Support Tesla Ventura

Honduran mother and member of Friends of the Earth Honduras/Movimiento Madre Tierra, Tesla Ventura, is awaiting sentencing on trumped up charges of illegally detaining several teachers at the school where she had helped arranged a parent teacher's meeting.

Two years ago, Honduran mother and member of Friends of the Earth Honduras/Movimiento Madre Tierra, Tesla Ventura helped organize a meeting of parents, teachers and directors at the local high school in the rural area where she lives. The students and their parents were upset because a number of teachers had not been giving classes (while still getting paid), but were now expecting students to take their exams.

Before the meeting could proceed everyone had to wait for the arrival of regional directors, and as a result of their tardiness, everyone present, including a group of teachers, spent the night at the school waiting.

A few days later, Tesla and the other parent leaders were charged with illegally detaining several teachers at the school, even though these teachers had spent the night of their own volition.

The parent leaders were offered a choice, admit guilt and be freed but denied the opportunity to participate in community organizing in the future, or deny guilt and be forced to go every Friday to sign a book in the courthouse of a town an hour away until some future point when a trial could be held.

6 out of eight of the parent leaders signed but Tesla stood her ground. She has travelled to the court house in Marcala to sign the book every Friday since May of 2005.

Also, she has been denied the right to leave the country.

In November a trial was held,  and included evidence from "witnesses" that Tesla had never seen in her life.  Tesla was due to be sentenced on 15 January 2008 but due to international support, sentencing has been delayed. So please get involved now and make your voice heard.

Find out more on the Cohapaz website.

 act now

It only takes 2 minutes  to show your support for Tesla by using the form below and email the President of the Republic of Honduras, Ing. José Manuel Zelaya Rosales,

President of the Supreme Court of Justice, Abog. Vilma Morales, Presidents of the National Legislature, Ing. Roberto Micheletti, Public Prosecutor General of the Republic, Abog. Leonidas Rosa Bautista, Director of Public Defense, Paulina Pérez de Licona

The message will be sent in Spanish - you can change it if you speak Spanish. Here is a translation:

We respectfully present ourselves to the President of the Republic, to the President of the Supreme Court of Justice, to the President of the National Congress, to the General Prosecutor, and to the Director of Public Defense urging them to not deprive Tesla Ventura of her freedoms and rather restore to her all her rights. Ms. Ventura is an indigenous Lenca woman from the town of Santa Elena, La Paz who was condemned by the Comayagua Tribunal for defending her children's right to education and declaring her solidarity with the students from the Santa Elena community school Centro Basico 15 de Septiembre for the events that occurred in 2005.

Ms. Ventura is a member of Movimiento Madre Tierra and has the moral support of almost three hundred families who have testified to Ms. Ventura's contribution to environmental education, health and community improvement. We consider her sentence as discrimination, racism and violence against women.

The international and national community demand justice for Ms. Ventura. It is our desire that this issue be resolved immediately and in a just manner or our demands will intensify and will, with absolute certainty, her case will be presented to the International Court of Human Rights.

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