Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you very much for allowing me to be here with you and to talk about this issue that is of concern for us.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  That is our Achilles heel. It is clear that the police will not have the capacity to investigate, because those who commit human rights violations are members of the police. They're authorities. They're state agents. Rather than searching for evidence, they clear the scene of the crime.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I don't think you're asking a political question, are you? But I will answer it.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  When I talk about impunity and I tell you that I have been a member of the organization that I represent for 30 years, I think it demonstrates the very little interest that the representatives of the Honduras government have had when it comes to fighting impunity. But I will tell you that throughout the eighties, we saw the worst barbaric forced disappearances and political assassinations.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  In the case before us with regard to the perpetrators of human rights violations, I think that a message should be sent by other governments to the Government of Honduras so that the security of the people not be entrusted to past human rights violators who have been shown to violate human rights and who have never been punished because of the impunity that reigns in the country.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Sorry, I didn't understand the question properly.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Yes, when we look at that figure from 75,000 to 120,000 members of private security, that means they are at the disposal of the Honduran state to ensure security in the country. So for the most part, the people in charge of these individual security members are former members of the military who were responsible for human rights violations in the past, or who are current members of the military who are perpetrating them now.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I think it is precisely because there is a lack of political will internally. I think it's because there is not a great deal of observation of the agreements with other countries and whether the terms of those agreements are respected. I think that the Government of Honduras has a historic debt with regard to punishing human rights violators.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I think that the international community and governments really have to strengthen their knowledge of human rights because a great deal is invested to help, to provide the technical tools to the military and to the government authorities in charge of ensuring public security, and they're the ones who are persecuting the people.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  The point here with regard to the free trade agreement is the fact that it lacks mechanisms for regulating the actions of companies, and I don't think the free trade agreement, without regulations, without standards and mechanisms, will be able to be carried out and to show that, in fact, there is a concern for not violating the rights of workers.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  With regard to the 45 teachers who have been murdered, the denunciations are presented to public safety, which is a department in charge of conducting the investigations, and the denunciations are then presented to the public prosecutor. The result is a bogging down in red tape of the denunciations that are presented to the public prosecutor's office.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I'm not sure whether I mentioned the concentration of power. Libre is the name of the political party that recently came to power, and it is the second-most powerful political party in Honduras and we can see that with the participation of 37 members in the national congress. What you can see is that there is a very strong alliance between the liberal party and the national party, and in most cases it is not necessary to even obtain the votes of the Libre party to make decisions.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Those women were murdered in the last four years.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you very much for allowing me to be here with you to talk about the human rights situation in my country, Honduras. My name is Bertha Oliva, and I represent the committee of family members of the detained and disappeared, COFADEH, which is an organization that has been around for 30 years.

International Trade committee  We feel that first the idea is to debate and arrive at agreements, but not between local businessmen and international businessmen, and not between governments. The debate and the agreements should really take place among the various social groups, among the people. Here we have Peter with a company that is fruitful and that does not have human rights violations, but we have found a different result.