Honduras de facto leader further restricts media

[struggle4progress]

Source: Reuters

Sat Oct 10, 2009 5:13pm EDT
By Frank Jack Daniel

TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - Honduras' de facto leaders have imposed a new law that limits media freedom after shutting down two broadcasters critical of the post-coup government.

The government of Roberto Micheletti has not fulfilled a pledge to revoke emergency measures that last month closed Radio Globo and Canal 36, which had supported ousted President Manuel Zelaya.

Instead it unveiled a new measure on Friday giving it the power to pull the plug on radio and television stations that incite "social anarchy" or "national hatred."

The government said it was applying rules allowed under international law ...

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE59925L20091010

---

Honduras Dialogue at Death’s Door

HAVANA TIMES, Oct. 10 - The OAS mission of foreign ministers left crisis-torn Honduras after having set up a dialogue mechanism between the de facto government and representatives of President Manuel Zelaya, as well as a delegation of the National Front Against the Coup d’état, notes the rel-UITA website in this report from Tegucigalpa with photos from Giorgio Trucchi.

At the moment there is no white smoke of success-not even gray-on the key point of the San Jose Agreement: the restitution of President Manuel Zelaya Rosales. Meanwhile, the resistance movement continues its tireless mobilization efforts, earning its place in the talks and demanding the final date of Tuesday, October 15, for the reinstatement of the legitimate president of Honduras.

During a press conference in which there was no opportunity for questions from the dozens of journalists present, Costa Rican Foreign Minister Bruno Stagno read a document that summarized the agenda generated by the high-level OAS mission and pointed to some aspects of the recently initiated dialogue.

“The OAS commission outlined to all of those present that for the dialogue to be carried out under appropriate conditions, the reestablishment and maintenance of all constitutional guarantees is necessary, in addition to the restitution of all media whose operation had been interrupted, and normal access and communication be allowed between President Zelaya and his representatives on the round table,” pointed out the official OAS statement ... http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=14884

Concerns Over Foreign Mercenary Influx Into Honduras
2009-10-10 01:26pm

A group of independent United Nations experts have .... received reports of the recruitment of former Colombian paramilitaries to protect properties and individuals in Honduras from violence between supporters of the ousted President José Manuel Zelaya and the de facto Government.

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 June 28, according to the UN Working Group on the use of mercenaries.

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.

"There are also allegations of indiscriminate use of 'Long Range Acoustic Devices' by the police and mercenaries against President Zelaya and his supporters who have taken refuge at the Embassy of Brazil," the experts said in a news release ... http://www.newsroomamerica.com/world/story.php?id=469331

[L. Coyote]

1. Unbelievable LIES!

"It doesn't represent any kind of control of the media," Interior Minister Oscar Matute told Reuters on Saturday. "No journalist, no media outlet, can act as an apologist for hatred and violence in society."

Haven't they seen their own anti-Zelaya ads?

No one told them about Rush and Hannity?

[Judi Lynn]

8. They've plastered their own hate spewing signs all over the country.

Their entire coup is based upon lies, deceit, treachery.

[L. Coyote]

11. Check this VIDEO:

Honduran media used for pro-coup propaganda
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=385&topic_id=385640&mesg_id=385640

Guess they'll have to close their own media outlets and arrest themselves! Oh wait, the law only applies to liberals ....

[Judi Lynn]

12. Hopefully they will use their 1980's reactivated death squad leader, Billy Joya

to handle this chore for them! Old Battalion 316's commander will have them talking out of the other sides of their mouths in no time at all!

[L. Coyote]

2. Previous LATEST thread: Interim Honduran leader resists diplomats' pleas

Interim Honduran leader resists diplomats' pleas
Thu Oct-08-09 - http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4094927

[L. Coyote]

3. Snipers Firing on Brazilian Embassy

Another Day for Honduran Coupsters: Break-Ins and Embassy Sniper Fire
Press Release - http://www.pacificfreepress.com/news/1/4857-antoher-day...
Friday, 09 October 2009 15:23

HONDURAS UPDATE DAY #104 OF THE COUP
by IFCO / Pastors for Peace


THE PEOPLE OF HONDURAS URGENTLY NEED OUR SUPPORT!!! They continue to be in resistance to the brutal and illegal coup regime in Honduras. Thousands of courageous Hondurans are in the streets every day demonstrating for the restoration of democracy, even in the face of massive repression by the coup regime.

President Zelaya, along with 313 of his supporters, is still holed up in the Brazilian Embassy. But the US government still has not taken a strong stand against the coup.

While other nations around the world have condemned the coup in Honduras, President Obama talks about mutual respect among nations, but does nothing to condemn the gross miscarriage of justice and constitutional law in Honduras.

1) GUNFIRE INTO THE BRAZILIAN EMBASSY: Radio Globo from Honduras is just now reporting that snipers have been shooting into the Brazilian Embassy where President Zelaya and 313 others have taken refuge. We do not yet have word about injuries.

2) BREAK-IN AT THE GARIFUNA HOSPITAL: The Honduran Black Fraternal Organization (OFRANEH) reports that 15 soldiers and "preventive police" of the coup regime broke into the Garifuna Hospital of Ciriboya at 5:00am on October 6. The military entered the hospital through a window, using the pretext that they were engaging in a anti-narcotics operation.

The Garifuna Hospital of Ciriboya is the center of the Luagu Hatuadi Waduhenu project, the first-ever hospital and health network in Honduras' Atlantic Coast region, founded by Dr Luther Castillo. The coup government recently downgraded the status of the Garifuna Hospital from hospital to simple health center, to the detriment of the local Garifuna and indigenous population.

The break-in is seen as a message to the Garifuna community because of their active participation in the resistance against the coup, as well as an example of the racism of the coup regime. OFRANEH contends that, while narcotrafficking has been a problem in the Atlantic Coast region, the problem can be traced to certain wealthy elites who operate with impunity from their African palm plantations - NOT TO THE HOSPITAL. "The only thing this hospital can be accused of is that we've provided health care to 300,000 people," said Dr Castillo.

"It is unheard of that one of the paradigms of community health across our continent should suffer the aggression of a government made up of a crew of mercenaries at the service of the US Southern Command and the banana, telephone, and oil corporations who want to preserve the status quo in Honduras," declared OFRANEH.

3) The 10/8/09 New York Times reports that lobbyists for the Honduran coup have already spent more than $400,000 in Washington. Some of the lobbying firms have close ties to Secretary of State Clinton and to Sen. John McCain (R-AZ). Key Republicans are urging the Obama administration to lift all sanctions against the coup government. "Several former high-ranking officials who were responsible for overseeing US policy in Central America in the 1980s and '90s... - including Otto Reich, Roger Noriega, and Daniel W. Fisk - view Honduras as the principal battleground in a proxy fight with Cuba and Venezuela..."

We want to be clear that this is not just an ideological 'proxy fight,' but rather a brutal violation of the rights and sovereignty of the Honduran people. Our neighbor nation is at a standstill; many lives have been lost, and many more are at risk. Reich, Noriega, Negroponte and others who had a hand in initiating this coup are trying to punish President Zelaya for being too friendly with progressive governments in the region. While President Obama talks about a US foreign policy based in "mutual respect," these former functionaries of the Reagan/Bush administrations are operating as rogue agents, trying to impose the agenda of the US right wing (as was done in Haiti, in Guatemala, in Chile), and showing a total lack of respect for Honduras' democratic process.

HERE'S WHAT YOU CAN DO:
ASK YOUR REP TO SIGN ON TO REP GRIJALVA'S LETTER ABOUT HONDURAS! Rep Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ), co-chair of the House Progressive Caucus, has taken leadership on this issue by writing several strong letters to President Obama. His current letter urges the Obama administration to "clearly and unequivocally reject and denounce the repression by this illegitimate regime," to state that the elections planned for November "cannot and will not be considered free and fair by our government," and to "step up its efforts to bring about a prompt restoration of democracy in Honduras."

Ask your representative in the House to sign on to Rep Grijalva's letter - and let him/her know that we OPPOSE the coup in Honduras, and that the US must be on the side of democracy and constitutional process in Honduras - not on the side of the thugs and murderers perpetrating this illegal coup.

CALL CONGRESS! CALL THE WHITE HOUSE! CALL THE STATE DEPARTMENT! Demand that they stop the violence and bring about an end to the coup!

Congressional switchboard: 202/225-3121
President Barack Obama 202/456-1111 www.whitehouse.gov
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton: 202/647-9572 [e-mail]

[L. Coyote]

4. Colombia Exporting Death Squads to Honduras

Colombian Free Trade: Exporting Death Squads to Honduras
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/greg-grandin/colombian-free-trade-expo_b_316485.html

Greg Grandin
Professor of History, New York University
Posted: October 10, 2009 06:24 PM

A breaking story -- covered in the Colombian press for about two weeks but just now being picked up by English-language news sources, including CNN -- reports that 40 members of Colombian death squads, responsible for the execution of thousands, have been recruited by Honduran plantation owners to protect their interests. In addition to the Colombian mercenaries, 120 paramilitaries from other Latin American countries "have been contracted to support the government of Roberto Micheletti," who organized the overthrow of Honduras' democratically elected president, Manuel Zelaya, on June 28.

Since then, Micheletti and his business backers have hired US lobbyists and public-relations firms, including lawyer and confidant of Hillary Clinton, Lanny Davis, to make the case to Washington that Zelaya's ouster was a democratic transfer of power.

Yet Honduras' rising body count, along with the reappearance of death squads - responsible in the 1980s for the murder and disappearances of tens of thousands of Central Americans - makes Davis's efforts increasingly difficult.

Micheletti himself may be directly involved in the importation of Colombian mercenaries. According to Bertha Oliva, the president of the respected and besieged Honduran human-rights organization, Comité de Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos en Honduras, the infamous "Billy" Joya - who in the 1980s was himself a member of the Honduran death squad, Battalion 316, and now is working as Micheletti's security adviser - traveled to Bogotá, Colombia, in early September to arrange the deal which brought the mercenaries to Honduras.

[The Straight Story]

5. He is just doing what Chavez would do to protect people

:rofl: :hide:

[EFerrari]

6. Micheletti told Honduras that Chavez would take it over

if he didn't depose their elected president in favor of his death squad vets. Judging from the reaction of the Honduran people, apparently they didn't think that was such a bad idea. lol :)

[Judi Lynn]

7. Tremendous photos. Clever,making the "L" resemble a big boot!

I've heard people have said they've been shot at, yelling "golpistas" at soldiers.

[L. Coyote]

9. Zelaya and Micheletti agree to create a joint cabinet

Zelaya and Micheletti agree to create a joint cabinet
Sunday 11 October 2009 - http://www.france24.com/en/20091011-zelaya-micheletti-agree-create-joint-cabinet-honduras-coup


Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya and the de facto government led by Roberto Micheletti have agreed to create a joint cabinet composed of ministers from both governments. Zelaya's return to power remains a sticking point in talks.

AFP - Deposed Honduran President Manuel Zelaya and the de facto government agreed Saturday to create a joint cabinet and to ditch any amnesty for coup leaders, one of the ousted leader's negotiators said.

Both the measures however depend on Zelaya's return to the presidency, still far from certain four months into the standoff following the June 28 coup.

Juan Barahona, one of Zelaya's three top negotiators, told a rally of hundreds of the president's followers that the joint cabinet, if realized, would be composed of ministers from both governments.

He also said the Zelaya camp was against an amnesty because such a move would mean "amnesia, forgetfulness and forgiveness, and we got cannot condone the coup."

...........

[Peace Patriot]

14. That is startling news! I'm amazed actually. Still absorbing it.

If true--if it proves to be solid--this means that Zelaya is no longer subject to arrest if he leaves the embassy--and we gotto wonder about the reports of gunfire at the embassy in this context. Did they lure him out with false promises of a joint government, and then have their goons from Colombia shoot him, or try to?

These golpistas have proven to be extremely treacherous and dishonorable people. And this would be my first concern about any promises they've made to Zelaya about a joint government. They've got death squads operating in Honduras, and so there will be no accountability--if such a thing has happened or is planned. They have total control of the country. Assassins would be whisked out of the country and no one would know who they were or where they went.

Secondly, barring that terrible scenario, this is likely a ploy on the golpistas' part to keep control of the election machinery through the late November election, and give the election some legitimacy. They've also suspended all civil rights and have shut down opposition media--two more assurances of a rigged election. But Zelaya certainly knows this. It will certainly be interesting what he has to say about it--who will be running the election, and what time-frame does he think is feasible to be fair to leftist election activists (many of whom are in jail, and some of whom are dead) and to the voters (deprived of information by the shutdown of opposition media) and some of whom-- those who have actively protested the coup--have been brutalized (and some of whom are dead as well)?

To hold a fair election in these circumstances will be extremely difficult. And then there is the issue of the Constituent Assembly (constitutional convention) which has widespread support throughout Honduras. How will that issue fair in a joint government?

The other day, Oscar Arias--the negotiator of the Arias Accord--said that Honduras has "the worst Constitution in the world," and that, if a fair election cannot be held, then the only solution is to proceed with the Constituent Assembly and re-write the Constitution. (This was just reported in an article in The Nation.)

[EFerrari]

16. I don't put anything past them, either. This is a dangerous moment. n/t

[L. Coyote]

18. It has a contingency the junta will not accept, I suspect, but

it was a ploy to delay for three more days, and as soon as the three day adjournment took affect, they wiped out more freedoms with a decree to silence the media until after the election.

I would not get too excited about this until it really happens. Pay attention to what they are doing, not what they are saying. They are shooting at a sovereign embassy and restricting the media.

[Peace Patriot]

15. L. Coyote, have you posted this news in LBN and the Latin American Forum?

It is a huge breakthrough in the crisis--which I just caught up with, reading this thread. I don't see it posted either place. It's been two hours since you posted it here as a comment. If you're not going to post in LBN and the L/A Forum, I will. Please advise. And thank you for the news!

[Peace Patriot]

17. I'm going ahead and posting it, L.Coyote. It's too important to wait. nt

[L. Coyote]

19. LINK:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4098696

[Peace Patriot]

21. See my comment there (no. 9). I think I have been had by AFP.

I'll have to think up a name for them. How about, AFPissantz?

[L. Coyote]

22. Honduras: ‘Nothing will be the same again’

Honduras: ‘Nothing will be the same again’
Federico Fuentes
11 October 2009 - http://www.greenleft.org.au/2009/813/41845


What began as a coup aimed at deposing a millionaire landowner president, whose “crime” had been to gradually shift Honduras away from US control and implement mild pro-people reforms, has spurned on a mass resistance movement with the potential to revolutionise the country.

............. ongoing peaceful protests, strikes and blockades have continued in the face of increasingly severe repression. The Honduras Resists website said, as of October 2, at least 4000 people had been detained and 17 killed, although many anti-coup activists believe the real number to be much higher

There are a number of reports of torture at the hands of the security forces.

The Committee in Defence of Human Rights in Honduras (CODEH) said more than 100 people have been injured by police using chains. wooden bats and other objects. CODEH also said more than 105 “homicides” had been officially registered during the coup-imposed curfew periods.

On October 9, Radio Globo said that snipers had begun firing into the Brazilian embassy, home to Zelaya and hundreds of his supporters. The Associated Press said the same day that right-wing Colombian paramilitaries, infamous for human rights abuses, were arriving in Honduras.

Resistance

Gilberto Rios, a leader of the National Resistance Front Against the Coup (FNRG), told Green Left Weekly ................

[roody]

10. It's time for Obama to earn his Nobel.

[Judi Lynn]

13. Amnesty International Statement: Honduras must allow journalists to broadcast freely

Honduras must allow journalists to broadcast freely
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.

http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?id=ENGNAU2009100913473&lang=e&rss=recentnews

[L. Coyote]

20. AP: New media measures take effect in Honduras

New media measures take effect in Honduras
By FREDDY CUEVAS (AP) – 1 hour ago - http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jAkMGKIUDg_ngUiZboxQbYj5_DPwD9B8J0DG2


TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Honduras' interim leaders put in place new rules Saturday that threaten broadasters with closure for airing reports that "attack national security," further restricting media freedom following the closure of two opposition stations.

The latest decree is sure to anger supporters of ousted President Manuel Zelaya and appears to be a challenge to the Organization of American States and a team of regional diplomats who were in the country Thursday to push for a resolution of the crisis.

A statement released by the OAS delegation urged the coup-installed government to, among other things, allow the resumption of operations at the two broadcasters, which backed Zelaya's return to office.

Under the decree imposed by the government of interim President Roberto Micheletti, "the frequencies of radio or television stations may be canceled if they transmit messages that incite national hate and the destruction of public property."

Officials can monitor and control broadcast messages that "attack national security," according to the decree.

It was adopted by the Interior Ministry ...........

[L. Coyote]

23. U.N.; Hondurans hiring mercenaries

U.N.; Hondurans hiring mercenaries
Sunday, October 11, 2009 2:16 AM - http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews/articleid/3543351


(United Press International) -- Landowners in Honduras have been hiring ex-members of a Colombian paramilitary group for protection from political violence, U.N. officials say.

The U.N. Working Group on the use of mercenaries said Friday at least 40 former members of Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia have been brought to Honduras since President Jose Manuel Zelaya was forced to leave the country in June. They have been retained by landowners fearful of fighting between Zelaya's supporters and those of the de facto government.

Sources have also said the government has recruited another 120 mercenaries from countries around Honduras, the Working Group said.

Honduras is a signatory to the International Convention on mercenaries, which bars their employment by governments.

[L. Coyote]

24. Honduras eyewitness; One-hundred days of struggle and no plans to stop

Honduras eyewitness; One-hundred days of struggle and no plans to stop
Karl Cosser, Tegucigalpa
10 October 2009 - http://www.greenleft.org.au/2009/813/41800


The people of Honduras continue to demonstrate against the illegal coup that overthrew elected President Manuel “Mel” Zelaya on June 28. October 5 marked the 100th day of struggle and 100 days without Mel, the real president of Honduras.

One piece of graffiti reads “100 days of struggle”, while protesters carried placards saying “100 days and the people are not silenced”.

It is truly inspiring to see people take to the streets after 100 days of brutal repression from the coup regime, which a majority of Hondurans and other governments and international institutions do not recognise as the genuine government.

..........

It is constitutionally necessary for Zelaya to be allowed to continue his term of presidency until it expires in January for the elections being held at the end of November to be considered legitimate. The coup regime is acting with complete hypocrisy, considering it used a supposed breach of the constitution as the justification for the takeover.

..........

[L. Coyote]

25. Protesters in Honduras Criticize U.S. Response to Crisis

Reporter's Notebook: Protesters in Honduras Criticize U.S. Response to Crisis
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/latin_america/july-dec09/honduras-rep_10-10.html


In late June, Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was ousted in the middle of the night by an opposition angered by his efforts to extend presidential terms. Marcelo Ballve of New America Media reports from Honduras on tensions within the country.

In politically divided Honduras, where two men claim the presidency, all sides appear to agree on at least one point: No one seems happy with how U.S. President Barack Obama has handled the crisis so far.

I spent my first morning in Honduras reporting on a protest organized at the teachers college in the capital, Tegucigalpa. Outside the gates of the Universidad Pedagogica Nacional Francisco Morazan, supporters of ousted President Manuel Zelaya massed together, preparing to march. They were confronted, across an avenue, by soldiers in camouflage and police in riot gear.

Outside the teachers college in Tegucigalpa. Photo Credit: Marcelo BallveThe protesters unfurled flags and signs denouncing the government of interim President Roberto Micheletti, but dared not begin their march within view of the security forces. ....

.......... President Obama's name was mentioned often, since he had won the Nobel peace prize earlier that day. But far from heaping praise on the U.S. leader, the protesters criticized his White House for being slow to condemn the June 28 coup in strong terms and then being hesitant about advocating for Zelaya's return to the presidency.

Zelaya's supporters often point out it took nearly two months before the United States imposed meaningful sanctions on the de-facto Honduran government

Obama has done "almost nothing" to help Honduras, said Eulogio Chavez .........

[L. Coyote]

26. VIDEO: Damages to Zelaya residence by military intruders

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x386940

[sabrina 1]

27. If he is harmed, I don't think the reaction will be same

as it was when they killed Allende. South and Central America have had time to recover from the decades of brutality aided and abetted by the US, back then under Nixon and later Reagan. And many of those murderers are still around. I doubt any citizen of any of the countries who suffered as a result of their criminal activiteis in that region of the world, have forgotten them. From a link posted above:

We want to be clear that this is not just an ideological 'proxy fight,' but rather a brutal violation of the rights and sovereignty of the Honduran people. Our neighbor nation is at a standstill; many lives have been lost, and many more are at risk. Reich, Noriega, Negroponte and others who had a hand in initiating this coup are trying to punish President Zelaya for being too friendly with progressive governments in the region.

While President Obama talks about a US foreign policy based in "mutual respect," these former functionaries of the Reagan/Bush administrations are operating as rogue agents, trying to impose the agenda of the US right wing (as was done in Haiti, in Guatemala, in Chile), and showing a total lack of respect for Honduras' democratic process.

Why, if it is true that Negroponte and Reich et al had a hand in this coup, are they not being hauled in for questioning? Isn't this a crime?

Attacking the Brazilian Embassy was not a smart move either. But I noticed that the US rep at the UN, Rice, when condemning the attack made sure to emphasize that the US was confining its remarks to that particular issue, making sure no one got the idea that the coup itself was being condemned.

What is taking the US so long to step up and condemn the ousting of an elected president? If this escalates to the point where there is another assassination with the help of the US in that part of the world, I think Brazil, Chile and every other country there will be outraged and Obama will have more than he can handle on his hands. But knowing that Reagan left-overs like Negraponte are involved doesn't bode well for any kind of peaceful resolution or for the people of Honduras. Why are they still allowed to function on behalf of the US? I don't understand this at all.

[L. Coyote]

28. Honduran National Resistance Update

Honduran National Resistance Update
2009 October 11 - http://hondurasoye.wordpress.com/2009/10/11/honduran-national-resistance-update-1011/

BOOKMARK this one!

[L. Coyote]

29. Americas Program Special Report Honduras De Facto Regime Opens Fire in Poor Neighborhoods

Americas Program Special Report
Honduras De Facto Regime Opens Fire in Poor Neighborhoods:
Youth and Union Members Targeted by Coup Violence
Dick Emanuelsson and Mirian Huezo Emanuelsson | October 9, 2009

Translated from: El régimen de facto desata el terror en las colonias populares: Entrevistas con pobladores, jóvenes y sindicalistas—blancos de la violencia golpista
Translated by: Americas Program
Americas Program, Center for International Policy (CIP)
americas.irc-online.org - http://americas.irc-online.org/am/6490

The Honduran people have set an example for people throughout Latin America through three months of steady resistance to the coup in their country. But there are powerful groups within Honduras and abroad organizing to neutralize this unprecedented force and block the resistance from growing in strength and numbers. These groups above all seek to prevent the nation from carrying out a Constitutional Assembly to modify the outdated constitution. Along with the reinstatement of the elected President Manuel Zelaya, this demand is central to the popular movement against the coup as a necessary tool to bring the country and its people out of poverty.

In this Special Report, Tegucigalpa reporter Dick Emanuelsson and photographer Mirian Huezo Emanuelsson chronicle the terror and repression unleashed by the coup to maintain power. Despite promises to lift the executive decree that imposed a state of siege, the violence continues.

These are firsthand accounts from the victims of the strategy of force being employed by the coup. All were wounded by security forces since the return of Zelaya on Sept. 21. This strategy has only intensified, despite talk of an official dialogue, largely frustrated during the recent visit of the Organization of American States (OAS). Even as the OAS ministers and other dignitaries were meeting on Oct. 7 in Tegucigalpa to promote dialogue, the coup and armed forces again attacked peaceful demonstrators in the streets.


Mauricio Maldonado, 18, was shot by Honduran police.
Photo: Mirian Huezo Emanuelsson.

The pain is intense and tears stream down the sun-browned face. Mauricio Maldonado, 18, was shot by the police when he went out to the corner store to buy a bag of churros. .................

[L. Coyote]

30. AU: Open letter to Foreign Minister Stephen Smith on Honduras

Green Left Weekly - ‎25 minutes ago‎

Please ciruclate and add your name to this letter by emailing [e-mail]

An open letter to the Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs

To: Stephen Smith
Minister for Foreign Affairs
Parliament House, Canberra, ACT 2600


Dear Minister Smith,

The people and nation of Honduras urgently need the support of governments around the world.

A dictatorship has been in power since June 28, when the elected government of President Manuel Zelaya Rosales was overthrown in a military coup. The illegal regime is not officially recognised by any government or international institution. The Organisation of American States, the European Union and the International Monetary Fund have all taken action to isolate the regime. The United Nations has refused assistance to elections scheduled for November 29 on the grounds that a poll organise by the dictatorship has no legitimacy.

The Honduran people have rejected the coup regime. Polling company COIMER & OP, legally authorised by the Honduran Supreme Electoral Tribunal to survey the population in the lead up to the November 29 poll, found in August that only 17% of Hondurans support the coup. A majority support Zelaya’s reinstatement.

Three months after the coup, the people continue their peaceful protests demanding Zelaya’s reinstatement and the convening of a constituent assembly. The coup regime has responded with terror and repression. Reliable sources estimate that at least 4000 people have been detained and 17 killed during the three months of protests. Media outlets and journalists critical of the coup regime have been harassed or silenced, including an occupation by the military of a radio and TV station. A number of political prisoners have started an indefinite hunger strike against their illegal detention.

The demand of the Honduran people is simple: the legitimate government elected by the people should be restored. It is a fundamental human right of all peoples to determine their own government and political future, and we call on the Australian government to urgently:

• Join government’s across the world by clearly denouncing the coup and demanding Zelaya be immediately restored as President;
• Cut all diplomatic, political, cultural or economic ties that the Australian government may have with Honduras until Zelaya is reinstated;
• Join the Organisation of American States in refusing to recognise the outcome of any elections organised by the illegal coup regime;
• Demand the immediate release of all political prisoners;
• Pressure the United States administration to act on its verbal criticisms of the coup and cut all ties with the coup regime, and end its ongoing training of the Honduran military.

Signatories:....