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DAY 151 OF HONDURAS COUP RESISTANCE – MILITARIZED ELECTION FARSE CONTINUES (November 25, 2009, Honduras Coup Alert#95)
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HOW TO SUPPORT THE PRO-DEMOCRACY MOVEMENT IN HONDURAS & WHAT TO DO: see at bottom
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NOT-ELECTION OBSERVERS
With a group of 12 North Americans (& a New Zealander), Rights Action has a human rights accompaniment delegation in Honduras.  This is NOT an election observing delegation.  Following the lead of the Honduran people’s movement and the ousted government of President Zelaya, Rights Action recognizes neither the legitimacy of the electoral process, nor the elections (presidential, mayoral, etc) themselves, set for November 29th.
On November 24th, day 150 of resistance to the illegal military-oligarchic regime headed by Roberto Micheletti and General Romeo Vasquez Velasquez, we stood in front of the militarized TSE (Supreme Electoral Tribunal)
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as yet another group of candidates for the November 29 elections entered to officially withdraw their names from the electoral roles.  This time, the group were potential candidates from the UD party (Union Democratica).
On November 25th, day 151 of resistance, we duly walked to the militarized Brazilian embassy, wherein the regime has President Zelaya, members of his government and other supporters, completely surrounded and cut off.
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We did not get permission to enter and interview the President.
In front of the National Congress …
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Hundreds of pro-democracy Hondurans gathered, again, to voice the opposition of a majority of the Honduran people to the coup regime itself, and the fraudulent, undemocratic elections.
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This sigh, written by Luis Aguilera of Los Necios (the bothersome ones, or the nuisance ones), points out that U.S. policy in Honduras - which is pro-coup regime, and pro-fraudulent elections - seems to have been made by the former US ambassador to Honduras, John Negroponte.  Many Hondurans consider Negroponte to be a war criminal for the nefaste and criminal role he played in the 1980s, supporting and justifying the repressive Honduran military regime and the US-contra terrorist group attacking Nicaragua from Honduras.
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DE FACTO REGIME PREPARES REPRESSION LEADING UP TO ILLEGITIMATE ELECTION
By COFADEH, Tegucigalpa, Honduras.  November 21, 2009
(translated by www.quixote.org)
The Committee of Detained and Disappeared of Honduras (COFADEH) expresses its concern to the national and international community regarding the deterioration of the human rights situation in Honduras which is deepening each day.
A new wave of violence includes death threats, political persecution, illegal detentions, tortures and the militarization of sectors of principal cities.  Of particular concern is the incursion of vehicles without license plates, darkened windows, driven by heavily armed agents with hooded faces into neighborhoods identified as allied with the Resistance against the coup and self declared as “free of political propaganda.”  These actions follow the creation of lists profiling leaders of the resistance movement by order of the military and police.
The overall environment that has been created is one of repression and uncertainty.
This was reinforced by a statement issued on November 16, 2009 by the Sub-Secretary of the Service Networks of the Ministry of Public Health that orders the preparation of a CONTINGENCY PLAN for provision of health services for 24 hours per day from November 19th thru December 4th, 2009.  According to statement No. 1055-09-SSRDS, the plan must include: Anticipated Suspension of Activity without putting the health of patients at risk, Re-scheduling of Surgeries during these dates and supply of medicine and equipment necessary for the plan.
These measures appear to be related to the conduction of the illegal electoral process on November 29, which is proceeding in an irregular manner and reflects the militarization and para-militarization of the country.  The military reserves have been mobilized to support the 16,000 members of the armed forces and 14,000 police already mobilized in the distribution of ballot boxes.
In departments in the western part of the country, army reserves distributed fliers to intimidate the population in resistance, characterizing members of the resistance as irrational delinquents and discrediting marches and protests as inhumane and uncivilized behavior.
This activity parallels the “anti-communist” campaigns of the 1980’s. The military control advances and consolidates as Michelleti announces a “strategic departure” from the country between November 25th and December 2, 2009. The security forces equip themselves with new repressive tools.
An armored vehicle has been added to the Secretary of Security for dispersing protests. The anti-riot units are equipped with video cameras and high pressure water cannon and a mechanism that marks anyone who comes in contact with the water for 48 hours.
The armed forces have begun conducting selective checks along major roads in the country and departments in the Atlantic zone of the country have experienced military over flights.
COFADEH communicates its concern to all Human Rights institutions and the international community regarding the safety of social activists who struggle for the reestablishment of democratic order.
COFADEH asks the international community to be on alert regarding the human rights situation in Honduras and to demand that the Honduran state guarantee the right to life and integrity of the Honduran population and foreigners living in the country.
 
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LETTER FROM PRESIDENT ZELAYA OF HONDURAS TO THE PRESIDENTS OF THE HEMISPHERE
“Legalizing Coups d’Etat by Means of Spurious Electoral Processes Divides the Unity of the Nations of América”
November 22, 2009
By Manuel Zelaya Rosales
President of Honduras
Honorable Presidents, Nations of América
Dear Presidents,
I write you in my role as President of Honduras, valuing the excellent relations between our countries and in defense of the democracy violated in Honduras as consequence of the Military Coup d’Etat perpetrated June 28 of this year, when soldiers invaded my home and at gunpoint kidnapped and took me to Costa Rica.
The National Congress forged my resignation letter and, abusing its power, emitted an illegal decree which “separated me from the charge of Constitutional President” without Constitutional backing to do so. The same was the case for the arrest order that the Court had emitted without having received any legal complain and without my having been cited to appear before any tribunal or trial. It has been condemned and described by all the countries of the world as a violent and surprising rupture of democratic order, a Military Coup d’Etat.
At this moment in Honduras we are in a de facto State. There is no Constitution. Nor are there Constitutional powers because they have been destroyed by force by the military Coup d’Etat on that ominous day of June 28, 2009.
The Constitution of the Republic establishes in Article 3: “No one owes obedience to an usurper government, nor to those who occupy public positions or jobs by the force of weapons or using means or procedures that bankrupt or fail to recognize what the Constitution and the law establishes. Those actions by so-called authorities are null and void. The people have the right to insurrection to defend the Constitutional order.”
In reading that article, you can understand that the Honduran people are legally empowered to act using all means, styles and forms that they consider necessary to restore democracy.
We have consciously taken the path of peaceful resistance, with the goal of establishing noncooperation and nonviolence like methods of civil disobedience and twenty-first century popular struggle against the rise of military force.
We thank the entire international community for your support for our labor to reconstruct the State of Law, that being the last effort of the poorly reached Tegucigalpa-San José Accord, backed by the OAS and the US Department of State. Its letter and spirit has as its proposal the “return of the title the executive branch to what it was prior to June 28.”
And it was openly violated by the de facto regime which in which Mr. Micheletti pretends to head a government of reconciliation, refusing to convene the National Congress, in definitive noncompliance of the timeline and text.
Now, unilaterally, he seeks to utilize the aborted accord by convening the National Congress on December 2, a date upon which the political actors of the accord will have been substantially modified, in the sense that by then they will have already been submitted to the opinion of the voters without having restored Constitutional order.
The elections of November 29 and their use of public funds under a de facto regime, without having previously restored democracy and the State of Law as OAS and UN resolutions demand, without even having installed the government of unity and reconciliation, are illegal, illegitimate, and constitute a criminal act.
At the moment that the de facto regime with its soldiers convenes a spurious electoral process under repression, without legal guarantees, and without a political agreement, in which the military dictatorship is the guarantor of the law, it only strengthens its actions of force and impunity.
Precisely today, Channel 36, property of journalist Esdras Amado López, the only television chain that has opposed the regime, has had its signal blocked and taken off the air by the dictatorship.
The de facto regime has frontally disregarded the resolutions of the OAS, the UN and the European Union. It has also violated the Democratic Charter of the OAS and its resolutions while some of Honduras’ friends among countries demonstrate ambiguity and support for the electoral process without having restored democratic order and without political dialogue. That permits the de facto regime to impose its will by force.
As President of Honduras, I communicate with you to say that below these conditions I will not back the electoral process and will proceed to challenge it legally in the name of the men and women of my country and of hundreds of community leaders that suffer the loss of democracy, the repression, the unfair circumstances and the suppression of freedom.
These elections have to be annulled and rescheduled to when the sovereign will of the people is respected.
In these difficult moments for our brother countries of América, we ask for your solidarity with Honduras.
• That you accompany us based on the facts that you know, reiterating the position of not supporting a unilateral intent to give validity to an accord that was quickly rescinded by the violations consummated by the dictatorship.
• Reaffirming the condemnation of the coup d’etat of the military State and not supporting a de facto regime whose existence today shames all the peoples of Latin América, that after all the attempts by the international community to reverse the coup d’etat have ended in a total failure for everyone.
• Appealing to maintain your firmness in the execution of the resolutions passed by the OAS and the UN and not adopting ambiguous and imprecise positions like those displayed today by the government of the United States of America, with whose final posture has weakened the process of reversing the coup d’etat, demonstrating division in the international community. By feeding this coup d’etat the democratic security in the hemisphere and the stability of the Presidents of América is put at risk, with the resurgence of military castes over civil authority. Legitimizing coups d’etat by means of spurious electoral processes divides and does not contribute to the unity of the nations of América.
• I ask for your cooperation so that this Military Coup d’Etat its bloody violations of human rights do not go unpunished. Already, the International Criminal Court has received complaints and allowed them to proceed to trial to obtain justice for our people and apply the corresponding sanctions to those who committed treason to the Nation and crimes against humanity in Honduras.
• We voice our energetic rejection of those who support the maneuvers to launder the coup d’etat, covering up for the golpistas to leave their crimes protected.
• With our full attention, we invite all the nations to recognize our government and that they abstain from supporting the actions of the illegal regime that usurped power by force of weapons.
• We cordially demand and exhort your representatives to the OAS and the UN to continue defending and supporting the rights of the people and of the legitimately elected governments, since when one of our nations suffers an assault it is an affront to all América; and, each time a government elected by the peoples of América is toppled, violence and terrorism win and Democracy suffers a defeat.
In wait of your response, I appreciate the invaluable support demonstrated until now for these principles and I send you greetings reiterating my esteem and my highest consideration.
JOSE MANUEL ZELAYA ROSALES
President of the Republic of Honduras
cc: Sr. José Miguel Insulza, Secretario General de la OEA
Sr. Ban Ki Moon, Secretario General de la ONU
Sr. José Barroso, Comisión Unión Europea
Archive
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IRI (INTERNATIONAL REPUBLICAN INSTITUTE) AND NDI (NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTE) PLAN TO OBSERVE ELECTIONS CONTROLLED BY HONDURAN MILITARY AND POLICE. U.S. GROUP THAT SUPPORTED OVERTHROWS OF DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED GOVERNMENTS IN HAITI AND VENEZUELA WILL OBSERVE ELECTIONS IN HONDURAS
(November 23, 2009, By Center for Economic and Policy Research, 1611 Connecticut Ave, NW, Suite 400, Washington, DC 20009, Contact: Dan Beeton, 202-239-1460)
Washington, D.C. - The National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the International Republican Institute (IRI), organizations that receive funding from the U.S. State Department, are planning on sending delegations to observe the November 29 elections in Honduras, according to a statement issued by Republican Senator Richard Lugar.
The IRI is a group that has supported the ouster of democratically elected presidents in Haiti and Venezuela in recent years. Both groups are apparently planning to assist with observation of the elections, despite the fact that the electoral process will be effectively controlled by thousands of military troops and police officers - the same forces who have committed innumerable human rights violations, including killings, rapes, beatings and thousands of detentions, since the June 28 coup d'etat.
"I am surprised to see NDI joining the International Republican Institute in its efforts to legitimize another coup," Center for Economic and Policy Research Co-Director Mark Weisbrot said. "NDI has generally been less willing to support coups and anti-democratic regimes than has its Republican counterpart."
Weisbrot noted that NDI steered clear of IRI's involvement in the ouster of democratically elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 2004, which became the subject of controversy following a major 2006 investigative report in the New York Times. When IRI publicly applauded the 2002 coup d'etat against Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez in a press release, the NDI remained silent. The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) - the primary funder of both IRI and NDI - expressed its disagreement with IRI for voicing its support for an "unconstitutional" action.
NDI's plans to observe the elections have been surprising because Democratic leaders in Congress, including Senator John Kerry and Representative Howard Berman, have repeatedly expressed their opposition to the coup, and other congressional Democrats have urged President Obama not to recognize elections held under the coup regime.
Richard Trumka, President of the AFL-CIO, has written that ongoing human rights abuses under the coup regime, including continued repression of trade unionists, makes it impossible to hold free and fair elections. Trumka called on the U.S. government to oppose national elections in Honduras unless President Zelaya is reinstated, in a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton this month.
An editorial in a leading Honduran newspaper, El Tiempo, on Friday noted the electoral process will be controlled by the coup regime: "12,000 troops, 14,000 police and 5,000 reservists are fully in direct control of the polling," it notes, opining that free and fair elections are impossible due to the current, ongoing human rights abuses. "Until now, the atmosphere is totally contrary to a democratic electoral process, and what prevails is a climate of political oppression," the editorial states.
"The IRI has become notorious throughout Latin America for its sometimes rogue actions that have threatened to seriously damage U.S.-Latin American relations," Weisbrot said. "NDI would do well to exercise caution in following IRI's lead on Honduras."
Weisbrot noted that in addition to its support for the coups in Haiti and Venezuela, IRI organized a conference in Brazil in 2005 to promote political reforms that would undermine the Workers' Party - the political party of President Lula da Silva.
When the creation of the NED, IRI, and NDI was first being publicly discussed, in 1983, the Washington Post reported: "The CIA used to fund covertly much of what the endowment plan envisions, such as the publication of books and articles 'consistent' with democratic ideals. But many of these were halted in 1967 following public disclosure of the CIA's activities."
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HONDURAS COUP REGIME DECLARES NEW STATE OF EMERGENCY PRIOR TO SUNDAY "ELECTION"
November 24, 2009, By Al Giordano
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/thefield/3626/honduras-coup-regime-declares-new-state-emergency-prior-sunday-%E2%80%9Celection%E2%80%9D
The Gaceta Oficial, ("Official Gazette") of the Honduras coup regime is now freshly printed and has three new decrees and two orders restricting freedom of the press, the right to bear arms and officially strips Catholic Father Andres Tamayo of his Honduran citizenship, ordering him expelled from the country (the good Padre left for El Salvador last week).  Here are a few of the regime's greatest hits from this week's barrage of repressive decrees which are expressly part of what the coup leaders call an "election" coming up on Sunday:
DECREE PCM-M-029-2009
"Due to growing internal threats," the Armed Forces will be deployed, in support of the National Police, to guard polling places, the custody and transport of ballots (before and after they are utilized by voters), and 5,000 members of the military reserve were deputized beginning on November 13.
DECREE PCM-M-030-2009
This decree declares a "State of Emergency" nationwide, and places the regime's "Secretary of State" inside the military command to oversee all activities related to the November 29 "elections." […]
DECREE PCM-M-031-2009
The November 29 "elections are under threat by groups that try to block their development with threats of all kinds, creating fear and disorder in the general population." Therefore, says the decree, a nationwide ban on bearing all types of firearms went into effect on Monday, November 23, "until ordered otherwise.” […]
ORDER NUMBER 2169-2009 OF THE SECRETARY OF GOVERNMENT AND JUSTICE
"The conduct of Mr. José Andrés Tamayo Cortez is incongruent with constitutional precepts and secondary laws of the Honduran State… that justify his characterization as UNWORTHY to have Honduran nationality and is ordered to be expelled to his country of origin."
Executive Order 124-2009 authorizes the coup regime's media regulating organization CONATEL to close any media at will.
[…]

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ACTION NEEDED
TO DONATE FUNDS
Please continue to financially support the pro-democracy, anti-coup movement in Honduras.  This extraordinary struggle, to defeat the oligarchic-military regime and to remake their constitution and country, will continue well into 2010. Make your tax-deductible check to “rights action” and mail to:
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TELL YOUR CONGRESSPERSON, SENATOR, THE WHITE HOUSE & THE STATE DEPARTMENT NOT TO RECOGNIZE THE HONDURAN COUP REGIME & THE NOVEMBER 29TH PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS
The U.S. government announced it will recognize the results of the November 29 presidential “elections” in Honduras with or without democratically-elected President Zelaya back in office and power.  Other governments – Canada?, Panama, Peru?, Colombia, Mexico? – may well follow the U.S.
This position is abusive and shameful.
From the Honduran people’s pro-democracy movement and the National Front Against the Coup, to governments across the Americas, to the Organization of American States, everyone and institution recognizes there are no conditions whatsoever in Honduras – under the control of an illegal and repressive military-oligarchic regime - to hold free and fair elections.
Since the June 28 coup, the regime has killed some 2 dozen Hondurans, illegally jailed over 3000 people, tortured (including rape) hundreds of people in illegal detention, and wounded hundreds in protests (due to rubber and live bullets, tear-gas and beatings).
It is in the context of this on-going repression that the illegal regime aims to hold elections as their way of legitimizing and justifying the un-legitimizable and unjustifiable coup.
We urge U.S. citizens to contact your member of congress, senator, the white house and state department, to demand:
The unconditional return of President Zelaya and his government to full constitutional power and authority
No recognition of the November 29 elections
Justice for the plotters and perpetrators of the military coup, and
Reparations for the victims of the regime repression
WRITE TO:

 
FOR INTERVIEWS & MORE INFO:
In Honduras: Grahame Russell, 011-504-9488-1959, info@rightsaction.org & Karen Spring, 011-504-9507-3835, spring.kj@gmail.com
In USA: Annie Bird, 202-680-3002, annie@rightsaction.org