VZCZCXRO0416
OO RUEHAO RUEHCD RUEHGA RUEHGD RUEHGR RUEHHA RUEHHO RUEHMC RUEHMT
RUEHNG RUEHNL RUEHQU RUEHRD RUEHRG RUEHRS RUEHTM RUEHVC
DE RUEHTG #1204/01 3292003
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 252003Z NOV 09 ZDK
FM AMEMBASSY TEGUCIGALPA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 1170
INFO RUEHWH/WESTERN HEMISPHERIC AFFAIRS DIPL POSTS IMMEDIATE
RHMFISS/CDR JTF-BRAVO  IMMEDIATE
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RHMFISS/COMSOCSOUTH  IMMEDIATE
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RUEIDN/DNI WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUMIAAA/USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL IMMEDIATE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TEGUCIGALPA 001204 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PINR KDEM HO PHUM
SUBJECT: TFHO1: THIRD ANNUAL HUMAN RIGHTS CONFERENCE 
 
REF: A. TEGUCIGALPA 1120 
     ¶B. TEGUCIGALPA 1121 
 
¶1. (U) SUMMARY.  The third annual Honduran National Human 
Rights Conference was held in Tegucigalpa on November 18 and 
19 with a theme of "Strengthening our Culture in Human Rights 
Towards Peace and Democracy."  In the opening session, 
university professor Ramon Romero and political consultant 
Efrain Diaz argued that weak institutions in Honduras could 
not handle the political crisis before June 28, but that 
elections should be part of the solution to the crisis.  In a 
later panel on the role of human rights organizations, 
various conflicting, polarized, and some anti-U.S. views were 
shared.  The Special Prosecutor for Human Rights defended her 
office's response to the crisis in the face of criticism from 
the human rights community.  During a final panel on press 
freedom, a group of academic experts argued that the role of 
the media since June 28 has been activist and not objective. 
END SUMMARY. 
 
Democracy According to Academics 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) The inaugural session of the conference on November 18 
was entitled, "The Democratic Culture in Honduras" and was 
presided over by National Autonomous University Professor 
Ramon Romero and political consultant Efrain Diaz 
Arrivillaga.  Romero argued that his research had shown a 
slow deterioration in public confidence of government 
institutions based on the latest data from 2008 and that the 
organizations with the highest public confidence in Honduras 
were the press and the Catholic Church, which are those 
organizations that influence thinking and shape public 
opinions.  Professor Romero said that the events of June 28 
demonstrated that Honduran institutions were not strong 
enough to withstand the political crisis that took place 
between the branches of government.  The other presenter, 
Efrain Diaz, was much more theoretical in his presentation 
and stated that Honduras needs a hopeful vision for the 
future, similar to the recovery efforts Honduras experienced 
after Hurricane Mitch, which devastated Honduras in 1998.  He 
described the crisis as the culmination of the long held 
conflict between "those that want change and those that do 
not want change." 
 
¶3. (U) During the question and answer period, both Romero and 
Diaz said that elections have to be considered as part of the 
solution to the crisis along with the restoration of the 
constitutional order and the restitution of President Zelaya. 
 They asserted that the presence of military at the polls 
should not be allowed to rob citizens of the right to vote. 
They encouraged participation in the elections because voter 
turnout can provide legitimacy and in turn a solution to the 
crisis.  They noted that Hondurans are the ones that render 
the election legitimate, not the OAS or anyone else.  Diaz 
closed the presentation by suggesting that the resistance 
movement should continue as a social movement and possibly 
even formulate a more formal political character.  He 
encouraged young people, in particular, to take on leadership 
roles in this movement. 
 
The Role of Human Rights Promoters 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶4. (U) Poloff attended on November 19 a panel discussion 
entitled, "Institutional Crisis and the Role of Human Rights 
Promoters," which included The Special Prosecutor for Human 
Rights Sandra Ponce and the major human rights groups in 
Honduras and was moderated by Reina Rivera, the executive 
director of the Center for the Investigation and Promotion of 
Human Rights (CIPRODEH).  The executive director of the 
Committee for the Family of the Detained and Disappeared in 
Honduras (COFADEH), Berta Oliva, proved to be the most vocal 
critic of Ponce's response to the crisis. 
 
¶5. (U) During the conference panel, Oliva was outspoken and 
passionate about the inability for free and fair elections 
under the current political situation.  She said that she 
thought the conference was a waste of time and that all her 
other colleagues want to do was "talk," instead of acting in 
the protection of human rights.  With the exception of 
Special Prosecutor Ponce, all of the panelists made the 
argument that the de facto regime had a formal policy of 
violating human rights. 
 
 
TEGUCIGALP 00001204  002 OF 002 
 
 
¶6. (U) In response to the criticism of the panel, Ponce 
defended her office's work in the period following the coup 
d'etat by saying that the bar is high for the type of 
evidence they must submit to a judge showing abuses and that 
due diligence in this regard takes time.  Special Prosecutor 
for Human Rights Johny Cezar Mejia, who works in Honduras, 
second largest city, San Pedro Sula, affirmed that 
prosecutors had not been ordered to ignore human rights 
violations.  In an effort to show results, Mejia pointed out 
that contrary to popular belief, the Public Ministry has 
completed investigations that have led to serious charges 
against high level officials (reftel A & B). 
 
Blaming the US 
-------------- 
 
¶7. (U) Dr. Eliomara Lavaire, a staff member of the Center for 
the Treatment of Victims of Torture and their Families 
(CPTRT), was critical of the US.  During her public 
presentation, she said that Honduran security forces had been 
"trained in torture" at the Western Hemisphere Institute for 
Security Cooperation (WHINSEC) and that this implicitly 
"involved the armed forces of the United States" in the 
repression.  (Note: This opinion was markedly different from 
that of the organization's director, Dr. Juan Alemendares, 
who told Poloff in October that he appreciated US leadership 
on the human rights issue since the coup.  End Note (ref A).) 
 During her presentation, Lavaire  alleged that, since the 
coup, there have been 4,000 thousand  arbitrary detentions, 
475 cases of torture and "thousands and thousands of other 
human rights violations." 
 
Freedom of the Press 
-------------------- 
 
¶8. (U) The conference concluded with a panel entitled, "The 
Role of Media Outlets in the Management of Information in a 
State of Crisis and Instability."  The panel included 
professors Daniel Matamoros, Sergio Bahr, Vilma Gloria 
Rosales, and the former director of the Honduran IRS (DEI), 
Armando Sarmiento (who is completing a PhD in journalism in 
Argentina).  The panel was in agreement that most of the 
press in Honduras since June 28 has not been objective, 
instead acting as activists for the de facto regime. 
Saramiento presented data developed from press coverage of 
President Zelaya's proposal to hold a constituent assembly, 
in order to argue that the press coverage in Honduras leading 
up to June 28 was also biased.  Vilma Gloria Rosales, who 
also sits on the board of directors of the press freedom NGO, 
Committee for a Free Press, argued the most convincing 
evidence of the media,s anti-Zelaya bias was its June 28 
treatment of the coup as a normal event. 
LLORENS