Latin American Parliament suspends Honduran congress

[struggle4progress]

PANAMA CITY, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- The 25th Ordinary Assembly of the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino) decided on Friday to suspend the Honduran Congress from it, for supporting the coup against ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya.

Most of the Latin American deputies voted in favor of the suspension, Parlatino Executive Secretary Humberto Pelaez from Columbia said.

"The suspension measure was approved by 103 votes in favor, three against and seven abstentions," Pelaez told a press conference after the Ordinary Assembly in Panama City.

Pelaez urged the Honduran congressmen to think over and work to reinstate the constitutional order in their country ...

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-12/05/content_12593233.htm

[Judi Lynn]

1. Honduras: No return to "business as usual"

December, 03 2009
Honduras: No return to "business as usual"

(Tegucigalpa) At the end of a 10-day visit to Honduras during the country’s presidential elections, Amnesty International today called for an independent investigation to ensure all those responsible for human rights abuses are brought to justice and the victims given reparations.

“The crisis in Honduras does not end with the election results, the authorities cannot return to business as usual without ensuring human rights safeguards,” said Javier Zúñiga, head of the Amnesty International delegation in Honduras.

“There are dozens of people in Honduras still suffering the effects of the abuses carried out in the past five months. Failure to punish those responsible and to fix the malfunctioning system would open the door for more abuses in the future.”

During its visit to Honduras, Amnesty International’s delegation documented numerous cases of human rights abuses carried out since last June, when President Manuel Zelaya was forced into exile.

These included killings following excessive use of force, arbitrary arrests of demonstrators by police and military, indiscriminate and unnecessary use of tear gas, ill treatment of detainees in custody, violence against women, harassment of activists, journalists, lawyers and judges.

The organization found that members of the military assigned to law enforcement duties were involved in committing serious human rights violations such as killings following excessive use of force, arbitrary arrests and illegal raids.

Amnesty International also found that the civilian de facto authorities failed to do anything to prevent the indiscriminate use of tear gas against protesters. In some cases gas canisters were thrown inside offices.

Most people interviewed said that after being injured or made ill by the gas, they were too scared to seek medical assistance as police and military entered hospitals in order to intimidate them.

On 23 September, Marta (not her real name) was attacked by police while she was taking part in a demonstration. She was hit with a tear gas can, which burned her leg and caused her to have breathing problems. While she was hiding from the gases in a church, police caught up with her and hit her so badly they broke her arm. She didn’t go to the hospital until several days later because she was scared the police would harass her there. Her arm still hasn’t recovered and the burn to her leg is still visible.

More:
http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?id=ENGPRE200912031443&lang=e