[STATEMENT] National Network of Women Human Rights Defenders in Honduras: We’re women, we´re feminists, we´re rights defenders, we’re Honduran.

Tegucigalpa, January 22, 2020 – We grieve deeply for all that is happening with the foul expulsion of migrants from this country. We know some of the women who have gone away, and we know that the rest feel desperate, anxious, humiliated and impotent when faced with the wall that has finally been erected on the Mexican border.

They don’t just leave; they’re expelled. They are fleeing the neoliberal and patriarchal misery that has turned the lives of women into waste. Pushed aside by the ferocity of extreme poverty and even more so by the violence of all different kinds of men who attack and even kill them, Honduran women are looking for a life of their own and a life for their children.

Words can’t describe the looks on the faces of those women who leave with babies in their arms, children hand in hand, on their shoulders or in their wombs. They are sure that anywhere is better than this country under the current dictatorship, and they walk with strength and determination.

The National Network of Women Defenders knows the territories and the proposals of many women in this country, and we are sure that the migrant caravans reveal the absence of the most basic life conditions for thousands of Honduran women due to a predatory State that violates all human rights.

It is our job to know firsthand the situation of women defenders, so we know how and why the death toll has risen in Garifuna territories, in sexually diverse communities, and in all spaces where women live, struggle and dream.

In our work we will continue to accompany women and fight together with them for every possible bit of justice. That is why we now denounce the Honduran government for being racist, classist, aggressive against the people and protective of those who rob and murder them.

We also denounce the Mexican government, which has unleashed the brutality of its National Guard to repress, beat, and pursue migrant women and men as if they were not even people, but instead, despicable nobodies.

We wish to express our gratitude to the women of Mesoamerica, crossed by the path of migration, for the solidarity of your actions, and we call on all of you to accompany, feed, embrace, speak with, and share the lives of those seeking refuge and support.

¡Let’s fight for the sisterhood of women to destroy borders and armies!

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