Both in translation. Click titles for originals in Vos El Soberano.

Platform for Human Rights:
Center for the Defense of Women (CDM)
Center for Research and Promotion of Human Rights (CIPRODEH)
Committee for the Defense of Human Rights in Honduras (CODEH)
Committee of Relatives of Detained and Disappeared in Honduras (COFADEH)
Center for Prevention, Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture Victims and Their Families (CPTRT)
FIAN Honduras

February 20, 2010

"TRUTH COMMISSION? WHAT TRUTH AND TO CONVINCE WHOM?
[Note: An official translation of the Plataforma statement is available on pdf letterhead from the Quixote Center HERE]

The Platform for Human Rights of Honduras expresses its strong
interest in the investigation of human rights violations, that punish
those responsible and gives reparation to the victims resulting from
the de facto government.

The Platform recognizes the importance of Truth Commissions as a means
to overcome impunity and prevent future human rights violations.
However, in the current context conditions are not sufficient to
approve a committee of this nature, considering the following:

There is no political will to know the truth, because the same
government that has promoted the idea of the Commission has not
recognized the existence of a coup in the country, which undoubtedly
hinders the possibility of analyzing the true nature of violations of
human rights and of establishing criminal liability.

There is no political will to curb human rights violations as they
continue against those, organized or not, which condemn the coup and
the actions of the de facto government.

There are government officials, authors or accomplices of human rights
violations that continue in power and who also could be part of the
investigation process.

Clearly, there is no independent Attorney General or Supreme Court
which could work from the findings of this Commission and contribute
to justice.

The establishment of the Commission has not respected international
standards applicable to truth commissions. For example, it has opened
a consultation process to define its mandate nor the type of
violations to be investigated, and which includes victims and human
rights organizations.

The selection of the members of this Commission has not complied with
international standards. The commission members should be people
respected and accepted by all parties to the conflict, including
victims.

Throughout the process of creation of the commission, a clear
definition of the mandate of the Commission has not existed, even
though international standards state that prior to the election of
members, such a mandate must be defined and even negotiated with the
victims.

For the above reasons, we ask the international community and Honduran
citizens to pay attention to this Commission, which refuses to address
human rights violations and to respect international standards. We
ask, keeping in mind the need to rebuild the institutions of Honduras
and to address structural problems that a commission of this nature is
not a final historical narrative as has happened in other countries.

*************************

HONDURAS:
Communiqué No. 49
FNRP - The People's National Resistance Front

The People's National Front, in response to the continued repression
against its members, exercised by the heirs of the dictatorship headed
by Pepe Lobo, informs the Honduran population and the international
community:

We denounce the continued de facto regime of Mr. Porfirio Lobo Sosa
and his national security team, for all human rights violations our
country has been experiencing since 27 January this year.

We vehemently condemn the murder of our Vanessa Zepeda and Julio
Fúnez, both active members of the National Front and the Popular
Resistance and prominent representatives of the working class.

We also condemn the assault on the homes of fellow resistance leaders
and the continuing persecution and acts of intimidation carried out by
state security bodies.

We hold the Honduran oligarchy and its political expression, the de
facto regime of Pepe Lobo, by these facts.

We demand respect for the right to safely return home for our
compatriots in exile. We emphasize the case of Manuel Zelaya Rosales
and his team, against whom has been mounted a smear campaign to
justify his political persecution.

It is obvious that the modus operandi of these attacks fits perfectly
with that practiced in the past by the organs of state repression,
such as Battalion 3-16, which will be relaunched today to generate
terror in the name of powerful groups clinging to privileges obtained
through the oppression of the Honduran people.

In this state of helplessness state is absurd that a Truth Commission
to be appointed by a regime involved in these crimes and while the
same forces which have violated human rights remain in office.

We reiterate our position of rejecting the illegitimate regime of Pepe
Lobo, as the continuation of the dictatorship that was installed with
the coup and aims to be validated at international level with an
illegal election process was not observed by any government or
supranational body.

We welcome the decision of countries in Latin America and social
organizations throughout the world who have expressed their rejection
of the dictatorship. Likewise we call on governments that have not yet
set position to reject a regime that violates the most sacred rights
of an entire people, which is at the mercy of a violent and corrupt.

Resist and overcome!
National Resistance Front
Tegucigalpa, M.D.C. February 23, 2010