(PROBIDAD/IFEX) – Economist Miguel de Arriba, a Spanish citizen, was expelled from Honduras on 4 July 2004 for having circulated on the Internet articles criticising President Ricardo Maduro’s government. The Interior and Justice Secretariat (Secretaría de Gobernación y Justicia) has argued that its decision to expel de Arriba was based on a Honduran law that […]
(PROBIDAD/IFEX) – Economist Miguel de Arriba, a Spanish citizen, was expelled from Honduras on 4 July 2004 for having circulated on the Internet articles criticising President Ricardo Maduro’s government. The Interior and Justice Secretariat (Secretaría de Gobernación y Justicia) has argued that its decision to expel de Arriba was based on a Honduran law that prohibits resident foreigners from commenting on “internal politics”. On 5 July, “Tiempo” newspaper reported on de Arriba’s expulsion. The newspaper is based in the northern city of San Pedro Sula, where de Arriba and his family had lived for the past 13 years.
Honduran intellectual Rodolfo Pastor called the action a “dramatic” attack on freedom of expression. Pastor said that on the night of 3 July immigration officials summoned de Arriba, informing him he would be deported the following day. According to Pastor, de Arriba was not allowed to say goodbye to his wife and children. “When I asked an immigration official at the airport why they were expelling him from the country, I was told that it was because of statements he had made the previous week,” Pastor said.
In the past two months, de Arriba had been harassed repeatedly. He attributed the harassment to critical statements he has made about the Security Ministry and the government’s policies in general, particularly regarding corruption. On 29 June, in a message that the Committee for Free Expression (C-Libre) has gained access to, de Arriba said he had requested protection from the Human Rights Commissioner because he felt threatened as a result of his stance on these issues. De Arriba wrote, “Yesterday, Immigration Director Ramón Romero called to tell me that two immigration officials would be coming to my house to question me. This was to be the second time in 20 days that they would be visiting me, while they had never visited me in the previous 13 years.” He told his friends that “they would not be able to make him shut up.”
According to Interior and Justice Secretary Jorge Ramón Hernández Alcerro, de Arriba was expelled for committing fraud by failing to work in the area for which he had requested entry into the country, that of being an investor. He denied that the deportation was motivated by de Arriba’s constant complaints about corruption and his criticism of Maduro’s government. “The reasons are absolutely clear and are based on the law, he committed fraud,” Hernández Alcerro said.
Groups of intellectuals and academics have begun to protest the action against de Arriba, saying that it represents a new risk for freedom of expression and the right to information in Honduras.
