A Trade Union, Political and Insurrectional Struggle
- Gilberto Ríos Munguía,
Leader, Freedom and Refoundation Party (Libre) -
Inaugural session of the Alternative Citizen's Dialogue on Public
Health Care and Education held
June 18, 2019 in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
The medical and teachers' unions, which were in danger
of massive layoffs and budget cuts due to the pressure of fiscal
adjustments by the International Monetary Fund since its visit to
Honduras in March, have managed to take back the streets
by demanding the repeal of the restructuring decrees in the health and
education sectors. In the middle of April, the
presence of both unions in the streets, accompanied by university
students and the conscious citizenry, had an impact.
After the protests on April 29 and 30, the restructuring
decrees had
to be
withdrawn by their movers: the President of the National Congress
himself, Mauricio Oliva, who the day before had mocked the
Opposition with his sarcastic laughter in the House, had to very
soberly announce his defeat. According to some analysts, it was a
double defeat for Oliva because he made himself out to be the
good pupil of the IMF to demonstrate his servility to
the interests behind the international financial bodies, a sine qua
non of those who aspire to a presidential
candidacy for parties representing the elite.
The unions united in the Platform for the Defence
of
Public Health and Education did not stop there, but immediately
raised the need for the repeal of the emergency decrees of the
Presidency and Council of Ministers (PCM Decrees), through which
the executive was able to carry out massive dismissals both in
education and public health. Some of these decrees had been
approved in the framework of repressing the unions after the
fights against the coup d'état in 2009. The mobilizations were
massive, on a national scale, and enjoyed broad support from
other sectors, but their expression was already different. Things have
gone beyond demanding the derogation of the decrees, to citizens
chanting the famous "Fuera JOH"! (Juan Orlando Hernández, Out!),
embodying a political demand and the need to achieve the National
Party's exit from the Administration of the government.
In the first days of June the regime once again yielded
to the
pressures of the street and repealed the existing emergency
decrees; but then they immediately approved new PCM decrees,
(without even a meeting of the Council of Ministers),
specifying that there will be no mass dismissals or reprisals
against protesters, among other guarantees. However, there are
ambiguities and the new decrees are dangerous, coming from a ruler
who has countless times failed to honour agreements. Were they
intended only to obtain a demobilization? Why, for 10 years, are
public health and education in the country still being
administered with Emergency Decrees? Moreover, without the PCMs
in place, the Government would have to go back to the laws
guaranteeing the teaching profession (Teachers'
Law) and the
medical union (Medical Employees' Law).
For its part, the Freedom and Refoundation Party (Libre)
has
expressed its unconditional support for the Platform's struggle. It is
keeping a prudent distance because of the enormous campaign the
regime has unleashed, using all means to try and discredit the
unions' struggle, arguing that there are "political interests"
encouraging social sectors to take to the streets and that "it
all has to do with an opposition destabilization strategy to
weaken the government." Even so, the Libre Party's bench has
declared itself to be in a state of Legislative Insurrection,
carrying out protests from the floor of the House and blocking
the continued approval of laws harmful to the people's
interests.
The streets and roads of the country bear witness to
another
level of consciousness of the population. The people have gained
confidence in their possibilities to change the correlation of
forces between the oppressor regime and the opposition forces.
Here it is no longer just the interests of the popular sectors,
strictly speaking, at play but those of business people, the
Catholic Church, other opposition parties, middle strata professionals,
etc. also demanding the change or end of the
government, and the need to set the country on a democratic
course.
May 1, 2019 march in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
In recent days the Southern Command has reported the
presence
of 300 U.S. Marines in the national territory, as well as its
military presence in three more countries in Central America:
Belize, Guatemala and El Salvador, supposedly to assist the
national armed forces in case of natural disasters.
Similarly, images of military movements of the Honduran army in
different parts of the country have been circulating in
alternative media. Rumours and speculation have arisen: some say
that "the very gringos will be the ones to take out JOH" because
of his links to drug trafficking (taking into account that his
brother Tony Hernández is already being tried in a court in the
south of New York for trafficking tons of cocaine); others say
the military themselves are planning a coup d'état, to avoid
being extradited or because the military has been disrespected by
the President who has skipped promotions 22, 23 and 24 of the
army, placing his close friends and collaborators in the military
in the high command.
In Honduras many things could happen; the lessons of the
recent days of struggle point to a greater sharpening of the
contradictions, especially with the Platform's healthy insistence
on continuing the popular mobilization and the enormous support
in public opinion and of other important opposition forces in the
country. One of the teacher leaders, interviewed in the street,
showed a high level of political consciousness in his response when
questioned if what they were seeking is the end of
the regime: "We are the front of the masses and are
fulfilling our role, now the political vanguards need to assume
their historic responsibility."
This article was published in
Volume 49 Number
23 - June 22, 2019
Article Link:
A
Trade Union, Political and Insurrectional Struggle - Gilberto
Ríos Munguía,
Leader, Freedom and Refoundation Party (Libre)
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
|
