RIGHTS-HONDURAS: Military Pushes Again for Amnesty

By Thelma Mejía Reprint | | Print |

Thelma Mejia

TEGUCIGALPA, Feb 5 1998 (IPS) - A court ruling absolving an army officer from human rights violations has encouraged the military to seek a general amnesty from any involvement in the disappearance of 187 persons in Honduras in 1987.

Judge Francisco Pastor Merlo absolved Col. Juan Blas Salazar, currently detained on charges related to drug trafficking, based on the argument that he is protected from prosecution by the spirit of the amnesty contained in the 1987 Central American peace agreements.

Salazar had been accused of being responsible for kidnapping of six university students in 1982. The students survived torture thanks to the quick intervention of human rights groups and international pressure.

The judge’s decision was a surprise to human rights groups, who threatened to take the case to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. The Commission already has condemned Honduras over the disappearance in 1987 and 1988 of popular leaders Manfredo Velasquez and Saul Godinez.

But military leaders do not appear concerned about renewed international pressure to protect human rights and have repeated that it is time to reflect, reconcile the “family,” and apply a special policy of “forgive and forget.”

It is “absurd to continue dividing the nation with events that belong to the past,” said the head of the armed forces, Gen. Mario Hung Pacheco, who faces two accusations over disappearances. He said he was satisfied at Judge Merlo’s decision.

“What happened during that period was painful for the country, but it is time that we begin an effort to reconcile in order to close this wound,” as has occurred in other Central and Latin American nations, Hung Pacheco said.

Humanitarian groups interpreted the position of the military as a strategy to sway public opinion in favor of an amnesty. Former Presidents Jose Azcona (1985-89) and Rafael Callejas (1990-94) have already stated that they favor an amnesty based on the peace accords signed at Esquipulas.

Honduran archbishop Oscar Andres Rodriguez, president of the Latin American Bishops’ Conference (CELAM), made similar statements when he called for “family unity, integration and reconciliation.”

Attorney General Edmundo Orellana was emphatic when noting that the amnesty should not include the military, because this would “create a cult of impunity” and because there could be no reconciliation in Honduras without justice.

The armed forces seek protection in the amnesty contained in a decree emitted by the Callejas government in 1990, in which left- wing groups gave up their arms, and exiles were allowed to return to the country.

The influential Diario Tiempo, in the northern city of San Pedro Sula, the second-largest city in Honduras, said in an editorial that the amnesty for members of left-wing groups was based on the fact that their crimes were political in nature, while the military committed common crimes by committing extrajudicial executions.

“Forgiving and forgetting those who, in the name of and in representation of the state, kidnapped, tortured, assassinated, and obstructed justice is not legally nor morally acceptable, since it violates the Constitution and the very spirit of the Esquipulas accords,” the newspaper opined.

Human rights organizations declared they were unwilling to “forgive and forget” without justice, because this would only strengthen impunity.

The offensive in favor of an amnesty for the military is taking place at a time in which the military is experiencing serious internal power struggles, according to analyst Victor Meza. Many of them are facing trials, and they need an “arm that unites them around a common objective, in order to lessen public rancor against them.”