(1) Hondurans Walking Straight to the Border
Juventud Rebelde, Cuba
July 24, 2009
MANAGUA, July 23. — After a press conference at the Honduran embassy in Nicaragua, Honduran president Manuel Zelaya said that he hoped “to see my family, to embrace the Hondurans and tell them that they must resist the oppression” and that “democracy is a great value for poor peoples” and “a right we won´t renounce.”
“Let’s walk holding a white flag, a flag of peace, to proclaim the reconciliation of the Honduran people,” stated Zelaya after saying that they had done all they could to solve this situation diplomatically but “it became untenable.”
Zelaya urged the army to lay down their weapons and submit to the will of the Honduran people to spare the country from bloodshed. He also asked the international community to exert more pressure on the coup leaders because “to defend the Hondurans is to the defend oneself” and prevent right-wing organizations from ousting any constitutional president by force.
“We cannot leave alone the demonstrators who have been claiming constitutional order for 25 days,” said Zelaya who later travelled to Estelí , a Nicaraguan city around 100 kms from the border. Zelaya was accompanied by Venezuelan Foreign Affairs Minister, Nicolás Maduro and a party made up of journalists, cameramen and photographers, who will broadcast the “historic” demonstration.
Thousands of Hondurans have joined together in their efforts to claim Zelaya’s reinstatement, despite the military repression that has detained a great number of people and blocked several roads to the marchers. “They confiscate our buses,” said many of the participants; “They knock us about as if we were not Hondurans,” said one of the demonstrators to TeleSur.
“They don’t let us walk about. They don’t respect the constitutional right of free circulation. They write down our names and the plates of our cars to frighten us,” said Pablo Oyuela, head of the Honduran School of Middle Education Teachers to AFP.
On Thursday, an international mission in Tegucigalpa denounced the “existence of serious violations of human rights taking place in Honduras after the coup d´etat,” said Enrique Santiago, from the Federation of Associations for the Defense and Promotion of the Human Rights in Spain, reported AFP.
“Among these violations are a great number of extrajudicial executions, hundreds of arbitrary detentions, many threats, and a reduction of freedom of speech and information,” said Santiago.
DPA reported that thousands of Zelaya´s followers blocked various roads as one of the actions included in the general strike taking place during the two days waiting for Zelaya´s return.
Popular Block and National Front to Resist the Coup coordinator Juan Barahona said that the national strike consists of blocking roads, mainly those leading to the main Honduran harbors, and taking over the main buildings of the most important state companies.
(2) Zelaya Entered Honduras
Eva Golinger
Postcards from the Revolution
July 24, 2009
Apparently, President Zelaya, after having entered Honduras this afternoon, was forced back to the Nicaraguan side of the border, after a Honduran Colonel from the armed forces approached him and informed him communication was in process with the high level army command and the coup regime to figure out what to do. The army has a large group of Zelaya supporters and coup regime protesters on lockdown a few miles from the border, preventing their reuniting with their constitutional president. Zelaya's wife and children are amongst those presently retained by the armed forces in El Paraiso, approximate 5 miles from the border with Nicaragua.
It is unclear what is happening at this point or where things are heading.....
Personally, I think he needs to just continue inside Honduras, despite all risks, and fight to reunite with his family and his people, who have been risking their lives now for almost one month, struggling to defeat the coup regime.
(3) Honduran National Police will not arrest Manuel Zelaya
Agencia Bolivariana de Noticias
Jylu 23, 2009
Caracas, Jul 23. ABN.- The National Police of Honduras will not follow the order issued by the Honduran de facto Government of arresting the constitutional President of that country, Jose Manuel Zelaya Rosales, when he returns to the country, reported the multi-state television channel Telesur.
Telesur informed that this security organ started this Thursday a national strike, because the non-fulfillment of a labor agreement that established an increase on their wages since January.
A policewoman from this institution who did not want to reveal her identity said that some police officers' wages do not reach even 200,000 lempiras a month (US$ 12,350).
“We have worked as nobody else at this political problem, guaranteeing the security with no rest, not even on weekends and we do not know when Zelaya's problem will be solved,” she added.
The police staff informed that they will stay in their quarters at the diverse police stations nationwide. They will not work and they will not follow the capture order against Manuel Zelaya, who should return to the country in the next hours.
(4) Zelaya's assassination already planned with permission granted by Washington
Varias fuentes
July 23, 2009
http://www.rlp.com.ni/noticias/general/57242
Tegucigalpa, July 23 : Credible sources, who remain anonymous for reasons of security, have stated that in the next few days a plan to repress the popular movement will be put into action by the coup government.
Part of the strategy of the ultra-right consists in the training of 120 assassins, who begin their training every day at 3:00 am in the house of retired colonel Amilcar Zelaya, which is located in the Amarateca neighborhood, 25 minutes from Tegucigalpa.
The house of this ex-military officer was known in the 1980's as a torture center.
The assassins have negotiated a salary of $744 a month. This money comes from honduran big business, and is part of an overall sum of $319,148.00 being spent to dismantle the popular movement.
One of the principal objectives of the fascist leadership under Micheletti is the assassination of the leadership of the high school teachers union, the National Autonomous University of Honduras (UNAH), and other organizations which support the return of president Manuel Zelaya.
As part of this conspiracy they have planned an assassination attempt against Roberto Micheletti to justify their coup and to legitimize more arbitrary (forceful) measures against the demonstrators.
They have also infiltrated the pro-Zelaya demonstrations posing as journalists, wearing khaki sweaters (or bullet-proof vests?).
This source indicated that this conspiracy against the people was put in motion after the Micheletti delegation in Costa Rica broke off talks.
Assassinate Zelaya?
Enrique Santiago, an observer with the IEPALA NGO (Institute of Latin American and African Studies), confirms that the pro-coup military leader, General Romeo Vasquez, has organized a bloody repression against the population set to welcome back the constitutional president of the country, and has also ordered Zelaya's assassination.
Santiago says that according to Vasquez, Zelaya's assassination will be the only option if the legitimate president enters Honduras.
(At this point the article quotes Santiago giving a synopsis of the repression against the popular movement to date. He also points out that Uribe is the only leader who has not respected the international blockade against the honduran dictatorship).
(5) Ambassador "recovers" Honduras embassy in Mexico for Zelaya
MercoPress
July 24, 2009
With help from Mexico and Latam ambassadors Rosalinda Bueso Asfura was returned to control of the embassy.
Ambassador Bueso walked into the embassy building following a confirmation from the Mexican Foreign Affairs ministry that she was recognized as the ambassador of Honduras, as well as receiving the support from 21 Latinamerican and Caribbean peers.
She was able to accomplish the takeover after Mexican security guards impeded access to the building of Rigoberto Lopez, Chargé d’Affaires named by de facto president Micheletti, and four other Honduran officials.
Ambassador Bueso was not allowed into the Honduras embassy compound in Mexico City for two days, but once in control of the situation she underlined she never ceased to be the Honduras ambassador since “the only person that can cease her in the job is President Manuel Zelaya”.
Apparently the ambassador has requested the Mexican government to eliminate the diplomatic accreditation of four members of the embassy staff and have them leave the country since they are no longer considered Honduran diplomats.
The ambassadors from Costa Rica, Bolivia, Brazil and Haiti as well as the Chargé d’Affaires from Venezuela and 16 other diplomatic representatives from Latinamerican and the Caribbean subscribed a statement backing Ambassador Bueso.
The document expresses support for the resolutions on the Honduras issue, from multilateral organizations and forms the region such as UN, OAS, ALBA, Rio Group and SICA
From the Morning Star's Correspondent in Honduras
Eight thousand mainly upper and middle class Homdurans, dressed in the blue and white colours of the national flag, yesterday marched through the capital, Tegucigalpa, in support of the country´s newly installed military dictatorship.
“We are here to support peace and democracy”, retired Colonel Wilfredo Sanchez told supporters at a half filled baseball stadium in the city´s downtown area.
Three weeks ago, the country´s elected president, Manuel Zelaya, was kidnapped at dawn by hooded gunmen wearing army uniforms and bundled onto a plane to Costa Rica.
The demonstrators carried placards denouncing Hugo Chavez, a key ally of the ousted Honduran president. Other Latin American and world leaders were also attacked, including Costa Rican president Oscar Arias, who is mediating in talks between representatives of President Zelaya and the de-facto government.
Honduras´s increasingly isolated coup regime, which had broadcast wall to wall advertisments for the march on state run TV, had hoped to show that the population was behind them.
Instead, the poor turnout suggests that the de-facto government is having difficulty in mobilising even its own supporters. The international community has condemned the coup and the regime is not recognised by any foreign government.
The pro-coup demonstrators were keen to talk to foreign journalists, some of whom they accuse of having failed to fairly report their point of view.
Lorena Facusse, president of a logistal company, told the Morning Star that she “didn´t like CNN”, describing the US-based news channel as the “Communist News Network”.
“Chavez has been pitting rich people against poor people”, she said. “Manuel Zelaya wants to destroy the middle class”
“The military are the heroes” she insisted.
Alejandro Andino, who described himself as the owner of a medium sized farm, said that President Zelaya´s supporters only back him “because he doubled the mininum wage and made false promises to resolve their problems.”
“The United States has a military base here in Honduras, and we need them to give us support and aid”, Mr Andino added. “But Obama is with Chavez and Castro. He doesn´t seem to realise he is the president of the USA”.
Marcela Armario, an owner of a home improvements business, said that expelling President Zelaya from the country “had given him a dignified way out”.
“If Zelaya had not been taken out of the country on that Sunday, we would have been Communist on Monday”, she declared.
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