Evidence of meeting #82 for Subcommittee on International Human Rights in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was honduran.
A recording is available from Parliament.
1:45 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Scott Reid
Okay, thank you for that.
We'll go now to our next questioner, Mr. Casey, please.
1:45 p.m.
Liberal
Sean Casey Liberal Charlottetown, PE
Thanks, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you for appearing before us, Professor Frank. I want to ask you about the two prominent lawyers who were assassinated: Cabrera and Mazariegos. Can you tell us a bit about them and the proceedings that followed?
1:45 p.m.
Professor of History, University of California, Santa Cruz, As an Individual
Yes. The first one, Antonio Trejo Cabrera, was a lawyer for the MARCA, a group of campesinos in the Aguán Valley who had been pursuing an exclusively legal strategy. They were trying to reclaim land that had been illegally seized by Miguel Facussé, the richest and most powerful man in the country. In late May—I think May 30 of last year—they got the first legal decision in their favour to restore the land that had been illegally taken by Miguel Facussé. All summer, Antonia Trejo received death threats. He publicly said that if he were killed, Miguel Facussé would be responsible. He was assassinated in September in front of a church where he had just officiated at a wedding.
To be the best of my knowledge, nothing has gone forward in terms of prosecuting or charging or arresting anybody in the case of Antonio Trejo.
The other case, I am not as familiar with. There were newspaper stories in the next few days of people who had been supposedly arrested. I haven't seen anything since about any of those cases going forward. I think if they were going forward, it would have been in the news. I do follow the Honduran papers every day.
So we're seeing this pattern here of impunity, of politically motivated killings. I haven't talked about this, but there have been continuing assassinations and death threats and attacks against journalists and lawyers. The head of the association of independent television and radio stations was physically attacked just a few days ago for opposing a new law that would restrict media freedom.
1:50 p.m.
Liberal
Sean Casey Liberal Charlottetown, PE
As for very first one, Antonio Trejo Cabrera, my understanding is that earlier this year his brother was killed. Are you able to provide us with any sort of update on that? Is there any investigation into that?
1:50 p.m.
Professor of History, University of California, Santa Cruz, As an Individual
No, I don't think there's anything that I know of in terms of his brother being killed. That was part of the pattern of campesinos being assassinated in the Aguán Valley. But I'm sorry, I don't have information on that case.
1:50 p.m.
Liberal
Sean Casey Liberal Charlottetown, PE
Okay, the lawyer in question was involved in a significant land dispute. Can you comment more generally on the land issues and their role, if you will, in all of these human rights concerns that you refer to?
1:50 p.m.
Professor of History, University of California, Santa Cruz, As an Individual
Yes, thanks so much for asking because there has been an enormous amount of international attention in the human rights community to the situation in the lower Aguán Valley. The land there has a history of land reform. It's where land reform historically took place in Honduras in the 1970s and 1980s. Gradually in the 1990s and 2000s, with the encouragement of previous governments, that land was re-taken over, mostly illegally—sometimes at the point of a gun, sometimes through corrupt legal practices, and sometimes with the encouragement of the government—by a series of large landowners who converted the land into African palm plantations, often forcing campesinos and campesino collectives off the land. The leader of those large landowners is Miguel Facussé, the richest and most powerful man in the country and one of the leading backers of the coup.
In the last three and a half years, since December 2009, there have been both legal cases pursued very actively to restore those lands and government lands that were supposed to be given as part of agrarian reform to the campesinos, and so-called land recuperations in which people re-take lands that have been seized from them illegally. In turn, Mr. Facussé and other landowners have allegedly killed at least 96 campesinos, one by one usually. It's what some people could call a slow-moving massacre. They have continued these assassinations, including at least 12 people since the first of this year. None of those cases have been prosecuted. There are other cases of security guards being killed—a few. We don't really know about the situation there.
It's very alarming and it's incredibly terrifying to watch the complete impunity of the situation in the Aguán Valley, which involves both U.S.-funded state security forces and these private armies of these individuals. There are, in fact, now more private security guards in Honduras than police.
One of the most terrifying situations concerning their power is that in the Aguán Valley a woman journalist who works with the campesinos was kidnapped in the early fall but not killed. Her kidnappers said they let her go so that she could go back and tell them that they were going to kill all of them, one by one—and that's what's been taking place.
1:50 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Scott Reid
We'll go now to Mr. Sweet and Mr. Schellenberger, who are somehow going to split five minutes.
1:50 p.m.
Conservative
David Sweet Conservative Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thanks again, Ms. Frank.
I was trying to get the exact testimony, but I now remember what I wanted to ask you regarding Rick Craig's testimony. He was from the Justice Education Society of British Columbia. He mentioned that they were actually in four regions, but let's just say a number of regions. They were working with law enforcement and dealing with the most serious cases—the murders—and with crown attorneys and prosecutors and the police. This is a work in progress right now. He felt there was some positive movement being made in that regard, so that they would learn how to deal with the most difficult cases, and in that way they'd be able to deal with those cases that were, for lack of better words, less of a priority than the outright slayings of people in the streets.
Are you aware of this work that they are doing on the ground?
1:55 p.m.
Professor of History, University of California, Santa Cruz, As an Individual
I'm not aware of every case. There's the U.S.-funded and -trained major crimes task force. I haven't seen significant results of all this. There have been a few token prosecutions—for example, the conviction of a member of the military police, who broke the camera of a journalist some time ago. That's one of the only....
I haven't seen it in the prominent cases, the big cases. For example, Alfredo Landaverde, a former police commissioner who denounced police corruption in the fall of 2011, was assassinated in December of 2011. On his case, very prominently, nothing has gone forward; and similarly on the case of Villatoro, a major radio announcer and friend of President Lobo who was assassinated in the spring of 2012. These are the most prominent cases that have not gone forward.
I think there is some motion to investigate some cases. I wouldn't say nothing is moving, but I would also say [Technical difficulty--Editor]...larger pattern is that this is tokenism. We're not seeing the kind of prosecutions we should.
The most obvious person who I believe should be prosecuted is Mr. Facussé, who has alleged and has himself admitted, including in a letter to me, that his security forces killed four campesinos at El Tumbador in late 2009. He says that it was in self-defence. Why has that situation not been investigated?
So I think, yes, there is some motion, but not at a significant level. With the recent appointments of Arturo Corrales, who was the chief negotiator for the leader of the coup, and Roberto Micheletti, the new minister of security and defence, we again have these really scary military figures now in charge of top positions at the police.
Also, there is a very alarming situation in prosecutor's office, where a recent top prosecutor in charge of money laundering was just assassinated a few weeks ago.
1:55 p.m.
Conservative
David Sweet Conservative Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale, ON
Ms. Frank, I want to ask you about this. Mr. Blackwell saw the purging of the attorney general as very positive, and yet you framed it as very negative.
I'm wondering if you could just respond to that quickly. I have one last question, so if you could do that in 60 seconds it would be great.
1:55 p.m.
Professor of History, University of California, Santa Cruz, As an Individual
Oh, no, I think the suspension of Luis Rubi, the attorney general, who's an alleged drug trafficker, from what I've heard, was a very good thing. Also, Danelia Ferrera, who was the top of the prosecutors, recently resigned because she was going to be suspended or asked to resign. She just resigned a couple of days ago.
I think those were very good moves. I would like to then see who will be the new attorney general, because the pattern here.... I believe it does suggest evidence of new pressure by the U.S. embassy. Again, I want to underscore that the pattern here is that people are suspended or transferred or asked to resign, and then the new people who are appointed have themselves terrifying track records of human rights abuses or corruption or drug trafficking.
I can't say this in every case—there are some clean people in there—but the pattern that I've been seeing over and over again is not good. These recent appointments are themselves a red flag.
1:55 p.m.
Conservative
David Sweet Conservative Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale, ON
Ms. Frank, you mentioned Brazil earlier. Are you of the opinion that disengagement is the only way to deal with Honduras, then?
1:55 p.m.
Professor of History, University of California, Santa Cruz, As an Individual
I think it would have to be an act of disengagement. I think what we actually need, and here I want to support the testimony of Karen Spring, who said the same thing [Technical difficulty--Editor]...the United Nations high commission on human rights to intervene.
I think the only way forward, really, is to have a commission like the CICIG in Guatemala, with authority above the Honduran government. It would be great to see Brazil involved in this kind of process. I think that is the only way forward.
I would just underscore that I do not think the current Honduran government, or Juan Orlando Hernández, one possible future president, will be capable of cleaning themselves up.
2 p.m.
Conservative
2 p.m.
Conservative
David Sweet Conservative Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale, ON
Oh, okay.
The letter you referred to, from the person who had admitted the killing of several people, apparently in self-defence—could you forward that to the committee so that we can enter it in as evidence?
2 p.m.
Professor of History, University of California, Santa Cruz, As an Individual
I think so. I mean, it's a little dangerous. I can certainly speak about it; it's a letter that I personally received.
But yes, I can do that. He has admitted this in other contexts as well. So yes, I can forward that.
2 p.m.
Conservative
May 9th, 2013 / 2 p.m.
NDP
Pierre Jacob NDP Brome—Missisquoi, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair
Professor Frank, thank you for the wonderful light that your testimony has shone into our committee this afternoon.
In a word, Honduras is some way away from the rule of law. I would like to hear your comments and opinion on what I am about to say. An NGO called Freedom House ranks Honduras as the second most dangerous country for journalists. Since 2009, 19 journalists have been killed. It is a regrettable fact that the media are concentrated mainly in the hands of a few companies linked to those in power and that self-censorship is common. Corrupt journalists and manipulated advertising seem to be used to make sure that coverage is positive and that opponents are kept quiet.
You said earlier that there are attacks against television stations because they criticize those in power. Could you comment and give your opinion on that statement?
2 p.m.
Professor of History, University of California, Santa Cruz, As an Individual
I think the situation of the media and media freedom is very alarming. I have given a conservative estimate of the number of journalists who have been killed, but beyond that, the journalists who are in opposition to the federal government, and not just them but some of the people who have criticized local government as well, or spoken about drug trafficking, have been killed or threatened. It's a very terrifying situation to be a journalist. All major newspapers are controlled by the Honduran elites and it's a very scary situation for radio as well for print and online journalists. This includes people of many different political persuasions.
There was a recent law passed that makes it a crime to criticize a corporation or unjustly criticize parts of the government. There's a new media law that has been hotly debated as we speak that would control licensing and further restrict media freedom. This is a very alarming situation, not just in terms of the assassination and the death threats that go on all the time—the death threats are continuing, and there's the example of the man who was just attacked who was with the association of the independent radio and television stations—but also in terms of the concerted acts by the congress very recently to pass laws that very explicitly repress freedom of speech in Honduras. There has been a lot of attention paid to this, including a hearing last summer by the United States Congress and the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission of the House of Representatives.
2 p.m.
NDP
Pierre Jacob NDP Brome—Missisquoi, QC
According to the Committee of the Families of the Detained and Disappeared in Honduras, in 2010 only, there have been over 10,000 complaints of human rights violations against the security forces. Authorities in the justice system have not pursued those complaints.
Can you provide us with more details about the nature of those complaints?
2 p.m.
Professor of History, University of California, Santa Cruz, As an Individual
These complaints include... I haven't seen the entire 10,000 and I want to [Technical difficulty--Editor]...government itself has given the same figures. So this is not just COFADEH, which is very upstanding, but the Honduran government itself. I would also underscore the statistic from the government itself a few weeks ago saying that 80% of all crimes are an impunity.
The complaints about the state security forces include harassment, threats, killings, intimidation [Technical difficulty--Editor]...failure to act. It's very terrifying, sometimes to the point where people who were supposed to have protection get the very police officers who had threatened them. So it's a wide range of human rights abuses that have been spectacularly documented and if you're looking for the documentation of that, I would underscore that the report of the civil society truth commission is replete with testimony and examples of these kinds of abuses by state security forces.
Maria Luisa Borjas, the former police commissioner who had investigated El Tigre Bonilla, said famously that she'd rather meet five gang members down an alley than meet five police officers. So this is just routine. People come in [Technical difficulty--Editor]...objections and they themselves are harassed and threatened. It's a very terrifying thing to even speak up or to register any kinds of these grievances. People then get threatened for doing so.