PROJECT NEWS

HONDURAN ARTIST: WITH A GUITAR UNDER HER ARM AND ON HUNGER STRIKE AGAINST CORRUPTION

San José, Costa Rica,  May 7, 2008.  Wings of Butterfly

A call to support Honduran artists and activists who have united to fight corruption and in defense of democracy in their country was launched by Karla Lara, a Honduran singer-songwriter, and feminist activist Daisy Flores, a member of the Advisory Board of the Wings of the Butterfly project.  Both Lara and Flores are part of a group of more than 50 persons who have been on a hunger strike since April 7th in front of the National Congress Building in Tegucigalpa.

In addition to the hunger strike, thousands of people including teachers, homemakers, high school and university students, campesinos/as, magistrates, feminists, and Jesuit priests among others, have demonstrated daily.  They are calling for a just solution to a controversy in which four government prosecutors have shelved countless legal cases, including 16 cases of corruption that were under investigation.  The protestors are also demanding suspension of the dismissals and removal of other prosecutors by Chief Attorney General Rose Bautista, as well as removal of the Chief Attorney General and Vice Attorney General for “the politicization of the Public Ministry and negligence of their civil functions.”

Karla Lara explained the reasons for the hunger strike by saying, that “each one of the hunger strikers is willing to give their all, so that the situation in Honduras changes regarding impunity about corruption, because we feel that if we win the struggle, there will be a legal precedent that will stop corruption in the way in which these cases are taken to court.“

Lara noted that another reason for the hunger strike is “so that corrupt prosecutors in the higher echelons of the Ministry will think twice before making legal cases inactive, because they will remember that we are a people who are willing to struggle for dignity and rights, all the way to the end.”

Lara continued, “A few of us artists have joined the different activities in solidarity with the hunger strike and are moved by the same feelings and consciousness that we share with everyone else:  Indignation in light of the assault, disrespect of those who have used their political power, sometimes dressed in red, sometimes in blue [colors of the two main political parties], disrespecting the Honduran people and adding to the poverty and misery of most of the population. 

Karla Lara is part of the movement of women artists in her country and the Central American region who are supporting the defense of institutionality.  She explains why artists must have this kind of commitment:  “Music and art as well as other activities in life can be or not be at the service of an ideal or a cause, just like now – for justice.  To sing and play your guitar voluntarily for a dream, to find yourself behind a musical instrument like Soraya Morales, and like Hari Dixon [both on hunger strike], is our form of assuming a stance in the face of a problem that we all share.”

As a young Honduran feminist activist, Daisy Flores is also participating in the hunger strike.  She has issued a call for the international community to support the statement [see below] by the Citizens Alliance Against Corruption in Honduras at a moment when negotiations are finally taking place.  However, Flores declared that:  “It is urgent at this moment for the international community to support our demands to that justice is made.”

Gilda Rivera, feminist activist and executive director of the Center for Women’s Rights, stated that “the need to end corruption in Honduras is everybody’s need, including women, who are subject to an epidemic of femicide that also continues with impunity.” 

Honduras has the third highest rate of femicide in Central America, following Guatemala and El Salvador.  In the last five years, 813 cases of femicide have been reported and most of them have not been prosecuted, but are part of the many cases that have been shelved by the Chief Attorney General and Public Ministry.
(See YouTube video about femicide in Honduras:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgB17XbENXQ )

The Citizen’s Alliance against Corruption in Honduras is requesting of the international community to write to the government of Honduras in support of the demands that the people of the country are making, which include the following:

- To fast track and guarantee the correct application of the new law adopted by the National Congress that allows for corrective measures of the highest authorities in the Public Ministry.

- Maintain dialogue and respect toward the Negotiating Committee established by the prosecutors on hunger strike and all organizations that are supporting their demands.

- That the State guarantee physical security and respect labor and legal rights of the prosecutors on strike and of all who have joined the hunger strike and supported the struggle.

- Remind all government bodies that they have made a commitment to  the people of Honduras to prosecute the cases of corruption, even those where important personalities are involved, and to ensure justice in cases that result in guilty verdicts.

For more information about the case go to www.radiofeminista.net

For more information about the Wings of the Butterfly project, go to:  www.alasdemariposa.org or write to info@alasdemariposa.org.