After the coup electronic resource ongoing violence, intimidation, and impunity in Honduras [Tamara Taraciuk]

"December 2010"--Table of contents page. ;

"This report was written by Tamara Taraciuk, special advisor for South America in the Americas Division of Human Rights Watch, based on research conducted by Tamara Taraciuk and Nik Steinberg, Mexico researcher at Human Rights Watch.--P. 66. ;

Title from PDF title screen (Human Rights Watch, viewed on Dec. 26, 2010).

The military coup d'etat that ousted President Manuel Zelaya on June 28, 2009, and the attacks on journalists, human rights defenders, and political activists in the coup's aftermath, represent the most serious setbacks for human rights and the rule of law in Honduras since the height of political violence in the 1980s. After the coup, security forces committed serious human rights violations, killing some protesters, repeatedly using excessive force against demonstrators, and arbitrarily detaining thousands of coup opponents. The de facto government installed after the coup also adopted executive decrees that imposed unreasonable and illegitimate restrictions on the rights to freedom of expression and assembly. Since the inauguration of President Porfirio Lobo in January 2010, there have been new acts of violence and intimidation against journalists, human rights defenders, and political activists. While some of these attacks may be the result of common crime, available evidence, including explicit threats, suggest that many were politically motivated. Impunity for violations has been the norm. No one has been held criminally responsible for any of the human rights violations committed under the de facto government in 2009. And available information indicates that there has been little or no progress in investigating the attacks and threats that have occurred this year.