[HNA] HONDURAS: "The Two Honduras" - 300, 000 Hondurans marching in the streets

[Rights Action]

HONDURAS: The Two Honduras: 300,000 Hondurans march
January 30, 2010

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*        In Honduras: Karen Spring ( <mailto:spring.kj at gmail.com>
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annie at 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.

  <http://rightsaction.org/lists/uploads/IMG_1576.JPG> 

(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.

  <http://rightsaction.org/lists/uploads/IMG_1610.JPG> 

(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.

* * *  

HONDURAS: AN ENORMOUS SEND OFF FOR COMPAÑERO MANUEL ZELAYA
Translated by Felipe Stuart,  <mailto:fcstuartca at yahoo.ca>
fcstuartca at 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.

* * * 

HONDURAS: HUGE SEND OFF FOR COMPAÑERO MANUEL ZELAYA
January 29, 2010
 
<http://hablahonduras.com/2010/01/28/honduras-enorme-despedida-al-companero-
manuel-zelaya/>
http://hablahonduras.com/2010/01/28/honduras-enorme-despedida-al-companero-m
anuel-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!

* * * 

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
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CREDIT-CARD DONATIONS:  <http://rightsaction.org/contributions.htm>
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.

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