[WSF-Discuss] Fwd: HONDURAS:Coup Opponents Announce New Stage of Protests

[Jai Sen]

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Greetings.  A further update on things happening in and around  
Honduras. Thanks again, Brian.

             js

fwd

Begin forwarded message:

> From: "Brian K. Murphy" <brian at radicalroad.com>
> Date:  July 14 2009 9:20:32 PM GMT+05:30
> To: Recipient List Suppressed:;
> Subject: HONDURAS:Coup Opponents Announce New Stage of Protests
>
> http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47644
> Inter Press Service News Agency
> Tuesday, July 14, 2009   15:43 GMT
>
> HONDURAS:
> Coup Opponents Announce New Stage of Protests
>
> Thelma Mejía
>
> TEGUCIGALPA, Jul 13 (IPS) - The sectors opposed to the regime that  
> ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya on Jun. 28 announced a new  
> stage of resistance, while Costa Rican President Oscar Arias is  
> planning a second round of talks, as peace broker.
>
> Arias, winner of the 1987 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to end  
> civil wars raging at the time in several Central American  
> countries, told the press over the weekend that within the next  
> week a new round of talks should be held by the representatives of  
> Zelaya and the de facto regime headed by Roberto Micheletti.
>
> The two sides now have a week to "reflect" before sitting down to  
> dialogue "more calmly," said Arias.
>
> The first round of talks, held Jul. 9-10 in the Costa Rican  
> capital, produced no results. Zelaya and Micheletti refused to get  
> together face-to-face, each meeting separately instead with Arias,  
> who said afterwards that "miracles" don't happen overnight and that  
> things would take longer than expected.
>
> Former chief justice of the Honduran Supreme Court Vilma Morales,  
> who formed part of Micheletti's delegation, told IPS that "we are  
> optimistic about the next meeting, because we are all Hondurans and  
> we should look for solutions to the conflict among ourselves, in  
> the framework of our laws, our constitution and the rule of law."
>
> Morales said the next meeting would take place on Saturday, Jul.18.
>
> Rafael Leiva, an analyst who specialises in international law, said  
> Arias "cannot afford to let the mediation fail; he will find a way  
> to overcome the obstacles that emerge, in order to reach a  
> solution. This problem must be resolved by Hondurans themselves,  
> with the support of the rest of Central America."
>
> In his conversation with IPS, Leiva pointed to Arias' ability to  
> "unblock disagreements with his wisdom and insight" during the  
> Central American peace processes that culminated in peace accords  
> in the 1980s and early 1990s.
>
> "We believe he will not allow this situation to get out of hand. He  
> also has the approval of Washington, which has confidence in his  
> peace brokering skills," he said.
>
> Meanwhile, the so-called Resistance Front Against the Coup d'Etat  
> announced a new, more radical phase of protests this week aimed at  
> securing Zelaya's return.
>
> Congressman Marvin Ponce of the leftist Democratic Unification (UD)  
> party said he believes the talks in San José are merely aimed at  
> "buying time, while the Micheletti regime gets established, and we  
> won't let that happen. We think they are only trying to drag this  
> situation out, when things here are clear: there was a coup d'etat  
> and Manuel Zelaya should be reinstated.
>
> "As of this week we are going to take more radical action," he told  
> IPS. "We are calling all of the organisations that make up the  
> Resistance Front to an assembly Tuesday where we are going to  
> propose a nationwide general strike as well as more radical  
> actions. If what it takes is civil war, then that's what we'll do.
>
> "The people owe Honduras a revolution, and if the legitimate  
> president, Manuel Zelaya, is not reinstated, there will be a  
> confrontation between social classes. What I can say is that the  
> days of peaceful resistance, like we have had until now, are  
> numbered," said Ponce, visibly exhausted from the last two weeks of  
> protests.
>
> There have been media reports and footage of harsh crackdowns on  
> pro-Zelaya demonstrators, and two protesters were reportedly killed  
> in a clash with security forces at the airport in Tegucigalpa when  
> the leader's attempt to return to Honduras was thwarted by the  
> military on Jul. 5.
>
> In addition, two of Ponce's fellow UD politicians have been  
> murdered in murky circumstances: Roger Bados was killed over the  
> weekend at his home in Rivera Hernández, a violent slum in the  
> northern city of San Pedro Sula, while Ramón García was murdered  
> while riding in a bus to the capital from the western city of Santa  
> Bárbara.
>
> The deaths of the two UD social activists have not been expressly  
> linked to the crisis triggered two weeks ago, when at least 200  
> military troops surrounded Zelaya's residence early in the morning  
> on Sunday, Jun. 28, pulled him out of bed at gunpoint and put him  
> on a plane to Costa Rica.
>
> The situation surrounding the two murders is "strange and hazy. We  
> need more information before we can comment on" the deaths, said  
> Ponce.
>
> In the view of Erasto Reyes, a leader of the Bloque Popular that  
> forms part of the Resistance Front in San Pedro Sula, the murders  
> "have increased the fear and sense of insecurity in this tense  
> context in which social activists move. But we are not going to let  
> down our guard, regardless," he told IPS.
>
> On Sunday, the Micheletti government lifted the nighttime curfew in  
> place since the coup, an attempt to show the international  
> community that things were returning to normal in Honduras, in the  
> wake of wide condemnation of the suspension of constitutional  
> guarantees.
>
> Labour and business activity began to return to normal last week,  
> while marches by pro- and anti-Zelaya demonstrators have continued  
> since Jun. 28.
>
> The most affected sector has been education. On Monday, one faction  
> of the teachers' unions called for a return to the classroom, while  
> the rest decided in an assembly to continue the strike.
>
> Lina Pineda, leader of one of the five factions that agreed to  
> continue the strike, told IPS that "besides suspending classes, we  
> are going to block roads, because the resistance will continue. We  
> are completely united, and we are not going to stop until the coup- 
> mongers leave."
>
> In statements from the Dominican Republic, Zelaya announced that he  
> would return to the country this week, in line with remarks by his  
> ally, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, who said Sunday that the  
> Honduran leader would reenter his country at a point "where he is  
> least expected."
>
> Chávez made his comments after a team of journalists from the  
> Caracas-based regional television network Telesur, which belongs to  
> several Latin American countries, were detained and held for  
> several hours by the Honduran police, accused of driving a stolen  
> vehicle.
>
> The Telesur reporters said that although they were not physically  
> mistreated by the police, they were the target of verbal abuse.  
> Several of them left Honduras Sunday because their visas had  
> expired, the local press reported.
>
> The Venezuelan Embassy said it was considering lodging a formal  
> complaint over the journalists' arrest.
>
> No government has recognised the regime in Honduras, which is  
> facing total isolation. The coup was condemned by the United  
> Nations General Assembly and the Organisation of American States,  
> both of which called for Zelaya's immediate return to power.
>
> The Non-Aligned Movement, to which Honduras belongs, is preparing  
> to do the same on Thursday.
>
> But within Honduras, influential voices continue to deny that what  
> happened was a coup. In an interview with an Argentine newspaper,  
> Catholic cardinal Óscar Andrés Rodríguez complained that the  
> international community "has eyes and does not see, has ears and  
> does not hear, has a tongue and does not speak."
> Rodríguez insists that Zelaya was removed in accordance with the  
> steps outlined by the constitution. "If you see the steps taken,  
> they are the ones established by the constitution. It would have  
> been a coup if the head of state and the ministers were military  
> officers and Congress or the Supreme Court had been dissolved. Some  
> of the previous government's ministers are even still in the  
> cabinet. What the army did was enforce a judge's order." (END/2009)
>
> Copyright © 2009 IPS-Inter Press Service. All rights reserved.

______________________________
Jai Sen
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