November 2009

 HONDURAS - Election Watch

The November 29th elections in Honduras will be taking place under a coup regime.  Send an email to the Canadian government to urge them to support democracy by not recognizing the results of these elections.

Please ‘cut and paste’ this template letter into your E-mail, and send it to Mr. Peter Kent at kentp@parl.gc.ca

You can also ’cut and paste’ the  email addresses and Cc Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Foreign Affairs, cannon.l@parl.gc.ca , Bob Rae, Foreign Affairs Critic, Liberal Party, raeb@parl.gc.ca and Paul Dewar, Foreign Affairs Critic, NDP, dewar.p@parl.gc.ca

If you would like to send this letter to your own MP, you can find their email address here.  (Click here to find your MP)

 The Honourable Peter Kent

Minister of State of Foreign Affairs (Americas)

House of Commons

kentp@parl.gc.ca

November 2009

 Dear Minister Kent,

 I am writing to urge the Canadian government to join other governments of the Americas in publicly stating that it will not recognize the November 29 Honduran elections, held under the auspices of the de facto coup regime.

 A return to democracy implies the immediate restitution of elected President Manuel Zelaya, an end to the on-going human rights violations perpetrated by the coup regime’s security forces, and a postponement of elections until all Hondurans can enjoy a full three month campaign period during which all candidates are assured safety on the campaign trail. Since the June 28 military coup, opposition candidates and their supporters have been harassed, beaten, jailed and killed, according to reports from Amnesty International, the Inter-American Human Rights Commission and Honduran Human Rights monitors. Conditions for free, fair and open elections do not exist under the current coup regime.

 The coup government mocked the US-brokered Tegucigalpa/San Jose Accords when it failed to cede power to a “government of national unity and reconciliation” by November 5, as the accords stipulated. By law, such a government must be presided over by the democratically elected President. With the demise of these agreements, it is clear that there is no political space for opposition candidates to campaign, nor for the expression of dissident political opinions.

 I urge Canada to immediately suspend political and military ties with the illegal regime of Honduras, demand an end to violence and repression and stand with the nations of Latin America and the European Union in refusing to recognize illegitimate elections on November 29. Moreover, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) should review its current state-to-state bilateral programs with Honduras in terms of their compliance with the ODA Accountability Act, including explicit assurances that continued disbursements are fully consistent with international human rights standards. To avoid indirectly supporting the illegal government, CIDA should find feasible alternative civil society channels to deliver aid to affected populations, while minimizing the impact of suspension of aid on poor people.

 Canadians need to stand with the people of Honduras as they resist brutal repression, and fight for democracy and sovereignty in their country. I look forward to seeing Canada’s determined actions to help restore democracy to Honduras and heal the damage done to the democratic process in our hemisphere.

Sincerely,

YOUR NAME

Cc: Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Foreign Affairs cannon.l@parl.gc.ca

Bob Rae, Foreign Affairs Critic, Liberal Party raeb@parl.gc.ca

Paul Dewar, Foreign Affairs Critic, NDP dewar.p@parl.gc.ca

Your MP (Click here to find your MP)

SUPPORT EMERGENCY RELIEF EFFORTS IN EL SALVADOR

 The combined force of Tropical Storm Ida, which struck Nicaragua on Thursday November 5^th, together with a low pressure system off the Pacific Coast, has led to a national emergency in El Salvador. The people most affected are families in situations of poverty and social vulnerability, living in precarious dwellings close to river banks and in zones prone to flooding.

 More than 13,300 people were affected by the force of the natural phenomena in Nicaragua although there were no reported deaths. The situation is more desperate in El Salvador where flooding and mudslides have caused the death of an estimated 130 people, with a further 60 people reported as missing and 7,000 living in shelters. Many communities have lost their crops and their water sources are contaminated. Coming late in the hurricane season, the fury of both natural phenomena took the Civil Protection authorities and the Network of Early Warning in El Salvador by surprise.

The most affected departments In El Salvador are San Salvador, San Vicente, Cuscatlán, La Paz and San Miguel. Entire families have lost all their belongings and, according to information sent to Horizons by our partner, the Salvadoran Association for Health Promotion (ASPS), in the zone of San Marcelino department of La Paz, homes have been destroyed, crops flooded, highways devastated, and cattle drowned.

Several of Horizons of Friendship’s partners are engaged in providing emergency assistance to those affected by the Tropical Storm. Among the most urgent needs are for clean, drinking water, medicine, food, blankets and candles. One Salvadoran partner – the Intercommunity Association of Communities for Economic and Social Development of the Lower Lempa (ACUDESBAL) was spared from this disaster. However as an expression of solidarity with their neighbours in La Paz, ACUDESBAL is making daily trips to La Paz, bring supplies and coordinating with other relief efforts.

Horizons of Friendship has established an emergency fund to support these humanitarian and reconstruction efforts in the upcoming weeks and months. For more information on ACUDESBAL’s efforts, read  the attached letter from Jose Santos Guevara, the organization’s President.

TO CONTRIBUTE TO HORIZONS’ EMERGENCY FUND FOR El SALVADOR:  You may make a contribution on Horizons’ website (www.horizons.ca), by telephone (with a credit card), or by mailing your cheque to the following address, indicating it is for the El Salvador Emergency Fund:

Horizons of Friendship

P.O. Box 402, K9A 4L1   Cobourg, Ontario

SALVADORAN COMMUNITIES SHOW SOLIDARITY WITH THEIR NEIGHBOURS IN LA PAZ DEPARTMENT

 “In these days of mourning, of pain and so much sadness, we are reaching out in solidarity with the families that have been most affected in other parts of our country.  Our organization, ACUDESBAL, has launched an urgent campaign to collect food, clothing, medicine and anything else that our communities can gather.  In spite of the economic constraints that our population has, we know that the little that we can provide means everything to people who have been left without anything.

Fortunately, we can undertake this gesture of solidarity thanks to the fact that the Lempa River did not overflow on this occasion. This doesn’t mean that we don’t have real problems. But the organizational work that we have undertaken in these past five years to establish an Early Warning System has meant that we have been able to design alternative measures to mitigate the impact of these natural disasters.

We have absolutely no doubt, dear friends, that by channeling our efforts towards preventive measures that enable us to respond to the great vulnerability in which we live, we have been able to avoid major tragedy and loss of life in our communities. We say this with great humility and with an enormous desire to share with others the experience that we have had to date in the Lower Lempa region – a region where, despite having been totally abandoned by the national government during the past decade, we have not had to mourn a single loss of life as a result of these phenomena. Now we are in the process of building a strategy of community resilience that will strengthen our actions aimed at improving conditions for our communities in the coming years. Our strategy has four major components:

1) Political advocacy to press for improved public policies;

2) Strengthening  our own institutional capacities and those of our communities;

3) Improving basic living conditions for the population; and

4) Working to improve gender equality in our communities”.

With warm regards,

Jose Santos Guevara,

President of ACUDESBAL

As Canadians watch the worst Latin American political crisis in decades unfold in Honduras-a military coup d’état that overthrew democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya in June- fears and speculation about a potential civil war are increasing in the international media. Under the de facto government of Roberto Micheletti, repression and human rights abuses by the military have been widespread.  In this context, it is more important than ever for Canadians to reflect on the past atrocities committed in El Salvador during the 12-year civil war, and to acknowledge that the same larger issues that gave rise to this armed conflict, are also deeply rooted in Honduras social fabric: the disproportionate concentration of wealth and the lack of access to land and basic services for all citizens.

Twenty years ago today, six Jesuit priests, their cook, and her teenage daughter were murdered, making newspaper headlines around the world. The priests were killed because of their work to promote human rights, democracy and social justice for all Salvadorans. Although these 8 murders represent only a fraction of the 75,000 casualties produced by El Salvador’s civil war, the killing of six prominent priests contributed to bringing the international pressure needed to put an end to the conflict.

2008 Educational Tour delegate Sandra Snider from the Ontario Public Service Employees Union visits the place where the priests were killed 20 years ago.  Rose bushes have been planted in their memory.

Though two decades have passed since the vicious killings, the victims and the impact of the tragedy have not been forgotten. Dr. Miguel Orellana, Director of the Association for Health Promotion in El Salvador and a long-standing partner of Horizons of Friendship, remembers the day of the Jesuit murders as a turning point in the fighting and recalls the importance of the international community in helping to end the conflict: 

“The Salvadoran government immediately reported that it was the guerrilla fighters who had murdered the Jesuits in an act of desperation, but in the following 24 – 48 hours the international press clarified the truth, that it was the National Military.  Many of us said it (the murders) was the final depraved act of an army of the verge of collapse.  The international community responded immediately, condemning the multiple murders and therefore isolating the government further.  This showed the true face of the military dictatorship and strengthened international solidarity with the Salvadoran people”.

Today in El Salvador, President Mauricio Funes will publicly ask for forgiveness from the families of the murdered Jesuits, and for all those who were killed in the civil war, on behalf of the Salvadoran State.  El Salvador’s highest award will be posthumously presented to the Jesuit martyrs who had worked for a peaceful solution to the 12 year armed conflict, and dedicated their lives to the principles of social justice. As Dr. Orellana states, “after twenty years, we are finally seeing a government that is seeking to expose what happened and to ask the questions: Who gave the orders to commit these crimes and for what reasons?  It is only by revealing the past and seeing justice done that we can really begin to move forward as a society”. Horizons of Friendship and its partners in Central America and Mexico will continue to honour the vision to which the Jesuit priests devoted their lives, by addressing the root causes of the conflict. 

In 1992, the civil war ended in El Salvador with the signing of the Peace Accords. The Accords include provisions intended to cement the necessary social and economic systems to address the ongoing human rights abuses and poverty. However, they have not been fully implemented. In 2009, an estimated 40 percent of El Salvador’s 5.7 million people are living in poverty.  Despite the challenges of this small country, Horizons of Friendship and community grassroots organizations are working on socio-economic development projects that provide a viable alternative to poverty and injustice.

Similarly, 36 percent of the Honduran population lives on less than US $2 per day. The struggle for democracy in Honduras today reveals that the issues at the heart of the uprising remain that of economic injustice and the abuse of human rights. International media attention helped to bring about an end to the El Salvadoran civil war and can be an important influence in building pressure to reinstate the democratically elected government of Honduras.  As Canadians we can also pay tribute to all those killed during the civil war, by recognizing the connections between their struggle and the ongoing crisis in Honduras.

The combined force of Tropical Storm Ida, which struck Nicaragua on Thursday November 5^th, together with a low pressure system off the Pacific Coast, has led to a national emergency in El Salvador. The people most affected are families in situations of poverty and social vulnerability, living in precarious dwellings close to river banks and in zones prone to flooding.

 More than 13,300 people were affected by the force of the natural phenomena in Nicaragua although there were no reported deaths. The situation is more desperate in El Salvador where, according to the latest official figures, 111 people have lost their lives, 7,000 people are living in shelters and 60 people are reported missing. Coming late in the hurricane season, the fury of both natural phenomena took the Civil Protection authorities and the Network of Early Warning in El Salvador by surprise.

 The most affected departments In El Salvador are San Salvador, San Vicente, Cuscatlán, La Paz and San Miguel. Entire families have lost all their belongings and, according to information sent to Horizons by our partner, the Salvadoran Association for Health Promotion (ASPS), in the zone of San Marcelino department of La Paz, homes have been destroyed, crops flooded, highways devastated, and cattle drowned.

 Several of Horizons of Friendship’s partners are engaged in providing emergency assistance to those affected by the Tropical Storm. Among the most urgent needs are for clean, drinking water, medicine, food, blankets and candles. Horizons will support the reconstruction efforts by partners in the upcoming weeks and months.