The Berta Caceres Human Rights in Honduras Act, HR 1945, would suspend US security aid to Honduras. Already 61 Representatives have sponsored the bill! Take action today:
Step 1: Find your Representative here.
Step 2: Look to see if he or she has already co-sponsored the Berta Caceres Human Rights in Honduras Act by checking the list of co-sponsors here.
Step 3: Call the Congressional Switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask for your Representative’s office. When you reach their office, here are sample scripts depending if your representative has or hasn’t co-sponsored the bill:
- If your representative has co-sponsored the bill: My name is ______ and I am a constituent calling from _______. Today is the 10 year anniversary of the military coup in the Honduras that was carried out by US trained military officials. I would like to thank Representative _____ for co-sponsoring HR 1945, the Berta Caceres Human Rights in Honduras Act, which would suspend US security aid to Honduras! The brutal repression by security forces continues today in Honduras; just last week security forces killed two young men during protests. I ask that Rep. _____ make a public statement condemning continued US support for the brutal Honduran regime.
- If your representative has not yet co-sponsored the bill: My name is _______ and I am a constituent calling from ________. Today is the 10 year anniversary of the military coup in the Honduras that was carried out by US trained military officials. Since the coup, poverty and violence in Honduras have dramatically increased and corrupt, narco-government rules with impunity. This has resulted in a corresponding increase in migration as people flee. The state security forces routinely kill civilians during demonstrations with impunity. Just last week, the Military Police killed two young men. I urge Representative ______ to co-sponsor HR 1945, the Berta Caceres Human Rights in Honduras Act, which would suspend US security aid to Honduras until human rights violations by security forces cease and those responsible are brought to justice.
3. Tweet using the hashtag #BertaCáceresAct or share SOA Watch’s Tweet! You can also post Rep. Jan Schakowsky’s fantastic op-ed on Facebook, Twitter, or other social media.
More background:
June 28, 2019 marks 10 years since high ranking military officials — trained at the US Army School of the Americas — entered the home of democratically elected Honduran President Manuel Zelaya and forcibly removed him in his pijamas, flying him out of the country. It has been 10 years of death, destruction, and repression, with right-wing policies to sell off public services and natural resources enforced with bullets. The government appears to be run by corrupt criminal groups, with multiple powerful figures having ties to drug trafficking. And the US has supported those who took power in the coup every step of the way; from refusing to classify it as a military coup to avoid cutting off aid to financing the ’security’ forces as they unleash terror to continuing to back the current repressive regime.
The repression continues day after day. Just this week, the Military Police fired on students at the National Autonomous University (UNAH), injuring four students. Last week, 17 year old Elbin Noel Maradiaga and 29-year old Luis Enrique Maldonado Vasquez were shot and killed by state ‘security’ forces that opened fire at different protests in Honduras.
Enough is enough.