Dr. Juan Almendares’ Open Letter to President of the UN General Assembly (Honduras)

Dr. Juan Almendares’ Open Letter to President of the UN General Assembly Regarding Honduras

September 22, 2009

His Excellency Mr. Ali AbdussalamTreki
President of the General Assembly of the United Nations

Mr. President:

I respectfully direct this letter to you appealing to your sense of respect
for life, dignity and the human rights of peoples; and recognizing in your
esteemed organization as a bastion in the struggle for peace and global
justice.

I do so in my capacity as physician to the poor, defender of human rights
and the environment, educator and former Rector of the National Autonomous
University of Honduras.

We send this appeal to your esteemed person as quickly as we can, although
we are sure that it would be supported by human rights organizations and
millions of Hondurans, because it is essentially about respect for life,
although it is not possible to make consultations in this case because
Honduras is in a state of siege, with the suspension of all constitutional
guarantees and the serious risk of imminent assassination of the person of
the President of Honduras, José Manuel Zelaya Rosales, currently hosted by
the Brazilian government in its embassy in Tegucigalpa.

We appreciate the efforts your organization has made to contribute to
conflict resolution based on peace, justice and respect for human rights.

The systematic violation of human rights in Honduras has increased, the
nation has become a vast prison without access to the wounded, tortured; and
unable to provide water and food to people who have been arbitrarily
imprisoned or detained in stadiums, sport courts, secret prisons, detention
centres and military police outposts.

The health status of malnourished children in hospitals is at high risk
because of lack of food due to the curfew and there is the possibility of
hypoglycaemia and risk of death. Thousands of tear gas launchings have been
made from aircraft and from the troops; and hundreds of people, mostly
civilians, have been detained, tortured, and wounded.

Neither the immunity nor the territory of the Brazilian Embassy in Honduras
has been respected. The life of the legitimate President of Honduras and his
family in danger, as well as that of the diplomatic corps, whose immunity is
not respected.

We appeal to you urgently to despatch a medical and UN human rights mission
to the Embassy of Brazil, to attend the President and his family and the
Brazilian diplomatic corps and to ensure the respect for life and health of
humans.

We urge that this mission visit the stadiums, sports fields, police
detention centres, hospitals and barracks where hundreds of Hondurans are
being imprisoned and tortured.

We know there are specific UN human rights bodies that are making valuable
efforts. But the process is slow and it would not be an exaggeration to say
that this could become a post mortem exercise.

However, a global call to conscience on the part of President of the General
Assembly of the United Nations will have the weight of his moral authority
in all corners of the earth.

In the event that it is not possible to organise the emergency missions
outlined above, we gladly volunteer to provide our medical and human rights
services, to visit the President and his family and the diplomatic corps in
the Brazilian Embassy; and offer the services of our health teams to visit
all detention and torture sites mentioned above.

For the sake of love and human and planetary solidarity..

With assurances of my highest consideration and fraternal greetings:

Tegucigalpa September 22, 2009

Juan Almendares
Executive Director, Centre for Prevention, Treatment and Rehabilitation of
Torture Victims and their families (CPTRT).


*Google translation revised by Norman Girvan*

via DUer magbana

http://hondurasoye.wordpress.com/2009/09/24/dr-juan-almendares-open-letter-to-president-of-the-un-general-assembly-regarding-honduras/


For those unfamiliar with Almendares, here are some remarks on his work on the occasion of his receiving given the Barbara Chester Award 2008 "for clinicians and healing practitioners for their work with survivors of torture":

"There exists the belief – on the part of those who utilize violence – that humans and entire populations suffer from historical amnesia. That is to say that they quickly forget unjust and traumatic deeds. This affirmation requires reflection because if there is anything that registers in memory, it is trauma."

-- Juan Almendares, Executive Director, Center for the Prevention, Treatment and Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture and their Families, Hondura

For more than two decades, the 62 year old Honduran physician, Juan Almendares, has been something of a legend, not only in his native Honduras but in many parts of the world. During the troubled 1980's, the entire Central American region was convulsed by popular uprisings, confrontations between the armies of the area and leftist insurgents, and a full-scale campaign of terror and repression. The dreaded death squads, which often consisted of members of the security forces, operated with impunity.

It was during this critical period of Honduran history that Juan Almendares became known internationally, first as the respected dean of the faculty at the National University of Honduras, and later, in 1979, as the university's president. In spite of open opposition from the military, Juan Almendares was re-elected for a second term in 1982.

During a period when many professionals and intellectuals were forced into exile, Juan Almendares stayed in Honduras and became a prominent defender of human rights. The result was to be expected: the outspoken university president found himself on the list of paramilitary death squads and was himself subjected to torture.

Over the years, Dr. Almendares's contributions have been considerable, diverse and far-reaching. In 1995 he co-founded the Center for the Prevention, Treatment and Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture and their Families (CPTRT). A curandero (traditional healer), Juan Almendares has successfully adopted an integrated approach to health and well-being, utilizing both herbal and western medicinal practices and actively taken into consideration the belief constructs of his patients. He has lent his voice to the expressed concerns and grievances of the peasant and indigenous populations, and spoken openly against environmental abuse and industrial contamination.

A societal change agent, Dr. Almendares has worked to decrease the prevalence of domestic violence against women in a machismo society and to safeguard the welfare of children. In his hours away from CPTRT, he administers a no-fee medical clinic for the poor and visits prisons and detention centers. Sixteen-hour workdays are often the norm.

Dr. Almendares's own upbringing in poverty and his early exposure to violence has served to solidify the connection between the healer and his clientele.

"I have always considered that the best way to develop observation and reflection is by beginning with ourselves. One method by which to analyze a human subject is to start with his or her story of pain and suffering. Because love and compassion for those who suffer move us to share and transform the reality of another and at the same time our own reality."

"In My own story, only until five years ago did I begin to explain to myself why I wake up to work each day at 3:00 in the morning. When I was eight years old, at the same hour, I was informed by my Mother that my Father had been assassinated."

According to Finn Kjaerulff, who nominated Juan Almendares for the Barbara Chester Award :

"Juan has been safeguarded primarily because he is well known. He was a dean at the university in the 1980s; before that he was the head of the medical faculty. As such Juan has taught many of those government officials who are now in high positions. He works in a non-condemnation way – compassionate, love, coexistence, everyone has a right – he considers all aspects. It is inspiring to see him – there always is someone to see him wherever he goes. Everybody knows him – he's a public foundation."

More at link: http://www.barbarachesteraward.org/index.php?option=com_content&id=70&Itemid=92
http://www.barbarachesteraward.org/index.php?option=com_content&id=70&Itemid=92

This madness must stop.