Honduran National Front of Resistance to the Coup on deal to restore Zelaya.

The National Front of Resistance to the Coup d'Etát, facing the imminent signing of a negotiated agreement between the commission representing the legitimate President Manuel Zelaya Rosales and the representatives of the de facto regime, communicates the following to the Honduran people and the international community:

1. We celebrate the upcoming restoration of President Manuel Zelaya Rosales as a popular victory over the narrow interests of the coup oligarchy. This victory has been obtained through four months of struggle and sacrifice by the people who, in spite of the savage repression unleashed by the repressive forces of the state in the hands of the dominant class, have been able to resist and grow in their levels of consciousness and organization and turn themselves into an irrepressible social force.

2. The signing on the part of the dictatorship of the document which mandates "returning the holder of executive power to its pre June 28 state," represents the explicit acceptance that in Honduras there was a coup d'état that should be dismantled in order to return to institutional order and guarantee a democratic framework in which the people can exercise their right to transform society.

3. We demand that the accords signed at the negotiating table be processed in an expedited fashion by the National Congress. We alert all our comrades at the national level so that they can join the actions to pressure for the immediate compliance with the contents of the final document from the negotiating table.

4. We reiterate that a National Constituent Assembly is an unrenounceable aspiration of the Honduran people and a non-negotiable right for which we will continue struggling in the streets, until we achieve the re-founding of our society to convert it into one that is just, egalitarian and truly democratic.

"At 125 days of struggle, nobody here surrenders!"
Tegucigalpa, M.D.C. October 30, 2009

Translation by the Nicaragua Network

Zelaya set to return to power in Honduras

There are press reports that a deal has been reached in Honduras for President Zelaya to return!

According to Retuers elected President Manuel Zelaya said "We are satisfied. We are optimistic that my reinstatement is imminent" and that "Tomorrow will be the day that the plan will be signed to restore democracy to the country,"

He said "It is a triumph for Honduran democracy".

In a late night statement on October 29, Micheletti said, "I am pleased to announce that a few minutes ago my negotiating team signed an agreement that marks the beginning of the end," of the Central American state's political instability, AFP reported.

Boycott

There are 2,896 candidates up for election in November in Honduras, at all levels of government from President and Congress to mayors, and aldermen. While two of the presidential candidates, Cesar Ham (UD party) and Carlos H. Reyes (Independent), have said they will not run without a return to democratic order in Honduras, few at other levels of government have made public statements about the elections.

Earlier this week, the leadership of the UD party indicated they would not participate in the november elections without the restitution of Zelaya. The majority of the leadership of the Party of Innovation and Social Democratic Unity (PINU-SD) issued a statement rebuking their candidate for President, Bernard Martinez, for supporting the coup, and indicating that it would not participate in the November elections unless there was a restitution of democratic order in Honduras. This faction of the PINU-SD party indicated that 100 of its candidates for office would not participate in the November elections without a return of the democratic order.

Honduras: People to Not Approve Electoral Farce

Oct 27 (Prensa Latina) The National Front against the Coup d'Etat in Honduras stated Tuesday that it will not recognize the November 29 elections if constitutional order is not re-established and President Manuel Zelaya is not restituted.

"The people will not approve the electoral farce the putschists are preparing," rural leader Rafael Alegria told Prensa Latina.

Traditional parties and the de facto government insist that these elections are a solution to the dangerous crisis unleashed in the country after the breaking of democratic order.

"The only solution to the conflict in Honduras is the restitution of democratic legality and the president elected by the people," Alegria said.

Juan Barahona, general coordinator of the Front, stressed that if those objectives are not achieved, the future of elections is uncertain.

International community organizations and several governments, included the United States, stated that they will not recognize the elections results if they are not organized in the current circumstances.

The Lonesome Death of Pedro Munoz

A young Honduran activist was almost certainly tortured and killed by the military.

By Jeremy Kryt

A life-sized sketch of Pedro Munoz, in the offices of COFADEH; surrounding placards depict other victims of government violence. Such signs are carried by the nonviolent resistance during marches and rallies as a tribute to the fallen. (All photos by Jeremy Kryt)
 
The only clues left by Munoz's assailants were footprints—tracks identified as belonging to military-style combat boots were found in the rain-freshened mud around the body.

Poll Shows Growing Opposition to Coup

On Oct. 23 the Washington, DC-based polling firm Greenberg Quinlan Rosner released the results of a survey involving face-to-face interviews held Oct. 9-13 with 621 randomly selected Hondurans; the firm didn’t give the margin of error. According to the survey, 60% of Hondurans disapproved of the June 28 removal of President Manuel Zelaya from office, while only 38% approved. Some 19% rated Zelaya’s performance in office as “excellent” and another 48% as “good”; the poll showed 57% personally disapproving of Roberto Micheletti, de facto president since Zelaya’s overthrow, while 28% approved.

The pretext for the coup was a claim that Zelaya’s purpose in calling for a constituent assembly was to end the Constitution’s ban on second terms for presidents. According to the survey, Hondurans favor allowing re-election by a solid 55% to 43%, while 54% support holding a constituent assembly as a solution to the current crisis, with 43% opposed. While the Honduran right depicts Zelaya’s supporters as backers of Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez Frías, only 10% of Hondurans feel “warm” towards Chávez, while 83% have a negative impression, according to the survey. (Greenberg press release 10/23/09; Honduras Coup 2009 blog 10/24/09; Bloomberg 10/23/09)

The Greenberg poll, although based on a relatively small sampling, gives results similar to those from the two other polls published since the coup: a survey by the Costa Rican-based CID Gallup firm in early July and a poll the Tegucigalpa firm Consultants in Investigation of Markets and Public Opinion (COIMER & OP) conducted Aug. 23-29. The July CID Gallup survey showed a plurality of 46% opposing the coup, while the August COIMER & OP poll showed 52.7% against Zelaya’s removal, with only 17.4% supporting it (the rest didn’t answer). If the surveys are correct, opposition to the coup has grown steadily over the past four months, with large majority now rejecting Zelaya’s removal. (Daily Kos 7/12/09; Narco News 10/6/09; Honduras Coup 2009 blog 10/7/09)

Honduras: Talks Stall, Election in Doubt

From http://weeklynewsupdate.blogspot.com/

On Oct. 23 negotiators for deposed Honduran president José Manuel Zelaya Rosales gave up on talks to end a four-month political crisis in Honduras. The negotiations had been “worn down” by the intransigence of de facto president Roberto Micheletti Bain’s government, Zelaya representative Mayra Mejía announced in Tegucigalpa.

Zelaya had already given up key points in the talks, which began on Oct. 7 with the support of the Organization of American States (OAS). His concessions included acceptance of a government of national reconciliation and the renunciation of calls for a national constituent assembly to rewrite the 1982 Constitution, a demand still strongly supported by grassroots organizations. But Micheletti’s representatives refused to negotiate seriously on Zelaya’s return to office before the scheduled Nov. 29 general elections, according to Zelaya’s representatives. Zelaya, who was deposed by a military coup on June 28, ends his four-year term on Jan. 27.

The de facto government’s intransigence was “a second coup d’état,” Zelaya said in an interview with the British network BBC on Oct. 25.

CONDEMNATION OF THE ACTS OF INTIMIDATION AGAINST THE EMBASSY OF BRAZIL IN HONDURAS

(Approved by the Permanent Council at its meeting of October 21, 2009)

The Permanent Council denounces and strongly condemns the hostile action by the de facto regime against the embassy of Brazil in Tegucigalpa and the harassment of its occupants through deliberate actions that affect them physically and psychologically and violate their human rights.

The Permanent Council calls on the de facto regime to put an immediate end to these actions, to respect the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and international instruments on human rights, and to withdraw forthwith all repressive forces from the areas surrounding the Embassy of Brazil, without neglecting the due security of the Mission.

The Permanent Council appeals for guarantees for the right to life, integrity, and security of President José Manuel Zelaya Rosales and of all persons in and around the Embassy of Brazil, as well as for the protection of their dignity, and it urges the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to follow up on this situation.

The Permanent Council issues a strong appeal for continuation of the dialogue already well under way in Honduras, under the terms of the proposal of the San José Agreement, without any attempt to open topics other than those contained in said proposal.ENDS

THIS FILM HIGHLIGHTS THE ABUSE OUTLINED ABOVE

Zelaya's negotiators declare Honduras talks dead

TEGUCIGALPA 23 October  — Negotiators for ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya said in a midnight statement that 16 days of dialogue with the de facto government had failed and talks were now dead.

"We consider the dialogue has been exhausted, we cannot continue to give deadlines," said Mayra Mejia, a member of Zelaya's negotiating team.

Zelaya had set a deadline of midnight Thursday for the de facto government led by Roberto Micheletti to accept his return to power, and had vowed to break off negotiations if the regime failed to agree.

The deposed president was ousted in a military coup on June 28, and has been holed up in the Brazilian embassy here since making a surprise return to the country in September.

His ouster prompted concern throughout the region, and Costa Rican President Oscar Arias headed up efforts to seek a peaceful end to the political crisis.

He drew up the so-called San Jose Accord that includes as a central condition the return of Zelaya to office until the end of his term in January.

But Micheletti's government has steadfastly opposed Zelaya's return, extending a crisis that has divided the country, one of the poorest in the region.

EU says no possibility of sending observers to presidential elections in Honduras

The EU discarded the possibility of sending observers to the presidential elections in Honduras scheduled for Nov 2009, pointing out that conditions in that country do not exist for the elections to be free and democratic.

"Under no circumstances are we going to send observers", stated the Head of the Unit for Central America of the European Commission, Petro Mavromichalis.

(From AOL Noticias Latino: http://noticias.aol.com/articulos/_a/descarta-ue-supervisar-elecciones-en/n20091022183209990034

Communique Number 30 of National Front of Resistance Against the Coup d'Etat

The National Front of Resistance Against the Coup d'Etat in Honduras communicates to the Honduran population and the international community:

1. We denounce the manipulative acts and delay tactics with which the de facto regime tries to buy time and get to the electoral farse of November 29th without having re-established the institutional order and
without having returned to his post the legitimate President Manuel Zelaya Rosales.

2. We reiterate that the Honduran people will not recognize the campaign and the results of the electoral process of the 29th of November while the dictatorial regime that the oligarchy sustains through armed force continues.

3. We condemn the disinformation campaign carried out by the media in service of the oligarchy through which they attempt to present the National Front of Resistance Against the Coup d'Etat as a violent organization. We reiterate that the methods of peaceful struggle are the only ones that we have used throughout 115 days of resistance.

4. We denounce the economic crisis through which the de facto regime is taking us and which is provoking an increase in the levels of poverty of the population.

5. We express our indignation at the continuation of the repression by the police and military bodies of the
State, which is expressed in assassinations of militants of the Resistance, actions of intimidation and surrounding the marches and rallies, the illiegal and immoral juridical processes which persecute
and jail our sisters and brothers and, more recently, the actions of harassment and intimidation against teachers throughout the country.

6. We reiterate our unbreakable will to install a democratic and popular National Constitutional Assembly with which we will refound the country and rescue it from a minority economic class that exploits the working class.

“AT 115 DAYS OF STRUGGLE, HERE NOBODY IS GIVING UP”
Tegucigalpa, Honduras October 20th, 2009

Coup's Impact on Honduran Women

Margaret Knapke | October 22, 2009 Foreign Policy In Focus   www.fpif.org

Ms. Magazine's inaugural cover featured President Obama in Superman pose, ripping open his suit coat and dress shirt to reveal a T-shirt that proclaims: "This is what a feminist looks like."  Photoshop tricks aside, Honduran women need this to be true.  They need the Obama administration to fully grasp the plight of Honduran women and their families and act decisively on their behalf.

De facto Honduran government stalls for time before election

Oct 22, 2009. Mica Rosenberg.Reuters.

TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - Honduras' de facto leaders are hunkering down to stay in power until a November election, tightening controls on protests and grinding down ousted President Manuel Zelaya by blasting his refuge with rock music.

With Central America's worst political crisis in years now in its fourth month, talks between Zelaya's camp and that of de facto ruler Roberto Micheletti are stalled with no sign of compromise on the main sticking point: returning the toppled leftist to power temporarily as part of a solution.

Brazil Foreign Affairs Adviser Faults Obama's Handling of Honduran Coup

EFE. October 22, 2009.

BRASILIA - The top foreign affairs adviser to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Wednesday that Barack Obama's administration "should put more pressure" on the de facto regime in Honduras to agree to the reinstatement of ousted President Mel Zelaya.

A month after Zelaya, who was sent into exile after the coup, slipped back into Honduras and took up residence at the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa, Marco Aurelio Garcia said that Lula's government still hopes for "firmer" action from the United States.

"The ideal would be that President Obama takes a more active position in the search for a political accord" in Honduras, Garcia told TV Brasil.

"I believe the United States could put more pressure on the putschists," Lula's aide said, though adding that "Latin America is not a priority for the United States now, because it's a region at peace."

Brazil denounces 'torture' of its embassy in Honduras

October 22nd, 2009. DPA.

Washington, Oct 22 (DPA) Brazil Wednesday at the Organisation of American States (OAS) denounced the "situation of torture" that the de facto government in Honduras is imposing on the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa.

The building has become the centre of the political crisis in Honduras after ousted President Manuel Zelaya returned to his country and took refuge in the embassy, months after a June coup.

"Brazil asks the international community to condemn these actions unequivocally and forcefully and reserves for itself the right to launch before the relevant international organs initiatives to punish those responsible," said Brazil's Ambassador to the OAS Ruy Casaes.

Before the OAS Permanent Council, Casaes stressed that measures against the building constitute "an attack on human dignity."

The Brazilian embassy - which currently holds about 40 people - is being subjected to "severe intimidation and demoralisation measures which are tantamount to torture," Casaes said in Washington.

Zelaya was ousted from power and sent into exile June 28. On Sep 21 he secretly returned to the country and sought refuge in the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa, where he had remained since then.

Casaes denounced the application of "new forms of psychic torture" in recent days, including the use at night of two very powerful lamps directed at Zelaya's room.

"Even at night it looks like daytime given the intensity of the light," Casaes said.

There are also "horns that play non-stop making it impossible to sleep" as well as "noises made by policemen imitating animal sounds."

Casaes noted that the supply of food is "limited" and sometimes delayed, which has led to "generalised diarrhoea" within the building. The food is, moreover, invariably "smelled by dogs."

OAS Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza expressed concern over "hostility" against the embassy.

"It does not help have greater understanding and the better atmosphere in which we all want this issue to develop," he noted.

100 days of resistance

Hondurans Want Micheletti to Step Down

October 19, 2009

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Most people in Honduras think interim president Roberto Micheletti should resign, according to a poll by COIMER&OP. 60.1 per cent of respondents say the de-facto head of state should step down, while 22.2 per cent disagree.

Half A Million Dollars of Persuasion

As the Honduras Coup 2009 blog reports the de facto regime of Roberto Micheletti Bain, and its friends, have spent slightly more than $590,307.69 in lobbying the United States goverment since June 28, 2009. That's a lot of persuasion.

UN Human Rights commission arrives in Honduras - decree restricting freedoms lifted

Highlighting the importance of international pressure on the coup regime the excellent HondurasCoup2009 site has said: 

Today's La Gaceta has finally published the recension of the decree that restricted constitutional freedoms. Perhaps not coincidentally, the UN Human Rights commission began a visit that will last until November 7th

Delegation probes human rights abuses in Honduras

TEGUCIGALPA (AFP) — A delegation from the Organization of American States arrived to look into possible human rights violations in Honduras since the June 28 coup that overthrew President Manuel Zelaya.

The three-member delegation, whose identities are kept secret for security reasons, will for two weeks meet with top officials of interim leader Roberto Micheletti's administration and those opposing the coup, a human rights official said.

Micheletti's de-facto regime recently suspended civil liberties in the country to stem anti-coup demonstrations and unrest that it admits have left four dead since the coup. The regime also closed Radio Globo and TV Channel 36, both opposition outlets.

The Committee for Missing Prisoners in Honduras, however, puts the number killed in the same period at 12, while Human Rights Defense Committee president Andres Pavon told AFP that another 25 people were wounded by military gunfire during the protests.

Interview with Agustina Flores, Recently freed political prisoner

"Bars did not shut me up, prison hasn't diminished my beliefs"

Zelaya Backers Vow More Protests

Oct. 19 (Bloomberg by Blake Schmidt) -- Supporters of ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya vowed to step up pressure on the acting government for his restoration after burying a union leader who died from gunshot wounds sustained at a weekend protest.

“We’ve lost another comrade, we feel indignant, impotent, but above all this reaffirms our struggle,” said Juan Barahona, who served as a negotiator for Zelaya in talks to end the crisis, in an interview today at a cemetery north of Tegucigalpa where union leader Jairo Sanchez was buried.

Party of Democratic Unity withdraws from elections

Vos El Soberano reports (in Spanish) that the Party of Democratic Unity has taken the decision to withdraw from the scheduled election in November 2009 because, without the restitution of Legitimate President Manuel Zelaya to office, such elections would be unconstitutional. They warned that they would only reverse their decision if President Zelaya is reinstated.

State Department Officials Signal Moves Towards Recognizing November Elections

From the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) in Washington

October 19 - Although the official policy of the Obama administration is that it will not recognize next month's elections in Honduras if democracy is not restored first, it became clear last week that some State Department officials are undermining this position and signaling that the U.S. could accept the results of the November 29 elections as valid. A Time Magazine article on Friday cited the comments of anonymous U.S. diplomats and an email that signal that officials in the State Department are undermining the official position toward the elections.

Latest communique from Honduras National Front of Resistance against the Coup d’État

Honduras: National Front of Resistance against the Coup d’État, “Communiqué No. 28″

13 October, 2009 — MRZine – Monthly Review

The National Front of Resistance against the Coup d’État, in view of the latest developments at the table of dialogue established at the behest of the Organization of American States (OAS) announces that:

    * We withdrew our compañero Juan Barahona from the so-called Guaymuras dialogue. Comrade Barahona served as representative of the National Front of Resistance against the Coup d’État in President Zelaya’s delegation in that dialogue.

The coup regime’s delegation, in a typical act of intransigence to obstruct the progress of negotiation, was attempting to paralyze the dialogue by refusing to allow our representative to sign the San José Accord while attaching a reservation to Point No. 3 of the accord concerning the renunciation of the establishment of a National Constitutional Assembly, since in that reservation we wished to state that our front does not and will not renounce our struggle for this demand which is the demand of the Honduran people. Aware that this was a ploy to use any pretext to derail the dialogue, given that signing with reservations was suggested by the coup leaders themselves at a previous meeting, we decided not to be manipulated by it, so we took this decision, leaving President Zelaya free to substitute for him another representative that he may trust. Thus Attorney Rodil Rivera Rodil was delegated to be a member of President Zelaya’s commission in substitution for our representative.

    * This means that the National Front of Resistance against the Coup d’État exits the Guaymuras dialogue and that we will continue to fight in the street for the demands that we have raised since 28 June: the return to the constitutional order; the restoration of President Zelaya to his office; and the convening of a Constitutional Assembly.

    * We make clear that we will respect the decision of our president if he decides to sign the San José Accord, even with all its conditions, and we declare that we are in full agreement with him regarding the demand that the coup leaders sign the accord which has them abandon power and the Presidency of the Republic be returned to him.

    * We warn the coup leaders that, if an accord returning the presidency to its legitimate holder is not signed before 15 October, the Resistance will initiate actions nationwide to disavow the electoral farce that they hope to stage on 29 November.

    * We call upon the popular sectors to redouble efforts to defeat the corporate-military dictatorship, demanding the end to repression, the repeal of the decrees that abridge the constitutional guarantees, freedom for political prisoners, and the re-opening of Radio Globo, Canal 36, and other independent media, and the end to censorship against them and other journalists.

Closing of ‘Feminists in Resistance’ Radio

We have been informed that another example of violations of the right to freedom of opinion and expression continues in Honduras with the closure of further radio stations.  

ALBA rejects forthcoming Honduran elections

Paola Flores reports in Associated Press

Leaders of a bloc of leftist Latin American governments urged the international community Saturday to reject the presidential election planned by Honduras' interim government next month.

The leaders of the Boliviarian Alternative group also denounced Colombia's plan to give the U.S. military expanded use of bases in that South American nation, calling it a threat to the region's security.

In a joint statement issued at the end of the two-day ALBA meeting, the leaders criticized the coup-installed government in Honduras and urged the world's nations to continue pressing for the reinstatement of ousted President Manuel Zelaya.

"No electoral process held under the coup-installed government, or the authorities that emerge from it, can be recognized by the international community," the statement said. It added that "it is fundamental to drive a diplomatic offensive and to promote forceful actions for the total re-establishment of the constitutional" order in Honduras.

On Friday, the nine-nation ALBA bloc — formed by socialist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez — approved more economic sanctions against Honduras to punish the interim government led by Roberto Micheletti.

Trade union leader killed in Honduras.

Jairo Sanchez, trade union leader, President of SINTRAINFOP (National Union of Workers of the Institute of Professional Training), died on 17 October from a wound shot to his head he sustained when the Honduran police fired on him at one of the demonstrations organised by the resistance on September 22. He had struggled for his life in hospital for 25 days.

The Latin American Herald Tribune reports

"The popular resistance against the coup accuses the police of Sanchez’s death because the security forces discharged their weapons and fired tear gas to break up the march, which was staged when the country was under a state of emergency during which constitutional guarantees had been suspended."

Further details of the police attack on him can be found here

Honduras football captain shows support for elected President

Ousted Honduran President, Manuel Zelaya and his wife, Xiomara Castro de Zelaya, display a jersey sent to him as a gift by the captain of the national football team, Amado Guevara, after their qualification for the FIFA World Cup 2010, at the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa on October 16, 2009.

On the T-shirt Guevara's wrote 'For Mr. President Jose Manuel Zelaya From His Friend Amado Guevara'.

From http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/91956716/AFP

President Zelaya giving talks 2 more days - calls for tougher sanctions

It is reported by the Associated Press that 'a spokesman says ousted President Manuel Zelaya will give deadlocked negotiations two more days [until Monday] to resolve the Honduran political crisis. Ricardo Martinez says "we are willing to continue the dialogue."'

After days of talks, the illegal coup President Roberto Micheletti is saying that the Supreme Court - which backed Zelaya's ousting - should decide whether the Zelaya should be allowed to return to power.

"I had said that Micheletti was preparing to slap the Honduran people and the international community, and now he has done that," President Zelaya told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from the Brazilian Embassy, where he took refuge after sneaking back into Honduras on Sept. 21 from his forced exile.

In a statement released later, Zelaya urged Western Hemisphere countries to step up economic sanctions "against the de facto regime."

PACKED MEETING DEMANDS DEMOCRACY RESTORED IN HONDURAS

Reflecting the broad support in Britain for the restoration of President Zelaya and democracy in Honduras, a packed meeting was held in London on 14 October. A range of elected representatives, trade union leaders and Latin American campaigners addressed the meeting attended by over 100 people and organised as part of the activities of the Emergency Committee Against the Coup in Honduras (ECACH).



A full report is below

BRITISH PRIME MINISTER RE-AFFIRMS THAT THERE WILL BE NO POLITICAL CONTACT WITH HONDURAN COUP REGIME

The British government has made it clear that it “remains our policy to refrain from political contacts with the de facto government” in Honduras. The remarks were made by Douglas Alexander, the Minister for International Development about the coup regime that seized power in Honduras on June 28.

Separately Gordon Brown, the British Prime Minister, has added that “the UK will ensure that the EU continues to apply diplomatic measures, including restrictions on political contacts with members of the de facto government”

British TUC calls for tough action on Honduras

The Trades Union Congress (TUC), the national federation of trade unions in Britian representing nearly 7 million workers is callign for tough action from the European Commission to support the Honuran peole.

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: “Since the military coup in Honduras, opponents of the regime have been assaulted, raped and killed.

“Despite these appalling human rights abuses, the European Union continues to give the regime legitimacy through preferential trade rights.

“Rather than standing idly by the international community must put political and economic pressure on the regime to end its human rights abuses and restore the democratically elected Government.”

A full press release is below.

Motion in British Parliament demands Zelaya restored and increased US action

A motion has been put down in the British Parliament by Tony Lloyd, the Chair of the Parliamentary Labour party, from the governing party.

You can check if your MP has signed by visiting http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=39261&SESSION=899.

PRESIDENT ZELAYA AND THE COUP IN HONDURAS 13.10.2009
Tony Lloyd
That this House welcomes the return of President Manuel Zelaya to Honduras on 21 September 2009 after being ousted in a military coup in June; notes that President Zelaya has since been taking refuge in the Brazilian Embassy and congratulates the Brazilian government for providing sanctuary to the elected Honduran President; is concerned by the response of the coup regime to President Zelaya's return, including repression, that has left a number of people dead and led to a clampdown on civil liberties that has seen hundreds arrested and the closure of independent media; welcomes the rapid condemnation of the coup regime by the UK Government and the EU; calls for the United States government to take stronger action by suspending all financial support to the coup regime; and demands the release of all those arbitrarily arrested, that laws restricting media freedoms are rescinded, and the immediate restitution of President Zelaya to office and restoration of full democracy in Honduras.

Honduras, already poor, sinks further after coup

By BEN FOX (AP 15 October)

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — A woman caring for six grandchildren can no longer afford milk. A bricklayer who used to work six days a week now is lucky to get two. A shop manager has seen his earnings evaporate.

Nearly four months after the military ousted President Manuel Zelaya, Hondurans are feeling the sting of a political crisis that has eroded an already fragile economy and increased hunger in one of the Western Hemisphere's poorest countries.

"Everything has gone up since the coup," said 50-year-old Leticia Medina as she walked along an unpaved road in the ramshackle Honduran capital. "It was hard before, but now you can buy even less."

Resistance continues in spite of repression

Oct 12 (Prensa Latina) The National Front against the Coup d'Etat in Honduras stated that it will continue Monday fighting in the streets to demand the restitution of democracy, despite the suspension of constitutional guarantees.
The decision was agreed Sunday by the leadership of the Front of that alliance, and ratified by the bases from people's forces during an assembly held in Tegucigalpa.
"We will continue our class struggle and deep changes, even with those repressive battalions that attack us, and the state of siege," the Front's general coordinator Juan Barahona stated.
The union leader said that the de facto government has maintained the suspension of constitutional guarantees, decreed on September 26, as its announced derogation has not been published in the official gazette.
Monday's rally precedes the continuation of talks to be run Tuesday among three Zelaya's representatives, Barahona is one of them, and equal quantity from the de facto government.
"The main objective is the immediate restitution of President Manuel Zelaya, which is the point that will define the success or failure of negotiations with the de facto government," Barahona stated.
He noted that after talks have been reached, the resistance will continue fighting in the streets to call for a national constituent assembly, a right the people won before the coup.

Ousted Honduran government urges US sanctions against coup leaders

New York - The foreign minister of the ousted government of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya called on the United States to impose sanctions on the de facto post-coup government in Tegucigalpa.

Zelaya was removed from power by Honduras' military in June for planning a referendum on changes to the constitution to allow him to seek reelection. He managed to return last month to Tegucigalpa and has taken refuge in the Brazilian embassy there.

The United Nations and international community have denounced the coup and continue to recognize the Zelaya government. Efforts to mediate a solution to the crisis with both side have yet to be effective.

Ousted Foreign Minister Patricia Rodas said in a press conference at UN headquarters that the international community should reject attempts by the de facto government to organize a presidential election, which had been set for late November before the coup. She called for Zelaya's restoration to power so he can complete his four- year term in January.

'Once again we call on the international community to remain steadfast and not to recognize the de facto regime,' Rodas said.

'The United States should apply direct sanctions against the perpetrators of the coup,' she said.'We are not asking for sanctions against a nation, but to isolate the perpetrators of the coup and make sure that they are legitimized.'

New interview with President Zelaya

Manuel Zelaya, who Hondurans elected president in 2005, has now been out of office for more than 100 days. Marcelo Ballve of New America Media spoke with him Monday night in the Brazilian Embassy there, where the deposed leader has taken refuge.

Honduras Coup Leaders Mock Dialogue

HAVANA TIMES, Oct. 13 - The de facto government in Honduras is imposing its own agenda, ratcheting up repression and seeking to delay any resolution of the crisis. 

Despite national and international reports of satisfactory progress in talks between the delegations of Roberto Micheletti and President Manuel Zelaya, it is perceived by many in the resistance movement that the de facto government has no intention of searching for a resolution to the over three-month Honduran stalemate.

International Federation of Human Rights urges European Union on Honduras

The open letter below from FIDH urges the European Union to maintain a forceful position on the coup d’état in Honduras and to reject the electoral process in view of persistent human rights violations

Your Excellencies the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of European Union Member States,

I write to you as the President of the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) to express my deep concern at the situation in Honduras and the repeated human rights violations perpetrated there with total impunity.

In spite of the efforts at conciliation made by the Organization of American States (OAS) and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Oscar Arias, in the past few days the de facto government has again demonstrated that it is unwilling to find a negotiated and peaceful settlement to the situation brought about by the military coup; it refuses to reinstate the constitutionally elected president, Manuel Zelaya, and has stepped up the repression.

The golpistas have said they will revoke decree 016-2009, which was issued after the return to the country of President Zelaya and which suspends constitutional guarantees (including freedom of expression and of movement), for 45 days. However, that decision has not been published in the Diario Oficial, and the golpistas continue to invoke the decree to maintain their censorship and repression of the regime’s opponents and to make excessive use of force against them.

At the same time, the de facto government has adopted and published a new executive agreement (124-2009) instructing the Comisión Nacional de Telecomunicaciones (the National Telecommunications Commission, CONATEL) to revoke or cancel the permits and licences of radio and television station broadcasting messages “that generate (…) social anarchy against the democratic State, undermining social peace and human rights” [translated from the Spanish]. The repeal of decree 016-2009 notwithstanding (a repeal that has yet to be formally introduced), the de facto government has no intention of restoring one of the most fundamental constitutional guarantees: freedom of expression.

What is more, the repression continues, and all those publically rejecting the military coup continue to be threatened and persecuted. For example, journalists and politicians close to President Zelaya have been abducted, tortured and threatened, disciplinary action has been taken against judges opposing the coup, and the police continue to fire tear gas and plastic bullets at and to beat demonstrators assembling in front of the Guatemalan and United States embassies.

In view of the above, and of the persistent human rights violations in Honduras, the conditions have not been met for a legitimate electoral process that can be recognised by the international community, according to the United Nations Secretary-General, the United States Government and the OAS.

For all these reasons, the FIDH appreciates the reactions of the European Union and urges it to:

    * declare that, in the current situation of dictatorship in Honduras, it does not recognise the ongoing electoral process nor the outcome of the elections called for 20 November 2010;

    * uphold its demand that the constitutionally elected president, Manuel Zelaya, be reinstated as a sine qua non condition for the restoration of democratic order in Honduras;

    * reassert that it condemns the continued human rights violations being perpetrated in Honduras and the failure of the de facto government to find a peaceful solution;

    * again request the expulsion from the territory of the European Union of all members of the Honduran diplomatic corps backing the coup and introduce travel restrictions for officials and businessmen supporting the de facto government;

    * support the activities of the International Criminal Court’s Office of the Prosecutor to monitor the situation in Honduras and call on it to take further preventive action.

Yours respectfully,

Souhayr Belhassen, President, FIDH

Honduran Coup Regime in Crisis

Honduran Coup Regime in Crisis
By Greg Grandin, The Nation, October 8, 2009

   
How long can the Honduran crisis drag on, with President Manuel Zelaya, ousted in a military coup more than three months ago, trapped in Tegucigalpa's Brazilian Embassy? Well, in early 1949 in Peru, Víctor Haya de la Torre--one of last century's most important Latin American politicians--sought asylum in the Colombian Embassy in Lima, also following a military coup. There he remained for nearly six years, playing chess, baking cakes for the embassy staff's children and writing books. Soldiers surrounded the building for the duration, with Peru's authoritarian regime ignoring calls from the international community to end the siege, which was condemned by the Washington Post as a "canker in hemisphere relations."

So far Roberto Micheletti, installed by the coup as president, is showing the same obstinacy. Shortly after Zelaya's surprise appearance in the Brazilian Embassy on September 21 after having entered the country unnoticed, probably from El Salvador or Nicaragua, the de facto president ordered troops to violently disperse a large crowd that had gathered around the embassy, using tear gas, clubs and rubber bullets, killing a number of protesters and wounding many. Amnesty International has documented a "sharp rise in police beatings, mass arrests of demonstrators, and intimidation of human rights defenders" since Zelaya's return.

Honduran abuses rampant after coup

(October 12, By Frank Jack Daniel, Reuters).

Suspicious deaths. Beatings. Random police shootings. Life under the de facto government of Honduras at times feels uncannily like Latin America's dark past of military rule.

In the three months since soldiers overthrew leftist President Manuel Zelaya and marched him out of the country in his pajamas, international and Honduran human rights groups say security forces have committed a litany of abuses.

They link at least 10 deaths to de facto rule under Roberto Micheletti, who was named president after the June 28 coup. The government admits three people have died in protests.

Amnesty International said in September that Honduras risks spiraling into a state of lawlessness where police and military act with no regard for rights.

Army Raids Indigenous Hospital in Honduras - The Repression Continues

On October 7th at 6am three army patrols broke down the doors and stormed the first Garifuna hospital in Honduras.

Below is an interview with with Dr. Luther Castillo, a young Garifuna doctor and community organizer who is the founder and director of the hospital that is bears the name "For the Health of Our People".

As he explains

Yesterday three carloads of army troops arrived, broke down the doors to the hospital and searched everything

The interview and article is from "La Voz de los de Abajo".

US figures backing the coup

In this New York Times article, Ginger Thompson looks at US figures running a lobbying campaign on behalf of the Honduran Coup regime.

It states:

Costing at least $400,000 so far, according to lobbying registration records, the campaign has involved law firms and public relations agencies with close ties to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Senator John McCain, a leading Republican voice on foreign affairs.

It has also drawn support from several former high-ranking officials who were responsible for setting United States policy in Central America in the 1980s and ’90s, when the region was struggling to break with the military dictatorships and guerrilla insurgencies that defined the cold war.

Honduras imposes new media restrictions

Honduras's government has imposed a new law limiting media freedoms in the country, amid a political standoff between Roberto Micheletti, the de facto leader, and Manuel Zelaya, the deposed president.

Talks between the rival factions entered a three-day pause on Saturday, prolonging uncertainty over a possible resolution to the almost four-month old crisis.

The new legislation gives Micheletti's government the power to close down radio and television stations that incite "social anarchy" or "national hatred".

Amnesty International on tretament of jouralists by coup regime.

Amnesty have said:

9 October 2009
The de facto Honduran authorities must allow opposition journalists to broadcast as negotiations over the country's political future continue, Amnesty International has said.

Radio Globo and the Canal 36 TV station have been closed since 28 September, after the imposition of a Presidential decree which severely limited freedom of expression, amongst other human rights. The order was verbally revoked on 5 October but Honduran security forces continue to hold equipment from both media outlets.

"There's no legal reason for Radio Globo and Canal 36 to remain closed," said Susan Lee, Americas Director at Amnesty International.

“Ensuring journalists can inform the public, and that freedom of expression is protected, are fundamental issues which must be addressed as part of the ongoing talks.

"Further we also urge Mr Micheletti to entirely rescind the decree by publishing the order in the official Gazette and issue clear instructions to the police and military that they must respect and protect human rights."

Police have told legal representatives of the radio and TV station that the confiscated equipment was required for an investigation. No further information regarding the investigation was provided to them and the media outlets remain closed.

Video shows the violence of the Honduran coup authorities:

This short Spanish language

UN human rights experts raise concern foreign mercenaries in Honduras

From the UN News Service:

"Land owners in Honduras have hired some 40 ex-fighters from the former armed group, Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC), since Mr. Zelaya was removed from power on 28 June, according to the UN Working Group on the use of mercenaries."

It adds:

"In addition, the Working Group said that other sources report an armed group of 120 mercenaries originating from several countries in the region was formed to support the coup in Honduras."

Full story at
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=32482&Cr=honduras&Cr1=

Honduran police clash with Zelaya's followers, as negotiations go on

Honduran police clash with Zelaya's followers, as negotiations go on

TEGUCIGALPA, Oct. 9 (Xinhua www.chinaview.cn) - Police and soldiers clashed with supporters of ousted president Manuel Zelaya Friday during in Honduran capital Tegucigalpa, where Zelaya's representatives are talking with that of de facto President Roberto Micheletti in a bid to find a solution to the country's crisis after the June 28 coup.

Tear gas and water canons were fired to disperse followers of Zelaya, who gathered outside the Intercontinental Hotel in the northeast of Tegucigalpa, where the negotiations have been going on since Wednesday, thanks to the intervention of the Organization of American States (OAS).

"We are against this (the repression). What a barbarity! I do not know who they say they want to dialogue and they are beaten us up," a Zelaya's follower told local radio station Radio Globo.

"They beat us up, but who said is afraid?" many women shouted during the clash.

A group of human rights officials from the Committee of Relatives of the Detainees and Missing people arrived at the site.Zelaya, whose term ends in January 2010, was ousted in the June28 coup. He popped up in Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa on Sept.21, after failed attempts earlier to return from exile.

Zelaya's delegation has proposed to reach a solution before Oct.15, by restoring him as Constitutional president of Honduras.

Video showing military and police clamping down on free media

This video shows the police and military shutting down the anti-coup Channel 36.

Hand back power, Lula tells Honduras coup leaders

Stockholm - Honduras coup leader Roberto Micheletti should step down immediately in return for an amnesty, Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Tuesday. "For us the solution will be easy if those that participated in the coup leave power and allow the legitimately elected president to take power," Lula told journalists at a summit with European Union leaders in Stockholm.

If Micheletti "leaves and allows (ousted president Manuel) Zelaya to call elections there will be an amnesty, because we want Honduras to live well," he said.

Micheletti took power in a coup on June 28.

Zelaya is currently in hiding in the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa, while Micheletti's regime is coming under increasing international pressure with the impending arrival of a high-level mission from the Organization of American States.

But Lula stressed that Honduras could solve the problem instantly if the coup leaders returned Zelaya to power.

"There is only one thing wrong in Honduras, there's someone in the presidency that shouldnt be there," he said.

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/288929,hand-back-power-lula-tells-honduras-coup-leaders.html

Poll: Wide Majority of Hondurans Oppose Coup d’Etat, Want Zelaya Back

Blogger Al Giordano has posted details of the first poll taken of Hondurans since the coup.

Finally, hard and reliable data - by a legally certified Honduran polling company – provides a clear measurement of how the Honduran people view the June 28 coup d'etat, its “president" Roberto Micheletti, President Manuel Zelaya and the national civil resistance.

The polling data – which we make public for the first time here - shows that Hondurans widely (by a margin of 3 to 1) oppose the coup, oppose coup “president” Micheletti by a margin of 3 to 1 and favor the reinstatement of their elected President Manuel Zelaya by a clear majority of 3 to 2.

STATEMENT OF THE OAS DELEGATION IN HONDURAS

October 8, 2009

A Delegation of Foreign Ministers and high-level officials of Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Dominican Republic and United States of America, and the Secretary General of the Organization of American States, visited Tegucigalpa for the purpose of facilitating a solution to the political and institutional crisis in Honduras. The Spanish Secretary of State for Ibero-America and the Under-Secretary of Political Affairs of the United Nations also participated in the visit.

A Table of Dialogue was established on the morning of October 7, integrated by representatives of President Zelaya and of the de facto government, and featured the words of Mr. José Miguel Insulza, Mr. Peter Kent, Mr. Carlos López Contreras and Mr. Víctor Meza.

Later, the Table of Dialogue held a private meeting exclusive to members of the two negotiating commissions.At the end of the said meeting, the members of the Table informed the Delegation of Foreign Ministers of the results of their deliberations. They said representatives on both sides would coordinate their conversations in equal measure. Also, they asked the OAS to provide logistical and secretarial support.
Finally, they said the agenda they had agreed on included the following points:

a) The signing of the San José Accord;
b) The establishment of commissions for the purpose of conducting a detailed discussion and of proposing changes and updates to points in the San José Accord on which there is agreement, and to establish a timeline for their implementation.
c) The proposal and design of a methodological approximation of a new Political and Social Pact for Honduras.Subsequently, the OAS Delegation met with Mr. Roberto Micheletti and with President Manuel Zelaya, and had dinner with Honduran presidential candidates Porfirio Lobo, Elvin Santos, Felícito Ávila y César Ham. At these meetings the current Honduran political crisis and the positions of the parties were reviewed.

The OAS Delegation proposed to all involved that in order for dialogue to take place under appropriate conditions the following is necessary:
1) The reestablishment and permanency of all constitutional guarantees;
2) The restitution of all press media whose functions were interrupted; and
3) That normal access and consultation of President Zelaya and his representatives be allowed in the Table of Dialogue.

The Delegation also requested that the problem of the embassy of Brazil be resolved and that President Zelaya be guaranteed the conditions of life and work that befit his high dignity.The Delegation charged the Secretary General to inform the member countries of the Organization of American States of the fulfillment of these requests and of the evolution and progress made in the Table of Dialogue.

The OAS Delegation is convinced that the dialogue begun with the direct participation of the parties may be conducive to the resolution of the political crisis in which the country has been seeped since the events of last June 28. It holds the hope that the members of the Table of Dialogue will fully assume the responsibilities that have been entrusted to them, and that their labor will give way to a new road that could lead Honduras to the restitution of democratic order and to its reintegration in the international community, which is a wish shared by all.

Finally, the Delegation urged all political and social actors of Honduras to remain faithful to the respect of Human Rights and to contribute towards establishing an environment of national peace and reconciliation facilitated by the dialogue that has begun.

Public Meeting Against Honduras Coup - Wednesday 14 October, 7.30pm

RESTORE DEMOCRACY IN HONDURAS No more dictators in Latin America End all US financial support to the coup Public Meeting — Wednesday 14 October, 7.30pm Speakers include: Ken Livingstone Katherine Ronderos (Central America Women’s Network) will give an eyewitness account of her recent visit  to Honduras.  Tony Lloyd MP, Chair, Parliamentary Labour Party Sally Hunt, TUC General Council International Spokesperson Colin Burgon MP Alvaro Sanchez, Counsellor, Venezuela Embassy Steve Hart, Regional Secretary, Unite London and Eastern Karen Mitchell, Thompsons Solicitors Dr Francisco Dominguez, Head of Latin America Studies, Middlesex Uni Bernard Regan, National Secretary Cuba Solidarity Campaign Plus videos and messages from Honduras Venue: Transport House, Unite the Union Building, 128 Theobalds Road, London, WC1X 8TN (Nearest tube: Holborn.) For a map click here.

Last month President Zelaya returned to Honduras after being ousted in a military coup. He has since been taking refuge in the Brazilian Embassy. When tens of thousands took to the streets to welcome President Zelaya back, the Honduran coup regime responded with widespread violence. A number of people have been killed as a result of repression and a clampdown on civil liberties has seen hundreds arrested and the closure of independent media. This public meeting will update on the situation in Honduras and how we can offer solidarity to help bring President Zelaya back to the Presidency and restore democracy in Honduras.

Supported by:

This meeting is part of the activities of the Emergency Committee Against the Coup in Honduras. The Committee involves Venezuela Solidarity Campaign, Cuba Solidarity Campaign, Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign, Labour Friends of Venezuela, UNITE the Union, UNITE London & Eastern Regions, South East Region TUC, and other bodies of the British Labour movement and Latin American communities. Visit the blog at http://committeeagainsthondurascoup.blogspot.com. For more information email: notohondurascoup@googlemail.com

Honduras talks start, police disperse protesters

Honduras talks start, police disperse protesters
* OAS chief Insulza insists Zelaya be reinstated
*  Police break up pro-Zelaya protest with tear gas
* Zelaya accuses Micheletti of stalling for time

TEGUCIGALPA, Oct 7 (Reuters) - Envoys of ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya and the country's de facto leader began talks on Wednesday as diplomats insisted the deposed president be reinstated and police fired tear gas at protesters.

Foreign ministers and the head of the Organization of American States are overseeing the highest-level dialogue in the coffee-growing nation since Zelaya was bundled into exile at gunpoint three months ago, but a solution to the crisis seemed distant.

Zelaya followed the negotiations from the Brazilian embassy, where he has been trapped by troops since slipping back into Honduras last month.

Interim leader Roberto Micheletti chided diplomats from the hemisphere for isolating the poor coffee-growing country after the putsch.

Shortly before the meeting, police fired volleys of tear gas to disperse several hundred people who were marching past the U.S. Embassy in support of Zelaya, a leftist former logging magnate.

Canadians demand "Get tough on Honduras coup perpetrators"

Get tough on Honduras coup perpetrators
Oct 7th, 2009

article by New Democratic Party of Canada

OTTAWA – The Canadian government has failed to exert any concrete diplomatic pressure on the de facto government of Honduras in order to end the political crisis. New Democrats call on the government to announce targeted economic and diplomatic sanctions against the Honduran coup perpetrators.

“The situation in Honduras is worsening and the authorities have yet to sign onto the San José plan to resolve the stand-off,” said New Democrat Foreign Affairs Critic Paul Dewar (Ottawa Centre). “Canada is lacking the diplomatic will to defend the rights and freedoms of the Honduran people”.

Dewar expressed disappointment that today’s statement from the government did not include any new diplomatic initiatives to pressure the Honduran authorities. In his response, Dewar called on the government to suspend all military cooperation with Honduras and put in place targeted economic and diplomatic sanctions against the coup perpetrators. The United States has already taken similar steps to increase the pressure on the de facto government of Honduras.

Dewar also warned that the coup’s success will set a dangerous precedent against democratic development in the region.

“Canada’s support for the San José plan needs to be backed up with concrete diplomatic measures,” added Dewar. “The government has to make it crystal clear for the Honduran authorities that delaying action on the San José plan will result in diplomatic and economic consequences for them”.

Coup regime lifts some of the curbs on civil liberites

Isabel Sanchez in the AFP writes: 

(October 5, 2009) The coup-backed government in Honduras on Monday lifted a decree restricting civil rights, in a step toward dialogue with ousted President Manuel Zelaya, who is still holed up in Brazil's embassy.

"We've abolished the decree in the Council of Ministers," de facto leader Roberto Micheletti told a news conference here.

Micheletti had imposed the 45-day decree suspending freedom of movement, assembly and speech on September 27, using it to shut down two opposition media outlets and stamp out protests by supporters of Zelaya.

The clampdown followed the surprise return home of Zelaya on September 21, almost three months after the June 28 coup.

Micheletti said earlier that he had decided to "totally annul" the decree because calm was returning to the country and because of the negative reaction of the international community.

Zelaya had joined calls for the decree be lifted ahead of talks between members of the two camps brokered by the Organization of American States (OAS), expected to start this week.

The talks were set to discuss an accord proposed by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, which includes Zelaya's brief reinstatement and elections for his successor.

Zelaya called Monday on the de facto government to "immediately" sign the Arias proposal, although Micheletti has long resisted because it would return to Zelaya to power.

New York Times on Honduran Security Force Abuse

ELISABETH MALKIN. New York Times. October 5, 2009.
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras - Rosamaria Valeriano Flores was returning home from a visit to a public health clinic and found herself in a crowd of people dispersing from a demonstration in support of the ousted president, Manuel Zelaya. As she crossed the central square of the Honduran capital, a group of soldiers and police officers pushed her to the ground and beat her with their truncheons.

Supporters of the ousted Honduran president, Manuel Zelaya, ran from tear gas during clashes with the police two weeks ago in the capital, Tegucigalpa, a day after Mr. Zelaya secretly returned and holed up in the Brazilian Embassy.


Officers clashed with university officials in August during a pro-Zelaya student demonstration.

She said the men kicked out most of her top teeth, broke her ribs and split open her head. "A policeman spit in my face and said, 'You will die,' " she said, adding that the attack stopped when a police officer shouted at the men that they would kill her.

Honduras - 100 days of Repression and Resistance

By Tom Loudon. Truthout. (October 6, 2009)

It has been 100 days since a military coup was carried out in Honduras. Supporters of the deposed president have faced increasingly draconian measures. (Photo: Yamil Gonzales / flickr)

Today marks 100 days since a military coup was carried out against President Zelaya in Honduras. It also marks 100 days of massive, sustained, nonviolent resistance on the part of the Honduran people who are saying no to this brazen attempt to return to the days of dictators.

In the face of uncontainable resistance, the coup regime has employed increasingly draconian measures. Most disturbing includes a resurgence of death squad activity, wholesale suspension of constitutional rights and the criminalization of social protest. Currently, over 80 people are detained and face charges of sedition. Conservative estimates document 14 murders in the last 14 weeks; two of those occurred during the last week.

US Republican Congress Reps visit Honduras to demand US government backs illegal coup.

US Republican Congresswoman, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, has visited Honduras with two other members of Congress, and demanded that the US government should back the illegal coup. All three are from South Florida.

Describing the Micheletti Junta who seized power by military force overthrowing the elected President Manuel Zelaya, Ros-Lehtinen said: “This is the legitimate government, I will tell my colleagues (U.S. Congressmen) to come to Honduras, not to see the newspapers, CNN or any media, to come here to meet with the legitimate government to listen their aspiration of living in peace and democracy,”

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen seems to have different ideas of peace and democracy from most people. Peace for her means having the army on the streets every day, and democracy means throwing school teachers in gaol for expressing their support for the country’s elected President.

From http://www.socialistunity.com/?p=4732

HONDURAS - PRO-DEMOCRACY DEMONSTRATORS JAILED FOR “SEDITION”

HONDURAS' ZELAYA DEMANDS CIVIL LIBERTIES BE RESTORED

By Oscar Nunez Olivas and Isabel Sanchez (AFP)

TEGUCIGALPA — Deposed President Manuel Zelaya called on the Honduran regime to restore civil liberties and withdraw soldiers surrounding his Brazilian embassy refuge as a precondition for talks aimed at solving the political crisis.

Representatives of Zelaya and the military-supported interim Honduran regime agreed to restart talks this week, without setting a date, that would restore democracy after soldiers ousted the president at gunpoint on June 28 and kicked him out of the country in his pyjamas.

Zelaya's surprise return on September 21 to the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa triggered a new wave of protests and a clampdown on civil rights, but also boosted efforts to break the deadlock.

The interim government led by Roberto Micheletti, which has surrounded the embassy with soldiers and riot police, wants to arrest Zelaya on charges that include treason and corruption.

Ninety percent of the issues holding up negotiations "have been resolved," Zelaya told AFP in a telephone interview from inside the Brazilian embassy.

But if the remaining 10 percent "is an obstacle, then one has to trust the ... international community to continue pressuring" the regime.

Candidates refuse to stand in elections unless Zelaya reinstated now.

Oct 4 (Prensa Latina) - The immediate restitution of overthrown President Manuel Zelaya is an indispensable condition to guarantee elections in Honduras, according to a resistance leader.

Carlos Eduardo Reina, president of the Liberal Coordinator against the Coup d'Etat, warned that the deadline for the November 29 elections is near.

HONDURAS: PROTESTS CONTINUE DESPITE MORE KILLINGS

By Calvin Tucker - http://21stcenturysocialism.com/article/honduras_protests_continue_despite_more_killings_01920.html

Five hundred Hondurans yesterday defied the dictatorship’s ban on public demonstrations and gathered near a sports stadium in the working class district of El Pedregal in south Tegucigalpa.

The meeting was organised mainly by word of mouth and through the social networking website Facebook. The last remaining independent media outlets, Radio Globo and TV channel 36, both of which had played a key role in organising resistance, were raided by armed soldiers last week and forced off air.

FREEDOM FOR AGUSTINA FLORES: TORTURED TEACHER!!

The following message was received from Dr. Juan Almendares, Honduran medical doctor and award-winning human rights activist and current president of the Honduran Peace Committee as well as the past secretary of the Coordinating Committee of Popular Organizations.

Agustina Flores has been charged with sedition by judge Laura Castro on the bases of the testimonies of the police officers who arrested her, who Castro accepted also as witnesses against Flores. Agustina Flores is 53. The Honduran movement struggling for the restoration of democracy and the restitution of legitimate President Zelaya, refers to Flores as "the first woman political prisoner of the Micheletti dictatorship." 

In interviews Flores calls upon the international community to intensify their solidarity because in Honduras all freedoms and rights are being systematicall violated 'setting Honduras back 30 to 50 years' and, breavely, calls upon Honduras and the Resistance to continue the struggle. (Watch video in Spanish)

38 Peasants Accused of sedition for defending the Constitution - Demand their release

URGENT ACTION! FOR THEIR IMMEDIATE AND UNCONDITIONAL RELEASE!

The 38 have gone on hunger strike, they have accused falsely of sedition, and under the de facto Miceheletti dictatorship they have no fair chance of defending themselves. Given that all actions of the coup regime are by definition illegal, their defence of the legitimate President and protection of INA premises were lawful activities.

Details are below of emails of members of the Honduras Supreme Court of Justice who you should write to demanding the detainees release.

US Congress Takes a Stand: Open Letter to Honduran Congress

Signed by US Representatives James McGovern, William Delahunt, Janice D. Schakowsky, Sam Farr, Gregory W. Meeks, and Xavier Becerra, this open letter, addressed to José Saavedra, President of the Honduran Congress, draws a clear distinction between the policy of the US Executive branch, and the majority party in the US Congress, and what the authors rightly characterize as the "minority" Republican party, whose members continue to interfere in US foreign policy in ways that should be roundly condemned by anyone who cares about procedure in the US system.

These Congress members state firmly and clearly that the coup was unconstitutional; that the current conditions make holding legitimate elections impossible; and that if the Micheletti regime continues to "stall", they will urge that the US not recognize the upcoming Honduran elections.

(Click on the letter to enlarge)

US taxpayers money funds Honduran parties that support dictatorial measures

Thursday, October 1, 2009
Your Tax Dollars At Work "Promoting" Democracy

The Unión Civica Democratica, a pro-coup organization that describes itself as made up of over 40 organizations supporting the ouster of president Manuel Zelaya announced today that it supports PCM-M-016-2009, the decree that suspends the constitutional rights of Honduran citizens for 45 days. Its spokesperson, Luz Ernestina Mejia specifically approved of the closing of Radio Globo and Channel 36. "We are against the repeated crimes of these journalists."

Generacion Por Cambio is a recipient of USAID funding for the development of democracy in Honduras. Gee, we spent money supporting a group that just came out in favor of the suspension of constitutional guarantees? Guess that was money well spent.

 

Read more...

 

'Nothing happenning' in Honduras (excellent Real News feature)

The Military shuts down all anti-coup radio and TV, silencing all reporting on the resistance movement.

Honduras is under martial law as executive decree PCM-M-016-2009 has suspended numerous constitutional freedoms including: personal freedom, the right to free thought, the right to organize and meet, the right to free movement, freedom of the press, rights to privacy in one's own home, and protection against arbitrary detentions. The coup regime has routinely infringed these rights throughout the past three months, but it used the current degree to mobilize the military to shut down all anti-coup media outlets, thus eliminating any news of the resistance from the media. As filmmaker and resistance member Oscar Estrada writes, "it's like we never existed."

Jim DeMint's Coup? The US Republican right moves to support dictatorship in Honduras

US Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) has announced that he is heading down to Honduras to encourage those who helped fund and supported the coup against Honduran President Manuel Zelaya to resist American pressure to return Zelaya to office.

Read more...

Radio Globo License Revoked -- Where is the media outrage?

CONATEL, the part of the government that licenses radio and tv stations in Honduras, has just issued a letter to Alejandro Villatoro, owner of Radio Globo, cancelling its use of the radio frequencies assigned to it across the entire country of Honduras. This, of course, violates the Honduran law governing broadcast media, which specifically says the government cannot expropriate, decomission, the buildings or transmitters of a radio station or interrupt broadcasts, without a judicial declaration and trial. In a state of exception, reporters cannot be alienated or persecuted for their opinions.

But the resistance continues. Radio Globo can be listened to through the internet www.radioglobohonduras.com and it is reported that it has quadrupled its listeners by going online.

For more see http://hondurascoup2009.blogspot.com/2009/10/radio-globo-license-revoked.html

Honduran police evict Zelaya supporters in crackdown

By Esteban Israel

Honduran police on Wednesday began evicting supporters of toppled President Manuel Zelaya from government office buildings where they had holed up for three months to protest his ouster in a military coup.

Zelaya, who riled conservative lawmakers and business leaders with his ties to Venezuela's socialist government, was overthrown by the army in June. He sneaked back into the country and took refuge in the Brazilian Embassy a week ago.

The crackdown came after de facto leader, Roberto Micheletti, issued a decree suspending civil liberties, shut two media stations loyal to Zelaya and warned Brazil it had 10 days to hand over Zelaya to authorities or give him political asylum.

Riot police surrounded the National Agrarian Institute in Tegucigalpa early on Wednesday and cleared out 57 Zelaya supporters from the two-story building, where farm workers had protested since the June military coup.



Further information at http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20090930/honduran-police-evict-zelaya-supporters-crackdown.htm

UN Human Rights Council Unanimously Condemns Human Rights Abuses in Honduras Coup

GENEVA  (AP) — The U.N. top rights body is condemning abuses following the June 28 coup in Honduras.
The 47-nation U.N. Human Rights Council unanimously endorsed Thursday a proposal by Latin American countries, including Cuba, calling for an immediate end to all human rights violations.
The Geneva-based council, of which the United States is a member, also called for the restoration of the ousted government of President Manuel Zelaya.
Honduras' interim leaders suspended some civil liberties Sunday and empowered police and soldiers to break up unauthorized public meetings, arrest people without warrants and restrict the news media.
The decision came after Zelaya called on supporters to stage mass marches to protest the coup.

Honduras de Facto Government Blamed for 14 Deaths

TEGUCIGALPA – Fourteen politically motivated killings have taken place in Honduras since the June 28 escorted departure of former president Mel Zelaya, a human rights group founded when death squads stalked the Central American country in the 1980s said Wednesday.

“We have 14 people who have been murdered since the coup d’état,” the coordinator of the Committee of Relatives of Disappeared Detainees, or Cofadeh, told Efe.

The killings took place in Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula – the country’s two largest cities – and other locations, Bertha Oliva said, adding that police and soldiers were also “torturing people.”

Some people arrested for their opposition to the coup have been burned by their jailers with cigarettes, while others have been sodomized with police batons, she said.

Oliva said some of the torturers were from the army’s 3-16 Intelligence Battalion, blamed for 184 deaths during the early 1980s.

A veteran of that unit, former Capt. Billy Joya, is security adviser to Roberto Micheletti, former head of Congress who was elected head of government after Zelaya’s ouster.

US women trade unionists ask Hillary Clinton to intervene for Honduran women

The United Steelworkers (USW) Women of Steel organization continues to seek action by the U.S. government to protect Honduran woman who have been brutalized by officials of the coup regime. Last month the organization asked Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to intervene for Honduran women in the resistance who are being threatened by acts of sexual and physical violence.

The group today sent a stern reply to letter sent to them by the U.S. State Department's Ambassador-At-Large for Global Womens' Issues, which downplayed the violence and ignores the findings of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

In the letter they cited an August 21, 2009 report that noted: 'In the context of the demonstrations and the repression and detentions carried out by police officers and members of the military, women were especially subject to acts of violence and humiliation because of their gender."

In its letter, the USW Women of Steel states

"...you appear to downplay the concern expressed by the Women of Steel about violence against women in Honduras following the coup, saying that you know of only one case of a woman being gang raped by police. This ignores the findings of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights which, in its report of August 21, 2009, found numerous cases of violence perpetrated against women by the coup regime."

It also calls for the restoration of democracy in Honduras and the immediate reinstatement of Manuel Zelaya to his rightful position as President.


To view letter visit http://assets.usw.org/action_center/Women_of_Steel/WOS_News/wos_reply_to_ambassador_verveer_honduras.pdf

US Honduras Policy: The Ghost of George W. Bush

U.S. Repeats its Hallmark Policy of Refusing to Take a Definitive Stance
By COHA Research Associates Stephanie Brault and Michaela D'Ambrosio

While Micheletti’s support continues to ebb, it may seem like only a matter of time before President Zelaya is reinstated. Meanwhile Washington continues to blunder around, failing to decisively clarify its position on the continuing crisis and its diplomacy seems to be anything but sure footed. 

Venezuela to OAS: Increase International Pressure on Honduran Dictatorship

By Kiraz Janicke

September 29, 2009 - Venezuelanalysis.com

Venezuela's Ambassador to the Organisation of American States (OAS), Roy Chaderton Matos, criticised the OAS in Washington Monday for its "cautious and moderate" stance towards the coup regime of Roberto Micheletti in Honduras.

"It is necessary to further increase the pressure of the international community against the dictatorship in Honduras, and for each country separately to also exert pressure," in order to reinstate the democratically elected president of Honduras Manuela Zelaya, said Chaderton during a special session of the Permanent Council of the OAS on Honduras.

In particular the Venezuelan diplomat criticised the "respect" of members of the OAS towards the dictatorship in Honduras and its leader, Roberto Micheletti.

Freedom for Agustina Flores, Tortured Teacher

Teacher Agustina Flores is also a reporter for Radio Liberada, and was, according to the radio, "savagely beaten" while transmitting her morning report for them. See the beginning of her arrest on Jesse Freeston's most recent video, around 49 seconds in.

More media theatened by de facto regime

La Tribuna reports in its Minuto a Minuto column, that the head of the southern region of the National Police, Danilo Valladares, confirmed late this evening that two radio stations in Choluteca, and another two in Valle could be suspended for violating (decree) PCM-M-016-2009, the de facto government decree that was used to shut down Radio Globo and Cholusat Sur in Tegucigalpa. This is the same decree that Micheletti promised to rescind, only he's delaying until every contrary voice is silenced.

From: Honduras Coup 2009

Honduras regime wavers amid international uproar

Agence France-Presse

09/29/2009

TEGUCIGALPA - Honduran de facto leaders pledged to reconsider a clampdown on rights and resume mediation efforts, as deposed President Manuel Zelaya appealed for help from the United Nations.

The deep divides within the Central American country echoed beyond its borders as the Organization of American States failed Monday after more than 10 hours of debate to reach consensus on the crisis sparked by the June 28 coup.

Amid widespread international criticism, de facto leader Roberto Micheletti said he was prepared to rescind a decree restricting civil liberties so that upcoming presidential polls are not affected.

"We're worried that this decree could affect the elections," Micheletti told journalists in Tegucigalpa, hours after soldiers shut down two dissident media outlets under the new measures. "If it's necessary, we'll revoke it."

Protesters earlier taped their mouths shut to symbolize the loss of their right to express themselves as they were prevented from answering Zelaya's call to converge for a mass protest.

U.S. Won’t Recognize Honduras Election Without End to Crisis

(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. won’t recognize a scheduled November election in Honduras without a resolution to the political crisis that began with a coup that ousted President Manuel Zelaya in June, a State Department aide said.

The U.S. has told the “de facto regime that because of the environment on the ground, we will not recognize the election,” Philip J. Crowley, spokesman for the U.S. State Department, said in Washington yesterday. 
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=a2eFCeRCVn.Y