Honduras has usually been a peaceful place--but it has had bad governance--and thanks to the SCHOOL OF THE AMERICAS things have never been allowed to get better. Tell congress to close SOA down today.

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Report Back from the SOA Watch Honduras Delegation
Honduras is Open forBusiness-Plunder

A delegation of ten SOA Watch activists, accompanied by Fr. Roy Bourgeois , has just returned from Honduras , a country devastated by a 2009 coup led by SOA graduates. Over nine days the delegation met with with a broad spectrum of society in the capital, as well as in towns and farms on both the Pacific -and Atlantic coasts.

From start to finish the days were marked by testimonies of extrajudicial executions, violent repression, death threat and harassment aimed at individuals and sectors of society opposing the coup and current illegal regime of Porfirio Lobo.

From our first morning - when a body was dumped at the headquarters of the striking teachers union - to just hours before our departure flight, when we learned of a campesino deaths in a community we visited, the days unfolded with a litany of tragedy. There were, quite simply, not enough hours in the day to meet with the numbers of people and organizations that wanted to share with us their concerns and fears.

As we prepare to leave, we find ourselves profoundly concerned by this increase in human rights violations, the involvement of government security forces, and the total impunity that reigns in the country. The severity and extent of repression of the Lobo regime in recent months exceeds that of the first weeks under the initial coup regime of Micheletti.

We are especially concerned about the clear complicity between government security forces and the private security guards that protect large landowners and corporations. The countrys wealthiest citizens are literally locked in a battle with the poorest ones, using Honduran security forces to do their dirty work. All this is made possible because of guns, tear gas, tanks and ammunition purchased with US aid to the countrys military and police.

Finally, we return in awe of the extraordinarily brave and profoundly committed community of human rights activists -in Honduras. We feel a renewed commitment as an SOA Watch movement to accompany the Honduran people in their struggle for dignity and for life.

Please read more about the delegation in Lisa Sullivan's report , Honduras is Open forBusiness-Plunder

For more information about upcoming delegations to Costa Rica , Colombia -and Haiti , email Lisa Sullivan atEmail address removed"> Email address removed

Urge your Representative to also pressure President Obama to shut down the School of the Americas (SOA/ WHINSEC) by executive order and to also sign on to the Congressional sign-on letter to Secretary of State Clinton regarding the situation in Honduras.

Click Here to Send a Message to Your Representative

Authors Website: http://eslkevin.wordpress.com/2009/07/09/3-big-paradigms-hol

Authors Bio:

KEVIN STODA-has been blessed to have either traveled in or worked in nearly 100 countries on five continents over the past two and a half decades.--He sees himself as a peace educator and have been-- a promoter of good economic and social development--making-him an enemy of my homelands humongous DEFENSE SPENDING and its focus on using weapons to try and solve global issues.

"I am from Kansas so I also use the pseudonym 'Kansas' and 'alone' when I write and publish.- I-keep two blogs--one with BLOGGER and one with WORDPRESS.- My writings range from reviews to editorials or to travel observations.- I also make recommendations related to policy--having both a-strong background in teaching foreign languages and degrees in teaching in history and the social sciences.--As a Midwesterner, I also write on religion and living out ones faith whether it be as a Christian, Muslim or Buddhist perspective."

On my own home page, I also provide information for language learners and travelers http://www.geocities.com/eslkevin/-,- http://the-teacher.blogspot.com/-& http://alone.gnn.tv/

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