Latin America: Week in Review
OAS Releases Report Condemning Honduran Human Rights Violations
March 10, 2010 By Staff
Honduran President Porfirio Lobo.
Today in Latin America
Top Story — A report released Monday from the Organization of American States (OAS) condemned the killings last month of three opponents to last June’s coup in Honduras.
Along with the OAS report the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights stated that it opposes human rights violations in Honduras, citing 50 detentions, eight cases of torture, two kidnappings, two rapes and one raid on a home last month.
“Honduras must adopt urgent measures to guarantee the rights to life, humane treatment and personal liberty,” said the OAS report.
Honduras returned to democracy after the inauguration of current President Porfirio Lobo in January. From June 2009 until January of this year the country was ruled by interim President Roberto Micheletti who took control after the coup that ousted then-Presdient Manuel Zelaya.
Zelaya is currently in exile in the Dominican Republic.
“We will strengthen our investigations aimed at clearing up these events, appointing a special squad that will produce the arrests of those responsible and the unrestricted application of justice,” Minister of Security Óscar Arturo Álvarez Guerrero said after a Human Rights Watch report was released last week.
Headlines from the Western Hemisphere
North America
- The U.S. Department of Homeland Security arrested nearly 300 illegal immigrants over the weekend, 16 of which were fugitives wanted for battery, burglary, assault and probation violations.
- A Mexican lawyer resigned from a case involving the alleged sexual assault of young men by the founder of a conservative Roman Catholic religious order.
Caribbean
- A U.N. official said the exit of U.S. military forces from Haiti will weaken the county’s security.
- Cuban dissident Guillermo Fariñas refused an offer of asylum from Spain, saying he will continue his hunger strike.
Central America
- President Barack Obama met Monday with El Salvadoran President Mauricio Funes to discuss ways to improve trade and combat drug traffickers and gangs.
- Reports of dengue fever in El Salvador have increased, according to the country’s health minister.
Andes
- Venezuela passed a law banning violent video games and offenders could receive a large fine and three to five years in prison if caught.
- Colombian midfielder Roger Torres of América de Cali signed a deal to play for the new Major League Soccer team, the Philadelphia Union.
- Ecuador’s corporate taxes may rise to finance a budget deficit due to the country’s worst drought in 40 years.
- Peru withdrew fraud and conspiracy allegations against Yale University in a lawsuit over items taken from Machu Picchu.
Southern Cone
- Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said that he still hopes to reach a negotiated deal with the U.S. over a dispute arising from illegal U.S. cotton subsidies.
- Argentine protest leader Luis D’Elia interviewed former Iranian cultural attaché Moche Rabbani, accused of masterminding the 1994 bombing of a Jewish cultural center that killed 85 people in Buenos Aires. Rabbani said Iran had “nothing to do with the bombings”.
- President José “Pepe” Mujica plans to travel to Bolivia on Friday to meet with Evo Morales to discuss free export zones and energy.
- Chile hopes to host the Copa America soccer tournament in 2015.
- Paraguay and Columbia signed an agreement on Tuesday to cooperate on security, commerce, investment, and tourism.
Image: Agência Brasil.
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