Open Letter to the US Congress and US State Department:

As US-based human rights, grassroots organizing, solidarity, and other civil society organizations, we write to express our deep concern about reports of fraud and state violence during and since the November 26 elections in Honduras. Since election day we have seen images of US munitions that have been used against Honduran citizens asserting their right to democracy. Colleagues and friends from throughout Honduras are sending videos of massive militarization. We write to urge you, in the strongest possible terms, to support credible, independent investigations into any and all claims of state-involvement in electoral fraud and violence during and since the November 26th elections. We reinforce our demand that you immediately suspend all US police and military aid to Honduras.

After the initial release of official results in the Honduran presidential election showed the opposition candidate leading by approximately 5 percentage points based on more than half the returns, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal did not resume releasing presidential election results for more than a day. For comparison, in the 2013 presidential election, the winner was declared with a similar proportion of the returns in. Ever since the updates resumed, the incumbent, President Hernández, has gained ground at a surprising rate and, as of Wednesday afternoon, has passed the opposition candidate, according to the tribunal’s numbers. The long delay, and the dramatic shift in the tendency of the vote count reported before and after that delay, raise serious doubts about the integrity of this election.

The US government has been an ongoing supporter and funder of the Honduran government, including clear US support for the 2009 coup which led to the right-wing National Party taking power, with Hernández as President of the National Congress from 2010-2013. Furthermore, the US has pushed forward the disastrous, failed Plan Colombia model for Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador in the form of the “Alliance for Prosperity in the Northern Triangle” aid package. This 750 million-dollar project makes conditions in Central America more “favorable” for outside investors, albeit through militarization and political reforms dressed up as anti-drug policies.

If the US has a genuine commitment to democracy, now is the time to demonstrate it, by:

• Ensuring that the will of the Honduran electorate be respected in an honest and transparent, politically independent, accurate vote count by supporting credible, independent investigations into any and all claims of state-involvement in electoral fraud and violence during and since the November 26th elections;

• Ending US security aid to Honduras, including police and military aid, and support for Honduran security forces through the so-called “Alliance for Prosperity in the Northern Triangle” program;
  

• Supporting the human rights of the Honduran people in their effort to stand up to voter fraud, intimidation, and dictatorship; and

• Insisting on respect for the rights of Indigenous Peoples (including Garifuna communities) and peasant communities organizing to defend and protect ancestral territories, land, water, and Mother Earth in the face of militarization and repression by the current Honduran regime.

Delegations from La Voz de los de Abajo, Code Pink, and Witness for Peace witnessed and heard testimony of the ongoing intimidation through use of security forces, including US-funded security forces, as well as incidents of fraud and violence at polling places. These continuing abuses underscore the need for the passage of HR 1299, the Berta Cáceres Human Rights in Honduras Act – and companion legislation in the Senate – which would suspend US security aid to Honduras until human rights defenders are protected and serious human rights abuses are brought to justice.

We urge you to exert all possible pressure to promote honesty and transparency for Honduras' election and to advance the cause of HR 1299 and companion legislation in the Senate to suspend the "security" aid that is only making Honduras less secure, including at this critical moment for the country.

Current Signatories:

Witness for Peace/Acción Permanente por la Paz

Grassroots International

Code Pink

Friendship Office of the Americas

School of the Americas Watch (SOAW)

La Voz de los de Abajo

Grassroots Global Justice Alliance

Alliance for Global Justice (AFGJ)

Portland Central America Solidarity Committee (PCASC)

St. Louis Inter-Faith Committee on Latin America (IFCLA)

Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES)

Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC)

Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America (CRLN)

Task Force on the Americas

Sustainable Agriculture of Louisville, KY

Human Rights Observation Honduras

Climate Justice Alliance (CJA)

Latin America Task Force of Interfaith Council for Peace & Justice

Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity

Presbyterian Peace Fellowship

WhyHunger

Global Exchange

Samuel Rubin Foundation

Rights Action

Alianza Americas

Just Foreign Policy

Samuel Rubin Foundation

Cross Borders Network

US-El Salvador Sister Cities

Groundswell International

Houston Peace and Justice Center

Justicia

Nicaragua Center for Community Action (NICCA)

Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala/NISGUA

Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia

Food Chain Workers Alliance

Family Farm Defenders

The Resistance Center for Peace and Justice

National Lawyers Guild

Centro Presente

Houston Peace News

Ivestor Church of the Brethren Mission and Outreach Team

Rochester Committee on Latin America

Casa Baltimore/Limay

Witness for Peace Southeast

Witness for Peace Midwest

Witness for Peace Southeast

Witness for Peace Northwest

Witness for Peace New England

SouthWest Organizing Project

Nagata-Yamauchi Educational Fund

Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests

New Mexico Faith Coalition for Immigrant Justice

Unidad Latina en Accion (ULA)

UU Faith Action, NJ

Minnesota Break the Bonds Campaign

Karani Media

Center for Human Rights & International Justice, Boston College

Travelogue Media

Environmental Association for Latin America

GreenRoots-RaicesVerdes

CAFE at UC Berkeley (Central Americans for Empowerment)

Pioneer Valley Workers Center

San Jose Peace & Justice Center

InterReligious Task Force On Central America and Colombia

Grupo de Solidaridad-Arenal

Santa Clara County Peace & Freedom Party

Chicago Teacher's Union

Nicaragua Center for Community Action (NICCA)

JELMS

PeaceWorks

Denver Justice and Peace Committee

Justice for Muslims Coalition (JMC)

ANSWER

Newton/San Juan del Sur (Nicaragua) Sister City Project

GreenRoots, Inc

Student Organization for Latin American Studies at the University of New Mexico

Guatemala Partnership Committee, Congregational Church of Needham

El Comite de Apoyo a los Trabajadores Agricolas

Unitarian Universalist Faith Action New Jersey

Friends of the Earth

Justice and Compassion Ministries, Cal-Pac Conference of the United Methodist Church

International Capoeira Angola Foundation

American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)

Brazilian Expats for Democracy and Social Justice

Movement Generation: Justice and Ecology Project

About Face: Veterans Against the War (formerly Iraq Veterans Against the War)

International Labor Rights Forum

Sanctuary DMV

Latin America Solidarity Committee - Wisconsin

FAU-AL

Solidarity Committee of the Capital District

Doctors For Global Health

Urgent Action Fund for Women's Human Rights

JASS (Just Associates)

Farmworker Association of Florida

Community Alliance for Global Justice

Quixote Center

GAIA

Portland Jobs with Justice

Veterans for Peace