Honduras now 'more dangerous than Colombia'

[Judi Lynn]

Source: MorningStar

Honduras now 'more dangerous than Colombia'
Thursday 27 May 2010

Human rights organisations have reported that almost one year after the coup that ousted Honduran president Manuel Zelaya, repression by the security forces had left the country "more dangerous than Colombia."

An Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) delegation confirmed that the murder, harassment and intimidation of opposition supporters, journalists and peasant and worker organisers had continued "with impunity" since the coup regime handed power to current President Porfirio Lobo.

"The commission expresses its deep concern at the continuing human rights violations following the coup that occurred in Honduras on June 28 2009," IACHR President Felipe Gonzalez stated in the capital Tegucigalpa.

The IACHR found that teachers, union organisers and peasant workers occupying unused land owned by members of the country's wealthy elite - plus at least seven journalists - had been assassinated since Mr Lobo had assumed power, making Honduras "more dangerous than Colombia for this profession."

Read more: http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/news/content/view/full/90863