Canada Must Stop Support to Honduras Regime following Botched Election
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- Published on Sunday, 29 November -0001 16:00
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A Socialist Project e-bulletin .... No. 1526 .... December 15, 2017
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Canada Must Stop Support to Honduras Regime following Botched Election
Jen Moore
In the chaos following national elections in Honduras on November 26, Canadian authorities must take a strong public stand and forcibly denounce evidence of electoral fraud and violent repression of public protests. Across Honduras, tens of thousands of people have been demonstrating their discontent over evidence of electoral fraud by the government-controlled electoral tribunal. As widely reported, while early trends in the vote count indicated that opposition presidential candidate Salvador Nasralla was on track to win, delays, irregularities and evidence of vote-rigging since then favour the incumbent National Party candidate, Juan Orlando Hernández (JOH).
Even prior to the November 26 vote, Hernández’ attempt at reelection in the face of Honduras’ single-term limit... had been challenged as unconstitutional. When former President Mel Zelaya was ousted in a military-backed coup in June 2009 he was accused of trying to seek reelection. Since that time Honduras has become one of the most dangerous places in the hemisphere to fight for protections of land, environment and just about every individual or collective human right.
The Committee of Relatives of the Detained and Disappeared in Honduras (COFADEH) has reported that at least 14 people have been killed as a result of violent state repression against protests, most by Military Police. As well, there have been 51 wounded, 7 seriously, and 844 detained in the first five days while the Honduran government suspended constitutional guarantees across the country starting December 1.
In this context, it is vital that Canada take steps to halt its support, political and economic, to the Hernández regime.