Mn-prog-events Mailing List: Honduras e-contact list - Stop the US from funding repression

[Hands Off Honduras Minnesota (handsoffhonduras]

To: Hands Off Honduras e-contact list

Hello neighbors,
If you've received this message, your name is on the Hands off
Honduras-Minnesota contact list, a local solidarity group started in 2009
after the military coup in Honduras. If you are interested in connecting
with us, stay tuned and read below. We need your help!  If you want to be
removed from this contact list, please respond to this message with
Unsubscribe in the header.

**URGENT ACTION**  Please call the US Embassy in Honduras and your US
Senators and Representatives today or tomorrow.
<https://www.hondurasnow.org/urgent-action-guapinol/>  Message: the US
needs to attend the trial for the Guapinol 8 water defenders on Friday. The
trial against the 8 men who have been in pre-trial detention for more than
2 years started in December, was suspended, and then started up a few weeks
ago in mid-January. Karen Spring has been posting daily trial summaries here
<https://www.hondurasnow.org/category/guapinol/>. *THIS WEEK on Friday,
February 4th at 9 am*, the concluding remarks will be delivered in the
courthouse in Tocoa, Colon.

JOIN US IN ADVOCATING for human rights and anti-corruption bills now in US
Congress
The Berta Caceres Human Rights in Honduras
<https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/1574?s=1&r=31>Act
stops the US from funding or training the military and security forces in
Honduras who have repeatedly repressed public dissent
<https://www.wbez.org/stories/mass-protests-erupt-in-honduras-over-plans-to-privatize-healthcare-and-education/f50927db-87b8-4832-bfff-eff1a8a09223>,
facilitated drug shipments, and disappeared Honduran citizens
<https://www.solidaritycollective.org/post/one-year-after-the-forced-disappearance-of-four-garifuna-men-ofraneh-demands-answers#:~:text=The%20four%2C%20Sinder%20Centeno%2C%20Milton,have%20not%20been%20seen%20since.>
 who stand up against
<https://guapinolresiste.wixsite.com/freedomforguapinol>corrupt officials
in power. Our group has been working to raise consciousness about US funds
being sent to Honduras. These funds too often end up in private hands or
support multinational business interests, rather than human needs. With the
new Biden/Harris effort to address the root causes of migration in Central
America through corporate investment
<https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/12/13/vice-president-kamala-harris-announces-new-commitments-as-part-of-the-call-to-action-for-the-private-sector-to-deepen-investment-in-central-america-now-totaling-over-1-2-billion/>,
we are concerned that human rights violations will be ignored in favor of
benefits for corporate America and the promise of jobs. Hands Off Honduras
and MN-Honduras solidarity groups are asking for your support to elevate
this issue and to urge the MN delegation to US Congress, especially Rep.
Dean Phillips, Senators Smith and Klobuchar, to support the Berta Caceres
Act and the companion bill on the US Senate, Honduras Human Rights and
Anti-Corruption Act
<https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/388?s=1&r=51>. Reply
to this message or call Sherilyn at 651-224-7308 to join with us or hear
more.

VIRTUAL CONVERSATION THURSDAY          Honduras: What's next?
*We invite you to register here
<https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_IaWtnL9eQX6IPj3LFFwPFA?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=cbb19933-d6ac-4d29-b8b8-6168ce53de9d&fbclid=IwAR0IaqiX_kG850zw0TDI6xJWj-qVHUsqzl7pIYpsm1FhmaL0-chZvYgvM8Q>
for a special webcast this Thursday, Feb 3rd, 2022 at 5pm PT / 8pm ET*
*L**ast week, Xiomara Castro was sworn into office as the first woman
president and the most popular candidate in Honduran history. The last 12
years under corrupt governance came with a high cost for the people.
Honduras became one of the poorest and most violent countries in the
hemisphere, with the highest levels of asylum requests to the US, while its
ruling class was one of the richest in the region, benefiting from criminal
and polluting enterprises, including drug trafficking and extractivism. But
the people from Honduras didn’t stop fighting, despite the prosecution,
incarceration and murder of their leaders.What challenges will Xiomara
Castro face and what can progressives in the region can do to help her
succeed in moving a democratic agenda forward in Honduras?*

In closing, we look forward to re-connecting with you! Twin Cities
supporters of Honduras published a letter to the editor in MinnPost last
week "Stop Funding Repression in Honduras
<https://www.minnpost.com/letters/2022/01/letter-submission-ifrah-abdalla-and-sarah-utley-01-21-2022/>".
We are active and need your help to make a change for stronger defense of
human rights and our common humanity in Honduras and in Minnesota.

Warmly,
Sherilyn Young
on behalf of Hands Off Honduras and MN Honduras solidarity group
Facebook:  @MNHonduras