A group of women protesting against the coup in front of the American embassy in Tegucigalpa. Photo: ACT

Minister for Development Ulla Tørnæs considers relocating fundsoriginally ear marked for the Ombudsman-institution in Honduras to support Honduran civil organisations “working to ensure that respect of human rights, democracy and constitutional principles maintained.” This appears in an answer from the Minister for Development to MP Frank Aaen. The Minister has cut the support which has been allocated to the Ombudsman-institution in Honduras via the Regional programme for human rights and democracy in Middle America because the ombudsman is known to have supported the coup d’etat. The EU has put to a halt to negotiations regarding the association agreement, which has been planned between EU and Honduras. Together with a group of Danish and European NGO’s, DanChurchAid has appealed to Swedish EU presidency not to initiate negotiations on a association agreement with Honduras before democracy has been re-established in the country. EU is expected to debate further sanctions against the coup government medio September and will also discuss EU’s opinion with regards to the coming elections on the 28 November in Honduras. Last July EU blocked 90 mill dollars wirth of aid to Honduras, which is the second poorest country in Latin America.  

Network in DK and Europe

Read about the DanChurchAid European Network, CIFCA, http://www.cifca.org/ Read about the Honduras network on Ulandsnyt.dk

Reluctant Americans stop money flowAlso the US has, although somewhat reluctantly, followed suit putting financial pressure on Honduras. The Americans have recently informed that planned aid at a sum of 31 mill Dollars will be stopped. The decision has been made in concordant with American legislation and the background is that sharper measurements are needed vis-à-vis the de facto government in Honduras as long as they are opposed to the San José agreement and to re-establishing democracy in Honduras, the spokesman for the State Secretary, Hilary Clinton, said. The San José agreement is a proposal for at settlement presented by the President of Costa Rica. It’s main outline is that the President, “Mel” Zelaya, who is illegally deposed will be reinstated as the President of Honduras with limited powers up to the elections which will take place on 28 November.

A coup is a coupThe American halt of financial aid for Honduras has been decided upon regardless Hilary Clinton did not think that the deposition of Zelaya on 28 June could be regarded as a military coup as several of the legislative and executive powers took part in the deposition of Zelaya. However, many prominent senators, among others the democrat Howard Berman, who is chairman of the board of international affairs has forced the pace in order to halt American funds going to Honduras due to the coup. “It waddles like a duck, it looks like a duck and it quacks like a duck,” Howard Berman wrote in the Los Angeles Times this week in a comment to Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ interpretation of when a coup is a coup. He encouraged the American Secretary of State to call “the bird by it’s name.”