July 6, 2010 - No. 127
Honduras -- First Anniversary of Coup
Long Live the People's Resistance --
All Out to Support the Honduran People's Struggle for Justice and
Empowerment!
Tegucigalpa, Honduras,
June 28,
2010: Thousands march through the capital of Honduras in response to
the decision by the National Front of Popular Resistance to commemorate
the one year anniversary of the coup with a nation-wide strike.
(Honduras
Indymedia,
FNRP)
• Long Live the
People's Resistance -- All Out to Support the Honduran People's
Struggle for Justice and Empowerment!
• Political Manifesto of the National Front of
Popular Resistance
• Honduras before the Coup -
National Front of Popular Resistence
• SOA Graduate-Led Military
Coup in Honduras - School
of the Americas Watch
Honduras -- First Anniversary of Coup
Long Live the People's Resistance -- All Out to Support
the Honduran People's Struggle for Justice and Empowerment!
June 28, 2010 marked the one year anniversary of the
coup d'etat against the democratically elected government of Manuel
Zelaya. On this occasion, TML reiterates its support for the
Honduran people and their National Front of Popular
Resistance, established one year ago to defend
the people's interests against the reaction of the coup plotters and as
a further development of the people's forces to advance their
long-standing and just demands.
TML denounces the oligarchs who
continue to use violent suppression and retribution against the
people's resistance to maintain their illegitimate authority. TML
also denounces the U.S. for the plotting of the coup itself through the
Palmerola airbase and since then providing it with a legitimacy it will
never have.
TML also condemns the role of the
Harper government and its Minister of State of Foreign Affairs
(Americas) Peter Kent,
who even surpassed the ignominious U.S. response with repeated
statements siding with the fascist justifications of the coup-plotters,
in essence supporting the coup. The Canadian
people demonstrated across Canada to denounce the coup and the
government's support for it.
Despite the coup, the illegitimate presidential
elections of November 29 and ongoing political repression, the Honduran
people's resistance has only
become more organized, consolidating and expanding itself throughout
the country. It continues to move steadily towards realizing the
people's demand for a national constituent assembly
to reform the constitution and codify the means for the people's
empowerment.
On July 1, Zelaya, who is currently in exile in the
Dominican Republic, accused the U.S. government of being directly
behind the coup. "Today we know that what we suspected at the time has
been confirmed. The United States was behind the coup d'etat," he said.
He added
that "everything points to the fact
that the coup was planned from the Palmerola military base." The base
is a U.S. installation established in 1984, 50 miles north of the
capital Tegucigalpa. Zelaya also cited the progressive changes he had
made during his tenure as president from the beginning of 2006, such as
the plan to "recover the Palmerola
military base and convert it to a civil-military airport," the
membership of Honduras in the Bolivarian Alliance for Our Americas
(ALBA), and the fact that "in the Organization for the
American States assembly in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, we managed to
revoke the expulsion of Cuba [from the OAS], that occurred in 1962" as
some of the reasons behind the coup.
For his part, coup leader Roberto Micheletti continues
to promulgate fascist disinformation about the coup recently
threatening that "If Zelaya returns, the tribunals will be waiting for
him, in order to take him to trial for the crimes he committed during
his government."
Meanwhile, the present regime of Porfirio Lobo has
refused to recognize
the membership of Honduras in ALBA, meaning that Hondurans cannot
participate
in programs that provide cheap oil, low-interest credits, eye
operations from the Cuban-led Mision Milagro, a national literacy
campaign and many social and economic
development programs.
TML calls on
Canadians to vigorously support
the Honduran people and their resistance which is seeking to
provide a bright future for their nation.
Long Live the People's Resistance --
All Out to Support the Honduran People's Struggle for Justice and
Empowerment!
Tegucigalpa, Honduras,
June 28, 2010:
Placard reads "There can be no peace or reconciliation when those who
violated demcracy roam free." Besides the mass action, there was a
concert entitled "Junio Rojo" (Red June), to mark the occassion.
(Honduras
Indymedia)
Political Manifesto of the
National Front of Popular Resistance (FNRP)
- June 28, 2010 -
Comrades.
When the Honduran oligarchy undertook the military coup
on June 28 last year, they never imagined that they would face one of
the most important examples of values and dignity in the history of our
great Latin America. The Honduran people moved from the moment they
learned of the treacherous
act, planned and executed by imperialism and the Honduran oligarchy,
and since then have not ceased for an instant to organize and mobilize
to reclaim their right to transform the present and take ownership of
their future.
Today Honduras is the scene of the battle between old
and new; between domination and freedom. Here the criminal hordes of
international fascism, right-wing parties, the churches at the service
of the oligarchs and the governments subservient to imperialism
rule face-off against grassroots organizations,
democratic and progressive political forces, historically oppressed
social sectors and unequivocal solidarity from other brother countries.
June 26, 2010: Members of
the FNRP collect signatures in the municipality of La Esperanza,
Intibuca department (western Honduras). The signatures are needed
to convoke the National Constituent
Assembly and also in support of the return political exiles to
Honduras. (Honduras Indymedia)
The Resistence, is the genuine expression of the
combination of revolutionary forces that has caused the plans of the
North American empire, the international right wing and the local
oligarchy to fail; and has become a social and political entity, which
confused the intelligence services and became
unintelligible to an oligarchy that is not able to understand from
their schemes and their neoliberal moral logic, the combination of
sacrifice and hope of the people facing repression, totalitarianism and
deceit, who have a vision of a future of progress and the well-being
for all.
The military coup was an act of desperation by the
oligarchy against the beginning of a transformational process that was
being interpreted and channeled through the government of President
Manuel Zelaya Rosales. Despite having come to power within the
defined scheme to preserve economic
interests of the wealthy, he was able to make a turn in the economic
and
social policies and make a legitimate exercise of national and
international sovereignty placing the State alongside the poor and in
favor of transformations.
Mel Zelaya assumed the leadership of a government in the
midst of a serious social crisis, a dying bipartism, a popular movement
in ascendance and a new international scenario marked by deep processes
of economic, social and political change in Latin America. Even in this
context, President Zelaya
undertook a social commitment, demonstrated great courage and boldness
to confront a parasitical, corrupt and criminal oligarchy that since
Francisco Morazán, had not had their system of privileges
questioned. What began as an attempt of small reforms to strengthen
national production and curb privatization of
remaining public services and resources that the State still had,
evolved into a commitment to structural transformation of the State and
society, through the installation of the National Constituent Assembly.
Tegucigalpa, Honduras,
June 27, 2010:
Walk and vigil to honour the memory of the more than 50 people killed
in one year of resistance to the coup. (Honduras Indymedia)
The situation of the oligarchy is desperate, the powers
of State are upon the verge of collapse beneath a sharp fiscal and
financial crisis that could covert itself into total bankruptcy,
neither are they able to achieve international recognition that would
obtain credits to oxygenate the dire economic crisis
caused by the military coup and the massive ransacking by officials who
took charge of the de facto
regime. The world recognizes them as violators of human rights
denounced before the International Criminal Court. In summary, they are
assured of failure.
The Resistence is strengthened, increasing its
coordination and organizational capacities at a national level,
concerning itself with ensuring mechanisms of internal democracy to
maintain unity within the ideological diversity and dares to dream of a
new society: just, equitable and inclusive. To achieve
this the strategy of the FNRP is clearly defined, Hondurans will
convene a Democratic and Popular National Constituent Assembly, with
which we will re-found the State and society.
Of particular consideration is remembering and honoring
the memories of our brothers and sisters killed and tortured by force
of terror, the repressive apparatus of the State at the service
of the oligarchy and the Pentagon. These men and women gave
their lives to build a just and equitable
society. We reaffirm that here no one surrenders until the aspirations
of the Honduran nation are
realized. For them we express our
full support to the Truth Commission installed at the request of the
Human Rights Platform. We are confident that with their work they will
succeed in uncovering and
prosecuting the intellectual perpetrators of the torture, murders,
violations, repression and other humiliation that they were
subject to.
Truth Commission
underway in Tegucigalpa, Honduras,
June 28, 2010. (Honduras Indymedia)
|
We demand the return of our brothers and sisters who are
in exile for political persecution by the coupist oligarchy.
In relation to this political, economic and social
crisis caused by the oligarchy in order to maintain this unjust,
inequitable system, we set as a route to achieve social transformation
the following:
1. We must intensify the process of achieving the
National Constituent Assembly, composed of constituent congressmen and
congresswomen that arise from the social sectors, workers, ethnic
groups, African descendants, citizens, women, campesinos (landworkers),
professionals, youth, forming an
authentic representation of the Honduran people. For this we need to
continue strengthening the organizational aspects from the grassroots
to the national structure, educating in open assemblies and promoting
participatory discussion of the contents that should be the new social
pact within a framework of the re-founding
of a sovereign-social-secular-democratic State and committed to the
progress
and welfare of the Honduran people. This will inevitably happen by
dismantling the oligarchic coup structure and its repressive and
criminal apparatus.
2. We must rescue our natural resources and cancel
illegal
concessions granted under the neoliberal model in strategic
sectors in the country's economic life, such as telecommunications,
energy, water, forests, ports, mining and hydrocarbons, airports with
the implementation of a mixed economy that allows
people's participation, with an equitable distribution of wealth to
meet the legitimate aspirations and demands of people for dignified
living conditions. Achieving progress and improving the welfare of the
Honduran people requires that national resources be used for domestic
purposes. Within this context we
reject the neoliberal measures taken by the oligarchic coup regime of
Porfirio Lobo Sosa which attacks the Honduran people with massive tax
increases, privatization, increased cost of
utilities and dumping the cost of ransacking and corruption by the
military coup predominantly on the middle
class and popular sectors. We call upon those people to continue with a
greater level of commitment in the patriotic, peaceful, democratic
struggle, which is the reason for the existence of the FNRP.
3 . We encourage the Honduran people to organize
themselves in the hamlets, villages, districts, neighbourhoods,
municipalities and departments in fronts of resistance and social
organizations, trade unions, federations, campesino businesses and
professional associations to intensify the work of strengthening
organization. As a result of the failure of the actions taken by the
oligarchy to stop the process of social transformation through the
military coup of June 28, 2009, and the illegitimate, violent and
militarized elections of last November 29, the continuation of
the oligarchic coup regime by Mr. Porfirio Lobo Sosa, has
not been able to resolve the economic, political, and social crisis.
Quite the contrary, it has worsened. In desperation to maintain its
privileges the coupist oligarchy is preparing a violent and criminal
offense,
backed by the North American and Latin American ultra right wing. In
this manner they will again try to stop the process
of social transformation driven by the Honduran people. With its
organizational development, with clarity and strength in political
lines, with the leadership of José Manuel Zelaya Rosales, whose
unconditional return we demand, the dignified people of
Morazán continue to advance incorporating themselves into the
FNRP until the final victory is won.
Honduras Central America June 28, 2010.
For the Memory of Our Martyrs Fallen in
the Fight!
For a Just Society
and the Refoundation of the State of Honduras.
For the National
Constituent Assembly.
Resist and Overcome!
Long Live the FNRP.
Honduras before the Coup
- National Front of Popular Resistence,
July 2, 2010 -
Honduras before June 28th, 2009, was already a country
in distress with strong clashes between the business class and the
majority working class of the country. This fact has received little
attention in media and popular accounts of the coup.
The unrest that preceded the military coup was a
result, on one hand, of unified actions of the social movement's
struggle against the neoliberal model, seeking structural and social
transformations; and on the other hand, the actions of Manuel Zelaya
who as President of the Republic placed himself
in opposition to the Honduran oligarchy and the imperialist
intervention of the United States of America.
The Popular Movement
During the early 1990s with the imposition of the
neoliberal model many of the forces of the social movement were
dislocated, resulting in its subsequent weakening. The new century was
greeted with the creation of the Popular Bloc/Bloque Popular (May 1st
2000) as a
space for bringing together diverse social sectors with a base formed
from the most combative trade unions of the Federación
Unitaria de Trabajadores de Honduras (FUTH, United Federation of
Honduran Workers). The Bloque, as it is commonly known, assumed the
task of fighting against neoliberalism and
privatization.
In 2003, virtually all regions of the country had a
federation of grassroots organizations with a similar style to the
Bloque. On 26th of August of that year, the March of National Dignity
led to the formation of the Coordinadora Nacional de Resistencia
Popular (National Popular Resistance Coordinating
Committee), which became the largest umbrella organization of
grassroots movements in the country, meeting on a monthly basis with
all its regional organized counterparts with an unmatched, unified
agenda of struggle.
The Coordinating Committee gathered the most important
demands of the people. Since 2003 national
mobilizations grew, challenging and weakening the policies of the
government of Ricardo Maduro (2002-2006), creating a difficult scenario
for the ruling elites. Throughout this process
as the social movement grew, the Honduran oligarchy played an
increasingly repressive role; such that within a few years the
movement's focus would go beyond economic demands and advance to
political positions.
Mel and the Beginning of a New Path
During his inauguration as President, Manuel Zelaya
"Mel" passed the Ley de Participación Ciudadana (Law
of Citizen Participation) that three years later he would use to
promote the cuarta urna (fourth ballot box), a non-binding
referendum to decide whether to call for a National Constituent
Assembly in November 2009 elections. The coup occurred on the day of
the survey. During the early months of his presidency he did not
venture far from the strategic plan of the dominant class and
transnational companies. However, within a short period
of time he was in confrontation with them for their refusal to allow
even small changes to strengthen the national productive apparatus or
to permit him to put the brakes on the privatization of the last
resources that still remained in the hands of the State.
In response to the intransigence of the elites, Zelaya
began to radicalize government policies. The President, guided by his
human sensitivity, sided with the people. More progressive measures
were prompted, such as a sharp increase (40%) in the minimum wage,
incentives for agricultural production,
strengthening of state-owned companies and an independent foreign
policy.
As Zelaya became closer to the people, he moved away
from the oligarchy. Actions such as the signing of oil importation
contracts with Petrocaribe, the incorporation of Honduras into ALBA
(the Bolivarian Alliance for Our Americas), his plan to convert the
U.S.
military base in Soto Cano into an
airport, his delay in accepting the diplomatic credentials of the U.S.
ambassador Hugo Llorens in protest against U.S. policy toward Bolivia
boycotting Evo Morales' government. Morales' refusal to sign an IMF
agreement touched the interests of U.S imperialism and questioned their
total control over Honduras as a
country of much geopolitical importance in the region.
The popular movement which at first had confronted the
neoliberal policies with which Zelaya had begun, were by the second
year of his administration introducing some of their demands to the
government's agenda, to the point of working together on the most
important project: setting up a National
Constituent Assembly to rewrite the Constitution.
June 28, 2010: Action by
COPINH (Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of
Honduras) to mark the one year anniversary of coup in Honduras, on the
road between Otoro and La Esperanza in Intibuca department. Pictured
below are people symbolically casting their votes for the cuarta urna, or
fourth ballot that was to be added to last year’s
presidential election before being waylaid by the coup. Placard reads
"The Constituent Assembly is coming and nothing will stop it." (Honduras Indymedia)
The Business Class of Honduras
Honduras suffers from an economic dependence on the USA:
70.6% of exports go to USA, 53% of imports are from the USA
and remittances from Hondurans living in the USA are 21.2% of the
annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
During the Zelaya administration, the country
registered an economic growth of approximately 5% GDP; however, the
poverty rate showed only a very slight reduction with an increase in
inequality and a greater concentration of wealth. The neoliberal system
that Honduras is subject to has not worked
for the majority, the 75% of the population that live in poverty, and
has taken a huge toll on Hondurans' working conditions, has provoked
environmental destruction and the sell-off of the productive sectors of
the state.
An important factor in the development of the Honduran
conflict has been the oligarchy that controls the means of production
and shares the economic, political and media power between 10 families.
It is significant to see that while the rest of Central American
countries managed to establish a dominant
class through coffee production, in Honduras the dominant class
revolved around importation and as an agent of the foreign-controlled
mining and banana enclaves. This situation led to the weakness of the
national oligarchy and their submission to imperial interests.
The Honduran business class maintains its control of the
means of production through corruption, manipulation and creation of
laws, drug trafficking and use of police and military force against
the population, using the media to validate these actions. The visible
face of the business class is evident
in the councils and associations of private business that has
representations at all levels of government. Past presidents (1982-
2006) of the new era of "Democratic Representation" were faithful
defenders of private enterprise and interests of U.S. imperialism.
Transnational corporations in the oil, textile, pharmaceutical,
mining, agriculture and food sales sectors represent the cowardly sale
of human and natural resources by the business class to interests
foreign to that of the Honduran nation.
Birth of the Resistance
"Resistance: Made
in Honduras"
(Honduras
Indymedia)
|
The week before June 28, 2009, strong rumors circulated
that Manuel Zelaya was to be ousted by a military coup. Wednesday (June
25) of that week several members of the Bloque and activists working
on the project of the Cuarta Urna received the call to arrive at the
Presidential
House to avert a coup attempt. But it was not until the early hours of
June 28 that the oligarchy, composed of conservative politicians,
military, religious and business sectors carried out the military coup
against Manuel Zelaya. That same day on the streets surrounding the
Presidential House, the Frente Nacional de Resistencia
Popular was born.
The first actions of the people were improvised and in
line with the tactics social struggles they had successfully employed
for
several years: direct action. The hours and days after the coup saw
road blocks, marches and demonstrations. Through these acts against the
violent and repressive coup the Resistence
grew quantitatively and qualitatively demonstrating that the struggle
was not fleeting, but was rather the maximum expression of the class
struggle from which the country has not yet freed itself.
The Resistence was created around the structure of
diverse popular organizations that formed the National Committee of
Popular Resistance, as well as a large part of the Liberal Party that
Mel, through his actions, had snatched away from the traditional and
corrupt politics of the country. To the streets
went citizens who previously had not been organized but who today are
the Resistence, present in every corner of the country.
The new agenda of the exploited and marginalized
surpassed qualitatively what existed prior to the coup. The need to
achieve political power and control the State has become much clearer.
With this, friends and enemies of social transformation have been
uncovered.
SOA Graduate-Led Military Coup
in Honduras
- School of the Americas Watch, June 28,
2010 -
Since the June 28, 2009 military coup, state forces have
murdered, tortured, beaten, and disappeared activists. There have been
curfews, restrictions on movement, and media blackouts. Honduran social
organizations reported about 4,200 human rights violation among then
more than 130 murders against members
of the resistance and about 3,000 arrests.
The June 28, 2009 military coup in Honduras was carried
out by the School of the Americas (SOA) graduates Gen. Romeo
Vásquez Velásquez, the head of the of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff of the Honduran military, and Gen. Luis Prince Suazo, the head of
the Air Force. The leadership of SOA graduates
in the coup follows a pattern of anti-democratic actions by graduates
of the SOA (renamed Western Hemisphere Institute for Security
Cooperation, WHINSEC). The Pentagon claim -- that the institute
instills respect for democracy and civilian leadership while teaching
combat skills to Latin American soldiers -- had
once again been disproved by the actions of the institute's graduates.
SOA-trained Honduran Army Attorney Col. Herberth
Inestroza justified the military coup and stated in an interview with
The Miami Herald
"It would be difficult for us, with our training, to
have a relationship with a leftist government. That's impossible.''
Inestroza also confirmed that the decision
for the coup was made by the military. Another SOA graduate, retired
General Daniel López Carballo, told CNN that the coup was
warranted because Venezuelan President Chávez would be running
Honduras by proxy if the military had not acted.
The crisis in Honduras began when the military refused
to distribute ballot boxes for a non-binding opinion poll that was
supposed to determine whether or not a majority of Hondurans desire to
enter into a process to modify their constitution. President Zelaya
fired the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
SOA graduate General Romeo Vásquez Velásquez. The heads
of all branches of the armed forces quit in solidarity with
Vásquez. Vásquez, however, refused to step down,
bolstered by a Supreme Court ruling that reinstated him. Vásquez
remained in control of the armed forces and in March 2010, Romeo
Vásquez
Velásquez became the new director of the Honduran
telecommunications firm HONDUTEL.
Vásquez, along with other military leaders,
graduated from the United States' infamous SOA. According to
information that SOA Watch obtained from the US government through a
Freedom of Information
Act request, Vásquez studied in the SOA
at least twice: once in 1976 and again in 1984.
The head of the Honduran Air Force, General Luis Javier
Prince Suazo, studied in the School of the Americas in 1996. The Air
Force has been a central protagonist in the Honduran coup. When the
military refused to distribute
the ballot boxes for the opinion poll, the ballot boxes were stored on
an Air Force base until citizens accompanied by Zelaya rescued them.
Zelaya reports that after soldiers kidnapped him, they took him to an
Air Force base, where he was put
on a plane and sent to Costa Rica.
Former Representative Joe Kennedy stated, "The School of
the Americas...is a school that has [produced] more dictators than any
other school in the history of the world."
The SOA has a long history in Honduras: In 1975, SOA
graduate General Juan Melgar Castro became the military dictator of
Honduras. From 1980-1982 the dictatorial regime was headed by yet
another SOA graduate, Policarpo Paz García, who intensified
repression by Battalion 3-16, one of the most
feared death squads in the Americas.
Honduran Gen. Humberto Regalado Hernandez, who was
inducted into the SOA's Hall of Fame, was a four-time graduate. As head
of the armed forces, he refused to take action against soldiers
involved in the Battalion 3-16 death squad.
This is not the first time the SOA has been involved in
a Latin American coup. In April 2002, the democratically elected
Chávez government of Venezuela was briefly overthrown, and the
SOA-trained soldiers Efrain Vasquez Velasco, ex-army commander, and
Gen. Ramirez Poveda, were key players
in the coup attempt.
The school graduated at least eleven Latin American
dictators, among them are:
* Argentine Gen. Leopoldo Galtieri, who seized power in
a bloody coup, bringing down another SOA grad, Gen. Roberto Viola, who
came to power during Argentina's Dirty War.
* Guatemalan dictator Gen. Efrain Ríos Montt, who
seized power in a coup in 1982 and conducted a scorched earth campaign
against the Mayan Indians.
* Panamanian dictators Gen. Omar Torrijos, who overthrew
a civilian government in a 1968 coup, and Gen. Manuel Noriega, a
five-time SOA graduate, who ruled the country and dealt in drugs while
on the CIA payroll.
* Ecuadoran dictator Gen. Guillermo Rodríguez,
who overthrew the elected civilian government in 1972.
* Bolivian dictators Gen. Hugo Banzer Suarez, who seized
power in a violent coup in 1971, and Gen. Guido Vildoso Calderon, who
grabbed power in 1982.
* Peruvian strongman Gen. Juan Velasco Alvarado, who in
1968 toppled the elected civilian government.
Since 1946, the SOA/WHINSEC has trained over 60,000
Latin American soldiers in counter-insurgency techniques, sniper
skills, commando and psychological warfare, military intelligence and
interrogation tactics. Human Rights groups are calling for the closure
of the institute. Rep. Jim McGovern
has introduced H.R. 2567 in the House of Representatives, which calls
for the suspension of operation of the school and a Congressional
investigation into the connection between human rights abuses in Latin
America and U.S. military training.
From November 19-21, 2010, thousands will gather at the
gates of Fort Benning, Georgia, to call for the closure of the School
of the Americas (SOA/ WHINSEC) and to speak out for justice in
solidarity with the people of Honduras and all of the Americas.
Read The Marxist-Leninist
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Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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