HONDURAS: The Two Honduras: 300,000 Hondurans march
January 30, 2010
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FOR INTERVIEWS & MORE INFORMATION
In Honduras: Karen Spring (spring.kj@gmail.com) and Annie Bird (annie@rightsaction.org), tel: [011] 504 9507-3835
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THE TWO HONDURAS
On January 27, 2010, some 300,000 Hondurans marched in the streets of Tegucigalpa, NOT for the incoming President Pepe Lobo, winner of the illegal presidential “elections” of November 28, 2009, but rather FOR President Mel Zelaya, illegally ousted in the June 28, 2009 military coup.
(by Karen Spring, January 27, 2010)
The pro-democracy, anti-military coup march went from the Pedagogical University in Tegucigalpa to the airport (roughly 12-16 kilometers) on January 27th to bid farewell to President Zelaya, who was escorted from the Brazilian embassy with the President of the Dominican Republic, Leonel Fernandez.
As the so-called “inauguration ceremony” of incoming president Porfirio "Pepe" Lobo (who, along with his National Party, had openly endorsed and ‘legitimized’ the June 28 military coup) was taking place in a stadium, the Honduran people marched to the airport to see off President Zelaya who was flying to the Dominican Republic.
(Karen Spring)
The simultaneously scheduled events (the formalistic “swearing in” and the huge people’s march) demonstrate the two Honduras (in Felix Molina's words), the two different visions of Honduras: a different vision of what Honduras was like before the coup; a different vision of the 6 month people’s struggle against the oligarchic coup regime, and most certainly a different vision of the future of Honduras.
The Honduran people will not forget nor pardon the repression, murders, torture and deaths that occurred - and continue to occur - as a result of the militarization of the country since June 28th. President Lobo, who is fighting for some sort of recognition of his government by the “international community”, was 'elected' after a military coup and during a time when a campaign of terror and repression was being carried out by the coup regime of Roberto Micheletti and General Romeo Vasquez Valesquez.
The Honduran people do not see the “inauguration” of Pepe Lobo as a defeat of their struggle. Their struggle for the “re-founding” (refundacion) of the Honduran state and society is stronger than ever before and simply enters a new stage.
In no way is this struggle easy and they will need much support over the next years from across the Americas.
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HONDURAS: AN ENORMOUS SEND OFF FOR COMPAÑERO MANUEL ZELAYA
Translated by Felipe Stuart, fcstuartca@yahoo.ca
Felipe writes: Habla Honduras published this report of the massive rally of the Honduran national resistance movement against the military coup regime for deposed President Manuel (Mel) Zelaya at the Toncontín International Airport on January 27.
Zelaya flew directly to Santo Domingo where the República Dominicana President Antonio Guzmán Fernández welcomed him with full military honors. Guzmán Fernández declared his country’s ongoing rejection of the Honduran coup regime, and its solidarity with the forces struggling for democracy in Honduras.
The farewell march and demonstration in Tegucigalpa, and the welcoming ceremony in Santo Domingo were televised live on TeleSur and carried by many stations throughout Latin America. However, you hardly become aware of these events if you depended on the Honduran print press and the pro-coup TV and radio media. People in Honduras and who watched Telesur and other truthful news coverage could see the very important encounters: (1) Zelaya with his people from the grassroots resistance and then (2) with a key Latin American government that used his arrival into exile in the Caribbean country to re-affirm Latin American opposition to military coups and to the re-militarization of politics in the Americas.
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HONDURAS: HUGE SEND OFF FOR COMPAÑERO MANUEL ZELAYA
January 29, 2010
http://hablahonduras.com/2010/01/28/honduras-enorme-despedida-al-companero-manuel-zelaya/
More than 350,000 members of the Resistance (national movement against the military coup and de facto regime in Honduras) marched yesterday in Tegucigalpa to the far end of the Aeropuerto Toncontín air strip on the same spot where our first martyr, Obed Murillo, died on that fatal day of July 5, 2009.
Prior to the departure of our compañero Manuel Zelaya, the cultural show put on by Artists in Resistance gave a demonstration of how vital our struggle has become.
The moment of the takeoff of President Mel Zelaya’s plane was very, very moving, an unforgettable historic thread for the hundreds of reactions that provoked chants, tears, assurances of victory and of the founding of a new country in the midst of the send off of the first deposed president of the XXI century in Latin America. [Rights Action note: President Aristide of Haiti was ousted in a military coup in 2004]
Mayra Mejía, former Minister of Labor (in the Zelaya government) presided over a symbolic hand over of the presidential sash to three members of the Resistance – David Montecinos, a child Dionisia; the “Grandmother of the Resistance”; and Juan Barahona, a leader of the FNRP (Frente Nacional de Resistencia-National Liberation Front).
Meanwhile, the National Stadium [where the official “swearing in” ceremony took place] was filled to the brink with soldiers, but the streets of Tegucigalpa again felt the weight of the Honduran Resistance stronger and more determined than ever.
Our path towards the National Constituent Assembly takes on ever greater force!
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TAX-DEDUCTIBLE DONATIONS
Since the June 28th military coup, Rights Action has channeled over $75,000 of your donations and grants to Honduran civil society organizations doing pro-democracy, pro-rule of law, and human rights defense work. Make check payable to "Rights Action" and mail to:
UNITED STATES: Box 50887, Washington DC, 20091-0887
CANADA: 552 - 351 Queen St. E, Toronto ON, M5A-1T8
CREDIT-CARD DONATIONS: http://rightsaction.org/contributions.htm
Complete proposal-report available on request.
WHAT TO DO
North Americans must continue to send critical information to our politicians and governments – the governments of Canada and the USA were the most supportive of the military coup, were the first to “recognize” the illegal elections of November 29, 2009, and the first to “recognize” the new government of Pepe Lobo. We must hold our governments partially and significantly accountable for Honduras' State repression.
- JOIN AN EDUCATIONAL DELEGATION TO GUATEMALA OR HONDURAS: info@rightsaction.org
- JOIN Rights Action's listserv: http://www.rightsaction.org/lists/?p=subscribe&id=3
- RECEIVE Rights Action's quarterly newsletter mail list. Send name and address to: info@rightsaction.org
- CREATE YOUR OWN email and mail lists and re-distribute our information
- RECOMMENDED DAILY NEWS: www.democracynow.org / www.upsidedownworld.org / www.dominionpaper.ca
- RECOMMENDED BOOKS: Eduardo Galeano's "Open Veins of Latin America"; Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States"; Naomi Klein's "The Shock Doctrine"; Paolo Freire's "Pedagogy of the Oppressed"; Dr. Seuss's "Horton Hears a Who"
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