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Organizing Under The Gun In Honduras

Organizing Under The Gun In Honduras image Organizing Under The Gun In Honduras image
Parent Issue
Month
January
Year
1989
Copyright
Creative Commons (Attribution, Non-Commercial, Share-alike)
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Agenda Publications
OCR Text

Organizing Under the Gun in Honduras

by Phillis Engelbert & Jeff Gearhart

On October 17, shortly after noon, we arrived in Tegucigalpa. We drove through the city's maze of confusing, twisted, unnamed streets, searching for the address of Dr. Juan Almendares (a medical doctor and outspoken activist, considered by the Honduran government to be its number one enemy). We had first met Almendares in October, 1987 when he stopped in Ann Arbor as part of a nationwide speaking tour.

When we arrived at his office, we found him conversing with two women. One was Elvia Cristina Zelaya, whose son, Roger Gonzalez, had been kidnapped by the Honduran military in April, and had not been seen since. The other woman, Jane, a U.S. citizen, was working with Almendares and conducting interviews with Hondurans who had been affected by political violence. She advised us to exercise caution and not to discuss politics openly. She said that any information picked up from us by government spies, known as "orejas," could endanger those with whom we worked.

We went with Almendares to a small cafe on the edge of town, where he led us to the only table out back. He told us that the increased U.S. military presence over the past several years had been accompanied by a steadily decreasing standard of living for the majority of Hondurans, and increasing political repression. He explained that the threat of the establishment of permanent U.S. military bases there is a major issue right now. (Although U.S. military bases have existed in Honduras for many years, they are not officially considered "permanent.") One direct consequence, he explained, of permanent U.S. military installations would be the continuous presence of a "contra" force. This force would be ready to respond to revolutions which could occur in neighboring El Salvador and Guatemala.

He then explained that Honduras is the second-poorest country in this hemisphere and hunger, illiteracy, and the lack of health care are serious problems. He said that government revenues, rather than being used to improvc conditions, are largely used for the constniction of roads (primarily for military use since vcry few Hondurans own cars). In recent years, the economie situation has deteriorated lo the point where people have begun organizing to change their condition. The response of the government has been to crack down on opposition acliviües and members of opposilion groups. "The Honduran govemmcnl," he said, "rather than being reponsive to ihe needs of ils own popujation, responds only to üic highest foreign bidder - the Uniled States." We lcfl the cafe and headed back downtown. Almendares led us through an unmarked door into the offices of an elecirical workers' unión where a meeling of the Coordinaling Commiltce of Popular Organizations (CCOP) was about to take place. After the meeting, Almcndares introduced us to Héctor, the CCOP's student representalive. Héctor then took us to the National University, where his organization, the Student Front for Reform of the University (FRU) was preparing for the next day's student govemment elections. As we drove into the university, we were startled by the large military presence. Héctor informed us that only recently had the military reoccupicd the university, although it had been occupied at various times in the past. Héctor led us to the FRU office where, in sharp contrast to the armed forces outside, the walls were covered with posters of Ché Guevara, Daniel Ortega, and other Latin American revolutionary héroes. Roberto, the FRU's president, said the FRU's philosophy is that gaining control of the university and the resources therein is one step in liberating the country from the grips of U.S. imperialism. He said the FRU works both to change the priorities of research done at the university (to make it more applicable to the improvement of the condition of the country's poor majority) and to edúcate students about the consequences of U.S. military involvement in Honduras. Because of their politica] activities various FRU student leaders over the years have been "disappeared" by the army. Roberto showed us scars from where hc himself had been torturcd by the military three years prior. After a restless night filled with dreams of spies and death squads, our tour of Tegucigalpa's opposition organizations continucd. Our first stop was the office of the Committcc of Honduran Women for Peace. Héctor led us through the maze of downtown streels to an unmarked door. Once inside, he poinlcd out the windo w to the car across the street. He told us that the same car is always parked there. The two men inside, he said, were plain-clothcs pólice who conduct constant surveillance of the office. We spent the morning with Alba, the group's director. Alba told us women have played an important role in the struggle againsl U.S. intervention in Honduras sincc the 1920s. The present womcn's group was formcd in 1984 by women who bclicvc thal the process of nalional libcralion must be accompanied by the process of womcn's liberation - ihat one struggle cannot bc sucecssful without the other. The structure of the organization is such that most of the work is done in small-group task forces. They organize four major annual events: the commemorations of International Women's Day and Mother's Day, the March of the Empty Plates (to protest hungcr), and the March of the Crosses (lo protest political repression). In addition, there are task forces to combat alcoholism, wife and child abuse, machismo, hunger and militarism. Héctor next took us to the office of the Committee of Families of Disappeared in Honduras. Again we came to an unmarked door. We knocked and waitcd. No one answered. We knocked again, and again, and were about to give up when the door oponed a crack. A young woman peeked out. Rccognizing Héctor, she let us in. She explained to Héctor that recently the pólice had been harrassing them, so they were trying to be very cautious. She said in the future, Héctor should slip a piece of paper wiih his name under the door, to be let in. Two older women and the young woman sat down with the three of us. We informally discussed the human rights situation in Honduras. They told us that over the past eight years, 127 persons have been registered as "disappeared" (not counling those who had been lortured and rcleased). They said this was only a fraction of the Crue number, because much of the political violence in the countryside goes unreported. They then described the case of Rogcr González. González (whose mother wc had met the previous day in Dr. Almendares' office), a 17-year old student leader, had been abductcd in Tegucigalpa on April 19. Intially the military claimed responsibility for the abduction, but shortly thcreaftcr changcd thcir story, stating that González had either left the country for Nicaragua, Mexico, or Canada. They also accused González of having a "martyr complex" and suggeslcd the possibility that he had killed himsclf. In protest of his "disappcaraiice" eight pcople, including Gonzalez's mother and Héctor, held a 23-day hunger strike in Tegucigalpa's central plaza. The strike endcd when thcy were chased out of the plaza by the military. In November, Rogcr's whereabouts were still not known. It was generally assumcd ihat hc had been killed by the military. The next moming we met wiih Almendares a final lime. We arrivcd at his office lo find the usual train of people consulting wiih him aboul various medical or political issues. Soon we moved to the coffce shop across the strect to talk. We askcd our friend to describe üie repression he faces as a political organizer. He replied that he first began to be targeted in 1980. From 1980-82, the final years of his tenure as Dean of ihe Medical School at the National University, machine guns fired into his home and office on several occasions. In addition, the windows in his home wcrc broken by stones at least twice a week. In 1 98 1 , a wing tenor group called the Anti -Communist Action Alliance (AAA) began publishing death lists in the form of "wanted" posters and posting thcm around town. Almendares was (and slill is) listed as the first "subversive" in line to be assissinated. Ijl 1982, when Almendares ran again for Dean, anonymous right-wing groups slagcd a two-month media campaignagainslhim. Daily, thcy denounced him as being a communist and a guerilla through radio and televisión ads and full-pagc ads in two national ncwspapcrs. Despite this propaganda campaign, Almendares was re-clected Dean. However, the Honduran goverment woulil not recognize his viclory and army death threats l'orccd him to step down bcfore he could begin his next term. In the four ycars that followcd, Almendares' lifc was thrcatcned only once. In 1984 all the bolls on oncofhis car tires wcrc loosencd. As he drovc away, the tire carne off and he was r.carly killed. In 1987, the repression began anew. It starled with an incident in wliich a group of U.S. cilizens protcsted U.S. inlcrvcnlion in Honduras, in front of the U.S. embassy in Tegucigalpa. When these people wcrc deportcd, Almendares confrontcd the Honduran state dcparimcnt officials and said thcy should deport the contras inslead of ihosc U.S. cilizens. Shortly thereafter, the U.S. embassy bought the front page of El Tiempo, a national newspaper and ran a story accusing Almendares of working for the Sandinistas. Such incidents continued and in April of this year Almendares separated from his family, fearing for their safety. He assumed a semi-clandesline lifestyle. Nevertheless, in July scvcn heavily-armcd men surrounded his family's house and left a note threatening to kill hún. During the months that followed, his family rcceivcd harassing phone calis and his children were followed home from school. In September, Almendares received a message from a friend of his who works for the government. The message said, "You must stop. You're making too many statements. They're going to kill you." Almendares paused for a moment. "Pcrsonally," he said, "this is very difficult. It has alicnated me from many of my friends, my family, patients and colleagues. People are afraid to be in the same room with me for fear a kmb may go off. My family fears for my safety and wants me to leave the country. I feel guilty that they are suffering bccause of my political activitics. I stay awakc at night worrying about them, and worrying about bombs." As his voice trailcd off, wc becamc conscious of a woman sitting across the room, staring intently at us. Was she a governmcnl informant'? In a climate of terror, onc constantly asks such qucsüons. We bid the doctor farcwcll - hc rciumed to his office and we to our car. Wc lcfl Tegucigalpa, in a dazc, and drove on in silence toward the Nicaraguan border.

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