[HNA] Honduras: Another Unionist Murdered - In These Times

[Sergio Reyes]

--- On Tue, 2/9/10, Dan Beeton <beeton at cepr.net> wrote:

From: Dan Beeton <beeton at cepr.net>
Subject: [Presente-Honduras] ‘More Terror’ in Honduras, as Another Unionist Murdered - In These Times
To: presente-honduras at lists.mayfirst.org
Date: Tuesday, February 9, 2010, 10:41 AM





  
http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/5522/another_honduran_unionist_murdered/

‘More Terror’ in Honduras, as Another Unionist Murdered
By Kari Lydersen



The body of 29-year-old Vanessa Yamileth
Zepeda, still dressed in her nurse’s scrubs and killed by a bullet,
turned up in the Loarque neighborhood of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, on
February 4. Zepeda had young children and was a leader of the SITRAIHSS
labor union (Workers Union for the Honduran Social Security Institute).
She had been abducted that afternoon while leaving a union meeting.



The administration of the newly
inaugurated
President Porfirio "Pepe" Lobo has called Zepeda’s murder and other
recent attacks common crime. But the Honduran resistance movement –
mobilized since the June 2009 coup against then-president Manuel Zelaya
– see it as a clear message. 



Trade
unionists,
especially public sector workers like Zepeda, are among the strongest
and largest factions making up the resistance coalition. Opposition to
powerful unions was apparently among the motivations for the coup in
the first place, and all the country’s major union federations are part
of the resistance front.
Unions are an impediment to
neoliberal pushes to increase privatization, and foreign companies fear
clashes with unions or unionizing efforts in Honduras’ maquila
(factory) sector. 



Since Lobo’s inauguration on January 27, there have been 10 to 15 assassinations
of
resistance members and leaders, according to Victoria Cervantes, a
Chicago activist who recently returned from meeting with unionists and
other groups in Honduras with the group La Voz de los de Abajo. 



Since
the coup, a number of people have been killed and thousands arrested
and detained. Most of the previous deaths involved police and soldiers
opening fire on crowds or attacking people in the midst of protests.
Such open state violence has ebbed in recent weeks.
But the targeted kidnapping, torture and assassination of a handful
of activists like Zepeda is more chilling and evokes hallmarks of the
ruthless right-wing death squads of the 1980s in Central America and
more recently in Colombia, according to human rights groups.
(Jeremy Kryt has been reporting from
Honduras on such human rights abuses for In These Times.)



“Before you might have had 300 army trucks storming through
Tegucigalpa,” said Cervantes. “That could be terrifying, but what’s
probably more terrifying is the idea that if you are identified as part
of the resistance movement, you or your daughter could be snatched up
and tortured. This is more terror at a lower political cost.”



Trade unionists and gay and lesbian groups, who have become
increasingly visible and organized as part of the resistance, have been
the main focus of recent attacks and intimidation. Campesino
communities, especially those involved in contested land takeovers,
have also suffered recent increases in violence and repression from
police and landowners.
“Campesinos have always suffered some level of violence, but this is
different,” said Cervantes. 



There have reportedly been beheadings and a man’s tongue was cut out.
Cervantes said Honduran officials known for paramilitary activity in
the 1980s have also resurfaced as part of the coup and/or in Lobo’s
conservative party. 



“It’s the same actors as the ‘80s, and
they’re desperate to terrify the resistance out of existence,” said
Cervantes. “Again, it’s multinational companies tied in with the
oligarchy. History keeps repeating itself.”




-- 

Dan Beeton

Center for Economic and Policy Research

1611 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 400

Washington, DC 20009

Phone: 202-239-1460

Cell: 202 256-6116

Skype: dan.beeton

E-mail: beeton at cepr.net / www.cepr.net
 

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