Sunday, August 22, 2010

Honduran Peasant Leader Maria Teresa Flores Assassinated

This is a truly horrendous loss and cause of grief, outrage, and protest. -- Julian


Honduran Peasant Leader Assassinated
Written by Red Morazánica de Información, Translated by Sofia Jarrin   
Friday, 13 August 2010 19:24
The peasant leader Maria Teresa Flores, who was missing since August 7, was found dead with signs of having been tortured and then executed with shots from a firearm. Flores, mother of 14 children, was part of the Coordinating Council of Peasant Organizations of Honduras (COCOCH) and she used to head the Peasant Organization of Honduras (OCH).

The body of the leader was found, in a state of decomposition with shots and signs of having been tortured, on Wednesday at 10:00 am about 35 kilometers from the city of Siguatepeque, according to reports from relatives.

Flores had disappeared on Saturday, August 7 at noon, after having left Tegucigalpa bound for home at 6:00 in the morning. She had contacted a member of a peasant group and said she was in Siguatepeque waiting for a bus to get home. Her family has since then not heard anything about her until today when they found her body in decomposition, said the story of journalist Mabel Marquez.

According to the journalist, the agrarian leader, was coordinator of several peasant groups in the area where she resided, in the department of Comayagua and was originally from the town of Meambar.

The year before Maria Teresa Flores had lost 15 relatives in a car accident while returning from the funeral of a relative.

A political assassination

The leader of the National Front of Popular Resistance (FNRP), Carlos H. Reyes, called the death of Flores, a “political assassination”, framed in the repression the country lives under after the coup.

Reyes questioned whether “those who make decisions (about the assassination of social leaders) are at the highest level, advised by key elements of the U.S. embassy.”

In recent months there have been a series of murders and executions of people, to the extent that the country was ranked as the most violent in the world by a British publication “The Economist.”

The Committee of Relatives of the Detained and Disappeared in Honduras, COFADEH, reported a few days ago that there is a state policy of systematic violation of human rights in Honduras.

To read the original in Spanish: Asesinan a dirigente campesina María Teresa Flores see below:

Asesinan a dirigente campesina María Teresa Flores


Carlos H. Reyes: es “un asesinato político”

Tegucigalpa 12 de agosto de 2010. La dirigente campesina María Teresa Flores, desaparecida desde el pasado 07 de agosto, fue encontrada muerta, con señales de haber sido torturada y posteriormente ejecutada con disparos de arma de fuego.

 Flores, madre de 14 hijos,  formaba parte del Consejo Coordinador de Organizaciones Campesinas de Honduras (COCOCH), anteriormente también fue directiva de Organización Campesina de Honduras (OCH).

El cadáver de la dirigente, fue encontrado en estado de putrefacción y con disparos y señales de haber sido torturada el día miércoles a las 10:00 de la mañana a unos 35 kilómetros de la ciudad de Siguatepeque, según  versiones de familiares.

Flores había desparecido desde al Sábado 07 de Agosto  al medio día, pues había salido de Tegucigalpa con destino a su casa a las 6:00 de la mañana, pero  se comunicó con un compañero de un grupo campesino  y le dijo que se encontraba en Siguatepeque esperando un auto-bus para su casa, desde entonces la familia no volvió a saber nada mas de ella hasta hoy que  encontraron su cuerpo ya putrefacto, según el relato de la Periodista Mabel Márquez.

De acuerdo con la Periodista, la dirigente agraria, era coordinadora de varios grupos campesinos en el sector donde residía, en el departamento de Comayagua y era originaria del municipio de Meambar.

El año anterior esta compañera perdió 15 de sus familiares en un accidente automovilístico mientras regresaban del  entierro de un pariente suyo.

Un asesinato político.

El dirigente del Frente Nacional de Resistencia Popular FNRP, Carlos H. Reyes, calificó la muerte de Flores, como “un asesinato político”, enmarcado en la represión que vive el país después del golpe de Estado.

Reyes cuestionó que “quienes tomas las decisiones (sobre el asesinato de dirigentes sociales), es al más alto nivel, asesorados por elementos claves de la embajada de los Estados Unidos”.

En los últimos meses se registra una serie de asesinatos y ejecuciones de personas, al grado que el país es catalogado como el más violento de mundo por una publicación Inglesa “The Econimist”.

El Comité de Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos en Honduras, COFADEH, denunció hace pocos días, que existe una política de Estado de violación sistemática a los derechos humanos en Honduras.

3 comments:

  1. Yet another brave woman has been murdered because she dared to speak out against those men in power. I too wonder about the involvement of US in respect of maintaining the coup.

    But of course the fact Peasant Leader Maria Teresa Flores has been brutally tortured and then murdered has not reached mainstream male-dominated media.

    Such news is not news in these men's eyes, because not only was Ms. Flores a woman she was also not white.

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  2. IN LOVING MEMORY OF MY MOTHER

    TERESA DE JESUS FLORES

    I WILL LIKE TO THANKS TO ALL THE PEOPLE FOR ALL THE PRAYERS...

    WE ARE SO PROUD OF HER SHE ALWAYS WORK SO HARD FOR OTHER AND NOW WE STIL KNOWING THAT SHE IS WORKING FROM HAVEN..SHE WASS BRAVE MOTHER, FRIEND AND WIFE.

    AND TO THOSE WHO DID THAT TO MY MOM WE JUST ASK GOD TO TAKE CARE OF THAT.

    FROM: ALL HER CHILDRENS AND GRANDKIDS..

    GOD BLESS YOU

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  3. Dear Hilda Flores, and also to each and every child and grandchild of Teresa de Jesus Flores,

    I am honored to have your words expressed here for your beloved mother and grandmother. May her memory and work live on and on.

    I extend to you and to her friends my sincerest wishes for your hearts and minds to find support, care, and validation for all you are feeling and have been going through.

    And may her vision of justice and freedom for all poor and marginalised people, for an end to tyranny and violence against all oppressed people, be here on Earth soon.

    G-d bless you, Hilda Flores and your family.

    G-d bless your mother.

    ReplyDelete