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Cuba expressed concern over the Honduran government’s repression and violence against protesting supporters of opposition presidential candidate, Salvador Nasralla.
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We Want a Transparent Final Vote in Honduras
Cuban Vice Minister of Foreign Relations Rogelio Sierra said the current administration must respect the rights of those trying to bring "peace and development" to the country.
Sierra said in a tweet, “We reject the repression against the popular protests [in Honduras], we’re saddened by the loss of human life and we request that the people be respected.”
Honduras signed the Latin American and Caribbean Proclamation of Peace in Havana in 2014, Sierra reminded the international community, in which the government pledged to protect, not repress the citizens’ rights to peaceful protest.
The Cuban official also criticized Organization of American States Secretary-General Luis Almagro for his “complicit silence” regarding the Honduran military and national police force violence against protesters. The Committee of the Relatives of the Disappeared in Honduras confirmed to teleSUR that the police and military forces killed three people and injured 11 in Tegucigalpa, and arrested 41, including six minors.
Late last Friday night the Honduran Ministry of Justice ordered the suspension of citizens' constitutional rights and mandated a 10-day curfew from 6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. prohibiting people from traveling or being in public spaces between those hours. The curfew was expanded late Monday night to prohibit circulation in most parts of the country between 8:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. for the following six days.
Opposition Alliance supporters have been on the streets for nearly a week now, despite the curfew, saying that the Supreme Electoral Tribunal responsible for the electoral process, including counting ballots, “stole” the election from Nasralla.
The coalition is demanding electoral transparency, and that ballots from several thousand polls be counted under international observation, that it says were left out of TSE's official results. Though an official winner has not been declared for the Nov. 26 elections, according to the TSE, Hernandez is ahead with 42.98 percent, and Nasralla has 41.38 percent of the popular vote after 99.98 percent of ballots were counted.
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Along with Cuba, the Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza condemned the Honduran government’s "blow against democracy from sectors of the Honduran oligarchy," adding, "The people's will and human rights of the people of Honduras must be respected.”
In a press release, Arreaza said that "the same actors" ordering this repression, referring to the current right-wing president and incumbent candidate, Juan Orlando Hernandez, were also responsible for the 2009 coup against the democratically-elected President Manuel Zelaya.
Bolivian President Evo Morales has also reprimanded the United States and OAS for their alleged complicity in the possible electoral fraud and police violence in Honduras post-elections. "Why are the U.S. and OAS silently complicit regarding the elections and death of citizens in Honduras? Democracy is in danger in a neighboring country?" he tweeted.
In a turn of events on Monday night, the Honduran special police force, Cobra, said they would not participate in the crackdown against street protesters anymore. The National Police in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa officially began a strike on Tuesday morning.
"We can not become violators of human rights, if we do it, sooner or later we will pay the debt, in fact, we are already paying for the violations committed by our superiors in the past, please reconsider and understand and we do not fail our noble institution," the official statement issued by the National Police stated.
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