State Dept. removes Honduran travel alert

Citing an “improved security situation” the U.S. State Department removed its travel alert on Honduras.

The alert- which was officially removed last week- was placed shortly after the June 28th ouster of Honduran president Manuel Zelaya. As reported by the Canadian Press, Honduran travel authorities claimed that tourism plummeted in the near seven months since Zelaya was deposed.

The State Department’s move comes as reports have emerged of violence against opponents of Honduras’ de facto government. As one tipster informed us via e-mail, a local human rights group denounced the murder of a protestor while allegedly under police custody. Honduran LGBT activist Walter Trochez was killed in a drive-by shooting days after authorities supposedly harassed him. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jody Williams co-wrote the following in an op/ed piece yesterday:

Lawless violence against women has pervaded Honduras since the coup. As of August, women’s groups in Honduras have documented 249 cases of violations of women’s human rights, including 23 cases of beatings and sexual assault and seven gang rapes by police explicitly trying to “punish” women for their involvement in demonstrations. The number of femicides – the violent murder of women because they are women – has tripled since the coup, with 51 cases reported during the month of July alone.

But these statistics do not tell the whole story. Since those responsible for investigating cases are often also the perpetrators, it’s not hard to understand why women are unwilling to come forward to report gender-related crimes against them.

What do you think?

Image- Al Jazeera English (Hondurans voting during last month’s national elections).
Online Sources- Queerty, Christian Science Monitor, The Latin Americanist, Canadian Press, Democracy in Action