Phone interview with Agostin Ramos of CNTC

July 21, 2009

The Campesino Movement Speaks

Phone interview with Agostin Ramos, Secretary General of the CNTC (Central Nacional de los Trabajadores del Campo) by Alexy Lanza from La Voz de los de Abajo. The CNTC is a national campesino organization, founded in 1985, with affiliates in 14 of the 18 departments/ provinces in Honduras. It is a member of the Bloque Popular, the Coordinadora Nacional de Resistencia and the National Front Against the Golpe.

Update on the situation in the Trujillo, and threats against the MCA( Movimiento Campesino de Aguan) at Guadalupe Carney. Ramos reported that the army and police have pulled back after their aggression last week created fears of an imminent massacre. The campesinos from Guadalupe Carney have been able to maintain their takeover of the highway to the city of Trujillo which passes in front of the community. The community’s radio, Radio Orquidia, has been able to keep broadcasting despite the threats against the community.

In La Paz, Radio Realidad, the community radio of the CNTC has temporarily stopped broadcasting because of concern for the equipment and the center that houses the radio in the face of the ongoing repression and threats.

In Tegucigalpa, campesino organizations continue to occupy the National Agrarian Institute (INA). The campesinos seized the INA after the de facto government of Micheletti replaced the director of the governmental institute with a pro-golpe de facto director.

The de facto government has frozen the bank accounts of the CNTC and other opposition organizations. Ramos explained that this is a very serious problem for the campesino organizations that have so few resources to begin with and rely on small grants and international donations for some of their budget.

Ramos said that all across the country campesino organizations and communities are maintaining their blockades of the highways in the rural area. In the cities the mobilizations are continuing and the movement is planning for different scenarios after the 72-hour waiting period requested by President Arias after the failure of the negotiations in Costa Rica.

Ramos declared that the campesino movement in Honduras joins with the rest of the movement against the golpe in asking that international supporters pressure the Organization of American States, and the United States government to take tougher action against the golpista government of Micheletti, including a full economic embargo and a breaking of all relations.