• Urgent Action

Urgent Action Update: INDIGENOUS ACTIVISTS STILL MISSING (Honduras: UA 123.20)

June 7, 2021

A group of individuals wearing police vests, took Garífuna activists Alberth Centeno Tomas, Suami Mejía García, Gerardo Rochez Cálix, and Milton Martínez Álvarez from their homes on July 18, 2020. They belong to the Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras (OFRANEH) and are still missing. We demand authorities to determine their whereabouts, ensure an independent, effective, and impartial investigation into their disappearance, and bring those responsible to justice.

TAKE ACTION:
  1. Please take action as-soon-as possible. This Urgent Action expires on August 2, 2021.
  2. Write a letter in your own words or using the sample below as a guide to one or both government officials listed. You can also email, fax, call or Tweet them.
  3. Click here to let us know the actions you took on Urgent Action 123.20. It’s important to report because we share the total number with the officials we are trying to persuade and the people we are trying to help.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Óscar Fernando Chinchilla Attorney General Public Prosecutor’s Office Honduras Edificio Lomas Plaza II, Col. Lomas del Guijarro, Ave. República Dominicana, Tegucigalpa, M.D.C., Honduras Email: [email protected] Twitter: @ofchb ; @MP_Honduras
Ambassador Luis Fernando Suazo Barahona Embassy of Honduras 1220 19th Street, NW, Suite #320 Washington, DC 20036 Phone: 202 699 7702 Twitter: @EmbHondurasUSA ; @LuisFSuazo Facebook: @EmbHondurasUSA Salutation: Dear Ambassador
SAMPLE LETTER Dear Attorney General Óscar Fernando Chinchilla, I am extremely concerned about the enforced disappearance of the four Garífuna activists Alberth Snider Centeno Tomas, Suami Aparicio Mejía García, Gerardo Mizael Rochez Cálix and Milton Joel Martínez Álvarez, members of the Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras (OFRANEH), and taken from their homes in the Garifuna community of Triunfo de la la Cruz by a group of individuals wearing DPI-like vests on July 18, 2020. Despite a search operation carried out by the National police and an investigation started by the Public Prosecutors Office, their whereabouts remain unknown nearly one year later. Seven months after their disappearance , OFRANEH organized the Investigation and Search Committee for the Disappeared from Triunfo De la Cruz (SUNLA), an independent group composed of human rights organizations, with the participation of experts and relatives of the disappeared, to monitor the investigation by Honduran authorities. SUNLA requested to be included in the official investigations, a request that was rejected by Honduran authorities, according to the Committee. I urge you to adopt all the necessary measures to find Alberth Snider Centeno Tomas, Suami Aparicio Mejía García, Gerardo Mizael Rochez Cálix and Milton Joel Martínez Álvarez, and ensure an independent, effective and impartial investigation into their enforced disappearance to bring those responsible to justice. I also urge you to allowing the participation of their relatives in the ongoing investigations, providing them with up-to-date and accurate information on its progress, ensure that they are able to contribute with information, suggest lines of inquiry as well as asking for evidence. Sincerely, [YOUR NAME] ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
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