Aug
Get Involved, Politics
Background of threats toward Hector Soto
1- Prior to the November elections, Hector’s telephones were repeatedly tapped and conversations interrupted and information removed from his cell phone. Men driving in unmarked cars and in police uniform took photographs of him entering his residence.
2- In July and now August, the web networking in his office has been sabotaged and the phone lines continue to be tapped and interrupted.
3- At 8 AM on July 27, 2010, Hector received a phone call on his cell phone. A male voice said, “Look, son of a bitch, we are going to blow your head off right where you are.” As Hector stayed silent, the voice continued in a furious, threatening tone, saying, “are you hearing me?, faggot son of a bitch.” In the building where Hector lives, there was an unknown person talking on a cell phone.
4- That same day, Hector was working on an activity with a youth group teaching administrative skills when an unknown person attempted to enter the offices pretending he was delivering water. Later that day, an unknown person in military attire observed the offices while another person had approached the door of Hector’s apartment.
5- During the first week of August, a green Toyota RAV and a brown Honda, both with polarized windows and without license plates, parked for several hours in front of Hector Soto’s office.
These acts of intimidation against Hector Soto are extremely concerning, especially given they are not isolated events. Over the last year, youth groups throughout Honduras have denounced attempted kidnappings of their members and death threats received via texts to their cell phones signed by unknown or clandestine groups.
Furthermore, there have been police incursions into educational centers, including the Vicente Caceres and Jesus Aguilar Paz Institutes and the National Autonomous University of Honduras, that have resulted in arbitrary detentions and injuries among the students.
This policy of intimidation and threats against young people goes against due process and the rights of life, safety, assembly, and freedom of expression, freedom of thought protected by international human rights covenants signed and ratified by the Republic of Honduras.
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