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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message -----
<DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A
title=kecolema@indiana.edu href="mailto:kecolema@indiana.edu">Coleman, Kevin
Patrick</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>To:</B> <A title=kecolema@indiana.edu
href="mailto:kecolema@indiana.edu">Coleman, Kevin Patrick</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Saturday, August 22, 2009 7:25 PM</DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> Darío Euraque illegally dismissed by Coup Government in
Honduras</DIV></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>Dear Latin Americanist Friends,<BR><BR>I apologize for sending a
mass email but I think this situation is serious enough that you might forgive
me.<BR><BR>Many of you know Professor Darío A. Euraque of Trinity College. His
seminal work, Reinterpreting the Banana Republic: Region and State in Honduras,
1870–1972, transformed the historiography of Honduras.<BR><BR>Since January
2006, Professor Euraque has served as the Director of the Honduran Institute of
Anthropology and History (IHAH), a government agency tasked with overseeing all
of Honduras’s cultural patrimony, including the national archives, archeological
sites, and public museums. Under his leadership, the IHAH has thrived, offering
multiple in-depth workshops for local historians from around the country,
greatly increasing the quantity, quality, and plurality of its publications, and
significantly expanding the number of historical and archaeological sites
protected by the national government.<BR><BR>Yesterday, Ms. Myna Castro, the new
Minister of Culture appointed by the coup government, added to the long list of
constitutional breaches committed by the de facto regime. Violating the laws in
place for discharging political appointees, she skipped over the IHAH’s Board of
Directors, who would have to vote on a resolution to dismiss Professor Euraque,
and simply sent him a letter of dismissal. Rather than go quietly, he has
decided to contest it.<BR><BR>This comes on the heels of an attempt by the
Reserve Forces of the Honduran Military to occupy the National Archives in
Tegucigalpa. When Professor Euraque’s office received a letter from the
Reservists of Honduras, the IHAH immediately issued a clarification, noting that
the building itself and the archives it houses are Honduran cultural patrimony
and, as such, protected by the Law for the Protection of the Cultural Patrimony
of the Nation (Decree 220-97).<BR><BR>As a community of researchers, perhaps we
can solicit a statement of support for Professor Euraque from our professional
organizations.<BR><BR>We might start by asking the AHA’s Conference of Latin
American History to issue a statement. In this statement, we as a community of
scholars could:<BR>• condemn the coup and
the systematic human rights violations that have followed in its
wake<BR>• offer our solidarity to Professor
Euraque and the tens of thousands of Hondurans who are bravely risking their
lives to restore democratic rule in their
country<BR>• call for the U.S. to increase
pressure to reestablish constitutionality in Honduras<BR><BR>If you have any
ideas on how we might coordinate a response so that the coup government knows
that people are watching them violate the Honduran constitution and the
Inter-American Charter, please feel free to push forward on your own with your
contacts or to write to me so that I might pursue it.<BR><BR>Wishing you all the
best,<BR><BR>Kevin Coleman<BR>Doctoral Candidate in Latin American
History<BR>Indiana University, Bloomington<BR></BODY></HTML>