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Comité
Ejecutivo
Latinoamericano:
Presidente
Argentino Geneiro
UTHGRA
Argentina
Vicepresidenta
Neuza Barbosa
CNTA
Brasil
Carolina Llanos
UATRE
Argentina
Héctor Ponce
ATILRA
Argentina
Silvia Villaverde
FAOPCHPYA
Argentina
Alberto Broch
CONTAG
Brasil
Siderlei de Oliveira
CONTAC
Brasil
Luis A. Pedraza
UNAC
Colombia
Guillermo Rivera
SINTRAINAGRO
Colombia
Edwin Ranchos
FESTRAS
Guatemala
Gerardo Iglesias
Secretario Regional |
Montevideo, July 17, 2009
Mr. Roberto Micheletti,
We are writing you on behalf of our 375
affiliated organizations from 120 countries to
express our repudiation of and alarm over the
recent incidents occurred in Honduras, in
particular, the killing of journalist Gabriel
Fino Noriega, who was gunned down on Friday,
July 3, as he left his place of work, the death
of young activist Isis Obed Murillo,
fatally wounded at a rally near the airport on
Sunday, July 5, and the murder of Roger Bados,
resistance leader and former unionist, slain on
Saturday, July 11, in San Pedro Sula.
Our International Organization is investigating
the death of Bados, who was reportedly
killed by a group of masked gunmen, employing
the same methods used by the infamous “death
squads” that terrorized Honduras in the
1970s and 1980s.
Moreover, we categorically reject the various
forms of silencing and gagging imposed by the de
facto government on any media that refuses to
support the coup.
In the past few days, foreign journalists have
been “visited” by security forces in their
hotels. Correspondents of Telesur,
Reuters, VTV of Venezuela, and
other foreign media were arrested and held in
police stations for several hours. According to
our sources in Honduras, last weekend the press
teams of Telesur and VTV were
again forced out of their hotels and intimidated
into leaving Honduras at once.
For these reasons, and as we are certain that
the Honduran people will continue mobilizing
against the coup, staging peaceful
demonstrations in streets and highways
throughout the country, we greatly fear that the
government is preparing to intensify its actions
against the opposition and wants no witnesses
present to report on its escalating repression.
This has been the traditional modus operandi
of the fascist dictatorships that have ruled
Latin America in the past -apparently an
inspiration for the dictatorship you inaugurated
by ousting President José Manuel Zelaya-,
which consists of fabricating incidents and
perpetrating attacks on themselves to justify
their use of indiscriminate violence and State
terrorism.
The media’s presence and ability to work without
restrictions does not only entail the free
exercise of the right to inform and be informed.
Under the present circumstances it represents a
guarantee of the collective and individual
safety of the people of Honduras.
We inform you that we are preparing to call on
institutions and personalities around the world
to intervene and actively support, with words
and through actions, the efforts to keep
international press media in Honduras and
to guarantee the personal safety of the
journalists that are reporting on the situation.
There can be no dialogue, nor mediation of any
kind, while the people are held hostage and
threatened at gunpoint, while international
press media are harassed and thrown out of the
country.
Only those illegitimately in power fear the
truth.
FREEDOM FOR HONDURAS !
Gerardo Iglesias
IUF Latin American Regional Secretary
CC.
Organization of American States (OAS) |
Amnesty International │ Human Right │
Federation of Latin American and Caribbean
Journalists (FEPALC) │ International
Federation of Journalists (IFJ) │
International Labor Organization (ILO) │
Força Sindical Brazil │ United
Workers’ Federation (CUT - Brazil) │
Central Workers’ Federation of Uruguay (PIT-CNT)
│ Uruguayan Press Association (APU)
│ United Workers’ Federation (CUT - Colombia)
│ General Workers’ Federation of Peru (CGTP)
│ General Workers’ Federation of Panama (CTRP)
│ Trade Union Confederation of the Americas (CSA)
│ International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC)
│ U.S. Labor Education in the Americas Project (USLEAP)
│ Latin American Council for Adult Education (CEAAL)
│ General Confederation of Labor (CGT–Argentina)
│ International Federation of Textile, Garment
and Leather Industry Workers (FITTVC)
│ Movement for Justice and
Human Rights (MJDH – Brazil) │ Flora
Tristán Peruvian Women’s Center;│ Global
Labour International (GLI-Suiza) │
Comisiones Obreras (CCOO-Spain) │ General
Workers’ Confederation (UGT-Spain) │
IUF – General Secretariat.
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