[haw-info] an appeal by historians in Honduras

[Jim O'Brien]

*The following message is sent on behalf of Margaret Power, a Latin American
historian and a former co-chair (and a current Steering Committee member) of
Historians Against the War.  We realize that for most people receiving this
message, it will come too late for the petition deadline but we hope it will
provide information on the repression faced by fellow historians in
Honduras.*



Dear Friends:



We just received this urgent message about Professor Dario Euraque from
Kevin Coleman, a HAW member.  Unfortunately, the time to act is not much:
 until 10:00 am today, Tuesday, August 25th.  So, please read the
explanatory letter below and, if you can, sign the petition.

Thank you,

Margaret Power


 Dear Colleagues,

I write to you from the Honduran Institute of Anthropology
and History requesting that you sign the petition below in support of
Professor Darío A. Euraque, who has just been illegally dismissed by the
coup government in Honduras.



By noon Tuesday, I will submit the signed petition to the
American Historical Association’s Conference of Latin American
History executive committee.  I will also it send to the U.S.
State Department and the U.S. Embassy in Tegucigalpa.  A translated version
of this petition will also be presented to the Honduran media.



Please distribute as widely and as quickly as possible to our  professional
organizations and universities.  Please send all signatures to me (
kecolema at indiana.edu) by 10 AM on Tuesday, June 25th.  Thank you so much for
your support.
Best wishes,

Kevin Coleman

Doctoral Candidate in History

Indiana University, Bloomington



Petition of Support for Professor Darío A. Euraque: Illegally dismissed by
Coup Government in Honduras



The undersigned, researchers, university faculty,
administrators, and students, from a wide range of universities and
institutions, condemn the illegal dismissal of Professor Darío A. Euraque by
the coup government in Honduras.  We urge the international community and,
in particular, the United States to use its leverage to
restore constitutional rule in Honduras.

 Professor Euraque’s seminal work, Reinterpreting the
Banana Republic:  Region and State in Honduras, 1870–1972, transformed
the historiography of Honduras.  In it, he demonstrated that
the relative liberalism on Honduran elites could be traced to a tension
between North Coast industrialists of Middle Eastern descent and
the conservative criollo (descendants of Spanish colonists) oligarchy of the
country’s interior.  In subsequent studies, he has offered some
of the most innovative and original interpretations of
Honduran history.  His investigations into nationalism, ethnic identity, and
sexuality have opened new paths of investigation for other researchers
in Central America.



Since June 2006, Professor Euraque has served as the Director
of the Honduran Institute of Anthropology and History (IHAH), a
government agency tasked with overseeing all of Honduras’s cultural
patrimony, including the national archives, archeological sites, and
public museums.  Under his leadership, the IHAH has thrived,
offering multiple in-depth workshops for local historians from around the
country, greatly increasing the quantity, quality, and plurality of
its publications, and significantly expanding the number of
historical and archaeological sites protected by the national government.



On Friday, August 21st, Ms. Myrna Castro, the new Minister
of Culture appointed by the coup government, added to the long list
of constitutional breaches committed by the de facto regime.  Violating the
laws in place for discharging political appointees, she skipped over the
IHAH’s Board of Directors, who would have to vote on a resolution to dismiss
Professor Euraque, and simply sent him a letter of dismissal.  Rather than
go quietly, he has decided to contest it.  This comes on the heels of an
attempt by the Reserve Forces of the Honduran Military to occupy the
National Archives in Tegucigalpa.  When Professor Euraque’s office received
a letter from the Reservists of Honduras, the IHAH immediately issued a
clarification, noting that the building itself and the archives it houses
are Honduran cultural patrimony and, as such, protected by the Law for the
Protection of the Cultural Patrimony of the Nation (Decree 220-97).  Even in
the case of a situation of national emergency or a legally declared State
of War, this National Monument, and any other National Monument
inventoried as Cultural Patrimony of Honduras, is under the protection of
the Convention of the Hague of 1954, "Convention for the Protection
of Cultural Properties in case of Armed Conflict.”



As a community of researchers, we offer our solidarity to Professor Euraque
and the tens of thousands of Hondurans who are bravely risking their lives
to restore democratic rule in their country.  Furthermore, we condemn the
coup and the systematic human rights violations that have followed in its
wake.  We call upon the U.S. government to increase pressure, perhaps by
freezing the personal bank accounts of the coup leaders or the funds
allocated to Honduras through the Millennium Challenge Corporation, until
constitutionality is reestablished in Honduras.
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