August 29, 2009

Take a look at the photo below. It's from one of several Honduran resistance websites. The man on the left is now dead, shot to death during a street protest. He was a union leader. The woman in the middle was injured. The man on the right is Jos Leonidas Martinez who spoke last evening here in Ottawa about conditions on the ground in his country since the coup.

The Toronto Honduras Resistance website is a good place for English speakers to get updates and find plenty of resources. This article explains the circumstances under which Zalaya was replaced by the leader of the party to which he belonged. This video talks about the attempted denial that it was a military coup. There are also rumours being spread that Zalaya was involved in the drug trade - a little known secret. Meanwhile, it is no secret at all that the CIA has long been involved in the drug trade. Nor is it a secret that the CIA is involved in regime change.

In plain terms, would Americans sit idle if the Chair of the Democratic National Committee were, on a vote from Congress, to replace Obama as president of the US? Would they take kindly to Obama being removed from the country by a foreign military plane?

Here in Canada, the leader of the party that wins the most seats in the House becomes Prime Minister. But the Honduran electoral system, like the American one, has a separate vote for the President. Nevertheless, Mr. Martinez says that Hondurans have had no real choice for quite some time. It's decided in the US, he says, who will be President, and Manuel "Mel" Zalaya was chosen by the US, and they could also remove him.

In fact, here's a video that says the generals who effected the Honduran coup were trained in the notorious School of the Americas - "School of Assassins" it is called by Americans who are attempting to get it shut down. Graduates of that school have been involved in probably all of the regime changes inflicted on Latin American countries. As well, many of the key figures in their governments are Chicago School "shock doctrine" graduates of the Milton Friedman genre.

Not surprisingly, to me anyway, the clergy is supporting the coup (video). The representative from the Toronto branch of the Honduran Resistance Front said last evening that religious leaders have told Honduran protesters that it is a sin to get involved in the politics of their country. This too is a familiar theme to me - evangelical missionaries are often known to actively discourage their poor converts from protesting against the rape of their country's resources by multinational corporations.

My memory on this could be faulty, but I believe it was in the documentary "Tailenders" that the suggestion was made that when missionaries arrive the multinationals can't be far behind.

Zalaya turned out, however, to care more about the people than about following US instructions. He raised wages, he instituted health care for all, he began a program of land redistribution - taking unused acreage from wealthy landowners to provide a means for the poor to make a living in agriculture.

In other words, Zalaya was behaving like a socialist - a big no-no for an American agenda that has been systematically robbing Latin American countries of their natural resources, creating great wealth for some and abject poverty for the rest.

He also proposed a referendum on the writing of a new constitution, and this is the hook upon which his enemies hung him - accusing him of setting himself up to be able to run for another term in office - even though the final word would have been that of the next government since, under the current constitution, he cannot seek another term in office. As a result of his removal, the refendum, of course, has been set aside.

The United States maintains a military base in Honduras, and it was on an American plane that Zalaya was spirited away after the coup that took place at 5:00 AM, says Martinez. When Hondurans woke up and realized what happened, they spontaneously took to the streets in huge numbers.

At first they stood around discussing what they should do next. Gradually, they got themselves more organized and have maintained a lively and vocal street presence ever since. They plan to boycott the next election, and Martinez is in Canada attempting to have the Honduran ambassador removed. He has an official letter to that effect for Peter Kent, long time talking head only recently elected to Parliament and immediately made Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, but has so far had difficulty getting his attention.

Martinez caught up with Kent at a social event and cornered him to ask why he didn't keep his appointment. He received the usual platitudes and the assurance that Canada is looking into the matter. He was told to make another appointment.

I asked Martinez what his step would be if unsuccessful in getting the Ambassador removed. He said that legal pressure would then be put on the government because it's illegal for Canada to recognize the representative of a coup.

I also asked if he knew of any members of a military faction considering a counter-coup. He said he knows of some, but they are at present very frightened. They have difficulty, however, reconciling themselves to helping suppress the protests of their countrymen, their neighbours, their families.

He also said that 2,000 American military have arrived at the Honduran base, but he's not sure what their role will be.

Zalaya, from his quarters in Nicaragua very close to the Honduran border (map), has cautioned them against using any form of violence, and they are presently protesting peacefully, in spite of brutal repression tactics from the police and military.

As Martinez pointed to photos of people killed, it became clear that these were not random killings. People deemed to be leaders were literally targeted and assassinated by sharp shooters with a single bullet to the head - a union leader, a university professor, a reporter ...

Many have simply disappeared - a familiar tactic in US-dominated Latin American countries, as famously depicted by Costa Gravas in his 1982 film: "Missing". Martinez says people are being chopped up, dumped into metal containers and set afire to thwart any chance of identification by their families.

In the audience was a man from Haiti, another country in which Canada has aided and abetted American interference. He warned the speaker not to put much stock in any words of support from any governments or government agencies. They say one thing and do another. He said that ultimately it is up to the people of Honduras to bring about their own solution, one way or another.

Indeed, it seemed there was no one in the room who believed the media stories that Obama is critical of the coup or intends to follow through on any promises.

It's tragic, but it's true. The rest of us can only listen, sympathize and contribute a few dollars to the cause. We can talk to our MPs if we think it will do some good. And we can re-tell the story.

InternationalUpdated 29/07/09 Time 06:57 p.m.

Honduran Resistance Still on Streets

Facts

The President of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya Rosales, called for a public opinion survey to be held the 28th of June with the goal of adding a 4th Ballot Box of Referendum, the 1st is for president, the 2nd is for the city major and the 3rd is for the congressmen.

• The 4th Ballot Box had as a goal to call an Assembly in order to create a new constitution of Honduras.
• The President argued that he had around 400000 signed petitions from the people in order for the new constitution.
• The public opinion survey was managed, supervised and counted by the government by a division under the president.
• The public opinion survey was declared illegal by the Supreme Court, the Constitutional Court, the Attorney General, the Supreme Tribune of Elections (entity in charge of all election related matters in Honduras and independent from the President).
• The President decided to ignore the Supreme Court and pursue with the public opinion survey and ordered his staff, including the army, to support with the logistics of the survey.
• On June 24th the army refused to support the logistics of the survey because of an order from the Court stating that they would violate the law.
• The President on a public appearance decided to cease the General of the Army, Romeo Vsquez Velsquez, arguing that he did not obey his order.
• The Congress, presided by Roberto Micheletti, decided to dissaprove the President for firing the General of the Army and the Supreme Court decided that he was fired under illegal circumstances because he was, as they concluded, following the law.
• On June 27th a comission from OAS arrived to Honduras in order to supervise the public opinion survey.
• On June 28th the President was captured by the army and sent by helicopter to Costa Rica, the order to capture him was, as stated by the current government, ordered by the Supreme Court.
• A new Excecutive power was installed, becoming Roberto Micheletti as President.
• The President is elected by the people during the General Elections.
• The Congress is elected by the people during the General Elections.
• The Supreme Court is nominated by the people then filtered and assigned by the Congress.

Additional Facts

The President held popular projects such as:

• Providing public schools of a computer lab and soon to be with Internet (@prende)
• Moving around the country in open meetings named Asambleas del Poder Ciudadano
• Providing food at schools with Merienda Escolar a continuation of the project of Ricardo Maduro.

The President also held more controversial projects such as:

• Raising the minimum wage from around $150/Month to $289/Month the project was opposed by many companies arguing that unemployment would raise. It was, however embraced by big companies.
• Joining the ALBA, a country coalision with Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua by the time. The project was opposed by the politicians arguing that ALBA was a economic/military alliance, but then was approved by the Congress.
• Order a direct purchase of oil. The project was opposed by oil companies and by part of the private sector arguing that the government was unefficient and it would cause inventory problems.
• Create a Mobile company managed by the state.
• After the TACA accident of 2008 he planned to move the Capital, Tegucigalpa, Airport to 80 KM on the North at the Comayagua Valley. The project was opposed by the City Major, Ricardo Alvarez who is a member of the National Party, the opposition.

The President had strong opposition during his government by:

• Journals El Heraldo and La Prensa, owned by the same person. The journals are very popular in Honduras.
• Some people from the middle and upper class that refer him as donkey, idiot and stronger adjectives.

The President had strong favor by:

• The government journal El Poder Ciudadano.
• The government channel Canal 8.
• The private channel Canal 36, Cholusat Sur.

The questions that everybody asks

Why was the president removed from power if he just wanted to do a Referendum?

The Honduran Constitution treats as Traitor those who want to change it, specially on 4 matters named the Petrios (read Pe-tree-os) Articles:

• Presidential term, currently set to 4 years.
• Presidential re-election, currently impossible.
• Territory.
• Form of government, currently 3 independent and complementary institutions: one that creates and approves the laws (Congress), one that proposes and executes the law (Executive, lead by the President), one that Judges the compliance with the law (Supreme Court).

Being the survey a path to a Referendum to create a new Constitution, it was viewed as a violation of the Constitution.

He did not follow the recently approved legal procedure for a Referendum, which must be done by the Congress or by 6% of the active population, the 400000 requests are more than the 240000 requests needed. Anyhow there is no legal way to create a new Constitution but he could have reformed around 90% of the Constitution, the only points are the 4 above.

The President argues that he was removed because he was helping the poor and that the private/political sectors were not happy with that. Additionally that those same sectors are afraid because of his ties with ALBA countries.

If he commited a crime, why was he not put into a trial (such as an impeachment) instead of sending him out of the country?

The Honduran Constitution and Laws do not have an established procedure for an impeachment.

Anyhow there was no trial and veredict, there comes, to my opinion, a fault commited by the institutions, if somebody commits a crime he/she should be jugded and clear veredict should be provided.

I believe they sent him out of the country for tactical reasons in order to make harder his return to power, it backfired as he used the international media and international institutions to pressure the new government.

What was that story about a resignation and why was it signed on June 25th?

One of the methods for switching President is if he presents his resignation, in that case the Vice-President, Elvin Santos, takes his place and if not the President of Congress, Roberto Micheletti. Given that the Vice-President had resigned in order to become the presidential candidate for the Liberal Party so the President of Congress took the place.

The date is the easiest part to justify given that it could have been a negotiation of the President with the Congress after the Army refused to support him.
The problem is how do we know if it is real? We can not, plus nobody believes it as true.

Why with the military force and not with the police?

My guess is that the Congress was not sure that the police, which is under the Executive power, lead by the President, would follow that order.

Why are the national and international media being controlled such as CNN, Canal 8 and Canal 36?

I believe that the media is controlled in order to control propaganda that generates chaos. Anyhow it is unacceptable, if the current government wants to be called democratic, then freedom of speech through media is required.

If the President and the survey is so popular, why are there not massive riots?

The country right now is divided at least in three parts of unknown size:

• Those who want the President back, I will call the pro-Zelaya. This group is lead by the Unions, small farmers, UD party which is a socialist/communist party-, student unions and are the ones rioting.
• Those who do not want the President back, I will call them against-zelaya. This group is lead by the political parties, part of the private sector, some of the media and with support of part of the upper and upper-middle class.
• Those who did not want the President to violate the law but are not in favor of the methods to remove him and control the population, I will call them the non-aligned. This group is, to my point of view, is the largest, silent and appears to be just waiting for everything to solve by itself.

Why is the military force on the streets controlling people, and why is there a prohibition to go out after 9pm?

I believe this was done for security of the people. The problem is that in every riot there are people that want to generate chaos and this generates agression and conflicts between military and the rioting people.

If the President had 400000 requests, was it not enough for asking the Congress to add the 4th urn?

No answer, it seems that nobody thought about it or spoke about it publicly.

If the survey was so unpopular, why not leting the vote on June 28th and leting the NO win?

The campaign was that the survey was illegal so it should not be held. Many persons were going to boicot the survey by not attending. Additionaly, many persons were indifferent to the survey, as it normally happens in such cases.

The opposition campaign also argued that the survey was all controlled by the government without intervention of the Supreme Tribune of Elections so nobody, but the government who called it would control/guarantee it. The President argued that it had OAS supervisors.

So where are we right now?

To my point of view, we now have several options, those that come to my mind are:

Manuel Zelaya returns as President of Honduras

• This is probably the only acceptable option for the pro-Zelaya sector.
• The against-Zelaya sector would be afraid of prosecution because of the situation and this might lead to chaos given that the Congress, Supreme Court, Army, Attorney General, etc are involved so the President could find justifiable to solve the powers and call for a Constitutional Assembly to reform the Constitution.
• The non-aligned probably would not care, as it would return to the status quo before the incident.
• This option would require a strong dialog between the President and the against-Zeyala.

Roberto Micheletti stays as President of Honduras.

• This in unacceptable for the pro-Zelaya sector.
• Riots will continue, at least until the next government takes the Presidency.
• If censorship and strong military activity continues the non-aligned would become more and more against the current government.

Manuel Zelaya returns and goes to a trial

• The against-Zelaya probably would want it.
• It would be unacceptable for the pro-Zelaya.
• It is hard to tell what would happen with the non-aligned, they would embrace it but not with strength.

The General Elections are called as soon as possible

• The against-Zelaya probably would accept it.
• The non-aligned would probably accept it too.
• The pro-Zelaya, at least a part will not.

What to do?

I seriously do not know, I must say that negotiations should be held before any of the mayor decisions are taken and for this Honduras will need help for a non-controversial international leader to mediate.

As it is now there is no civil war, so it is still time to solve the problem.

I really hope that you help us!

Honduran Teachers Defy Coup Government, Maintain Strike

Transcript

JESSE FREESTON, PRODUCER, TRNN: The Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa has been under varying degrees of military siege ever since deposed President Manuel Zelaya appeared at the Brazilian embassy on Monday. A violent 88-day standoff has caused a new force to step in and take leadership over the international response to the situation: the government of Brazil. The newest chapter in the crisis was set in motion when the coup regime imposed a nationwide curfew on Monday afternoon. Thousands of anti-coup protesters were defiant in camping out around the Brazilian embassy, only to be driven away at sunrise on Tuesday by the police and military, with the help of batons, water cannons, and teargas. The regime then sealed a large perimeter around the embassy, cut off the power, water, and phone service to the building, and tried to force out the occupants with sound weaponry. Brazil's leadership reminded the regime about the responsibility to protect foreign missions encoded under the Vienna Convention, and eventually the utilities were reconnected and UN workers were allowed to bring food to those inside. But for many Hondurans without UN support, the military-enforced curfew has made food hard to come by, evoking a powerful reaction. The Real News spoke to independent journalist Sandra Cuffe, who joined us by phone from Tegucigalpa.

SANDRA CUFFE, FREELANCE JOURNALIST: The vast majority of Tegucigalpa's population are extremely poor. They live on a day-to-day basis. And so when there's an ongoing military-imposed curfew, it means literally that many people can't eat. And so in a lot of the neighborhoods people have been sort of defying the curfew, going about their business. And when police came in to enforce the curfew, in some cases people started organizing and fighting back. In well over 20 neighborhoods around the city, there was huge movement yesterday and into last night. In some neighborhoods, that included, you know, thousands of people from the neighborhoods setting up barricades, literally street-fighting off the police. Some neighborhoods actually managed to get the police and army out of their neighborhood. There was really serious repression in a number of neighborhoodskicking people's doors open, throwing teargas into their homes, regardless of the elderly, small children. And so a lot of Tegucigalpa was pretty much a war zone yesterday and into the night. There's dozens of people who were wounded, including by live bullets, who've been taken to the hospital. There's unconfirmed reports of several deaths.

FREESTON: Numerous declarations of torture were received at the Honduran human rights monitor the Community for the Families of the Detained and the Disappeared, with many individuals sporting visible evidence of their treatment by authorities. Meanwhile, much of the international media has singled out the poor in Honduras as the situation's antagonist, publishing stories about looting and rioting.

CUFFE: In terms of looting, there's been a little bit of looting, mostly of a couple of supermarkets, and that looting happened over a day after military curfew, and literally people need to eat. It's very, very targeted to businesses that are owned by coup supporters, not like your mom-and-pop store on the corner. And in terms of riots, it depends how you define "riot". If the police or the army are coming into a Tegucigalpa neighborhood and there's a lot of repression, yeah, the response in some neighborhoods probably could be classified as a riot or an uprising or insurrection.

FREESTON: Jesus Canahuate, one of Honduras's wealthiest businesspeople and a key player in the coup, told Bloomberg News on Wednesday that Honduras business owners were losing $50 million per day under the curfew. The Real News spoke to longtime investigative journalist and publisher of the Narco News, Al Giordano, who recently returned from spending most of the summer in post-coup Honduras.

AL GIORDANO, PUBLISHER AND JOURNALIST, NARCO NEWS: This is what happens when you back an undemocratic coup that does things like curfews. If there's a curfew, your workers can't work at your sweatshop. And if they can't make a living and the stores are closed, they can't buy your products, either. So eventually this comes back and bites the oligarchs.

FREESTON: The events in Honduras have coincided with the opening of the 64th session of the United Nations General Assembly, and many of the heads of state in attendance used the opportunity to call for international action in reinstating President Zelaya. Of the countries that have spoken so far, Columbia President lvaro Uribe and US President Barack Obama were the only representatives from the Western Hemisphere to refrain from commenting on the issue. Obama's silence was a major theme on radio call-in shows in Honduras, as the US has previously imposed its leadership over the crisis by sponsoring the as-yet ineffective San Jos Accords. The US government continues to send economic aid to the regime, maintains an active military base in the country, has yet to impose trade sanctions, has not frozen the assets of the coup plotters who operate in the US, and has yet to criticize the regime for his ongoing human rights abuses, even applauding it for implementing the curfew on Monday. On Wednesday, the State Department made another in a series of statements that have equated the attackers with the attack.

IAN KELLY, SPOKESPERSON, US STATE DEPT.: We do have concerns about the possible impact it may have on the situation on the ground, especially the possibilities for clashes. And for this reason we've called on both sides to exercise restraint with this new situation.

FREESTON: The unwillingness of the US government to acknowledge facts on the ground created an international leadership vacuum, which Brazil has now filled. Brazilian President Lula da Silva has asked the UN Security Council to hold a special session on the Honduran crisis. Lula was also the first head of state to speak at the UN General Assembly on Wednesday.

LULA DA SILVA, BRAZILIAN PRESIDENT (SUBTITLED TRANSLATION): Without political will, we will see more coups like the one that toppled the constitutional president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya. Zelaya has been granted refuge in Brazil's embassy in Tegucigalpa since Monday. The international community demands that Mr. Zelaya immediately return to the presidency of his country and must be alert to ensure the inviolability of the Brazilian Embassy in the Honduran capital.

GIORDANO: Brazil was the victim of a coup d'tat in 1964 and of a brutal military regime for many years afterwards. Its interests are the same as those of every other country in America that doesn't want to return to that era where a bunch of people, just because they have the uniforms and the guns, can somehow dictate what kind of government you can or can't have.

FREESTON: With an increasingly repressive coup regime holding tightly to power, many are looking forward for events that might serve as turning points in the crisis. Giordano believes that the defining movement may come down to Honduras's favorite pastime, soccer.

GIORDANO: Well, there's a big game scheduled between the United States team in the Honduras team for October 10. But, you know, the coup regime has just shut the airports, they keep calling these arbitrary curfews, there's police violence in the streets, and the folks from FIFA, the international soccer association, are going, "Whoa! We're not sure we can conduct a soccer game in full safety and all the other conditions we need for it to be a moneymaker under these kinds of conditions, when we can't fly our equipment into the country." And so they're thinking of pulling out and maybe putting the game in Guatemala instead or maybe putting it in the United States. But this is a mortal psychological blow. On the road to the World Cup, in which Honduras's team is going to be in the game, and they pull that out of Honduras, a lot of people who are not political are going to begin to say, you know, this coup thing isn't really working out.

FREESTON: With internal and external pressure increasing on the coup government to begin discussions of how to hand over power, de facto president Roberto Micheletti released the following statement through his foreign minister on Tuesday night.

CARLOS LPEZ CONTRERAS, DE FACTO FOREIGN MINISTER OF HONDURAS: I am ready to discuss how to resolve the political crisis under the framework provided to us by the Honduran Constitution, and I am ready to do so with Mr. Zelaya as long as he explicitly recognizes the constitutionally mandated presidential elections scheduled for November 29.

GIORDANO: How are free and fair elections possible in a country that can't even host a soccer game right now, in a country where on a day when the opposition comes out to peacefully protest, he calls a curfew? Now, tomorrow they've called out the pro-coup people for a protest, and of course the curfew's going to be lifted and the blockades by police that keep people from getting to the capital will be removed. There is no fair play. There's no spirit of fair play. It's an atmosphere of violence and intimidation.

FREESTON: According to Giordano, elections aren't the only unviable option being put forward to resolve the crisis. A negotiated settlement is also unlikely to bring peace to Honduras.

GIORDANO: This is now a raw power struggle. It's a regime trying to hold on to power, and it's an increasingly organized people. It's a very different Honduran people today than it was on June 28. Three months later, every sector, every neighborhood, every workplace is much better organized, and there's a tremendous consensus of what they want, which is a new constitution.

CROWD (SUBTITLED TRANSLATION): Constitutional assembly! Constitutional assembly!

GIORDANO: I mean, whether Zelaya's back in the Brazilian embassy or whether he's back in the presidential palace, the central goal doesn't change, and that's to remake the country. And to do that, you need a new constitution. And after past coup d'tats in Honduras, it wasn't negotiations or agreements that solved the political crisis. Each and every time, they drafted a new constitution. And I think that's going to be the only way out of this crisis, not elections under a regime that doesn't know how to hold them, not negotiations that are dictated by Washington or Costa Rica. The constitutional convention, the constituent assembly, is, I think, the only possible path out of this stalemate.