Building Solidarity with Honduras Tour: Peoples’ Rights over Corporate Rights
Prominent Honduran human rights activist, Bertha Oliva, General Coordinator of the Committee of Relatives of the Disappeared and Detained in Honduras (COFADEH) will be conducting a speaking tour of Toronto, Six Nations, Ottawa and Montreal from April 7 to 12, 2014. For more information or to arrange interviews with Bertha contact: Raul Burbano, Program Director, Common Frontiers,
The tour would not be possible without the generous support and hard work of the following organizations:
Media Coverage Updates:
Apr 23, 2014 Malgré le frette et les barbares
Guillaume Hébert Le Journal De Montreal La chanson « Les Yankees », de Richard Desjardins, est un chef-d’œuvre. Elle raconte en poésie ce qu’est l’impérialisme et le colonialisme à travers le récit d’un débarquement de marines au sud du continent. La chanson fait écho à une longue tradition de dépossession en Amérique latine, une sombre tradition à l’origine de l’expression « République de bananes ». On avait jadis attribué ce surnom au Honduras à l’époque où une compagnie bananière fonctionnait comme le véritable pouvoir à l’intérieur d’un État dirigé par un gouvernement de marionnettes. Mais qui sont vraiment ces « yankees »? Honduras : Coup d’état et libre-échange « On pensait que cette époque était terminée », affirmait Bertha Oliva en conférence à Montréal mercredi dernier. Mme Oliva est la coordonnatrice d’un centre de défense des droits humains au Honduras (COFADEH) et elle commentait la situation désastreuse dans laquelle se trouve son pays. Le Honduras semble se diriger à contre-sens de l’histoire alors qu’il combine aujourd’hui des processus de dépossession dignes de l’époque coloniale et une répression impitoyable de la dissidence comme le faisaient les gouvernements militaires des années 80. Bertha Oliva réalise une tournée canadienne pour une raison bien simple : depuis le coup d’État de 2009 contre un président trop peu favorable aux intérêts des élites économiques locales, le gouvernement Harper est devenu le plus grand allié de l’État hondurien. Alors qu’on pourrait s’attendre d’un pays qui affirme volontiers faire la promotion des valeurs démocratiques dans le monde qu’il applique plutôt des sanctions à un État où l’impunité règne en matière de violation des droits humains et où le climat social s’est dégradé au point d’en faire la capitale mondiale de l’homicide. Toutefois, le Canada n’a rien trouvé de mieux que de signer un accord de libre-échange avecle Honduras. lire toute l’histoire
Stark similarities of missing indigenous peoples of North and South America
Apr 19, 2014
By Jennifer MtPleasant Two Row Times The missing and murdered Indigenous people movement in Canada has been gaining increasing awareness in the past few months. More and more groups are lobbying the federal government to call a national inquiry into the disappearances and murders of thousands of First Nations men and women. The total numbers are shocking. But is this a new phenomenon? By looking at the plight of other Indigenous peoples of the Americas, we can gain a better understanding of how to deal with this issue. Although people go missing and are murdered in every society and in every culture, Indigenous peoples around the globe face higher mortality, violence and ‘forced disappearance’ rates then that of non-Indigenous people.
Honduran human rights activist Bertha Oliva visited Six Nations last week to speak of the forced disappearances of thousands of people from her country in Central America. (Photo by Jen Mt. Pleasant)
Prominent human rights activist Bertha Oliva was at Six Nations last Thursday to draw attention to the plight of thousands of people in Honduras who have been the victims of forced disappearances in the past few decades. Oliva is the General Coordinator of the Committee of Relatives of the Disappeared and Detained (COFADEH) in Honduras and just wrapped up a speaking tour in Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal. Oliva spoke about the common struggles that all Indigenous people of the Americas face including high rates of murders, violence, and disappearances as well as struggles with displacement and pipelines. Through an interpreter, Oliva spoke about the human rights situation in Honduras where entire communities are being exploited and environmental degradation is a huge problem. COFADEH, Oliva explained, was created in 1979, in response to a 10-year government war on its citizens where, “people were detained, tortured and killed as a result of state policy.” Oliva said that when COFADEH was first created, “Our intentions were to find people alive but we realized we weren’t going to find anyone alive. So finding truth was the only thing that could provide us with any sense of justice and a sense of peace.” She also stated that none of the crimes of the past have been recognized and the perpetrators have never been brought to justice. “It’s like we went 40 years backwards,” said Oliva. -read the entire story
Bertha Oliva’s Testimony to Two Federal Committees
Apr 18, 2014
As part of the recent Building Solidarity with Honduras Tour: Peoples’ Rights over Corporate Rights tour of Ontario and Quebec, Bertha Oliva, General Coodinator, Committee of Relatives of the Detained and Disappeared in Honduras, gave testimony to two federal government committees. Below are links to the transcripts of her two appearances: April 8, 2014 Subcommittee on International Human Rights of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development April 8, 2014 Standing Committee on International Trade:
Honduran struggles against political killings and disappearances
Apr 15, 2014 Free City Radio interview
Listen to an interview with Bertha Oliva de Nativí from Comité de Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos en Honduras (COFADEH), a committee representing families of social activists, journalists and human rights workers disappeared in Honduras. This interview looks at the historical struggle for justice dating back to the 1970/80s and the contemporary context of the recent wave of political assassinations and disappearances in Honduras since the 2009 right wing, military backed coup d’état. Also this interview details the context and repression facing journalists in Honduras, a country where over recent years. The Committee to Protect Journalists writes that in Honduras journalists “face violence and intimidation” and that “journalists who covered sensitive topics like drug trafficking, government corruption, and land conflicts were threatened and attacked.” (special thanks to filmmaker Jesse Freeston for translation support) Listen to the interview on Soundcloud more info: www.cofadeh.hn/ cpj.org/americas/honduras/
Honduras: le libre-échange malgré des droits bafoués
ISABELLE HACHEY La Presse Un pays ultraviolent, gangrené par la corruption, où règne une impunité quasi totale: depuis cinq ans, le Honduras glisse dans un inquiétant chaos. Pourtant, au nom du commerce, le Canada a choisi d’ignorer la détérioration des droits de la personne dans ce petit pays, le plus pauvre d’Amérique centrale. C’est le dur constat que dresse Bertha Oliva, l’une des militantes les plus connues des droits de la personne au Honduras. De passage à Montréal cette semaine, elle a accusé le Canada d’avoir signé un accord de libre-échange avec le Honduras, en novembre, alors que son pays était en pleine crise sociale et politique. -lire l’article entier
Defensora de los derechos humanos en Honduras visita Canadá
Apr 9, 2014
Desde el 7 y hasta el viernes 11 de abril próximo se encuentra de visita en Canadá la prominente defensora de los derechos humanos en Honduras, Bertha Oliva, coordinadora general del Comité de familiares de detenidos desaparecidos en Honduras, Cofadeh, para dar una serie de charlas en varias ciudades canadienses.
El Cofadeh fue creado en el 30 de noviembre de 1982 por la necesidad de encontrar respuestas rápidas y concretas con respecto a detenidos políticos desaparecidos entre 1980 y 1993 en Honduras.
En ese momento, el objetivo fundamental de la organización era encontrar con vida a los familiares de los miembros de la organización que hasta el día de hoy siguen desaparecidos. Esas personas fueron detenidas, buscadas y negadas por las autoridades hondureñas.
Con el correr del tiempo y a partir de la década de los 90, Cofadeh amplió sus objetivos dedicándose también a la capacitación, organización y la lucha contra la impunidad en Honduras, para permanecer en el tiempo y en la historia del país, dice Bertha Oliva.
Bertha Oliva vino a Canadá invitada por la ONG canadiense Fronteras Comunes y la Universidad York de Toronto.
Pablo Gómez Barrios conversó con ella.
Honduran human rights leader to visit Ottawa and urge MPs to put human rights first
Apr 3, 2014 – America’s Policy Groupmedia release:
Prominent Honduran human rights activist Bertha Oliva, general coordinator of the Committee of Relatives of the Disappeared and Detained in Honduras (COFADEH), will visit Ottawa on April 8, 2014 to urge that Canadian trade and investment not trump human rights.
Ms. Oliva will provide first hand testimony to the Parliamentary Subcommittee on International Human Rights (SDIR) and the Standing Committee on International Trade (CIIT) about serious, systematic, increasing human rights abuses in Honduras, as well as concerns that they will be exacerbated by the Canada-Honduras Free Trade Agreement (CHFTA).
Here’s a story from the Turtle Island News about the tour’s upcoming April 10th visit to Six Nations
April 2, 2014
Posters from the tour
Toronto – April 5 – Fundraiser
Toronto – April 7
Ottawa – April 8
Montreal – April 9
