Honduran elections exposed

VIDEO: An election validated by blood and repression

Honduran "Elections"

HondurasOye - Supporters of Zelaya raise their painted hands calling the people not to vote in the November 29 “election”, during a demonstration in Tegucigalpa. Legitimate president Mel Zelaya, from his refuge in the Brazilian embassy, announced that abstention had reached 65% of the electorate (well above the 44% abstention in the 2005 election), with peaks of up to 75% in some districts in the north of the country. An official statement from the National Front of Resistance Against the Coup put the number of voters abstaining at between 65% and 75% of the 4.6 million registered voters.

Al Giordano- National Party candidate Pepe Lobo declared the "winner" of the mock elections in Honduras with over 50 percent of the vote to 38 percent for Liberal Party candidate Elvin Santos. Various Latin American nations have already said they do not recognize Lobo as a legitimate president, including Uruguay which today elected former guerrilla leader José Mujica in real elections today, not to mention a vast number of Honduran citizens. Claims of voter turnout, results, all of it, of course, can't and shouldn't be believed. And won't be. Nothing is resolved. Today's act of electoral theater was an exercise in futility.

DemocracyNow Report on Fraudulent Elections


Wayne Madsen on RussiaToday


U.S. human rights observers denounce intimidate, raids, threats, detentions and physical abuse use by military during elections

U.S. Human rights observers from a dozen different organizations around the United States have been in Honduras for several days to observe the human rights environment in Honduras at this time of elections.

Some 20 U.S. Citizens have traveled throughout Honduras over the past 3 days to cities and communities such as Tegucigalpa, San Pedro Sula, Tocoa, Santa Rosa de Copán, Choluteca, Comayagua, Siguatepeque y Puerto Grande. In addition, they have visited police stations, hospitals and jails.

In each of these communities they have observed the systematic abuse of human rights as evidenced by raids, detentions, threats, physical abuse, intimidating and persecution on the part of state security agents. These actions have been mostly directed against citizens identified with the Resistance movement.

Amnesty International (AI) denounced an atmosphere of intimidation in the run-up to controversial general election in Honduras. In a statement, AI charged that the de facto government in Honduras has stockpiled anti-riot material such as tear-gas ahead of Sunday's elections. AI delegate in Tegucigalpa Javier Zuniga told the German Press Agency dpa that basic voting guarantees were not being respected, due to the limitations on personal freedoms that were imposed in the Central American country since democratically-elected Zelaya was ousted by a military coup on June 28.

'Rights like the right to communicate and receive information, which are fundamental for an electoral process so that people have a perspective on what is happening, are constantly suffering limitations,' Zuniga told dpa.

AI denounced in a statement that the de facto authorities in Honduras 'have stock piled 10,000 tear gas cans and other crowd control equipment, triggering fears of an increased risk of excessive and disproportionate use of force by security forces around the presidential elections.'

National Lawyers Guild Calls for the US to Disavow the Legitimacy of Elections in Honduras The National Lawyers Guild calls on President Obama and the U.S. Department of State not to recognize the elections in Honduras, which was conducted under the control of an illegitimate coup government.

Honduras State Employees Forced to Attend Santos Campaign Rally

Evidence has surfaced that state employees were forced to attend the closing campaign ceremony of Elvin Santos, the ex-Vice President under Zelaya. In the letter, addressed to all department heads of the office of Civil Service, general director Marco Tulio Flores wrote, “I instruct all employees that are fulfilling their duties, without any exception, to attend the closing campaign of the Liberal Party that will take place Sunday November 22 at 9:30am. In a booth at the entrance to the coliseum Xiomara Orellana will take attendance of all personnel of this institution.”

On Saturday November 28 military soldiers raided the offices of small business collective RED-COMAL in Siguatepeque, Comayagua, a city approximately 2 hours north from the capital. The Police Commissioner issued a search warrant 15 minutes after the raid began with the purpose of looking for weapons, posters and any documents that call on the population not to vote. Ricardo Bueso, speaking to Radiodelosmenos.org, reported that the military and police stole four laptops along with money from some of the organization’s sales


Amnesty International - Military shooting in Honduras must be urgently investigated and witnesses protected
Amnesty International said on Saturday that it was deeply worried about the safety of victims of and witnesses to a shooting at a military blockade that took place in Tegucigalpa on Friday night. The organization called on the Human Rights Prosecutor to urgently investigate the incident. According to eye witnesses interviewed by Amnesty International on Friday night, four men were on their way back home when they saw a military blockade moved from its normal position, close to the Estado Mayor (military compound). They were not given any indication to stop or request to slow down so they drove past. Immediately after, shots were fired by the military at the car. The men drove on and as they went into a new road, one bullet hit the driver, 32-year-old Angel Salgado, in the head. He lost control of the vehicle which then crashed into a taxi and injured several bystanders, including 45-year-old woman, who was also hit by a stray bullet. She is now in a serious condition in hospital.

Honduras Updates

Making the Coup “Stick” by Forcing a Vote
The Honduran armed forces are comprised of 12,000 men and 14,000 police in this impoverished Central American nation of 7.5 million people, and the military has called up reservists for deployment during the election. — AFP

AFL-CIO: Free Elections Not Possible Now in Honduras

The continued repression of trade unionists by the regime set up in Honduras after a June 28 coup makes it impossible to hold free and fair elections, says AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka in a Nov. 13 letter to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Trumka points out that delegates to the AFL-CIO Convention in September passed a resolution calling on the U.S. government to suspend military aid to Honduras until President Manuel Zelaya, the democratically elected leader, is returned to office and human and trade union rights have been restored.

Click here to read the convention resolution on Honduras and here to read Trumka’s letter.

Via Adrienne Pine - Letter from Zelaya to Obama

Excerpts:

From the Desk of the President

Dear President Obama:

When we met for the first time the 8th of July with the Secretary of State Cinton after the Coup d'Etat there was made clear to me and to the world the position of the Obama administration of condemning the Coup d'Etat, not recognizing its authorities and demanding the return to the state of law with the restitution to the office of President elected by the people. The official position of your government and its representatives that sponsored and signed the resolutions of the UN, OAS. In which the third point demanded my immediate and secure restitution.

As the Secretary General of the OAS José Miguel Insulza has pointed out, there does not exist a political environment for elections, as has been observed and pointed out by the North American Congress member [Jan Schakowsky] in her visit to Honduras, observing a veritable environment of violation of human rights in Honduras....

The presidential election is now scheduled for the last week of November. In this case, as Constitutional President of Honduras, and as citizen who represents and was elected by the democratic vote of the people of Honduras, I see myself obligated to state that under these conditions we cannot back it and we will proceed to challenge it legally in the name of thousands of Hondurans and hundreds of candidates that feel that this contest is unequal and does not present the conditions of free participation.

In Honduras due to the repression that the Honduran people today is subjected to, where there is no respect even for the highest authority of the President of the Republic, where they have not considered that in three years I achieved the best economic indicators and the greatest reduction of poverty in the 28 years of democratic life, where I was removed by force of arms, never was submitted to a trial nor to due process and today have 24 accusations and orders for arrest for drug trafficking, corruption, and terrorism, among others, and where the major part of the Ministers of my cabinet are the object of political persecution and are to be found fleeing the regime in different parts of the Americas.

3500 people detained in 100 days, more than 600 people wounded and beaten in hospitals, more than 100 assassinations and an unknown number of people subjected to tortures committed against citizens that dared to oppose and demonstrate for their ideas, for liberty, and for justice, in peaceful demonstrations, all that converts the elections of November into an anti-democratic exercise by an illegitimate state, due to the uncertainty and military intimidation, for large sectors of the people.

To carry out elections, in which the President elected by the people of Honduras, who is recognized by your Government and the international community, is prisoner, surrounded by military in the diplomatic mission of Brazil, and a de facto president, who imposes the military, surrounded by the powerful in the palace of government, would be a historic shame for Honduras and an infamy for the democratic peoples of the Americas.

This electoral process is illegal because it covers up the military coup d'etat, and the de facto state that Honduras lives with does not furnish guarantees of equality and liberty of citizen participation, for all the Hondurans, it is an antidemocratic electoral maneuver repudiated by large sectors of the people to cloak the material and intellectual authors of the Coup d'Etat.

The elections are a process, not just a day when you go to vote, they are a debate, they are the exposition of ideas, they are equality of opportunities.

In my status as President elected by the Honduran people, I reaffirm my decision that from this date on, whatever will happen, I WILL NOT ACCEPT any accord of returning to the presidency, to cloak the coup d'etat, that we know has a direct impact through military repression on the human rights of the inhabitants of our country....

We are firmly resolved to battle for our democracy without hiding the truth and when a people decide to peacefully fight for its ideas, there is no weapon, no army nor maneuver that is capable of stopping it.

In the expectation of your prompt response, I repeat my highest regards.

JOSE MANUEL ZELAYA ROSALES
President of Honduras

Election Boycott Kicks Off with “To Vote is to Say “Yes” to the Coup D’Etat”

HondurasOye - Soto Cano Base: SOUTHCOM Awards $38M Contract to Honduran Firm for “IT-Communications”
This critical infrastructure program supports the Commander of JTF-Bravo — the Commander of all U.S. military operations in Central America in the execution of USSOUTHCOM’s strategy to build Partner Nation Capacity. It is intended to bolster security, stability and prosperity in the Americas.

President Manuel Zelaya: Talks Are Off with Coup Government After Deal Collapses

An American-mediated accord to end the four-month political crisis in the country appears to be in shambles just a week after it was signed. On Friday, ousted President Manuel Zelaya, who remains in the Brazilian embassy, declared the deal was over. Meanwhile, coup president Roberto Micheletti said he would install a national unity government without the participation of Zelaya. DemocracyNow interviewed President Zelaya from the Brazilian embassy.

Reporters Press State Department on U.S. Recognition of Fraudulent Elections:

IAN KELLY: The bottom line is that we have a Honduran process in place, where the two sides have sat down. They’ve signed on to the agreement. The agreement is specific in terms of the next steps to be taken. If the two sides can agree on a way forward—and the best way forward is this agreement; I mean, it’s very specific—then we support it. But what happens between now and November 29, you know, I don’t know. But we’re supporting this Honduran process.

REPORTER: Even though it is not being implemented? You’re continuing to support it, even though you’re disappointed in what it is?

IAN KELLY: We’re disappointed that this—

REPORTER: But you’re still going to support the process.

IAN KELLY: We’re supporting the process.

REPORTER: Well, then, I don’t understand. Then what you just said, as the bottom line, means nothing.

IAN KELLY: It means that—it means that they need to sit down and start talking again. They—it means that they have to stop saying—maybe they need to stop making dire statements like the agreement is dead.

REPORTER: There must be someone in this building who can give a straight answer to this question.

Negotiations Fail

AP - US-brokered pact for Honduran crisis failsOusted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya said Friday that a U.S.-brokered pact failed to end a four-month political crisis after a deadline for forming a unity government passed.

But the U.S. still thinks the accord can work, and is working to move forward on it, said a State Department official speaking on condition of anonymity because an official statement was still being prepared.

The Obama Administration's position contradicts the ousted leader of Honduras.

"The accord is dead," Zelaya told Radio Globo from the Brazilian Embassy where he has been holed up under threat of arrest. "There is no sense in deceiving Hondurans."

Zelaya spent Friday huddled in meetings with supporters and it was unclear what his next move would be.

Jorge Reina, a negotiator for Zelaya, said the pact fell apart because Congress failed to vote on whether to reinstate the deposed president before the deadline for forming the unity government.

"The de facto regime has failed to live up to the promise that, by this date, the national government would be installed. And by law, it should be presided by the president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya," Reina said.

Shortly before midnight, Micheletti announced that a unity government had been created even though Zelaya had not submitted his own list of members. Micheletti said the new government was composed of candidates proposed by political parties and civic groups. He did not name the new members.

Hundreds of Zelaya supporters gathered outside Congress on Thursday to demand his reinstatement. The protesters said they will boycott the elections if Zelaya is not returned to power beforehand to serve out his constitutionally limited single term, which ends in January.

Reina accused Micheletti of preparing "a great electoral fraud this November."

"We completely do not recognize this electoral process," Reina said. "Elections under a dictatorship are a fraud for the people."

National Resistance Issues Midnight Deadline: No Zelaya, No Recognition of Electoral Process or Results

COMMUNIQUÉ No. 33: DEADLINE FOR THE RESTORATION OR THE ELECTIONS SHALL NOT BE RECOGNIZED
Communiqué No. 33

The National Resistance Front Against the Coup d’État communicates to the Honduran population and the international community:

WHEREAS

1. During 131 consecutive days of struggle, we have pressured for a peaceful way out of the political crisis that our country is undergoing as a result of the coup d’état perpetrated by the Honduran oligarchy. In this period we have accompanied the initiatives that have been put forward from several national and international sectors, maintaining three fundamental demands: a) the return of institutional order with the restoration of the legitimate president, Manuel Zelaya Rosales, b) respect for the sovereign right to set up a National Constitutional Assembly with which the country may be refounded and c) punishment for the human rights violators.

2. That the so-called Tegucigalpa-San José agreement contains as its first priority the return to constitutional order and literally indicates “bring back the incumbency of the Executive Power to its state prior to the 28 of June until the conclusion of the current governmental term, the 27 of January of 2010.”

3. That the National Congress, co-author of the breaking of the constitutional order on the 28 of June, is using delaying tactics in refusing to convene the full assembly in order to repeal the decree that installed the defacto regime.

4. That the OAS and the United States government, whom we consider accomplices in the military coup d’état, do not show interest in the definitive ouster of the putschists from power.

WE THEREFORE RESOLVE:

1. If today Thursday, November 5, by 12:00 midnight at the latest, President José Manuel Zelaya Rosales is not restored to his office, the National Resistance Front Against the Coup d’État shall not recognize the electoral process and its results.

2. We alert all of the organizations of the Resistance on a national level so that if the restoration of President Zelaya does not happen in the established period they may be ready to execute the actions of non-recognition of the electoral farse.

3. We call on the international community to maintain the position of non-legitimation of the defacto regime and the November 29 elections.
“WE RESIST AND WE SHALL WIN”

Tegucigalpa, M.D.C. November 5, 2009.

Honduras deal thrown into doubt

Al Jazeera - Honduras deal thrown into doubt

A deal to end the political standoff in Honduras has been thrown into doubt after a negotiator for the de facto government suggested that Manuel Zelaya, the ousted president, will not be returned to power.

The comments by Arturo Corrales prompted confusion on Saturday as it had been thought Zelaya and Roberto Micheletti, Honduras's de facto leader, had reached a deal.

The two sides have been at odds for four months over whether Zelaya should be reinstated before presidential elections due to be held in November.

It was thought that through the deal Zelaya could be returned to power before elections on November 29, if the measure won support from congress and the supreme court.a

But Corrales said that since congress would not be in session before the elections, Zelaya would not be confirmed in office.

"The congress is not in session, and I understand that it is programmed to return after the elections, because each one of the representatives is, at this very moment, in their respective districts campaigning around the clock," he said.

Andres Conteris, a reporter for the US-based public television and radio show Democracy Now, who has been holed up with Zelaya in the Brazilian embassy in the Honduran capital, said the remarks by Corrales went against the agreement.

"This is absolutely a contravention of both the spirit and the word of the accord that was signed today," he told Al Jazeera by phone from the embassy in Tegucigalpa.

"For the negotiator of the coup regime to say that the legislature is not going to meet until after the election is a contravention because the accord specifically states that no later than November 5, the new constitutional authority of the unified government will be empowered as the new government of Honduras."

Great interview from Adrienne Pine on Honduras -
(It goes black for a few seconds in the beginning but the video comes back)


Honduras: Briefing with COFADEH leader Bertha Oliva, 11/5 @ 11 AM, Cannon 201
Briefing with Bertha Oliva, General Coordinator of COFADEH,
Committee of Relatives of Missing Prisoners in Honduras

Thursday, November 5, 2009
11 AM
Cannon 201
Bertha Oliva is the General Coordinator of the Committee of Relatives of Missing Prisoners in Honduras (COFADEH). Bertha's husband, professor Thomas Nativí was "disappeared" in 1981, during the period when the death squads were active under Honduras' military dictatorship. She founded COFADEH together with other women who lost their loved ones, in order to keep alive the memory of the hundreds of dissidents that were "disappeared" between 1979 and 1989 and seek justice and compensation for their families. Among other achievements, her organization succeeded in obtaining a condemnation of Honduras by the Inter American Court for Human Rights, the first such ruling against a state in the institution's history.

Bertha has since become an emblematic figure in the Central American human rights movement. In addition to the issue of the disappearances, her organization represents victims of severe rights violations, educates the general public on human rights issues, and investigates and helps prepare legal documentation for cases. COFADEH has been keeping careful track of the massive rights violations that have taken place under the coup regime that took power in Honduras on June 28, 2009 and has just finished a detailed report on the current human rights situation.

HondurasResists: The negotiation is in the streets: A day of resistance and repression

Running away from tear gas clouds behind them several people carry a woman in shock around a corner to a water spigot someone has found. Her bright yellow shirt is soaked in a mix of sweat, tear gas and water. People gather around her wiping her down and washing out her eyes and their own. Suddenly we hear more shots and the footsteps of the elite cobra commando unit of the Honduran police. As we flee to the top of a hill we run into another human rights observer who reports that several people have been badly beaten and are in the hospital. We find our way to where the resistance has re-grouped in front of the Marriott hotel. A van pulls up with food for the resistance and people form lines to get some tortillas and cheese. As people begin to sit down and eat four large army trucks arrive, slowly driving through the crowd as cobras pour out the back and put on their gas masks. An older woman with an apron on is yelling at them, “why don't you just kill me now?” Without any warning the cobras and army, now several rows deep, begin advancing on the crowd. Within moments and without provocation tear gas is flying in the air and the army and police are chasing after people with batons swinging.

Moments before all this started we were marching under the sun to colorful rhythms of a high school marching band. Not far away, a mother and her small child walked hand-in-hand with smiles so big the sun reflected off their teeth. A couple of people had stopped to buy ice cream from a vendor. An older woman with her whole family were waiting in the shade for the march to continue forward.

The march started with thousands of people gathering early in the morning at the national pedagogical university, preparing to openly defy the de facto government's prohibition of marches and take the streets to demand the restitution of President Manuel Zelaya and a constitutional assembly to re-found the country from below. When we asked the police to speak to the person in charge in order to announce the presence of human rights observers, an officer said, “here the military is in charge, talk to him, over there” and pointed out a military commander at the back of the thick line of authorities. Here in Honduras, the military is in charge.

“The true negotiation is in the streets. When they throw tear gas bombs at us, that is a negotiation. When we march, that is a negotiation. When they beat us, that is a negotiation. The fight in the streets is the real negotiation, not what happens in the talks between the official delegations. We are completely clear that only the people will save the people,” Garífuna leader Alfredo Lopez later told us, just a few hours before de facto Honduran president Roberto Micheletti would for the first time announce a willingness to allow Zelaya's return to power.

On the 124^th day in a row of resistance to the coup d'etat in Honduras, the first demand of the resistance – the restitution of the democratically-elected president Manuel Zelaya – appears within reach. Since the military kidnapped him on June 28^th, at least 26 members of the non-violent resistance have been killed. Over 4,000 have been detained. Women have been assaulted and gang raped by police and army officers. Teachers have disappeared only to show up in a morgue or with their body cut all over. This repression has done little more than strengthen the will and deepen the commitment of the resistance. The demand for a new constitutional assembly and the re-founding of the country in the name of participatory democracy and human rights has become universal.

As indigenous leader Berta Cáceres told us, “Honduras used to only be known for its role as a U.S. base hosting the contra operations or as the place struck by hurricane Mitch. Now it is known for the dignity of its people. We have come too far to ever turn back and this struggle is just beginning.”

Reports of agreement deal are premature

Honduras Oye - What Deal? The Fat Lady has Many Sisters
Great analysis of the many problems with the current deal:
Here are some excerpts -

The Honduran military kidnapped the president and forcibly exiled him to Costa Rica. Then, it put a wall of armor between the golpistas and the people of Honduras. The military defended its coup through gross human rights abuses, including murders and disappearances and maintains a massive presence throughout the entire country four months after the coup. If the military, at any point, had laid down their guns, this coup would have fallen in three days.The agreement produced late Thursday nite, appears to have five basic components: formation of a “unity” government, recognition of the November 29 election, no amnesty, verification committee to make sure the agreement is implemented, and a truth commission.

The agreement calls for a “unity” government and one can expect Zelaya to be boxed in very tightly. The only unity in this government will be among the golpistas on how best to keep Zelaya’s hands tied.

As for recognizing the November 29 election, you could not put a bigger dagger in the heart of the people of Honduras. For all intents and purposes, this will be a golpista election. And, as was the case in Haiti, the people of Honduras will boycott it massively. In the agreement, the international community is being asked to guarantee that it will recognize the result of the election before it even takes place. Regardless of who wins in the election, the winner will carry the banner for the golpistas and the de facto regime’s power grab will be legitimized.

Al Giordano - Reports of deal are premature

Reuters reports that coup “president” Micheletti has agreed to step down:

”I have authorized my negotiating team to sign a deal that marks the beginning of the end of the country’s political situation,” Micheletti told reporters on Thursday night.

He said Zelaya could return to office after a vote in Congress that would be authorized by the country’s Supreme Court. The deal would also require both sides to recognize the result of a Nov. 29 presidential election and would transfer control of the army to the top electoral court.

If approved by Congress, Zelaya would be able to finish out his presidential term, which ends in January. It was not clear what would happen to other elements of the agreement if Congress votes against Zelaya’s restoration.

Micheletti’s claim that a Congressional vote to restore Zelaya would require Supreme Court authorization is a flat out lie, according to a source with Zelaya inside his Brazilian Embassy refuge in Tegucigalpa: “That is what the golpistas have put out, but that is NOT the accord… The Supreme Court gives its non-binding opinion to the Congress, but the key is that all of this takes time, time that the golpistas want to keep taking.”

This is likely a move by the golpistas to gain support from the international community to hold fraudulent elections. There is no way free and fair elections can take place in less than a month after over 100 days of oppression, censorship and intimidation. That is IF they even restore Zelaya to full power in a reasonable time frame. Its likely to be drawn out by the Supreme Court and Congress and pushed up right to the November elections.

El Libertador - Military requests names and phone numbers for anyone involved the resistance movement
Military chief of communications Carlos Roberto Rivera Cardona has requested all mayors submit the names and phone numbers of leaders involved in the resistance movement against the coup. While the armed forces are denying such requests, El Libertador published an actual copy:

Coup Updates

Honduran Embassy - Micheletti calls for an end of negotiation
With three U.S. diplomats expected to arrive in coup-torn Honduras, interim President Roberto Micheletti said Tuesday that negotiations on ending a four-month political crisis must wait until after Nov. 29 elections.

COFADEH reports increased human rights violations
21 assasinated, four of whom are teachers; 4,234 denunciations of violations of human rights, and 114 citizens accused of sedition.

Foreign Policy in Focus - Coup's Impact on Honduran Women
Salvador Zuniga, of the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH), believes the June coup was prompted in part by a socially conservative religious reaction to feminist organizing around reproductive rights. "What I can say is that the feminist compañeras (companions or comrades) are in greater danger than any other organization," he says.

A young mother named Irma Villanueva made her own story public in mid-August. She told Radio Progreso how she had been arrested at a recent demonstration and then raped by four policemen. One of the rapists implied they were punishing Villanueva for her political activity: "[N]ow you're going to see what happens to you for being where you shouldn't be."

Villanueva is not alone. Honduran Feminists in Resistance, a group formed immediately after the coup, reported to the Latin American Herald Tribune on September 3 that they had documented 19 cases of rape committed by Honduran police. Honduran feminists believe that this number is probably conservative.

NACLA Report on the Americas - Honduran Coup Regime and Landowning Elites Enlist the Support of Foreign Paramilitaries
A United Nations human rights panel issued a warning concerning the presence of contracted foreign paramilitary forces operating inside the troubled country. According to the UN Working Group on the use of mercenaries, an estimated 40 members of the infamous United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) have been hired by wealthy Honduran landowners to defend themselves "from further violence between supporters of the de facto government and those of the deposed President Manuel Zelaya."

As Zelaya's Foreign Minister Patricia Rodas notes, it is widely believed that these mercenaries are being used to "do the dirty jobs that the armed forces refuse to do." In addition, the panel established direct links between President Roberto Micheletti's coup-installed government and foreign paramilitaries, stating that an additional group of 120 hired soldiers from several countries throughout the region had been created to provide support for the coup regime. This report confirms allegations made by the Colombian newspaper El Tiempo back in September.

Noting that Honduras is a signatory to the international convention against the use of mercenaries, the panel, comprised of a diverse array of security and human rights experts, expressed its deep concern and called upon the Honduran golpistas to take action against the use of paramilitaries inside Honduran territory.

The AUC, essentially an umbrella organization of various right-wing death squads, many of which also collaborate with Colombian drug traffickers, is one of the region's most notorious paramilitary organizations and is classified as a terrorist group by the U.S. State Department.

The AUC has also been directly and indirectly linked to numerous powerful elites and business interests in Colombia, including many close to President Álvaro Uribe's administration, and is said to operate "parallel" to the Colombian military. Accordingly, the linkages connecting the Honduran military regime, powerful members of the country's landed elite, and right-wing Colombian paramilitaries are extremely troubling but not altogether surprising.

Back on July 4, before any evidence of direct collaboration with Colombian narco-terrorists had emerged, journalist Al Giordano noted that the Honduran regime was in the process of making itself into a "rogue narco-state," shutting itself off from the international community while allying with the most shadowy and reactionary sectors of the Latin American right. Among its prominent supporters have been Rafael Hernández Nodarse, a millionaire arms trafficker with ties to Cuban terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, and Otto Reich, a Washington super-hawk who played a prominent role in Iran-Contra affair. All these parties share an agenda of preserving unjust wealth and resource distributions while waging total war against social democracy using any means necessary. Honduras merely represents the most recent arena in which this war is being waged.

The right's problem with Zelaya has never been that he tried to reform his country's deeply flawed constitution ("the worst in the world," according to Costa Rican President Óscar Arias), but because, according to Micheletti himself, he "became friends with Daniel Ortega, Chávez, Correa, Evo Morales. ... He went to the left." In other words, Micheletti is using the same tactics of "guilt by association" that his AUC allies use to justify their violence, only this time the "guilt" consists of association with other popular, democratically elected heads of state in the region. Nevertheless, the message and the effect are still the same: If you oppose us, and what we stand for, we will take you down with force.

116 Days of Resistance

OAS meeting this morning at 10:30AM to discuss Honduras. You can watch it live here.

Friday, October 23: At 10:00AM, popular candidates will gather at an auditorium at COLPROSUMAH to make a decision about participation in the upcoming fraudulent elections.

State Dept Briefing - Several people from the Honduran electoral tribunal are going to be in town this week. Most likely looking into ways to pull off an illegal/illegitimate election

Embassy of Honduras - Major Honduran political party - Unificación Democrática - has resigned from the November elections.

HablaHonduras - Police assassinate Professor EUCEBIO FERNÁNDEZ SUAREZ a local COLPROSUMAH director who was active in the resistance movement.

10/20 - Honduran Coup Updates

PressTV - OAS Probes Human Rights Abuses
The Organization of American States has sent a delegation to Honduras to investigate possible human rights violations after the recent military coup in the country. The delegation that arrived in Honduras would meet with top officials of interim leader Roberto Micheletti's administration and those opposing the coup. Officials from Micheletti's administration say two people have lost their lives during the demonstrations However, the Committee for Missing Prisoners in Honduras puts the number of those killed at 12, while Human Rights Defense Committee president Andres Pavon said that another 25 people were wounded during the protests.

Latin American leaders in a Saturday statement issued at the end of the two-day meeting of the Bolivarian Alternative for Latin America and the Caribbean (ALBA) urged the international community to reject the presidential election planned by the Honduran interim government next month. "No electoral process held under the coup-installed government, or the authorities that emerge from it, can be recognized by the international community," the statement said.

Bloomberg - Zelaya Backers Vow More Protests on Acting Government
Supporters of ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya vowed to step up pressure on the acting government for his restoration after burying a union leader who died from gunshot wounds sustained at a weekend protest. “We’ve lost another comrade, we feel indignant, impotent, but above all this reaffirms our struggle,” said Juan Barahona, who served as a negotiator for Zelaya in talks to end the crisis, in an interview today at a cemetery north of Tegucigalpa where union leader Jairo Sanchez was buried.

Talks to end the Honduran political crisis, triggered by the June 28 ouster of Zelaya, remain deadlocked over what government branch should decide on whether Zelaya is restored to power.

10/19 Update - Honduran Coup

Update: Pictures from the protest in front of Chlopak, Leonard, Schechter & Associates at bottom of post

Protest against paid DC backers of Honduras coup Monday Oct 19
*Meet us there, I'll post pics later today

Where?
In front of the offices of Chlopak, Leonard, Schechter & Associates
1850 M Street NW, Washington, DC
Closest Metro Station: Dupont (Dupont South Exit)

When?
Monday, October 19, 2009, 12.30 - 1.30 PM

Honduras Oye – President of Union of INFOP Workers Jairo Sanchez shot by the police at an anti-coup protest on September 23; he remained in critical condition until his death this past Saturday. (Thanks for the clarification Nell)

-detailed account from Dick Emanuelsson with photos by Mirian Huezo Emanuelsson here.

ALBA Imposes Sanctions on Coup Regime (In Spanish)

Human Rights Watch - HRW calls on coup regime to stop blocking human rights inquiries

The international community should strongly back the efforts of prosecutors in the human rights unit of the Honduras Attorney General’s office to investigate army and police abuses in Honduras and to overturn a decree by the de facto government that severely restricts freedoms of speech and assembly, Human Rights Watch said today. The organization also called on the international community to oppose any amnesty for human rights violations as part of the transition back to democratic rule.

Fantastic Al-Jazeera videos on the crisis, amazingly well done. Kudos to Avi Lewis for putting together such a compelling and comprehensive piece on the coup:

FAULTLINES – AL JAZEERA: PART 1 – THE HONDURAN RESISTANCE

FAULTLINES – AL JAZERRA: PART 2 – THE HONDURAN POLITICAL ELITE

Pictures from the protest in front of Chlopak, Leonard, Schechter & Associates:

10/14 - Honduran Coup Update

Reuters - Honduran abuses rampant after coup
Suspicious deaths. Beatings. Random police shootings. Life under the de facto government of Honduras at times feels uncannily like Latin America's dark past of military rule. International and Honduran human rights groups say security forces have committed a litany of abuses. They link at least 10 deaths to de facto rule under Roberto Micheletti.

Amnesty International said in September that Honduras risks spiraling into a state of lawlessness where police and military act with no regard for rights. Honduran human rights group Cofadeh said it had numerous reports of police firing guns in poor areas of Tegucigalpa.


The Mark - Justifications for the removal of the Honduran president ignore one crucial fact: there’s no such thing as a constitutional coup.
Make no mistake: what happened was a coup. It doesn’t matter that the military acted on a court order – courts were complicit with the coup in Chile in 1973. It doesn’t matter that the architects and beneficiaries were civilians, as was the case in Ecuador in 2000, or that the coup itself was a relatively gentile affair by historical standards. It doesn’t matter that the president has occasionally behaved idiotically.

What does matter is that nothing the president did justifies his removal by force without due process. It matters that Zelaya was sent into exile rather than arrested and brought before a judge, and that the de facto regime has not proven in a court of law that the president broke the law. (What is more, he did not break the law: at no time did Zelaya propose to change the re-election rule, nor could he have done so before leaving office.) And it matters that the actions of Micheletti and his cronies violated the letter and the spirit of the law and were also inconsistent with basic principles inherent in all constitutions.

Honduras Update

Adrienne Pine - Highly armed sharpshooters installed outside the embassy
Platforms with highly armed sharpshooters installed outside the embassy, using telescopic and infrared targeting systems, just meters away from the windows of the building where the president, his family, and many others are held hostage by the regime.
Belén Fernández - Surveillance Camera Footage of Honduras Coup Invasion of Channel 36
National Police enter through the television network's underground parking lot and then up the stairs at 5:20 a.m. when the station is empty. They bring in men wearing masks and bulletproof vests stamped "Policia Nacional" to disconnect the TV station's broadcasting equipment, who then start removing it, piece by piece, from the premises. The police also bring their own videographer, so the regime presumably has its own archive of what exact equipment it stole!

Masked men of the coup regime rifle through the equipment in another studio from the same Channel 36. At points you can see the National Police video cameraman in view of the surveillance camera. And then you can see them carrying it all down the stairs and out the door, an hour and 40 minutes later, at 6:58 a.m.

There's your Honduran "civilian coup" regime's version of "democracy" and "freedom" at work.


Adrienne Pine - Presidential Decree Bans All Non-Coup Media

Executive Agreement Number 124-2009

The Constitutional President of the Republic

Considering: That the human person is the supreme end of society, the state, and all have the obligation to respect, protect, and conform to article 62 of our Constitution, the rights of every person are limited by the rights of the others, for the security of all, and for the just demands of the general good and the developing democracy.

CONSIDERING: That the President of the Republic in Council of Ministers has confirmed, through communications from defense and State security organs and other entities, the deterioration we have come to have, the effects on legally protected property, by social communications media systematically denaturing the objective of democratic rule of law and creating a regimen of social anarchy fomenting vandalism to the point that it threatens social peace and the security of the State, and incalcuably affecting the national economy.

Considering: That it is an urgent necessity to preserve the public order and peace in all the national territory, to guarantee life and the well being of all people residing in the national territory, with the ultimate end, guaranteed by our constitution of the Republic, and with the democratic system, fundamental pillar of our society.

Considering: That it corresponds to the State to guarantee liberty of though and expression, but when the communications media attempt against the national security, the public order, the health, or the public morals, it makes it imperative to execute regulations founded in the existing legislation in conformity with the INTERAMERICAN CONVENTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS.

Wherefore
The constitutional President of the republic, in conformance with the articles 245 points 7 and 16, 248 and 252 of the constitution of the Republic, articles 11, 17, 18, 20, 22 number 10, 24, 116, and 117 of the General Law of Public Administration and the rest that the constitution and the laws confer.

Agree
Article 1: Declare, for reasons of national security and in application of the commands in Article 28 of the case law of the Telecommunications sector, specifically that referring to the use of the radio spectrum in the national territory, apply the measures which in law correspond to those that infringe the law.

Article 2: Instruct for legal effects corresponding to the National Commission of Telecommunications (CONATEL) and other competent organs of the state, that they proceed in conformity with their laws, to protect the national security in the function of the larger interests of the country, the good, the physical and moral integrity of humans. The state, as owner of the radio spectrum can revoke or cancel the use of approved titles (licenses and permissions) authorized by CONATEL to operators of broadcast speech and television that emit messages that generate national abhorrence, pretend to be protected speech, and also call for a regimen of social anarchy against the democratic state that attempts against the social peace and human rights.

Article 3: Remit to the National Commission of Telecommunications (CONATEL), the communications contained, the reports emitted by the defense and security forces and other parts of the government for its fulfillment.

Article 4: The present accord is executed immediately and should be published in the official newspaper La Gaceta.

Given in the city of Tegucigalpa, municipality of the Central District the 5th of October of 2009.

Communicate and Publish this.

Robert Micheletti
Constitutional President of the Republic
Oscar Raul Matute Cruz
Secretary of State

10/10/09 Honduras Update

CNN- Use of mercenaries in Honduras on the rise according to U.N.
A group of independent U.N. experts expressed concern Friday over the increased use of mercenaries in Honduras, where a de facto president has been in power since a military-led coup in June. The U.N. panel said it received reports that 40 former Colombian paramilitaries had been hired to protect properties and individuals in Honduras since the June 28 coup that ousted President Jose Manuel Zelaya. The experts noted that the recruitment, use, financing and training of mercenaries is prohibited under the International Convention on the issue, which Honduras has signed.

HondurasResists - Army Raids Garifuna Hospital
On October 7th at 6am three army patrols broke down the doors and stormed the first Garifuna hospital in Honduras, located on the Atlantic Coast.

10/7/09 - Live Blog Honduran Coup

Via Al Giordano - Poll: Wide Majority of Hondurans Oppose Coup d’Etat, Want Zelaya Back
A legally certified Honduran polling company – provides a clear measurement of how the Honduran people view the June 28 coup d'etat. Some of the most interesting numbers:
Hondurans widely (by a margin of 2.3 to 1) oppose the coup, oppose coup “president” Micheletti by a margin of 3 to 1 and favor the reinstatement of their elected President Manuel Zelaya by a clear majority of 3 to 2.

Are you in favor of the June 28 coup d’etat against President Manuel Zelaya Rosales?
In favor of coup: 17.4 percent
Opposed to coup: 52.7 percent
No response: 29.9 percent

Should Micheletti stay in power or leave the current government? Micheletti should stay: 22.2 percent
Micheletti should leave: 60.1 percent
No response: 17.7 percent

Do you agree with the repression or condemn the repression that the Armed Forces and National Police have engaged in against the National Resistance?
Against repression: 65.4 percent
For repression: 8 percent
No response: 26.4 percent

Two Members of the Honduran Resistance Murdered - The Honduran resistance and human rights organizations have condemned the murder of teacher Mario Contreras, vice principal of the Abelardo Fortín Institute, and Lenca leader Antonio Leiva, two members of the resistance allegedly killed by hired assassins. According to a preliminary report from the Committee of Relatives of Disappeared Detainees in Honduras (COFADEH), Contreras was shot twice in the face 100m from his home by two unknown men on a motorcycle. He was taken to hospital but died shortly after arriving, Telesur reports.

Another member of the resistance front, Lenca leader Antonio Leiva, was also found dead in Santa Bárbara, in the west of the country. According to sources close to the victim, he was kidnapped in the morning and his body was discovered in the afternoon in a village in the area.

Earth Times - Lula Says Micheletti Should Step Down in Return for Amnesty
Honduras coup leader Roberto Micheletti should step down immediately in return for an amnesty, Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Tuesday. “For us the solution will be easy if those that participated in the coup leave power and allow the legitimately elected president to take power,” Lula told journalists at a summit with European Union leaders in Stockholm.

10/6/09 - More Violent Repression in Honduras

Micheletti's thugs beat a pregnant woman and her husband as they leave the hospital.


HondurasResists - 68 mayors and congresspeople gathered at the teachers’ union headquarters to declare they will boycott the elections if Zelaya is not restored to power.

Habla Honduras - Micheletti regime denounced before the International Criminal Court in the Hague. Article in Spanish.

Honduran economy at a standstill

Al-Jazeera Report: Anti-coup protesters jailed

Anti-coup protesters jailed for demonstrating

10/1 Live Blog - Honduras Resists

La Prensa - Honduran Supreme Court comes out against Micheletti's decree

The Supreme Electoral Tribunal of Honduras today asked president Roberto Micheletti to cancel the decree that suspended constitutional rights because it harms the electoral process scheduled for November... and thus joined in similar demands made by Congress, presidential candidates and other sectors...

Micheletti said... that he would agree to analyze the request and insisted that the decree will be "cancelled in the opportune moment."

However, he said that he would continue to consult on the matter with the Supreme Court and other State organisms with the goal of making a "consensus" decision.

Al Giordano has a great analysis of this news on his blog HERE

"On Sunday, Micheletti announced the authoritarian decree without having the aforementioned "consensus" of key coup players. Some seemed as surprised as the general public to find out about it. The decree already does not have any "consensus" even among the limited power players between whom the coup was negotiated and implemented. Now he is saying he needs "consensus" to remove it. What does this tell us? It reveals that Micheletti himself isn't calling the shots here. He specifically mentions the Supreme Court, and his reference to "State organisms" most likely means the Armed Forces: the two real kingpins of the coup, for whom Micheletti is a mere marionette. In typical style, he fools gullible reporters to repeat claims that he has already backed off the decree, while this morning military and police troops continued attacks on peaceful demonstrators that have maintained government agricultural offices occupied for three months now. Clearly, the real powers behind the decree - the Supreme Court and the military - want to make sure it meets its main goals before having to call it off." -Al Giordano

El Libertador - Radio Globo continues to transmit from a clandestine location inside Honduras. Transmission available HERE


El Libertador : "We overthrew Zelaya for being a progressive." -Micheletti

Protest of Silence: University students and other members of the Frente Nacional Contra el Golpe de Estado in San Pedro Sula are calling for a “silent protest” Today in response to the closing of Radio Globo and Canal 36. The event will take place at the Froilan Turcios Plaza at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Honduras (UNAH) in San Pedro Sula.

AP - Brazilian Delegates Visit Honduran Embassy
Brazilian delegate criticized Honduras' coup-installed government for attacking his country's embassy with toxic gas and said Brazil had every right to provide refuge to ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya. Congressman Ivan Valente, one of six Brazilian lawmakers who planned to visit the embassy Valente said that there was evidence the Embassy building had been subjected to "toxic gas" attacks

Christian Science Monitor - Censored Radio Globo quadruples listeners by going online
Radio Globo director David Romero says the station has over 400,000 listeners online, four times its regular following. "It is frustrating the government," he says, laughing. "They can´t stop us."

Most of the Honduran poor do not have access to the Internet and relied on Radio Globos broadcasts.

Video of protests in front of Radio Globo, military violently breaks up crowd with teargas and batons.

9/30 - Live Blog on the Honduras Resistance

BBC - Honduran Police Evict Zelaya Supporters
Honduran police on Wednesday began evicting supporters of toppled President Manuel Zelaya from government office buildings where they had holed up for three months to protest his ouster in a military coup. Riot police surrounded the National Agrarian Institute (INRA) in Tegucigalpa early on Wednesday and cleared out 57 Zelaya supporters from the two-story building, where farm workers had protested since the June military coup.
Video:


Zelaya interview with Telesur - At least 100 people have been assassinated by the Micheletti regime, said Zelaya in the interview.


Dr. Juan Almendares discuss the use of chemical attacks and LRAD by the regime:


Doctor Luther Castillo Harry the head of the Foundation "Luagu Hatuadi Waduhenu" (For the Health of our People) reports that the Micheletti regime is shutting down Garifuna hospitals and health projects.

9/29 - Live Blog - Golpe de Estado Honduras

Radio Globo back!! The station is now broadcasting over the Internet from a clandestine location in Honduras. They are calling on people to go to its seized studios on Bulevar Morazan this morning at 8 a.m.

Listen to Radio Globo Here (click listen) and at www.radioglobohonduras.com

Video of Radio Globo after military raid.


Televisa - Radio Globo reporters beat by military during raid on station

Via Adrienne Pine - El Tiempo's website down. Not terribly surprising in light of the strong anti-coup El Tiempo Staff Editorial, titled "The Real Goal of the 45-Day Curfew is to Torpedo November's Electoral Process", translated by Kristin Bricker at Narco News, and the long letter from Jaime Rosenthal, owner of El Tiempo, to the Honduran people, posted here in Spanish.

Speeches and images from yesterdays protest at the Universidad Pedagógica HERE

El Universal - Micheletti handed out another ultimatum, this time to the governments of Spain, Argentina, Venezuela and Mexico.

"In the case of those countries that unilaterally decided to break diplomatic relations with Honduras... the situation of Argentina, Spain, Mexico and Venezuela, I'll let them know that the government will not receive diplomatic agents from those countries."

NYT - Micheletti Reconsiders Restrictions On Civil Liberties:
The de facto government backed off last night from its attempt to shut down protests and limit free speech after congressional leaders warned that they would not support the measure. The revolt by Congress, the first public fracture in the coalition since the coup. In a televised news conference Monday evening hours after soldiers forcefully shut down two dissident media outlets under the new measures., Micheletti asked for “forgiveness from the Honduran people” and said he would ask the Supreme Court to lift the decree “as quickly as possible.” Leaders who confronted Mr. Micheletti on Monday appeared to be concerned that the decree went too far and would undercut the legitimacy of the election and jeopardize the reinstatement of foreign aid, which had accounted for 20 percent of the country’s budget.

Al Jazeera - Protesters, OAS meeting only about the diplomats refused entrance to Honduras on Sunday), shutdown of Radio Globo and Channel 36, etc.


El Libertador -There has been a drastic increase in mysterious deaths since the first days of the coup. According to the Committee for Human Rights in Honduras (CODEH) there have been more than 100 such deaths since the de-facto government took power. One of the principle characteristics of the executions is the peoples connection to the resistance movement.

Mel Zelaya addresses United Nations via cellphone (YouTube)

U.S. State Department Issues Statement on Honduras:
The United States views with grave concern the decree issued by the de facto regime in Honduras suspending fundamental civil and political rights. In response to strong popular opposition, the regime has indicated that it is considering rescinding the decree. We call on the de facto regime to do so immediately. The freedoms inherent in the suspended rights are inalienable and cannot be limited or restricted without seriously damaging the democratic aspirations of the Honduran people. We remind the de facto regime of its obligations under the Vienna Conventions to respect diplomatic premises and personnel, and those under their protection.

Narcosphere: Interim Government Hires Fiction Writer to Hawk Coup Regime

Micheletti junta shelling out $292,000 for D.C. flack attack. Washington, D.C.-based Chlopak, Leonard, Schechter & Associates (CLSA), claims among its founding partners Peter Schechter, who also is a published fiction writer. His first book, “Point of Entry” [not to be confused with the 1981 heavy metal album by Judas Priest of the same name] is fashioned around a plot pulled right out of low-budget B-movie script.

DemocracyNow: Internal Pressure Forces Honduran Coup Regime to Reverse Civil Liberties Crackdown, But Repression Continues

DN speaks with Andrés Conteris from inside the embassy where Zelaya is hiding and with Luther Castillo, a Honduran doctor who is in Washington to speak with US lawmakers.

Resistance Music from the Honduran Coup

Resistance Music Coming out of Honduras:
Radio Globo has been playing a lot of great music coming out of the resistance movement in Honduras, but its tough to track down. If you have any links leave them in the comment section

Polache- Video I shot during protests days after the coup




Cafe Guncasco - "El club de los idiotas"


Viene Mel, Urge Mel


eli el crack -"Golpistas tienen miedo" Reggaeton Contra el Golpe


Un Zapatazo- Giordano Morel Klaus Koch


Abyayala


Soldado Unete al Pueblo


Pez Luna

Live: OAS Special Meeting on Honduras

Live webcast of the special meeting of the OAS Permanent Council to continue considering the situation in Honduras

ENGLISH
SPANISH

Brazil: "We highly doubt elections will be held, and if they are they are they will not be valid or fair."

Argentina: "I think that in anything we say about Honduras in recent times, we are discussing whether we are inclined to accept an electoral process as legitimate when it is carried out by the de facto, coup government. If we tolerate an electoral process from the hands of anyone but Manuel Zelaya we are setting up a system of condemning coups and then accepting the illegitimate elections the coup regime holds afterwards to justify its illegal actions. We cannot accept elections held under anyone except Manuel Zelaya."

Various Reports on Honduras Today

DemocracyNow: Honduran Coup Regime Imposes Media, Protest Crackdown



Efe: Micheletti says Brazilian Embassy will lose its diplomatic status if it doesnt turn over Zelaya


Telesur: Military vehicle runs over international journalists


RadioGlobo: Final broadcast from RadioGlobo as the military storms the radio station. RadioGlobo asks for the support of the Honduran people as the military breaks down the doors to the radio station and calls on the military to respect the freedom of expression and freedom of press.


Mi Nacion: Compilation of video clips of Honduran resistance and military oppression