Planning a delegation to Honduras | U.S-El Salvador Sister Cities

November 21th, 2012
by Alexandra Early

On November 18th, Hondurans came out in droves to vote for their preferred parties in the country´s first primary elections since the formation of a new left-wing party, LIBRE. The Liberation and Re-foundation Party, LIBRE, was formed with the help of the Honduran National Popular Resistance Front (FNRP) an alliance of human rights, indigenous, feminist, gay, union and environmental organizations which united after the 2009 coup d’etat.

Since the formation of the LIBRE party, LIBRE candidates have been the targets of repression, death threats and assassinations. Gay rights activist and LIBRE legislative candidate Erik Martinez Avila would have been the first openly candidate, but he was assassinated in May of this year. On November 3, 2012, LIBRE primary candidate for mayor of Morazan, Edgardo Adalid Motiño, was assassinated at LIBRE’s office in Morazan. On November 2, an attempt was made on the life of María Luisa Borjas, a LIBRE primary candidate for mayor of Tegucigalpa and Comayaguela.

In this heightened environment of violence and repression, LIBRE and the Resistance reached out for international support and the Honduran Solidarity Network, an umbrella group of U.S solidarity and social justice organizations, responded, organizing a delegation of about 40 human right observers from around the world. Seven representatives of Sister Cities, the SHARE foundation, CRIPDES and the Movement for Popular Resistance traveled from El Salvador to Tegucigalpa to meet with members of LIBRE and observe Sunday’s primaries.

In coordination with the HSN delegation and with credentials from human rights organization COFADEH (the Committee of Families of the Disappeared of Honduras), our small El Salvador solidarity brigade divided into two groups and observed at two voting centers in an busy, urban neighborhood of Tegucigalpa. Armed with our COFADEH badges, notebooks and cameras, we spent the day documenting the electoral process, chatting with voters and receiving a several congratulatory handshakes and even kisses on the cheek from Hondurans who were very glad to see international observers, not a common site at the polls in Honduras.

Most of our group had observed or participated in the organization of previous elections in El Salvador, so we were struck by some very “different” elements of the Honduran electoral process, including the presence of military personnel inside the polling places (even filming voters) and the lack of signage and guidance for voters, many of whom seem uneducated about the primary process. We also took advantage of the day to give interviews to several Honduran new media. Even right wing news outlets like El Heraldo and the Honduran National Television Station (aka the channel of the coup government) found themselves videotaping us talk about human rights, repression and the way the LIBRE party voting tables were less accessible and visible than the mainstream party tables. It wouldn’t be surprising if some of those interviews weren´t actually aired.

Other members of the HSN delegation were also eager to get the message out about their electoral observation and the longer delegation, which included a visit to a threatened community radio station, the communities surrounding the Goldcorp mine in the Siria Valley and the Zacate Grande, a community facing illegal eviction threats that SC board member Ann Legg and I visited in January 2012.

Sister Cities, CRIPDES and the MPR-12 are committed to continuing to work in solidarity with the Honduran resistance movement to protect human rights and stop U.S. intervention in the run up to the November 2013 general election in Honduras. We are planning to bring a large delegation of Salvadoran and U.S. observers for next year’s elections. If you wish to support this work please send a check to

U.S.-El Salvador Sister Cities
P.O. Box 95783, Seattle, WA 98145

or click here to make your donation online.