While the mainstream press barely mentions the situation in Honduras now, just over one month after the coup, numerous reports are coming out of Honduras that the human rights situation is deteriorating fast as the coup government attempts to consolidate power in that country. This attempt at consolidation appears to be taking the form of a full-scale assault upon the social movements who are struggling mightily, through non-violent tactics, to restore President Zelaya to office.
I have received reports from Lisa Sullivan at the School of the Americas Watch that the well-respected Committee of the Families of the Detained Disappeared (COFADEH) "has information that the coup govt, in conjunction with business groups, is hiring assassins to murder leaders of the popular movement. [COFADEH] believes that this has been the case with some recent murders of journalists and social movement leaders (Fino Noriego, Roger Bados, Roger Garcia)." This is very troubling, but not surprising given that Michelleti's chief security adviser, Billy Joya, was associated with the infamous Battalion 316 which engaged in death squad activities in the 1980's.
A report by the International Mission for Solidarity, Accompaniment, and Observation in Honduras ("International Mission") cites alarming statistics on the growing political violence being carried out by the Honduran military and police forces since the coup on June 28, 2009. The International Mission explains that, "according to reports from the police in the capital of Tegucigalpa, gathered by the Honduran human rights organization, CODEH, there were 62 people murdered here during the first 28 days after the coup." As the Director of CODEH, Andres Pavon, explained to the International Mission, many of the victims have been shot dead with bullets of the same caliber as is used by the police and the armed forces.
One specific example of state violence against the non-violent protest movement given by the International Mission was the Honduran police force's firing upon a peaceful demonstration on July 30, 2009. As the International Mission reported:
In the attack on the demonstration one person, Roger Abraham Vallejo Soriano, a 38 year old teacher, was shot in the head from close distance. He has undergone immediate surgery but his condition remains critical. Nine more persons were taken to the local hospital for medical treatment, including Carlos H. Reyes, a coordinator of the national front against the coup d'etat and chair person of the trade union STIBYS, and an official, non-party candidate in the presidential elections scheduled for November this year.
The wounding of STIBYS leader Carlos H. Reyes follows the attack on the STIBYS offices where a bomb was exploded after an anti-coup meeting on July 26. Moreover, this bombing followed on the heels of the express warning of Billy Joya, the security adviser to the coup government, that there were going to be bombs.
All of this underscores the need for the swift restoration of democracy to Honduras. Indeed, this call has found somewhat unlikely advocates in Nike, The Gap and Adidas who have been appalled by the attack on human rights which has followed the coup in Honduras. In response, these companies have all called for the restoration of constitutional democracy in that country and have specifically urged that "civil liberties, including freedom of the press, freedom of speech, freedom of movement, freedom of assembly, and freedom of association be fully respected." (See Press Release.)
Finally, to do your bit to support the non-violent resistance to the coup in Honduras, go the following link and donate: Alliance for Responsible Trade. You can also support efforts to send emergency medical relief to Honduras by going to Global Links and specifying, "Honduras Emergency Medical Relief."
Thank God Zelaya was overthrown, if you want to write about HONDURAS, don't write what you hear, come and visit and write what you see. PAID PROTESTERS. we have 180 illegal visitors arrested8venezuelans, nicaraguans, cubans) what the hell are they doing in Honduras protesting???
I went to the streets and protested YES, but against Zelaya and Chavez and I marched for HONDURAS.
WE DO NOT WANT ZELAYA OR CHAVEZ BACK, once again come to Honduras and write the thruth.
I live in Olancho...
Funny how there has not been a SINGLE Michelletti march here...
Second...
We were on the bus's at Limones, Olancho, when the militray shot the tires out...
The first time the military opened fired in public...
Mel does not have to come back...
We will finish what he started...
There is no money...
Resistance fighters are paying their own way...
The maquillas did not give us T shirts...
They gave them to the perfumados (white shirts)...
Illegal visitors...
There are one million plus Hondurans stateside...
Most illegal...
Careful what you say amigo...
They ONLY reason Honduras has not had a civil war sooner...
Is because of Hondurans working stateside...
Instead of stopping the Honduran Elite raping their country...
Hondurans left...
Some 2 BILLION dollars sent back home each year from the USA averted civil unrest in Honduras...
For those who want to read more on Honduran Coup Military Repression - http://www.wsws.org/category/honduras.shtml
Who was a sure winner to be the next president of Honduras...
Now will be a man without a country...
Santos has been frantic to speak with Mel today...
39 days after Mel was exiled...
Frantic to speak to first Lady Xiomara and her children...
Mel just said he will not speak with Santos today...
Tomorrow...
Nor when he returns to Honduras...
The Liberal party we once knew...
Will be no more...
True social change in Honduras has begun...
Viva Honduras!
Viva Resistencia!
Thank you for your facts concerning Honduras...
Your points are valid as well...
Mel also upset the Oil Barons when he temporarily took over the oil terminals in Honduras...
Mel supported the Honduran Free Zone unions...
Those who export some TWO BILLION dollars of clothing yearly - supported the coup...
Like you said follow the money...
Thank you...
As philmelnick said...
"Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba, Ecuador, Bolivia, Argentina, Brazil, Uraguay, Chile are out! Better stay away from anywhere in Mexico south of Mexico City. Latin America's earthshaking shift to the left is a normal consequence of centuries of oppression.
Like it or leave it."
And El Salvador and Guatemala are Left aligned...
There is a social revolution in the Americas...
Millions seek change...
Yet so many still wave their flag of a bankrupt system...
Quite amazing to watch...
Liberal Party candidate Elvin Santos now is saying -
"I will go to all corners of the country to explain that I was in no way a part of the events of June 28,"
Santos said on Channel 5's "Face to Face" show...
"The huge mistake was taking him (Zelaya) out of the country and leaving him defenseless,"
Said Santos...
Gets better...
Major Coup planner family - Adolfo Facusse...
"I didn't think it was right that they took the president to Costa Rica."
"We have called for the courts to judge the military because the order was to arrest him - 'They should justify it.'"
Now Coup plotters will blame the General...
We must tell the truth...
The Golpistas can not get around me...
This is my turf...
1.- The overthrow of the government in Honduras.
2.- The creation of US military bases in Colombia ... to fight the drug war?
3.- Plan Merida for Mexico in its fight against drug trafficking.
This looks like a return to cruel right-wing dictatorships sponsored by the US government and business, the way things used to be from the end of World War II right up into the 90s.
Latin America is sick and tired of a history of US abuse dating back to 1823 with the declaration of the Monroe Doctrine. It is always the US government and business, along with the ultra rich of Latin America who do not want change and will do anything possible to stop it.
Leftist leaders like Hugo Chavez, Rafael Correa, and Evo Morales, along with Mexico's presidential candidate of the 2006 elections, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador present themselves as a type of savior or messiah, but they only bring about greater poverty.
Moderate left leaders like Lula (Brazil) and Bachelet (Chile) lead progressive societies that are making the best progress in Latin America. Mexico City Mayor, Marcelo Ebrard, also seems to fit the same mold. I would like to see him elected president of Mexico in 2112 or 2118.
The school of the americas should be closed permanently.
As an American expat of Mexican descent originally from Los Angeles, I immigrated to Mexico City in early 1966 and have been here since then. I have lived through and seen how leftist leaning governments who make a big deal out of giving handouts to the poor, manipulate them to remain in power. Mexico has not been the same since the Tlatelolco massacre on October 2, 1968.
Luis Echeverria became president in 1970 when Mexico only owed 3 billion dollars in foreign debt. He went gung ho on opening up government-run companies, borrowed heavily from abroad, and subsidized all of his populist endeavors. The invoice came due in 1976 with the first devaluation and a foreign debt of 29 billion dollars.
Jose Luis Portillo took office and continued with the same policies. Add Mexico's oil boom starting in the mid-seventies and continued borrowing from abroad. Result? The devaluation of 1982, a foreign debt of 105 billion USD, and nationalization of the banking system.
Mexico has never fully recovered from those disastrous 12 years (1970-1982). Also add the ruling party, the PRI, and Mexico's unions to the mix and how they are coordinated in staying in power.
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, in my opinion, is a blend of Echeverria and Lopez Portillo.
Thank God he lost to Felipe Calderon in the 2006 elections.
(continued)
Lead...
Do not follow...
"'We know there was a crime there,' said Inestroza, the top legal advisor for the Honduran armed forces. `In the moment that we took him out of the country, in the way that he was taken out, there is a crime. Because of the circumstances of the moment this crime occurred, there is going to be a justification and cause for acquittal that will protect us.'''
“It would be difficult for us, with our training, to have a relationship with a leftist government. That's impossible.”
~ Colonel Inestroza
"In other words, if the military sets the terms for a puppet 'civilian government' (i.e. you can 'govern' but not from the left, no matter what the voters say, that would be 'impossible'), then it is still military rule no matter how you slice it: that of unelected generals and colonels determining their very narrow and authoritarian limits of 'government.'
Democracy is impossible under those circumstances."
~ Al Giordano - The Field
~
You do not have to threaten me Ira7...
My posts regarding my work in Honduras:
http://campesinossosa.blogspot.com/2009/07/la-lucha.html
http://campesinossosa.blogspot.com/2009/07/i-know-first-hand-honduran-corruption.html
http://campesinossosa.blogspot.com/2009/07/they-say-i-gave-up-never.html
No one will stand me down Ira7...
~
Hey--you're allowed to support leftist Chavez/Castro wanna-be's all you want, but don't bitch when you're nailed for breaking the law.
There was NO legal authority given to the generals by either the Honduran Congress or the Supreme Court for the kidnapping and removal of Zelaya to Costa Rica. The coup de facto leadership has openly admitted as much. Are you saying that those you blindly support are liars ?
And thank you for allowing all of us to support any government we choose to support with our own fact-based opinions; although it's completely unnecessary. That's already covered in the US Constitution.
My answer to:
..."if not more deaths than other regimes"...
Show me your proof...
"What exactly is your agenda anyway?"...
Educate people to the true history of Honduras...
..."that the path he was attempting was illegal"...
Not true...
"LaGringa postings are accurate with pictures of the happenings in Honduras. There are many accusations flying around - but where are your pictures to prove your lies being put out by Mel / Chavez?"
Do not need pictures...
It is called prior Honduran history...
"discovered they do not want help - they want a hand out! "
Not true...
"If a judge says I'm doing something illegal and should stop, I know I have to stop doing that, otherwise I could to jail or more commonly i'm not only told im doing something illegal but I get punished by it. "
Michelletti tried to change the Constitution in 1985...
How come he was not exiled....
""Mad Mel"
Most former Honduran presidents have corruption records...
"Socialism will take over and they will be as poor or poorer than they are now."
Far from the truth...
You can thank Callejas for destroying Honduran agriculture...
And beginning the Honduran Migration Crisis North...
My answer is too long to post here...
http://www.hondurancampesino.org/wordpress/?p=212
Please study Honduran history before you post...
Of further interest is the cozy relationship the Canadian mining interest, Goldcorp, has had with several Central American countried, including Honduras. Just before Zelaya was removed by a coup d'etat, he indicated his intention to put a moratorium on giving out any more mining concessions for exploration or exploitation, and that he was going to push for complete mining reform.
As in all coup d'etats, if anyone cares to find the real organization behind one, all they have to do is follow the money.
As soon as you start dividing the people into classes with your tired rhetoric everything
you say after that is pointless. What exactly is your agenda anyway? I only need to read
a few of your words to know......
"Why do you care? The problems of the lower classes mean nothing to you. That statement shows what you are, and who you are in the scheme of life. Everything else you say after that is pointless."
I, too, live in Honduras and am not among the "poor". Why? Because I came from a free, democratic society and was given opportunities and an education. The Hondurans in Honduras want that for themselves but under Zelaya's plan, Socialism will take over and they will be as poor or poorer than they are now.
You seem to advocate living an existance like those around you - if they are poor, then you should suffer too. I worked hard all my life, raised children, worked two jobs and went without. Finally, in my retirement years I chose to go to Honduras and enjoy my life. I send children to school here, give in the community but have discovered they do not want help - they want a hand out!
The government of Honduras has always been corrupt. Under Zelaya there were as many, if not more deaths than other regimes. Hopefully this turnaround will make a difference with the people in charge and that they will begin to give new strength to their country.
Their country will not prosper by outsiders constantly taking care of their citizens. The citizens must be given proper education and the opportunity to learn that they deserve more - through their efforts.
I
How incredibly condescending of you, my dear.
Didn't those who you assisted so, um, altruistically show quite the level of gratitude you feel you so righteously deserve?
The best giving, and the most honest giving in one's community is the kind with no strings attached, and with no expectation of how those gifts are received or, for that matter, appreciated.
Make no mistake, your reports are greatly exagerated. Honduras is still under the Liberal parties civilian rule. Same Supreme Court, same Congress, and the same Attorney General. Zelaya had been warned many times by the Supreme court and the Attorney general that the path he was attempting was illegal. And Zelaya ignored these warnings and the rule of law for initiating a referendum.
Can you imagine President George Bush trying to force an election referendum in the United States? That's right, the president can't force a referendum, it's up to the states to have a ballot measure put on. So who really violated the rule of law over and over again. You guessed it, Baby Chavez Zelaya!
That's an interesting point to broach, though irrelevant. I'm sure King George looked into the possibility. I'm assuming his legal councel, David Addington, along with Attorney General Gonzales searched for a way. If these characters could come up with the weak legal retionalizations to justify state-sponsored torture of detainees, then they likely had the ability to come up with their own justifications for ignoring term limit rule of law. They probably just ran out of time. And that pesky economic meltdown and speculation-driven housing bubble popping may have convinced them that the public would not co-sign such a plan.
What George DID accomplish were two stolen elections : 2000(Florida) and 2004(Ohio)
You DID bring up the subject.
Ask...
Abraham Lincoln...
James A. Garfield
William McKinley
John F Kennedy...
Martin Luther King...
Bobby Kennedy...
Malcom X...
How they feel about American democracy,,,
Ask the some 3 million Native American Indians who were slaughtered...
What they think of American democracy...
I thought the United Nations told Bush Jr. he could not invade Iraq...
"Weapons of mass destruction"...
Same old misinformation...
Works every time...
Need a war...
Exile someone...
Assassinate someone....
Misinform...
What little men we have become...
"Crime and corruption exploded under Zelaya"...
Public - read Gang Violence under Prez Maduro at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_Honduras
Seems Nicolas forgot to mention...
The massacre in the San Pedro Sula suburb of Chamelecón left 27 dead and 29 injured.
The murderers left behind a message, claiming to come from the Cinchoneros, and railing against Maduro, Lobo, Álvarez and the death penalty...
Maduro was prez...
Or the massacre of 68 prisoners in the farm prison just outside of La Ceiba on 5 March 2003...
A fire in the prison at San Pedro Sula that killed 107 prisoners on 18 May 2004,
Maduro was prez...
Pssst - Maduro did not like gang members...
Read how La Ceiba - San Pedro Sula...
Where most ExPats misinform from...
Are hubs for child prostitution - http://gvnet.com/childprostitution/Honduras.htm
Several Americans have been arrested for child prostitution...
Which is exactly why there is a problem. It is people like you who fail to discuss problems they have because they are not new poors, they are old poors, so you don't need to discuss them anymore. What an insipid little brain, because they are poor, and have been for a very long time, you wont discuss them or think about them anymore. How quaint life must be for you. I wonder what they think about? Let me think. They dream everyday of moving up, getting out, leaving, going anywhere else but where they are, just so they can have one tenth of what you so easily obtain each day of your life.
(So if Mr. Zelaya was told by a court of justice that what he was doing was illegal. Why did he continue doing it?)
Why do you care? The problems of the lower classes mean nothing to you. That statement shows what you are, and who you are in the scheme of life. Everything else you say after that is pointless.
Did they ask for reports from the police in the capital of Tegucigalpa about how many people were murdered during the 28 days BEFORE june 28th? Why didn't they ask for them? As an objective organization they should have a basis to compare, otherwise those numbers are useless.
If a judge says I'm doing something illegal and should stop, I know I have to stop doing that, otherwise I could to jail or more commonly i'm not only told im doing something illegal but I get punished by it.
So if Mr. Zelaya was told by a court of justice that what he was doing was illegal. Why did he continue doing it? He could've appealed the judgement but in the meantime he was ordered to stop what he was doing, yet he didn't.
Does the Honduran Supreme Court have no value? Is Mr Zelaya above the law ? or can I go ahead and break into my neighboor's house and tell the courts that I don't think what I'm doing is illegal, that I'm just helping the poor and that justifies what i'm doing. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't get far with that story.
Somebody tell me please what was Mr. Zelaya's LEGAL power to continue doing something that the Supreme Court (Constitutional wing) had ruled illegal?
That is how real Hondurans are living. You want the truth about how it is to be or live like a Honduran, watch that video. It speaks volumes about the reality of Hondurans and how they have to live. Thank you for allowing my comments.
I am very proud of the people of Honduras! This is a very small, poor country that has stood strong in the face of world opposition and have made it clear that they want the right to protect themselves and their constitution from the likes of "Mad Mel".
You openly denigrate the expat community, blame us for all the ailments and ills of the local populace and quietly threaten us with your "supposed" knowledge of us who actually live in Honduras. Quite frankly you disgust me with your "bully" tactics! Get your head out of the rhetoric and put what skills you have to better use! What about promoting some of the activities that expats are involved in such as schools, orphanages, community food programs and the like? Oh, right that doesn't fit with your pre-supposed notions.... opps!
Yes, I am yet another of La Gringa's elite minions.....