VZCZCXYZ0016
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHTG #0529/01 1832039
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 022039Z JUL 09
FM AMEMBASSY TEGUCIGALPA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0011
INFO RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE

C O N F I D E N T I A L TEGUCIGALPA 000529 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/30/2019 
TAGS: PHUM ECPS PGOV SOCI DS HO
SUBJECT: HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION POST COUP 
 
REF: TEGUCIGALPA 517 AND OTHERS 
 
Classified By: Classified By: Ambassador Hugo Llorens for reasons 1.4 ( 
b & d). 
 
¶1. (C) Summary: The media war over the legitimacy of the 
Honduran coup has taken front stage with various competing 
interests protesting either in support of the new regime or 
for the return of ousted President Manuel "Mel" Zelaya.  Both 
groups claim to be defending the constitution and the rule of 
law from precarious moral high ground given one supports the 
end-result of a coup and the other had been supporting 
Zelaya,s controversial plan to change the constitution for 
political ends.  While many of the allegations of human 
rights abuses being committed by the military are not 
corroborated and likely false, there are confirmed reports of 
the military hindering press freedom and immobilizing 
potential protesters by limiting their transportation.  The 
Congress has adopted measures to silence opposition by 
limiting freedom of assembly, and permitting security forces 
to arrest, detain individuals and enter private residences 
without a warrant.  We plan to speak out on the increasing 
levels repression, which although not yet at alarming levels 
are serious cause for concern and are counterproductive.  End 
Summary. 
 
PROTESTS CONTINUE 
----------------- 
 
¶2. (C) While rumors swirl on the internet and in 
international media of politically motivated arrests, orders 
to capture labor leaders, military and police brutality, 
competing protests in Honduras remain fairly modest and 
peaceful.  Reports indicated that approximately 3,000 people 
filled downtown Tegucigalpa,s Central Park the afternoon of 
June 30 to listen to coup-leader General Romeo Vasquez 
Velasquez and newly-anointed President Roberto Micheletti 
speak on defending the Constitution and the rule of law. 
Recognizing the need to justify their unlawful removal of 
Zelaya, both leaders called for a grand dialogue and felt the 
need to justify their actions on June 28 in the name of 
protecting the Constitution. 
 
¶3. (C) Conversely, on June 30 some anti-regime protesters, 
possibly numbering 3,000 people, were prevented from reaching 
the Presidential Palace, as they did June 29, and instead 
burned tires approximately one mile away on a major 
thoroughfare.  Similar anti-regime protests in San Pedro Sula 
were held by labor unionists and campesino groups and were 
said to fill the central square numbering from 1,000-5,000 
people, with reports of minimal violence and no arrests. 
Police reported the group clashed briefly with an equal-sized 
pro-coup crowd, but were quickly separated by authorities 
before the situation could get out of control.  Smaller 
anti-regime protests were held in Santa Barbara and La Ceiba 
without provocation.  One report from the district of Copan 
stated that all was calm with only small protests there, 
relaying that most people were happy with the ouster of 
Zelaya albeit with much trepidation for what may come next. 
 
¶4. (C) Similar protests have occurred throughout the country 
on July 1 including 6,000 pro-Zelaya supporters marching to 
the offices of the Organization of American States (OAS) and 
on to the National Congress.  Meanwhile, thousands marched in 
the southern Honduran town of Choluteca to support the 
constitution and the new regime.  Similar, but smaller, 
pro-regime marches were held in Copan and Comayagua and one 
is scheduled for San Pedro Sula on Thursday. 
 
MEDIA INTIMIDATION 
------------------ 
 
¶5. (C) Various media outlets that either previously supported 
Zelaya or have attempted to cover the pro-Zelaya protests 
claim they have had their human rights violated by the 
military.  In particular, Radio Globo,s radio broadcasts and 
internet site have been shut down after refusing to stop 
covering the pro-Zelaya protests.  The owners and reporters 
of Radio Globo reported to Embassy officials they were 
assaulted by approximately 40 soldiers on June 28 and told to 
not broadcast any news on the anti-regime protests or 
criticize newly anointed president Micheletti.  Claiming they 
feared for their lives, the stations have wavered between 
reporting their view and only playing music on what was a 
news station, and several have asked Poloff for safety in the 
event that they feel their lives are threatened. 
 
¶6. (C) Television stations previously aligned with the Zelaya 
government have also been forced to cease to transmit 
programming.  Efdras Lopez, who owns Channel 36, which had 
been a pro-Zelaya media source, said that 22 soldiers showed 
up to take over the station which has since ceased to 
broadcast.  In contrast, the Commissioner of Human Rights Dr. 
Ramon Custodio stated that there was no censorship being 
committed and that only the stations that were "feeding hate" 
had been closed.  Seven international journalists, from the 
Associated Press and the Venezuelan-based Telesur television 
network, which is off the air in Honduras, were briefly 
detained on June 30 when 10 soldiers took them at gun-point 
into custody and delivered them to an immigration office 
where they were asked to show their visas.  Once they 
explained they were journalists they were let free. 
 
¶7. (C) Anti-Zelaya media figures who support the new regime 
have also been the subject of death threats by text messages 
and ten prominent media figures have been identified in 
documents floating on the internet as anti-Zelaya media 
magnates partly responsible for the coup.  Carlos Mauricio 
Flores, the editor of the El Heraldo newspaper, received a 
message from a Venezuelan woman Carolina Gomez from the 
Conexion news internet site that stated, "this Thursday I 
promise you, four of your colleagues from El Heraldo will be 
killed, I am proudly from Venezuela and get ready you 
Indians!" 
 
ALLEGED HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS 
------------------------------- 
 
¶8. (C) Attempts to document human rights violations are 
difficult given the tense and fluid political situation. 
According to Reina Rivera of the Center for the Investigation 
and Promotion of Human Rights (CIPRODEH), through noon local 
on June 30, they had documented the arrest of 126 people 
(including 16 minors), who were being held at three police 
posts in Tegucigalpa.  However, as of COB June 30, the 
Commissioner for the National Director of Criminal 
Investigations said there had been no arrests of protesters. 
Rivera also reported that a caravan of three buses loaded 
with indigenous groups from La Esperanza was commandeered by 
the military.  The claim is consistent with information we 
have received from other sources.  However, the police state 
that they are only conducting routine surveillance operations 
on the buses because of the widespread belief that large 
numbers of foreigners have entered the country to cause 
insurrection.  Rumors of the military forcefully conscripting 
youth in the departments of Colon and Olancho were denied 
categorically by military authorities on the evening of June 
¶30.  Five members of the Environmental Movement of Olancho 
(MOA) are said to be arrested for leading a protest on June 
30, the Center for Justice and International Law has asked 
the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to investigate 
and post is working to corroborate these allegations. 
 
¶9. (C) Labor leaders continue to relay reports that warrants 
for their arrests, along with members of the Zelaya 
administration, have been made; a charge denied by the 
Attorney General on June 29.  A nationwide strike was called 
for June 30 by Daniel Duron; Secretary General of the General 
Workers Federation (CGT), but it gathered few crowds and was 
not disruptive.  (Comment: As the President of the 
Venezuela-based Latin American Labor Confederation, Duron is 
a close confidant and allegedly the beneficiary of large 
quantities of funds from Hugo Chavez.  End Comment) 
 
¶10. (C) Former Zelaya administration officials have begun to 
feel the heat from previous corruption charges which had not 
been acted upon while Zelaya was in office.  Most notably, 
the Attorney General has announced that he will begin 
arresting those officials implicated in the Latinode Hondutel 
Communications bribery scandal.  The mayor of San Pedro Sula, 
Rudolfo Sunseri who is a U.S. citizen, has been removed from 
his position based on corruption charges filed against him in 
¶2008. Sunseri fled the country and is currently in Guatemala. 
 
 
SUSPENSION OF INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS 
------------------------------- 
 
¶11. (C) On July 1, Congress suspended Articles 69, 71, 72, 
78, 81, 84, 93 and 99 of the Constitution during the hours of 
the curfew (10 PM to 5 AM) thereby suspending the right of 
freedom to associate, freedom of expression and the right to 
meet, and allowing for detention beyond the statutory limits 
of 24 hours, as well as authorizing the police to arrest 
suspects and enter homes without a warrant.  The move is 
designed to silence and prohibit many of the anti-regime 
protests around the country.  Speculation indicated that it 
was a move by the Congress to formalize a curfew which has 
been in effect since the coup, and the Attorney General 
affirmed this position to Emboffs July 1.  However, Rudolfo 
Zelaya, a National Party Congressman, stated that they were 
in fact considering the action as a means to protect Honduran 
institutions from what they consider a growing threat of 
Nicaraguan, Cuban and Venezuelan interests in the country. 
 
¶12. (C) Comment:  Post will continue to monitor the situation 
and follow up on any reports of human rights violations.  The 
timing on most of the arrests and corruption charges would 
lead some to believe that they are politically motivated even 
though nearly all of these cases had been held up by Zelaya 
in return for patronage.  End Comment. 
LLORENS