More than a month after the military coup in the Central American country of Honduras (for which the term “banana republic” was originally coined due to the overwhelming influence of U.S. fruit corporations in that country), the junta is still in power and shows little real sign of budging.
Today, thousands of people will fill the streets of Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras. They are students, housekeepers, children and farmers from different parts of country—many of whom walked 10-12 miles a day to get to the capital. As column after column of people arrive, their spirits are unbeatable and their demand is clear: They want their elected president back.
For the past six weeks, Hondurans have been living in limbo with uncertainty. No one knows when the coup will end, so life can go back to normal. National television and newspapers, which are controlled by allies of the de facto government, have spread fear among the population. Several people have been killed including youth and children.Want to do something simple to help support Honduran democracy and keep the crisis in the public eye? Donate your status! It’s free, easy, and can make a huge impact. Right now, the corporate news media is mostly silent about what’s happening on the ground in Honduras and the role of US policy – both past and present. Even worse, some media outlets are spreading misinformation based on the junta’s campaign to justify their illegal coup.
Help people learn the truth behind the crisis and remember the plight of Honduran citizens by donating your Facebook and/or Twitter statuses on Tuesday, August 11th – the Global Day of Action for Honduras. Set your Facebook and Twitter status to:
In solidarity with our partner, the Via Campesina, Grassroots International joins the Global Day of Action for Honduras, August 11, 2009.
The Via Campesina issued a call to stand in solidarity with the people of Honduras:
The junta in Honduras is still in power and shows little real sign of budging. And the human rights situation has only gotten worse with the military and police cracking down on peaceful protestors, widespread arrests, alleged torture and the forced exile of social movement leaders who have had to flee the repression. One major reason for the Micheletti regime's intransigence is the failure of the Obama Administration to act as decisively and quickly as it should have to insist on President Zelaya's speedy and unconditional return. As many here in the U.S. and in Honduras and the region have surmised -- this failure is mainly due to our vested interests in that country that for realpolitik reasons trump human rights and democracy.
While Honduras is on the brink of a civil war, politics-as-usual in Washington, D.C. threaten, quite literally, to block US support for democracy in that country. It also threatens to squelch democracy here as well. On Thursday, the office of Sen. Richard Lugar sent a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton demanding clarification on the State Department’s intentions with regard to Honduras. The same letter also noted that providing such a detailed clarification would “improve the prospects of confirming” several of Obama’s diplomatic nominations for Latin America.
Below is a letter received from one of our Honduran colleagues asking for support to end human rights violations in the country. As she describes, the situation is worsening. Please visit our action page now to send a letter to President Obama. Thank you.
By Wendy Cruz
Via Campesina leader arrested, released
The repression against demonstrations to reinstall Honduran President Manuel Zelaya continues. In the border region with Nicaragua, intense conflicts between the Army and protesters resulted in two wounded and several arrests. On Saturday, our colleague Rafael Alegría, a leader of the Via Campesina, was arrested as he traveled to join protesters in El Paraíso.
The Army sent 3,000 soldiers to El Paraíso, a city near the Honduran border with Nicaragua. Despite Army blockades, thousands of Zelaya supporters from different parts of the country converged on the city to show their support for their elected leader. Many travelled the dirt roads on foot through the mountains to avoid blockades on main roads.
Over the weekend, Rafael Alegría, a prominent leader of the Via Campesina Central America and outspoken critic of the recent military coup in Honduras, was arrested along with several others including colleagues from the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH). Some information alleges that a number of the detainees have been tortured.
Rafael has since been released. But the repression continues!
Grassroots International joined other organizations and scholars in issuing the statement below.
The human rights framework is vital to moving forward in Gaza six months after the end of the 22-day military assault. Grassroots International’s partner the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) has been at the forefront of documentation and human rights defense during extreme times in Gaza. Their attention to detail has earned them newfound respect in the international human rights community. PCHR was totally dedicated to documenting the war – especially as international journalists and human rights workers were not allowed into Gaza during the offensive.
Dr. Paul Farmer is slated to be the next head of the United States Agency for International Development. Farmer, long known for his outspoken criticism of U.S. developmental and other policies, could quite possibly be the one making many of them. USAID has continuously implemented the rules of the Washington Consensus – stabilization, structural adjustment, and export-led growth in the developing world. Over and over this code of conduct has failed the Global South, leaving countries without adequate public infrastructure such as healthcare.
The Landless Workers’ Movement (MST) of Brazil, which has mobilized more than a million Brazilians to occupy and farm large landholdings, was cautiously optimistic when Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva of the Workers Party won the presidency in 2002. “We campaign for Lula,” remarked MST organizer Jonas da Silva (no relation) during the campaign, “even though we are critical of him for shaping his discourse for the middle class.” In the country with perhaps the most unequal land distribution in the world, electing a pro-worker, pro-poor president marked a potential turning point.
But as Lula finishes up his second term (new presidential elections take place in October 2010), the MST’s assessment is grim. Land redistribution has stagnated, the government continues to b
After four years of hard work, peasant organizations and allies in Nicaragua are now celebrating the approval of a new Food Sovereignty, Food Security and Nutrition Law.
Our allies at the National Lawyers Guild have put out a call to the Obama Administration to do the right thing on Honduras. Take a look at their analysis of the context and situation, and what in their view the US should be doing. We agree entirely!
The National Lawyers Guild was founded in 1937 as an alternative to the American Bar Association. The NLG is the oldest and largest public interest/human rights bar organization in the United States. Its headquarters are in New York and it has chapters in every state.
[This action alert comes from the Alliance for Global Justice]
Representatives James McGovern (D-MA) and Bill Delahunt (D-MA) have sent out a Dear Colleague letter to the other members of the House of Representatives asking them to sign on as original co- sponsors to a House resolution calling for the reinstatement of Manuel Zelaya as president of Honduras. See text of the letter and of the House resolution below.
Call your Representative and ask him or her to sign on! The Capitol Switchboard number is: 202-224- 3121. All original co-sponsors need to be added before 5pm today. Here is some suggested language for your call:
Anything Less Than the Urgent Restoration of Zelaya to Office "Would be an usurpation of the will of the Honduran people" They State in Open Letter
Santa Cruz, CA - Over 35 scholars and experts on Latin America sent an open letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today urging against the idea of early elections in Honduras as a possible resolution of the current crisis resulting from the June 28 military coup d'etat. Stating that "Anything less than the urgent restoration of President Manuel Zelaya to office would be an usurpation of the will of the Honduran people," the signers urged Clinton to enact forceful sanctions on the coup regime to ensure Zelaya's prompt reinstatement.
It has been said before that the real test as to whether President Obama’s foreign policy is going to be meaningfully different from past U.S. policies -- not just George W. Bush’s -- is in his relations with Latin America. Until last week many would have argued that the test primarily referred to U.S.-Cuba relations, or even relations between the U.S. and Venezuela. The line in the sand has, sadly, shifted since the coup in Honduras.
Grassroots International board and staff members Marie Kennedy and Salena Tramel saw first-hand the devastation in Gaza after the Israeli assault on the territory in Dec08-Jan09.
Last April my colleague Saulo Araujo (Program Coordinator for Brazil & Mesoamerica) and I visited Honduras. What impressed us the most was the strength and vibrancy of social movements, like our partners the Via Campesina (Central America) and COCOCH (the Honduran Coordinating Council of Peasant Organizations), and our allies like COPINH (Civic Council of Indigenous and Popular Organizations of Honduras) and OFRANEH (Honduran Black Fraternal Organization). And especially the strong and resilient women in the forefront of struggle. Afro-Hondurans like Leoncia and Wendy, Lencas like Pasqualita, and Mestizo women like Analina and Berta
At a candidates forum convened by the Via every single presidential candidate attended.
