Manuel Murillo ¡PRESENTE! Take a Stand for
Justice! End Impunity!
Pre-Election
Repression on the Rise in Honduras
On October 24, Honduran journalist Manuel
Murillo was found dead, shot in the head. Manuel
was a cameraman, well known for filming the
militarized scene immediately following the 2009
coup  led by SOA
graduates that removed democratically elected
Honduran President Zelaya. He then filmed
many of the resistance marches and protests
calling for ousted President Zelaya's return. In
retaliation, in 2010 he and a co-worker were
kidnapped and tortured by Honduran police officers
who demanded he turn over videos from the
protests. Before he was killed, Manuel was working
for one of the Congressional candidates for LIBRE,
the new political party formed out of the Honduran
resistance movement to the coup.
Manuel Murillo was just 32 years old and leaves
behind a 7-year old and 9-year old. Despite death
threats he continued his work but had previously
told Honduran human rights organization COFADEH
that "I am afraid for my life, these people
keep looking for me, my daughters and my
mother are in danger."
His body was found exactly one month before the
November 24, 2013 Honduran elections, the same
weekend we will
gather at the gates of Ft. Benning to
remember all the victims of social and political
violence unleashed by SOA graduates and the
destructive policies they impose.
In Honduras, LIBRE presidential candidate Xiomara
Castro, the wife of ousted President Zelaya, is
leading in the polls as many Hondurans look to
take their country back from the extreme
right-wing privatization agenda imposed through
military force in the four years since the coup.
As a result, murders
and attacks against LIBRE candidates and
activists are increasing.
With the US heavily funding the Honduran elections
process, Representatives Raul Grijalva, Mike
Honda, and Hank Johnson recently
sent a letter to Secretary Kerry, expressing
concern that the US Embassy "has not spoken
forcefully about the militarization of the
police,” nor expressed concern about the
ruling party's illegal concentration of power and
intimidation of the opposition.
In October, the newly created Military Police, a
project of the current head of the Congress who is
the ruling party's presidential candidate, took to
the streets and have already established a pattern
of targeting the political opposition. On
October 10, they raided
the house of union leader and LIBRE member
Marco Antonio Rodríguez, forcibly removing Marco
Antonio and his young son from the house with
guns pointed at their heads, forced them to lay
face down in the street, and handcuffed them.
When he asked for a search warrant, the Military
Police responded, "what search warrant? here
we can do whatever we want."
Then on October 23, the Military Police broke
into the house of long-time Honduran
resistance activist Edwin Espinal,  breaking
down over 15 doors, blocking off the
entrance, damaging the house, to supposedly search
for “weapons and a rocket-propelled grenade
launcher.” The search warrant confirmed the
clear political nature of this persecution and
criminalization campaign, saying that Edwin "belongs
to the LIBRE party and is one of the leaders of
that area" and that the house had a LIBRE
flag outside.
Despite so much repression and the electoral
apparatus in the hand of the two ruling parties,
setting the stage for anything but free and fair
elections, the Honduran resistance movement
continues full speed ahead, determined to create a
new future for the country. People across Honduras
are preparing to go to the polls on November 24th
and speak out for their right to determine
Honduras' future. Social
movements continue organizing to defend
their land, resources and lives from
privatization and militarization.
Given the reality in Honduras right now, we must
continue to speak out against the SOA training of
military officials to enforce corporate interests
in Honduras and elsewhere in Latin America and
call on the US government to respect the
sovereignty of the Honduran people. Join us at
the SOA Watch vigil
at the gates of Ft. Benning where many of
these militaries are trained to call for an
end to US backing for the repressive and violent
government in Honduras. The vigil
will be happening at the same time as the
elections, and delegations will be on the ground
from SOA Watch and the Honduran Solidarity
Network to report on the situation.
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Remembering the Dead to Change our Future
This Day of the Dead/ Dia De Los Muertos, SOA
Watch activists throughout the country remembered
those who died as a result of U.S. foreign policy
and the School of the Americas, and mobilized for
the upcoming November
22-24 vigil a the gates of Fort Benning,
Georgia.
To view photos
from the DC event on Capitol Hill, click
here.
National Mobilizing Call!
The SOA Watch November Coordinating Team is
hosting a National Mobilizing Call at 2pm EST
today (Nov. 7) to strengthen our collective
efforts for the Vigil.
For more information, including call-in
number and times, click
here!
Protect Romero's Legacy and Denounce the
Closure of Tutela Legal!
On September 30, Archbishop Escobar of San
Salvador abruptly shut
down the Archdiocese's historic human rights
office Tutela Legal - founded by martyred
Archbishop Óscar Romero - and fired all staff. The
employees and the thousands of Salvadoran
survivors of war crimes whose cases they
represent were not consulted prior to the
closure. Today, the archives of Tutela Legal –
containing over 50,000 cases of human rights
violations, the majority committed by Salvadoran
armed forces trained at the School of the Americas
during El Salvador’s civil war — are in jeopardy.
Archbishop Escobar has refused to respect the
voices of survivors and their allies, and denied
them and El Salvador’s Human Rights Ombudsman
access to the archives since the closure. Click
to Sign and Share this Petition Calling on the
Archbishop to Listen to the Survivors and
Protect the Archives Today!
Visit the November
Vigil Mobilizing Webpage / Visita la
nueva pagina
sobre la Vigilia de Noviembre:
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