During another week of abuses the one-sided false justice of the narco-dictatorship has yet again exposed itself in declaring the innocence of the perpetrators of the Pandora case and Schucry Kafie while continuing to incarcerate our brothers and sisters, the defenders of Guapinol. Against these injustices we continue to fight as we express our popular rebellion in this 21st public manifesto:
1.- We invite the Honduran people to cooperatively demand that a team of health professionals take the lead in the fight against COVID 19 instead of the group of corrupt people that lead today. Given that it is our money and it is our right to see it appropriately used, we demand that an oversight team independent from the regime give an account of the funds allocated to the emergency and help dismantle the criminal feast that has surged around the funds.
2.- We will not stop demanding an end to the militarization of both the streets and the decision-making institutions of the State who serve as accomplices to crimes such as the kidnapping of the our Garífuna brothers and sisters, an act that we condemn. We demand their immediate appearance. We express permanent solidarity with the community of El Triunfo de la Cruz, OFRANEH, and the resistance of the Garífuna people.
3.- We stand in solidarity with the communities of Puerto Cortés. We stand with ARCAH for their fight against a thermal energy plant owned by Bernardo Hirsch (Grupo Laeisz) and in complicity with the mayor of Puerto Cortés Allan Ramos. This is a project that threatens the life of communities, the ecosystem, and collective peace.
4.- We believe that it is urgent that the Escazú Agreement be signed, ratified, and adopted by the State of Honduras. The agreement aims to guarantee the rights of access to information and participation in environmental decisions as well as strengthen the individual and collective right to sustainable development and to live in a healthy environment. The agreement will also serve as a tool to help with transparency and collective consultation especially around issues such as counteracting the plunder of lands and the assault of transnational corporations in our country.
5.- We maintain that the reopening of the economy proposed by the narco-dictatorship not only puts the health of citizens at risk but also ensures that the citizenry will end up being blamed for the massive contagions while Juan Orlando and his cronies continue to fill their pockets with emergency funds.
6.- In the ongoing fight against the Coronavirus and the pandemic of corruption we want to applaud the permanent and heroic fight of medical and auxiliary personnel who with their own lives save the lives of others. In memory of all the health personnel who we’ve lost to the pandemic, we keep asking ourselves: Where is the money? We will continue convening in caravans and banging pots in protest and follow their steps in dignity and resistance.
7.- We express our solidarity with all the families that are in mourning during the pandemic. We lament their deaths because it is fundamentally the result of the looting and the improvisation during the management of the health crisis. We extend our solidarity to their families and friends and stand in solace with their sorrow.
Honduras, August 2020
