Thank you very much.
Mr. Minister, thank you for being here this morning. We were looking forward to your visit.
Mr. Minister, the Committee of Relatives of the Disappeared in Honduras has documented 545 human rights violations in the last four months, from February to May. Of those, 12 murders were politically motivated. There were also six executions of journalists, assassination attempts, death threats, mostly against human rights advocates. There are cases of torture, unlawful detention, and so on.
Mr. Minister, you congratulated President Lobo in a statement for starting a process of national reconciliation and for insisting on the importance of, and I quote, “healing the wounds created by the recent political impasse and for Hondurans to regain a sense of trust in their country's democratic institutions.”
I have two questions for you. Actually, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Honduras has no power. Its mandate does nothing else but clarify facts, and that is all that it is doing.
My first question is this: why does the Canadian government provide financial and political support to a so-called truth commission that does not meet the basic criteria established by international organizations to protect the rights to truth, justice and also restitution? How can we expect the truth commission to function when the government grants an amnesty to everyone? That's my first question.