters to gather in the central park.

Before issues were raised regarding the transmission of results, the electoral process had been rife with irregularities, intimidation and fraud, according to reports by national and international observers, some of whom were subject to harassment and intimidation.

“The buying and selling of votes and credentials by the National party, even using the Nationalist discount card ‘let’s work now,’ has been observed in many parts of the country,” according to a roundtable of electoral human rights violations analysis, made up of national human rights, women’s, and workers’ organizations. “In addition, there have been irregularities in the electoral registry, where people who are alive are listed as deceased, and voters have been transferred without consultation.”

“Nationalist party activists have been used at the voting centers against some representatives of the Libre party. They have warned the Libre party members of possible attempts on their lives during or after the elections,” the statement added.

Death threats against Libre party members on election day formed part of an ongoing trend. Eighteen Libre candidates and campaigners were murdered between May 2012 and late October 2013 – more than from all other political parties combined.

“There’s just all these attacks all around the country of people that are associated with the Libre party – whether they’re Libre activists, Libre supporters or Libre sympathizers – that aren’t being reported, but that are absolutely directly related to the state repression against the political opposition and the fear and terror campaign that’s occurring,” Honduras Solidarity Network delegations coordinator Karen Spring told Upside Down World.

On the eve of the elections, María Amparo Pineda Duarte and Julio Ramón Maradiaga Araujo were ambushed and killed on their way home from an elections training activity for local scrutineers and party representatives. Pineda Duarte was the president of the El Carbón co-operative affiliated with CNTC, a national farm workers’ union, and Maradiaga Araujo – who initially survived the attack but died later was a member. Both were local Libre party activists in the municipality of Cantarranas, an hour outside of the capital.

News of the fatal attack had just aired on the radio when Nelson Orestes Canales Vásquez spoke with Upside Down World in Tegucigalpa. The rain poured down where he and other local supporters stood under a Libre party tent in the Centroamérica Oeste neighborhood, one of many marginalized neighborhoods with a strong Libre base.

“In Honduras, there was a coup d’état. We marched, we took the streets for almost seven consecutive months – the country in resistance. Then we created the Libre political party. It was born in the popular resistance,” he said.

A local party activist and member of the health workers’ union (Sitramedhys), Canales Vásquez, says he’s not struggling just to change a government figure, but to change the system. He sees an act of intimidation that took place at the local party tent as part of ongoing repression against resistance and Libre activists.

“They don’t want an example to be set in Honduras where the people kick the oligarchy out at the ballot box and where the system changes in favor of the people. That’s what we’re struggling for in Honduras, and that’s the reason for this repression against the people and against the Libre party,” said Canales Vásquez.

Shortly after sunset on November 23, a truck with tinted windows and no license plate pulled up right beside their tent. The windows rolled down so that the three people at the tent could see several masked men, one in military uniform and the others in civilian clothing. Despite the intimidation, Libre party activists in the neighborhood were determined to stay at their tents all night long, said Canales Vásquez.

On the evening of November 22, the military police attempted to enter the neighborhood Libre party headquarters in the Kennedy neighborhood, another Libre stronghold in Tegucigalpa. There were three vehicles with approximately 12 agents of the controversial new military police new in each, said César Silva, a journalist and Libre candidate for National Congress.

“They were all wearing balaclavas,” he said, almost shouting over the celebratory din in the neighborhood headquarters after the military police had left. In less than 30 minutes, more than 100 people had shown up to defend the location and people continued to pour up the stairs and gather to support Libre.

The military police force was promoted by former president of Congress and current Presidential front-runner Hernández, along with promises of increasing police and military presence on the streets. “I will do whatever I need to do,” Hernández pledged during his security-focused campaign, in a country infamous for having the highest per capita murder rate in the world.

As the sun began to set on November 25 in Tegucigalpa, electoral tribunal facilities were heavily militarized. The outcome of the elections remained uncertain, both in terms of official results and organized reactions.

Sandra Cuffe is a freelance journalist currently based in Honduras.

Data from the Official TSE site is showing vast inconsistencies in the data relayed from the vote tally sheets to the final count. If one investigates this link: http://54.243.208.227/app_dev.php/divulgacionmonitoreo/reporte-acta/8575, you’ll find that the votes from this official tally sheet have not been added to the sum total of votes. A rough investigation by HSN/AGJ researchers showed five tally sheets (#8575, #8583, #8587, #15261, #15266). Each of these can be investigated from the site linked above.

http://54.243.208.227/app_dev.php/divulgacionmonitoreo/reporte-acta/8575