In a 8 October 1996 telephone interview with the DIRB, the director of the Committee for the Defense of Human Rights in Honduras (CODEH), stated that he did not have any information on the above-mentioned subject.

Please find attached a Central America Report article that mentions the May 1994 dismissal of a worker named Evelyn Canales from the Ace Fashion maquila in the Puerto Cortés Free Zone (17 June 1994). The article does not mention any family link between Gumercindo and Evelyn Canales (ibid.). Country Reports 1994 mentions that an individual named Cleofes Colindres Canales was killed in 1993 (1995, 451). The attachment from ICFTU's Annual Survey of Violations of Trade Union Rights 1995 lists of labour conflicts in various regions of Honduras but makes no mention of an individual named Gumercindo Canales or his alleged murder or disappearance.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the DIRB within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please see below the list of additional sources consulted for this Response to Information Request.

References

Annual Survey of Violations of Trade Union Rights. 1995. Brussels : International Confederation of Free Trade Unions.

Central America Report [Guatemala City]. 17 June 1994. Vol. 21, No. 22. "Honduras: Labor Conflicts and Investment Concern."

Committee for the Defense of Human Rights in Honduras (CODEH), Tegucigalpa. 8 October 1996. Telephone interview with the director.

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1994. 1995. United States Department of State. Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office.

Attachments

Annual Survey of Violations of Trade Union Rights. 1995. Brussels: International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, pp. 62-64.

Central America Report [Guatemala City]. 17 June 1994. Vol. 21, No. 22. "Honduras: Labor Conflicts and Investment Concern," pp. 1-2.

Additional Sources Consulted

America Update [Toronto]. 1994.

Amnesty International. 1995. Amnesty International Report. New York: Amnesty International.

Amnesty International. Urgent Action. 1994.

Central America NewsPak [Austin, Tex]. 1994.

CODEH. Bulletin.

DIRB Country Files (Honduras). 1994.

Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS). Daily Reports.

Human Rights Watch World Report. 1994. New York: Human Rights Watch.

Keesing's Record of World Events [Cambridge]. 1994.

Latinamerica Press [Lima].1994..

Latin America Regional Reports: Central America and Caribbean Report [London]. 1994.

Latin America Weekly Report [London]. 1994.

On-line searches.