Trade union leader Porfirio Ponce speaks about an “escalade of repression” against trade union organizations and claims that the workers assembly could have finished in tragedy if a bomb planted in the premises had exploded.

The STIBYS, which is part of the National Front of Popular Resistance (FNRP), exposed the existence of at least 200 cases of human rights violations against leaders.

Two paradigmatic cases are the attacks against Eduardo Argueta Santos, Vicechair of the San Pedro Sula office, which was shot in the face on March 1st and who is still in hospital, and that of Nelson Edilberto Lopez Reyes, murdered in June of last year. No one has been tried for the crime yet.

Besides, Carlos Reyes, the chair of STIBYS, and leader of the National Front of Popular Resistance, was beaten by police officers and military linked to Lobo’s regime, according to reports of the organization.

Leader of the STIBYS, Francisco Javier Oviedo Morales received phone threats.

The situation of the trade unions in Honduras causes great concern among the international organizations. The secretary general of the Trade Union Confederation of the Americas (TUCA), Victor Baez Mosqueira, from Paraguay, visited Honduras in February and had a video interview with journalist Dick Emanuelsson.

In the interview Baez says that if the FNRP becomes stronger, the people responsible for Manuel Zelaya’s ousting “will end up in jail” and some of the “people who are politically persecuted will end up in the Honduran presidency”.

The National Front of Popular Resistance comprises the three Honduran trade unions. Baez suggests the resistance of Honduras to be inspired by the Uruguayan experience, where the left-wing party Frente Amplio has ruled the country since 2005. It was founded in 1971, and is very much linked with trade union organizations.

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