Honduras: US blames protesters as repression mounts

[Judi Lynn]

Honduras: US blames protesters as repression mounts
Submitted by Weekly News Update on Mon, 04/04/2011 - 01:18. Thousands of Hondurans demonstrated on March 30 in a "National Civic Strike" called by teachers' unions and the National Popular Resistance Front (FNRP), a coalition of unions and grassroots organizations. The action was called to support teachers striking to oppose an education reform plan that they say will lead to the privatization of schools. The protesters were also demanding the approval of a general minimum wage increase, a reduction of the price of fuel, and a Constituent Assembly to rewrite the country's Constitution.

In Tegucigalpa, protesters occupied various points in the city, including the highways in front of headquarters of the militant Union of Workers of the Brewery Industry and the Like (STIBYS). "A 10:30 am hundreds of police agents and soldiers attacked us with tear gas bombs and vehicles with water cannons that were filled with a stinging liquid," union vice president Porfirio Ponce said. "They started to beat people savagely and to chase them through the neighborhoods near our headquarters."

At Planes, in the Aguán Valley region of the northern department of Colón, one person reportedly died in the repression, 12 were wounded and at least eight were arrested. The demonstration had started at 7 am with protesters blocking highways. Police and soldiers arrived minutes later, armed and protected by anti-riot shields.

Students at the Northern Regional University Center (CURN) in the Sula Valley were attacked with tear gas. In Nacaome in the southwestern department of Valle, police agents attacked groups of youths and arrested the local human rights prosecutor. Other arrests were recorded in Proterillos, with six detentions; Choloma, with about 11, Santa Cruz de Yojoa, with about 30. (Adital, Brazil, March 31, from Defensoresenlinea.com, Sireal, FNRP)

More:
http://ww4report.com/node/9737

[EFerrari]

1. Well, that's disgusting and completely unsurprising, isn't it. n/t

[naaman fletcher]

2. the headline is wildly inaccurate. nt.

[Peace Patriot]

3. The headline is spot on. You obviously didn't finish reading the article.

On March 29, the day before the general strike, the US embassy's human rights and labor attaché, Jeremy Spector, emailed Honduran human rights organizations that had written him about the detention of Miriam Miranda, director of the Honduran Black Fraternal Organization (OFRANEH) the day before. After explaining that Honduran officials said Miranda had been released, Spector added: "However, we cannot condone the frequent violence employed also by the demonstrators." He accused the protesters of using "bottles, rocks, slings, clubs with nails at the end, and Molotov cocktails." "Other reports of damage caused by the demonstrations are a cause of great concern for the embassy," he went on. "That said, it seems that the majority of the injuries reported have affected security personnel."

Spector asked for people "who have contacts with the teachers' organization to encourage them to stop the violence and return to their classrooms." (Vos el Soberano, Honduras, April 2)

While the US human rights attaché seemed to blame protesting teachers for most of the violence, at the Honduran government's cabinet meeting on March 29 Justice and Human Rights Minister Ana Pineda criticized the police and military for the second week in a row. They were using tear gas "irrationally" and in violation of United Nations (UN) protocols, Pineda said. The ministers also listened to a letter from Ramón Custodio, the conservative official human rights commissioner, noting that the use of wooden clubs by the police violated the UN conventions on the use of force. (Honduras Culture and Politics blog, March 30)

http://ww4report.com/node/9737
(my emphasis)

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Oh, those poor, U.S. equipped security personnel! Poor babies! Maybe the U.S. should send drones down to Honduras, so their fascist thugs don't get hurt.

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Spector is U.S. flak-catcher for a U.S. policy of DESTROYING Honduran democracy! The U.S.--Obama/Clinton--FUNDED and COLLUDED WITH the rightwing coup (lying to the public all the while) and then set up one of the phoniest 'elections' ever held, using election monitors like John McCain's "International Republican Institute" because no reputable election monitoring group on earth would touch that election--an election held under martial law while leftists were being imprisoned, tortured, raped and murdered!

And how dare he criticize rocks, bottles and Molotov cocktails in defense of democracy (if these charges are even true, and, considering the source, they more than likely are not), when the U.S. IS DROPPING BOMBS ON LIBYA IN SUPPORT OF A VIOLENT REBELLION!

[naaman fletcher]

4. I don't see blame really at all

I see him saying "yeah they are being violent, but you are being violent too".

Weather or not that violence is justified (and I am sympathetic to your side in this) is not really relevant. I simply don't see him saying "its your fault" or anything else that is blame. Even the words of the article say "seemingly blamed" rather than blame.

[EFerrari]

5. Spector orders striking teachers back into their classrooms.

What an asshole. Since when do embassy attaches order workers around in sovereign nations?