REVISTAZO.COM interviewed Ramon Custodio Lopez, the National Commissioner of Human Rights (CONADEH), about the situation facing the Lenca community of Montaña Verde.
Revistazo.com: What is CONADEH's perspective of the problems facing ethnic groups in Honduras?
Ramon Custodio: I believe that the ethnic groups must know that we all are equal before the law and that the law is equal for all. Somehow we must construct legal and democratic cultures in which the fact that I belong to an ethnic group does not gives me immunity or less impunity. If I am a member of an ethnic group, I must respect the laws, just like any other Honduran citizen, and if I violate the law, if I commit a crime, I must be judged. In the case of Montaña Verde, there were violations to the laws protecting private property and those responsible were properly identified and captured, despite their resistance of arrest. CONADEH's office in Gracias assures us that they were not mistreated, as alleged, and that force was used only after the wounding or killing of a police officer, or something like that. Then, I also ask all the ethnic groups to realize that the laws are equal for all.
In this case,
the prisoners and indigenous leaders say they were victims of torture,
and they present some documents that look like proof that they were tortured.
They say they were arrested in the middle of the night, which is not legal.
What does the Commissioner's report say?
There was a capture order and it was applied to legal fugitives. They
were fugitives and had to be brought under the control of the authorities.
And at that
hour?
I have already responded to that. Any fugitive any fugitive can be captured
at any hour anywhere.
Directors
of COPINH (Council of Popular Organizations and Indigenous Nations) say
they feel unprotected by the State and human rights organizations, and
that they believe there is a policy to make them invisible as indigenous
groups. The policy is to act against them because there are many people
connected to the effort to dislodge them from their ancestral lands.
That involves two different issues. The rights of indigenous communities
are established by Agreement 169, sponsored by the International Organization
of Workers. Agreement 169 grants them their rights, but their rights and
my rights end where the rights of others begin. I am not going to discuss
here institutional politics, but I will say simply that the law is the
law and it must be fulfilled and respected and we all must accept it.
And that is
the work of the Commissioner?
That is the work of the Commissioner.
And in this
case?
In the case, the presence of the Commissioner through the Gracias office
has done much good for all those who understand that they do not have
more rights than other people. I cannot say more.
Doctor, what
can you tell us about the case of Tolupane indigenous group, who last
leader was murdered? How is your office handling it?
That is another case and it is under investigation. We will make sure
that the public prosecutor is properly pursuing the case. But this is
a separate issue.
But you are
attending to all of the complaints about human rights violations that
are sent to your office?
Of course, of course. You know me. I am not going to ignore my past but
neither does my past obligate me to disregard the Constitution. I have
spent my life fighting for respect for the Constitution, and the Constitution
establishes rights, it establishes duties, it establishes obligations,
and it defines when a Honduran gives up his rights by committing a crime.
Ramon Custodio