Please find attached some documents which provide information on the Frente de Reforma Universitaria (FRU), whose Spanish-language name is translated by different sources as Reformist University Front, Front for University Reform and University Reform Front.

One of the attached documents also mentions a United Revolutionary Force under the acronym FUR (Barry & Norsworthy 1990, 73). The document describes both the FUR and the FRU as leftist student organizations, indicating that after the early 1980's the FRU "lost its influence after having become dogmatic and sectarian, eventually splitting into a pro-Moscow line (los gordos ["the fat ones"]) and a Maoist tendency (los flacos ["the thin ones"])" (Ibid.).

The same source adds that "as the influence of FRU declined, the dominant student organization became the Democratic University United Front (FUUD), a rightwing organization with close ties to the new conservative university administration" (Ibid.). The report indicates that FRU and FUR "have accused FUUD of electoral fraud and use of armed force to maintain its hold on the university's official student bodies like the Federation of University Students (FEUH)" (Ibid.). Finally, the document states that "in 1989 FUR's presidential candidate was seriously wounded by gunfire" (Ibid.).

The other attached documents provide information on abuses or alleged abuses committed against FRU members.

Americas Watch reported in 1987 the detention of two activists of the M-LIDER party, one of which was also a FRU activist (Americas Watch 1987, 22). The other attachments are Amnesty International publications that report the following:

Edgardo Herrera, aged 37, was reportedly killed by two individuals on 4 July 1989 (Amnesty International Urgent Action 17 July 1989). The document states that Herrera "had reportedly received warnings from a soldier that he was wanted by the Dirección Nacional de Investigaciones (DNI)" (Ibid.).

On 22 march 1990 Amnesty International expressed concern for the safety of a leading member of FRU, who reportedly was among a number of activists who had been "subjected to a series of death threats and other intimidatory acts by clandestine groups believed to be linked to the military" (Amnesty International Urgent Action 22 Mar. 1990).

Describing the FRU as a "left-wing student group," Amnesty International reported that a leader of the organization had been accused by an army commission of planning the murder of the ex-president of the Sindicato de Trabajadores del Instituto Hondureño de Seguridad Social (SITRAIHSS), Francisco Bonilla, which took place on 31 May 1990 (Amnesty International June 1991, 24). The report indicates that a court found no evidence on which to try the accused and set him free.

The same publication reports the death of a leader of the FRU, Ramón Antonio Briceño, who was also a member of the Bank Employees' Union SITRABANTRAL (Ibid., 25). The report indicates that Briceño is believed to have been abducted shortly after participating in the funeral wake of the former SITRAIHSS leader mentioned above, adding that threats against Briceño signed by the Alianza de Acción Anticomunista (AAA) "had appeared on the walls of the National Autonomous University days before his death" (Ibid.). Finally, the report names two members of FRU who reportedly received death threats "which appeared to be directly linked to the assassination of Francisco Bonilla and Ramón Briceño" (Ibid., 27).

Additional and/or corroborating information could not be found among the sources currently available to the IRBDC.

References

Americas Watch. May 1987. Human Rights in Honduras - Central America's `Sideshow'. New York/Washington, D.C.: Human Rights Watch.

Amnesty International. 22 March 1990. Urgent Action. (AI Index: AMR 37/02/90). London: Amnesty International.

. 17 July 1989. Urgent Action. (AI Index: AMR 37/05/89). London: Amnesty International.

Amnesty International. June 1991. Honduras: Human Rights Under the Government of President Callejas. (AI Index: AMR 37/04/91). London: Amnesty International Publications.

Barry, Tom and Ken Norsworthy. 1990. Honduras: A Country Guide. New Mexico: The Inter-Hemispheric Education Resource Center.

Attachments

Americas Watch. May 1987. Human Rights in Honduras - Central America's `Sideshow'. New York/Washington, D.C.: Human Rights Watch, p. 22.

Amnesty International. 22 March 1990. Urgent Action. (AI Index: AMR 37/02/90). London: Amnesty International.

. 17 July 1989. Urgent Action. (AI Index: AMR 37/05/89). London: Amnesty International.

Amnesty International. June 1991. Honduras: Human Rights Under the Government of President Callejas. (AI Index: AMR 37/04/91). London: Amnesty International Publications, pp. 24-27.

Barry, Tom and Ken Norsworthy. 1990. Honduras: A Country Guide. New Mexico: The Inter-Hemispheric Education Resource Center, p. 73.