U.S. Honduras policy under fire
By Abigail Downs, thehill.com, June 3, 2014
One hundred and eight members of Congress submitted a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry last Wednesday urging the administration to take action on the ongoing human rights crisis in Honduras. The House letter is worth a full read and highlights a handful of the shocking violations that have become characteristic of Honduras’s ruling government and security forces since the 2009 military coup.
Embedded in the crime statistics that make Honduras the murder capital of the world is a pattern of widespread and systematic violence that is both politically and economically motivated and is critical to understanding how Honduran state and paramilitary forces are targeting certain sectors of society.
Did the DEA play a role in the Honduran drug-war massacre?
By U.S. state representative Rep Hank Johnson, aljazeera.com, May 11, 2014
When pressed by journalists, U.S. officials said a preliminary Honduran investigation showed that security forces “were justified in firing in self-defense,” though no evidence supporting this assertion was ever made public. This deadly incident — described as a “massacre” by the peaceful Afro-indigenous population of Ahuas — has deeply troubled me and colleagues in Congress. Could U.S. agents engaged in the “war on drugs” abroad operate without any sort of accountability? When reports emerged that the Honduran investigation of the killings was stalled and badly flawed, I and 57 of my House colleagues sent a letter to the secretaries of state and justice requesting a U.S. investigation of the killings.
Military police in Honduras force politicians including former president out of Parliament using TEAR GAS amid protest
By Daily Mail Reporter, May 14, 2014
Military police in Honduras yesterday evacuated the sitting Parliament, forcing members including the country's former president out of the building using tear gas. Manuel Zelaya was pictured holding a handkerchief over his mouth, closing his eyes and clutching a group of aides for support as he stumbled out of the Parliament in Tegucigalpa. The evacuation by the police came after a group of Zelaya's supporters tried to force their entry into the building.
continue to full story, including several pictures of the event
Venezuela’s right-wing violence is ignored, say pro-government groups
By Roberto Lovato, aljazeera.com June 3, 2014
“The paramilitary violence follows the logic of textbook destabilization programs, like what we saw in Chile, Nicaragua and during the (anti-Chávez) coup of 2002,” said Ramón Rodriguez Chacín, governor of Guarico state and a former minister of the interior and justice. “We’ve seen this kind of coup attempt before, only now it’s more mediatizado [spun by the media] and more difficult to get to the bottom of the violence and killing.”
Venezuelan Government Exposes Plot to Assassinate President Maduro, Opposition Rejects Charges
By Z.C Dutka, venezuelanalysis.com, May 31, 2014
Machado was already facing charges for incitement and crimes against the homeland earlier this year, and was linked to the failed 2002 coup d’état against Hugo Chavez. Since February, Machado has called for Maduro’s immediate ouster in public rallies, and repeatedly encouraged the “street action” that led to violent street blockades in many Venezuelan cities. The violent unrest resulted in the deaths of 42 people. The victims include pro and anti government demonstrators, nonpartisan citizens, and numerous security personnel, while the destruction of universities, transit and other public property also occurred.