Blaring Impunity: Unrelenting Assassinations of Honduran Journalists, the Government Remains all but Quiescen

From the US think-tank Council on Hemispheric Affairs (11 October, 2011)

Summary

As always, but with an unusual quota of aggression since 2010, freedom of speech and the personal security of Honduran journalists are under permanent attack from groups, gangs, and individuals who launch their strikes under a cloak of anonymity. The journalist Medardo Flores, a relentless supporter of former President Manuel Zelaya, is the latest victim of the wave of violence directed toward members of the Honduran working press. With all the disrespect attributable to the government of Porfirio Lobo, as demonstrated here, it is not unreasonable to presume that the perpetrators, along with their underlying political motives, want to silence such journalists at any cost.

FNRP Communiqué regarding the integration of the political movements within the electoral-political instrument

1 OCT 2011 FNRP
The National Coordination and Political Committee of the National Front of People’s Resistance, at a meeting held in Tegucigalpa on Thursday, September 29, 2011, reached the following agreements:


It will integrate all political forces and movements which deem suitable for the Re-Foundation and National Constituent Assembly projects for the Honduras that FNRP proposes.


The organized political expressions, such as the Liberal Resistance Movement June 28, and other movements must be incorporated into the organization within two weeks, in order to meet the deadlines set by law in the Supreme Electoral Tribunal.


The Political Commission of FNRP must in this case reach these agreements and draft the regulations.


We resist and we will win!

National Front of People’s Resistance
Tegucigalpa September 29, 2011

Source: FNRP

Hondurans celebrate another inspiring `September 15’

23 SEPT 2011
Independence parade consolidates new national identity in Honduras

"We do not celebrate independence, about that there is nothing to celebrate, we want a new nation, and we have changed the meaning of this day," said one participant, "the people will conquer power with the broad front" claimed others.

On September 15, as it has become tradition for the Honduran resistance, estimations stated that the number of protesters reached between one and two million people nationwide. In Tegucigalpa alone, two hours after the aperture of the parade, caravans were still leaving the departure point. This is the third year that the Honduran resistance flies its flag of freedom, for a “wanted independence”.

Resolutions of the "Seeds of Liberty" Extraordinary Assembly

23 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2011 20:44 RED MORAZANICA DE INFORMACIÓN   
The Second Extraordinary Assembly of the National Front of People’s Resistance “Seeds of Freedom" , held in Tegucigalpa, was attended by delegates from all departments, the 19th department and representatives of social and political organizations that are part of the FNRP.

The Assembly focused on the approval of the Declaration of Principles, the Statutes and a FARP Flag, these are requirements for registration of the Broad Front of People’s Resistance in the Supreme Electoral Tribunal.

After extensive discussion, debate and presentation of some motions of reform the Assembly agreed the following:

1. Approval of the Declaration of Principles. (read in Spanish)

2. To create a Committee of Style to be responsible to review, edit and implement the reforms solicited by the Assembly for the Statutes and the Declaration of Principles of the Broad Front of People’s Resistance (FARP). (Statutes in Spanish)

3. Approval of the flag of the FARP, which shall be rectangular with red background, in the center of the flag stands the acronyms of FARP in black lowercase letters, and with a four vertices star in white at the right side.

Source: FNRP

Porfirio Lobo launches crackdown on Trade Unions

17th September 2011

With the massive layoffs of state workers organized into several unions, the regime of Porfirio Lobo advances its clear and violent anti-union escalation following a strategy to reverse labour and social conquests of the Honduran people, in order to weaken the birth of the Broad Front of People's Resistance (FARP), declared Juan Barahona, President of the Sub FUTH and coordinator of the National Front of People's Resistance (FNRP). 

Police & Military Attack Protestors in Tocoa, During Pro-Independence Parade

16 September 2011

The national independence day celebration of September 15th was an excuse for an attack in the city of Tocoa, Colon, militarization center of Bajo Aguán.

As in the two previous years, the National People's Resistance Front (FNRP) called for peaceful public protests throughout the country. Tocoa was by no means the only site of protest, but as had occurred in previous years , the military and police forces dedicated themselves to the task of repression in the interest of silencing the voices that denounced them and demanded justice facing the situation of violence against the organized campesino population of this region of the country. This violence has increased in recent days with the massive presence of soldiers in the region and with the murders of various recognized regional agrarian leaders.

Emmo: A Resistance Symbol Killed

8th September 2011

The FNRP holds the Honduran State responsible for the act 

Tegucigalpa. September 7, 2011. This day during the afternoon the tragic death of a member of the National Front of People’s Resistance was announced. A naturalized Honduran Mahadeo Roopchand Sadloo Sadloo, better known as Emo, who after returning from a FNRP rally was attacked on the visitors area of his own retailing business.

Honduras radio reporter killed - the 16th journalist assassinated

13th September 2011

Radio reporter Medardo Flores became the 16th journalist murdered in Honduras over the past 18 months when his car was sprayed with bullets on Thursday. He was ambushed while driving from his small farm to Puerto Cortes on the Caribbean coast.

Flores, 50, worked for Radio Uno and was also a noted supporter of the country's ousted former president Manuel Zelaya.

Public safety has been hit hard in Honduras since the June 2009 coup that ousted Zelaya and later saw the election as president of Porfirio Lobo.

Sixteen journalists have been killed in Honduras since February 2010.

Arnulfo Aguilar, Radio Uno's director, told the local press that Flores spent the 1980s in exile "to escape from persecution by the repressive forces of the state".

Source: Ticotimes

Massive Turnout for Zelaya Launches New Chapter of Honduran Struggle

FROM 'THE REAL NEWS'
'Largest gathering in Honduran history' receives deposed leader's return, but where to now for Honduran resistance movement?

Zelaya's return to Honduras: victory for Latin American and Honduran democracy

May 31, 2011
'

''Si se pudo!', 'Si se pudo!' ('It could be done!', 'It could be done!') was the slogan chanted by the huge crowds that poured into Honduras' capital city, Tegucigalpa, on May 28, 2011, to give a rapturous welcome to 'Mel', Manuel Zelaya, the democratically-elected president of the country until a brutal military coup deposed him on 28 June, 2009.
For nearly two years, a mass movement of the people of Honduras has been on the streets to oppose the coup and challenge the de-facto regime established after the ousting of Zelaya. They have paid a heavy price in loss of life, imprisonment, torture and repression. Yet, the mass movement, led and organised by the Frente Nacional de Resistencia Popular (FNPR), have managed to expose the shaky bases of the current government, which in elections held under conditions of military dictatorship in November 2010, won Porfirio Lobo the presidency.

WE ARE NOT AFRAID: INSIDE THE COUP IN HONDURAS (DOCUMENTARY)

Watch the excellent documentary "We are not afraid: Inside the coup in Honduras" (Quien dijo miedo: Honduras de un golpe)

"We are not afraid" charts the struggle of the Honduran people against the coup that overthrew the democratically-elected President, Manuel Zelaya, and their magnificent resistance against the military dictatorship that was imposed on them. The documentary is the work of Katia Lara, director, and Carlos del Valle, producer, through the company Terco Producciones.

René Amador is a Honduran amateur actor who appeared on television spots promoting the referendum on convening the National Constituent Assembly in Honduras. On June 28th, 2009, instead of a referendum, there was a brutal coup d’état: the army abducted President Manuel Zelaya and had him flown abroad. Along with thousands of other Hondurans, René joined the National Resistance Front against the Coup d’ État. An unprecedented Honduras arises: a people who resist despite media bias, violence and death, and take to the streets to stand up for their rights. This is their story.

"... a much needed truth telling intervention where mainstream media has failed.” --Greg Grandin

Washington’s Invented Honduran Democracy: Seven journalists slain since March

Washington’s Invented Honduran Democracy 

by COHA Staff

Revised and amended version of COHA communiqué of April 22, 2010 President of Newspaper Guild Joins COHA in Expressing Their Extreme Concern Over the Ongoing Massacre of Honduran Journalists

Washington’s Faux Honduran Democracy has deceived very few in the Hemisphere, with News Journalists Paying the Heavy Price (in the picture TV journalist Jorge Orellana).

• U.S. Newspaper Guild president blasts killing of seven Honduran journalists (COHA’s first and longtime chairman, the late Charles Perlik, Jr., also served as the president of the Newspaper Guild)
• With the wave of killings now besieging the Central American country, the White House needs to show that it’s willing to support democracy in Honduras
• It’s disappointing that the Obama administration’s position on Honduran policy has helped to create an environment for the sixth murder of a Honduran journalist in recent days, making the tiny Central American country the world’s murder capital when it comes to gunning down media professionals.

Honduran campesinos under the gun Pt2

The Real News -

In Part two of two on the land conflict in the Aguán Valley, we look at the roots of the conflict, and the motivation for the campesinos to begin the land occupation that eventually won them 11,000 hectares. We also look at what the experience in Aguán means for other conflicts in a country where the power struggle that gave rise to the June 2009 coup is far from over.

Including interviews with Father Ismael "Melo" Moreno, Rosemary Joyce, and reporting from the land occupation in question.

PART 2

Produced by Jesse Freeston.

Honduran campesinos under the gun Pt1

The Real News -

A tentative and controversial resolution has been reached in a long-standing land conflict in Honduras. The controversy lies in the mobilization of the military, in the form of at least 2,000 soldiers, to pressure the campesinos into signing the latest negotiated deal. The group of 3,500 campesino families has agreed to accept a total of 11,000 hectares from the Lobo government. The previously landless workers continue to occupy a series of African palm plantations in the fertile Northern Honduran valley of Aguán, until their access to the land is assured.

PART 1

Produced by Jesse Freeston.

Bio

Rosemary Joyce is an anthropologist and archaeologist at the University of California, Berkeley. She has been worked regularly in Honduras ever since 1977. She blogs regularly at her 'Honduran Culture and Politics'.
Her blog can be found at: hondurasculturepolitics.blogspot.com

URGENT!!! Violent eviction of peasants in Aguan being prepared by Honduran Army

 URGENT!!! Violent eviction of peasants in Aguan being prepared by Honduran Army!!

Monday, April 12, 2010

Sunday April 11th, 2010 20:05 Dina Meza

A violent eviction against the 28 peasant settlements in Aguán is being prepared for this Monday [today] by thousands of military, police and security guards of the land-owners, who have built-up around the recuperated places according to the latest information from this weekend.


Through the arrival of these combined forces from different parts of the country the zone is totally militarized, strong operations are taking place with the intention of intimidating the men and women who have joined the Unified Peasant Movement of Aguán, MUCA, who are struggling for a piece of land.

Videos posted on YouTube show military transports loaded with troops and towing supply trailers:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdL17p_mblM
http://www.youtube.com/user/MUCAtv
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTaIVEIdDQ0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUmbrOdBJoI

Honduras: New president, but old problems

By RussiaToday: January 27, 2010
 
Today in Honduras Porfirio Lobo was sworn in as the country's new president. Lobo's inauguration brought to an end months of political turmoil in the country, which began with a coup last June that dethroned Manuel Zelaya. Are Honduras's political problems really over? And how should the international community react?

‘More Terror’ in Honduras, as Another Unionist Murdered

By Kari Lydersen

Source: Inthesetimes

The body of 29-year-old Vanessa Yamileth Zepeda, still dressed in her nurse’s scrubs and killed by a bullet, turned up in the Loarque neighborhood of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, on February 4. Zepeda had young children and was a leader of the SITRAIHSS labor union (Workers Union for the Honduran Social Security Institute). She had been abducted that afternoon while leaving a union meeting.

The administration of the newly inaugurated President Porfirio "Pepe" Lobo has called Zepeda’s murder and other recent attacks common crime. But the Honduran resistance movement – mobilized since the June 2009 coup against then-president Manuel Zelaya – see it as a clear message.

COFADEH: State terrorism contradicts discourse of reconciliation

02/06/2010 - 17:09 — AP - Source: http://quotha.net/node/742

State terrorism against the resistance contradicts discourse of reconciliation

The state terrorism carried out since June 28th against the Honduran people continues through targeted crimes, political persecution and other violations of human rights, contradicting the discourse of reconciliation and the installation of a truth commission.

For the Committee of Family Members of the Detained and Disappeared in Honduras, COFADEH, the current regime has a two-faced approach, which seeks to clean up an image drenched in blood and terror to present itself to the international community as a government of reconciliation.

Honduran Resistance in the Streets of Tegucigalpa

Rafael Alegría Interviewed by Jeffery R. Webber*

Source: Monthly Review

Hundreds of thousands of Hondurans took to the streets on Wednesday, January 27 to protest the inauguration of Porfirio "Pepe" Lobo Soza. Lobo was the victor in fraudulent elections held last November and his new regime is seen by the Honduran resistance as a continuation and consolidation of the coup regime that first came to power by overthrowing democratically-elected President, Manuel Zelaya, on June 28, 2009. During the march I caught up with Rafael Alegría, a key leader in the National Resistance Front, and a leading Honduran figure in the international peasant movement, Vía Campesina.

JRW: What are the principal demands of the resistance in this march today?

RA: The resistance has two principal pillars -- a social pillar for the revindication of the people's rights, in which the resistance accompanies people in their daily struggle, for agrarian reform, for just salaries, and opposition to the privatization of social services. This is the pillar of social mobilization.
The other pillar is the political arm -- to convert ourselves into a militant political force which will work towards taking political power in our country.

JRW: What are the objectives of the Constituent Assembly that the resistance is demanding?

RA: The power of the people is going to result in massive transformations in this country. We are demanding a Constituent Assembly that is going to transform this country, into a participatory democracy. It will be a new Honduras -- a country with social justice, with equality, with a new model of development in which everyone is included, and, as the Bolivians say, so that our entire country can live well.
It will be very different than the current situation, in which there is a privileged oligarchy, which owns and controls everything, while on the other hand there is an immense mass of impoverished people. This can't continue.
There are a huge number of people in this march. And this is the message we are sending to the entire oligarchic power groups and to the rest of the people.

JRW: In the next few months, what will the strategy of the resistance be?

RA: We are in a process of national organization, of articulation, and establishing schools of political education. Our mobilizations are also going to continue. We have a concrete immediate agenda of mobilization. Beyond that, we're preparing ourselves to participate in the elections in three years so that we can take definitive control.

*Jeffery R. Webber teaches political science at the University of Regina, Canada. He has three forthcoming books: Red October: Left-Indigenous Struggles in Modern Bolivia; The Politics of Evismo: Reform to Rebellion in Bolivian Politics; and (co-edited with Barry Carr) The Resurgence of Latin American Radicalism: From Cracks in the Empire to an Izquierda Permitida

Colombia's Uribe Signs Security Pact with Honduras' Lobo

Source: Latin American Herald Tribune

TEGUCIGALPA – Colombian president Alvaro Uribe signed a security pact with his Honduran counterpart, Porfirio Lobo, and then flew back to his own country after a visit of three hours in the Central American nation.

After a private meeting with Lobo and the ministers of the new Honduran government, both presidents signed a brief declaration in which they committed to launching an “action plan in security matters” beginning next Feb. 15.

The accord states that the authorities responsible for security in the two countries will exchange experiences and best practices.