Arroyo and Turner Show Support for Honduran Democracy Movement at City Hall Press Conference
BOSTON/Government Center - Two Honduran activists presented the findings of a recent report by the Honduran human rights organization Committee of Relatives of Detained and Disappeared in Honduras (COFADEH) to an audience of over 30 concerned area residents at City Hall last Wednesday. The report accuses the recently-elected Honduran President Porfirio Lobo Sosa of presiding over a dictatorship that is prosecuting grave human rights abuses on its own population. Lobo's election came after President Manuel Zelaya was forcibly ousted from the country by his own military last June in what has been widely recognized as a coup d'etat by the international community.
The press conference was organized by the local immigrant rights organizations Centro Presente and Proyecto Hondureno. Dr. Juan Almendares, an internationally known Honduran medical doctor, human rights activist, environmental leader and alternative medicine practitioner, and Dr. Luther Castillo, a young Garifuna medical doctor and community organizer who directs the Luaga Hatuadi Waduheñu Foundation ("For the Health of our People" in Garifuna) were the featured speakers. The doctors were joined by several other speakers including Councilor Felix Arroyo, Councilor Chuck Turner, and Jeff Crosby of the North Shore Labor Council.
In his initial remarks, Castillo described his view of the current political situation in his country, "Let me just say how Honduras is becoming the most dangerous country in the world – even compared to the reality of Iraq, Afghanistan that some organizations have been presenting. And an exmaple of this the assassination only in the month of March of 5 unionists - only in the month of March. That means that the great solution that they were talking about of these false elections in Honduras didn't solve the political problem. And that's the problem that our brothers and sisters face now in the campesino [peasant – Ed.] movement. Men and women who struggle every day for a piece of land to plant their food and feed their children.
"People are dying every day," Castillo continued, and we don't know outside of Honduras and it's difficult to know inside of Honduras – where the media are controlled by the 10 richest families and give us misinformation every day. Even in the small communities where we live. And now we see that there will be a genocide.
"Even in the repression that we're living under in our country, the resistance movement has been organizing all over the country. In the small villages. In the cities. We have a presence of people who are organizing under the umbrella of the resistance movement. Even the government and the structure of the continuation of the coup d'etat has designed a national security program to start killing select members of the leaders of the national resistance."
Arroyo spoke next, "On the city council I chair the Committee on Labor, Youth Affairs and Human Rights. You might say 'man, Felix, that's sounds pretty good that you've got a committee called labor, youth affairs and human rights, and that's what you talked about during the campaign.' It's funny how those things happen that I ended up getting a committee that talked about workers rights, youth issues and human rights, and so this fits under the work that I'm asked to do here. The work that I'm asked to lead … you know, but more and more we hear – and now I'm joined by my good friend, actually the vice-chair of the Committee on Labor, Youth Affairs and Human Rights, Chuck Turner, who's the city councilor from District 7. And, you know we think it's – being born and raised in Boston you have this little disease of parochialism. I often get caught up thinking about my own – the 47 miles that makes up the space that I grew up in. Right? But then, coming from the home I come from and living in the world I live in today, more and more we talk about the realities of this being a global community. Which really just speaks to say that when we see injustices happening really anywhere, we have to be a part of it. You know Paolo Freire said to wash your hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless is the side of the powerful. And so that means so much in how we operate both globally and locally and nationally. And so I'm happy you're here sharing your story in a way that we can be helpful. We want to be."
Turner indicated that the Boston City Council is interested in taking action in support of the Honduran people, "Let me just thank those of you that are organizing this gathering and the other gatherings to put attention on the issue of what is happening in Honduras. As an elected official, and as a citizen of this country, I'm very demoralized – very demoralized by the lack of action around the question of democracy in the American hemisphere. I think it's an outrage – an outrage – that this government allows forces hostile to democracy to take over the government of a country in the Americas and says nothing. It's bad enough when we see the other affronts by this country to the principle of democracy throughout this world. And there are others. But I'm not going to focus on the others today. But to say that this situation around in Honduras, it should be an issue of national concern. Because for me the question is when is the hypocrisy of the American government going to stop. When are the people of this country going to stand up and say no longer will we allow you to support governments that use the rhetoric of democracy, but in fact are dictatorships. This Honduran situation, I think is an example of a much larger governmental problem we have in this country. So I'm just here to say thank you. Thank you for your work. And I stand with you and other councilors in addition to Councilor Arroyo are ready to stand with you around this fight because this is an issue that doesn't just talk about the needs of the Honduran people. It talks about the needs of the people of this country to have a government that truly stands up and supports the principles that people around the world have the right to have a democratic government and have the United States support that right.
The event concluded after a short question and answer period.
