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.”

La negociación está en las calles: Un día de resistencia y represión

Huyendo de nubes de gases lagrimósimas varias personas llevan una mujer en un estado de shock alrededor de una esquina a una grifa de agua que alguien ha encontrado. Su camisa amarilla y brillante está completamente llena de una mezcla de sudor, gases lagrimósimas y agua. La gente se junta a su alrededor para limpiarla a ella y a si mismos con agua. De repente oímos más tiros y el sonido de los pasos de las cobras – una fuerza élite policiaca hondureña. En cuanto huimos arriba de un cerro nos encontramos con otro observador de derechos humanos quién reporta que varias personas han estado gravemente golpeadas y están en el hospital. Seguimos caminando hasta llegar al lugar donde la resistencia se está juntando otra vez frente el hotel Marriott hotel. Llega un van con comida para la resistencia y la gente forma unas colas para recibir sus porciones de tortillas y queso. Mientras algunas personas empiezan a sentarse y comer cuatro camiones grandes llegan, manejando lentamente en medio de la gente mientras las cobras bajan por atrás y ponen sus caretas antigas. Una mujer vieja llevando una delantal les está gritando, “¿porqué no me maten ahora?” Sin ninguna advertencia las cobras y el ejército, ahora colocados en varias filas, empiezan a avanzar hacia la gente. Dentro de pocos momentos y sin provocación empiezan a lanzar gases lagrimósimas por el aire y los soldados y la policía están persiguiendo la gente, golpeando por todos lados con sus bastones.

Unos momentos antes de que todo esto empezó estábamos marchando bajo el sol con los ritmos animados de una banda de percusión de estudiantes de la secundaria. Cerca de nosotros una madre y su hija caminaban, mano en mano, con sonrisas tan grandes que el sol reflejaba en sus dientes. Algunas personas habían parados para comprar helados de un vendedor. Una mujer de tercera edad con toda su familia esperaba en la sombra de un árbol para que la marcha siguiera.

La marcha empezó con miles de personas reunidos desde temprano esa mañana frente la universidad nacional pedagógica, preparando para desafiar abiertamente la prohibición de parte del gobierno de facto de las marchas y tomar las calles para exigir la restitución del Presidente Manuel Zelaya y una asamblea constituyente para re-fundar el país desde abajo. Cuando pedimos a un miembro de la policía para hablar con la autoridad encargada de ellos para anunciar la presencia de observadores de derechos humanos, un oficial dijo, “aquí quién manda son los militares, hablen con él, por allá,” y señaló un capitán militar al fondo de la fila gruesa de policía y soldados. Aquí en Honduras, el ejército manda.

“La negociación verdadera está en las calles. Cuando nos tiran bombas lagrimósimas, esa es una negociación. Cuando marchamos, esa es una negociación. Cuando nos golpean, esa es una negociación. La lucha en las calles es la verdadera negociación, no lo que pasa en las discusiones entre las delegaciones oficiales. Estamos completamente claros que solo el pueblo salva al pueblo,” nos diría luego el líder garífuna Alfredo Lopez, unas horas antes de que el presidente de facto hondureño Roberto Micheletti anunciaría por primera vez que está dispuesto a dejar el retorno de Zelaya al poder.

En el día 124 de resistencia continua de resistencia al golpe de estado en Honduras, la primera demanda de la resistencia – la restitución del presidente elegido democráticamente por el pueblo, Manuel Zelaya – parece estar al alcance. Desde que el ejército lo secuestró el 28 de junio, por lo menos 26 miembros de la resistencia no-violenta han sido asesinados. Más que 4,000 han estado detenidos. Mujeres han sido asaltadas y violadas por grupos de oficiales de la policía y ejército. Maestros se han desaparecidos y luego encontrados en una morga o con sus cuerpos cortados y tirados en un campo. Esta represión solo ha fortalecido la voluntad y profundizado el compromiso de la resistencia. La demanda por una nueva asamblea nacional constituyente y la re-fundación del país al nombre de la democracia participativa y los derechos humanos se ha convertido en una demanda universal.

Como la líder indígena Berta Cáceres nos dijo, “Honduras antes solo se conocía por ser base de los gringos y las cobras o por el huracán Mitch. Ahora se conoce por la dignidad de su pueblo. Hemos avanzado demasiado para rendirnos jamás y esta lucha apenas está empezando.”

Day Three Report of La Voz de los de Abajo Delegation to Honduras

Report from Day 3 of La Voz de los de Abajo Human Rights delegation to Honduras

Snapshots of Struggle 10/26/09

Under the congress

The Honduran congress rests on tall columns to protect it from riots. Before the coup, the indigenous and peasant movements would do mobilizations outside of the congress and spend the night camped out underneath it. Now the army maintains a constant presence preventing anybody from coming near. But the resistance continues to challenge them.

This Monday October 26^th the resistance decided to mobilize outside of the congress. The Honduran resistance hasn't missed a single day in the streets in the over 120 days that have passed since President Manuel Zelaya was forcibly removed from power by U.S.-trained military generals on June 28^th of this year. Our delegation arrived early and scoped out a place to flee to in the case the tear gas that has bathed so many other resistance protests began to fly. An older man sitting on a bench advises us to go across the bridge to the crowded marketplace in the area of the city known as Comayaguela, saying “the army is less likely to chase people there because they know all the people support us.”

Buying time until the mobilization starts, we walk over to the central plaza. Several high school students walking by are talking with pride about the resistance, “they're over there by the congress!” says one to another. A security guard at a nearby pharmacy, upon learning we are here to bear witness and document in the case of human rights violations says, “good, because those those police seem to love to beat the crap out of people. The police and the army. You'll see.” Luckily on this day we didn't. But what we did bear witness to was an energy and spirit of struggle that continues unabated despite over 120 days of brutal repression, killings, beatings and jailing.

The grandmothers of the resistance lead people in chants celebrating the struggle to restore democracy and re-found the country through a constitutional assembly. It would be easy for an outside observer to get the impression based on the energy and animation of the protesters that this was a mobilization that had been built up to and rested before, rather than just another day of an every day struggle in Honduras that the coup-plotters have been unable to quiet.

Meeting with Juan Barahon, General Coordinator of National Resistance Front

The international press often tries to paint a picture of the political crisis in Honduras as a battle between two men or between political parties. Rarely do they mention that grassroots union leaders from the resistance like Juan Barahona who are in the streets every single day confronting the army and the police sit at the negotiating table over the resolution of the political crisis. Rarely do they mention the true backdrop of the coup d'etat, the fact that President Zelaya had opened up the doors of the Presidential palace to advisors from grassroots movements in the labor, indigenous, peasant and other sectors.

Juan Barahona met with us in a room at the Union of Beverage Workers (STIBYS) headquarters covered in posters from struggles around the world. He explained the roots of the political crisis in Honduras in detail as well as the current challenges before the Honduran resistance.

“The oligarchy miscalculated with this coup d'etat. They thought that there would be a couple days, at most a week of resistance and that they would consolidate their power quickly and put the breaks on the Honduran and Latin American social movement. Neither they nor we knew that the Honduran people would rise up like they have, that we would see hundreds of thousands in the streets,” Barahona explained.

“Some of the protests in the streets of Tegucigalpa have had as many as 400,000 people in a city that only has 800,000 residents. The resistance has been profound.” But he also made clear that while there was a great degree of spontaneous outpouring of support, the resistance didn't emerge out of nothing. For years before Zelaya even came to power, the indigenous movement, the peasant movement, the union movement, the feminist movement, the Afro-descendent movement and many other sectors of Honduran society had began to articulate a common agenda in opposition to neoliberal economic policies that were privatizing everything and making life harder by the day for the majority of poor Hondurans. They had formed a National Coordinator of Popular Resistance and took over all four major highways entering the capital city, putting forth a 12 point plan to shift the direction of the country politically, socially and economically.

When Zelaya began to clash with the 10 families who hold most of the wealth in Honduras, the social movements sat down with him to negotiate the 12 points, only to discover that most of them would require a constitutional change in order to come to fruition. It was from these dialogues that the social movement decided to prioritize the demand for a new constitution and it was that demand above all that caused the Honduran oligarchy to decide enough was enough and that it was time to carry out a military coup to protect their interests.

Meeting with Carlos H. Reyes, Independent Political Candidate

After the meeting with Barahona, we headed to the house of Carlos Reyes, the well-known union leader. independent presidential candidate who would run for the resistance if democracy were to be restored in Honduras. Carlos contextualized the coup within the trajectory of Honduran history, from colonialism, through independence and to the present day. He made clear that the 1982 constitution was created by the military and the U.S. Embassy and established the fundamental base for the ongoing preservation of power by the Honduran oligarchy. He explained how Zelaya gradually came to question the policies that the business and political elite told him needed to be implemented, especially privatization. When he realized, for example, that fully privatizing electricity would reduce the state share of revenues by about 20 cents of every dollar, he put a stop to it.

“Zelaya is no revolutionary. The changes he was making were just scratching the surface of what our country needs. But we can see there how the Honduran oligarchy reacts when you touch their interests at all, even if just with the edge of the petal of a rose. They carry out a coup. This coup is dangerous not just because it has set back Honduran democracy and because of the abuses being committed daily, but because the ultra-right is trying to make an example out of Honduras and put the breaks on the emancipatory project of our entire continent. Since Zelaya returned to the country, the resistance has increased, the repression has increased, but the coup-makers are in their place still... We have a great challenge before us but a steadfast will.”

Day Two Report of La Voz de los de Abajo Human Rights Delegation in Honduras

Snapshots of the Struggle - Report of Honduras Delegation, 10/25/09

National Assembly of the Resistance

Every Sunday the National Front of Resistance against the Coup d'Etat in Honduras holds an assembly at the Union of Beverage Workers (STIBYS) headquarters in Tegucigalpa. This union hall has been converted into the headquarters of the resistance over the last three months since the elected President of Honduras, Jose Manuel Zelaya, was forcible removed from power in the middle of the night by U.S.-trained army generals. At the weekly assemblies of the resistance to the coup, hundreds gather to decide on the actions for the week, to debate strategies and make work plans, and to share news and words of inspiration from the struggle to restore democracy in Honduras. Participatory democracy is both the goal and the method of the movement against the coup and for a national constitutional assembly in Honduras. Just as the resistance fights to re-write the constitution to guarantee that the dispossessed have a direct say in the decisions of government, they conduct this fight by ensuring all sectors of society have a direct say in the path of struggle. 

As we arrive at the STIBYS union hall we walk past grandmothers, youth, union workers, peasants, street vendors, indigenous peoples, students and others who mill about outside the union building, in the hallways, in the lobby, on the stairs sharing stories, joking, eating or catching a few moments of rest as they wait for the assembly to start. We are warmly welcomed by several of the national coordinators of the resistance who thank us for our presence and ask us to name two representatives to introduce our delegation of teachers, youth, religious leaders, artists, human rights workers and independent journalists to the assembly.

The music playing in the main hall begins to fade out and we hear the call for the assembly to start. The room becomes packed with people and banners proclaiming “No to the coup” and “Honduras Resists Morazán [the Honduran independence leader] is in the Streets” stretch out along the walls. Over the next two hours we hear a combination of testimonies, speeches, reports from neighborhood resistance work groups and calls to action.

Two grandmothers in their eighties who have been at every single action over 120 days of resistance each take the stage to thunderous applause, each telling of the countless abuses they have witnessed as they have accompanied their people through marches, under clouds of tear gas, at road-blocks, in front of the presidential palace, at the gates of the airport. More importantly, they speak to and for the aspirations of the Honduran people, the aspirations for a just wage, for a dignified life, for the right to health care and education and housing, for a say in the decisions that affect their lives. The path to these aspirations was beginning to open up through the possibility of a national constitutional assembly and the reforms being advocated by the Honduran social movement and cooperated with by Zelaya before he was abruptly removed from power.

Alexy Lanza of La Voz de los de Abajo and Berenice Salas of Teachers for Social Justice speak on behalf of our delegation from Honduras, receiving a rousing applause and thanks for their expressions of solidarity with the struggle against the coup in Honduras. Then a spokesperson reporting of the previous days meetings of representatives of 52 neighborhood resistance committees around Tegucigalpa reports on some of the agreements and strategies agreed upon, including the decision to take down all electoral propaganda, blocking candidates from entering any neighborhoods and going door-to-door to gain support for a boycott of the upcoming elections so as to stop the de facto government from legitimizing the coup through an electoral fraud. Finally, the agreement to meet the next day in front of the National Congress was announced and the meeting closed with a powerful chorus of chanting and applause.

Concert in Santa Ana

Art, music, theater and dance have been a fundamental part of the resistance struggle in Honduras. In the face of a dictatorship that has now killed 26 people, jailed hundreds and beaten thousands, it may seem surprising to find people still finding time to laugh, to dance, to explore and enjoy the beauty of humanity's creative potential. Rather than a luxury or a side show, art has been a necessity for the resistance. This ethic of resisting the dictatorship both in the streets and on the stage was on full display on Sunday in Santa Ana, a small community about a half hour outside of Tegucigalpa.

Along with many other people from the resistance assembly, our delegation drove out to join the residents of Santa Ana's resistance committee for a resistance concert after the assembly finished. In the middle of a vast green plain surrounded by mountains underneath a blue sky and bright sun, a stage had been set up by the local community where, as we pulled up into the crowd, a work of “theater of the oppressed” was about to take place. A talented cast of dynamic actors convoked the many kids in the audience to take seats in front of the stage as they prepared to perform a play originally written to make fun of the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile called “el Generalito.” The play makes fun of a short general who commands from his platform that all the citizens walk on their knees to make him feel taller and orders them to paint their houses grey and black.

Following the play, bands and dancers of the resistance keep the crowd moving until the sun begins to set. Someone suggests that people all leave together in a caravan honking the whole way to make the resistance felt all the way back to Tegucigalpa. As the night falls on Santa Ana, cars stretch about a mile along the highway, winding through the mountains and descending back into the city to rest after a long day and prepare for the next morning's protest.

Report from Day 1 of La Voz de los de Abajo Honduras Delegation

October 24th, 2009 - Meetings with Radio Progreso, Red COMAL, COPINH

Quote of the day: "For us the most important thing is the struggle and the consciousness of unity that has been achieved." Trinidad Sanchez, Red COMAL.

Fourteen people from Chicago have arrived in Honduras with the La Voz de los de Abajo human rights delegation. They include four members of the Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America, two members of Southside Together Organizing for Power, two members of Teachers for Social Justice, one member of Chicago Otra, a member of Radios Populares, several independent journalists and numerous members of La Voz de los de Abajo.

We arrived in the middle of the day and successfully linked up with several compañeros waiting for us from the Honduran resistance. The first stop was Radio Progreso, one of the few radio stations in Honduras that has been brave enough to cover the massive resistance of the Honduran people to the coup d'etat which took place on June 28th of this year. There the director of programming explained how 30 members of the army raided the station the day of the coup and ordered it off of the air. It returned to broadcasting the next day, though several radio personnel have received death threats and several have been beaten and jailed.

One of the most famous programs both nationally and internationally at Radio Progreso is "NotiNADA" or "Nothing News," playing on the false claims following the coup by the mainstream Honduran press, which is owned by the same families who carried out the coup and own most major businesses in Honduras, that "in Honduras nothing is happening, everything is normal." The programming director made clear that before the coup, the station criticized Zelaya and in no way is advocating one party or another but that the coup was not against a person or a political party, but "against the Honduran people and against democracy."

Following the visit with Radio Progreso, three members of our group joined with a member of Los Necios and several Garífuna resistance activists to head to the Garífuna hospital Ciriboya on the North Coast where they will spend several days collecting reports of military threats to the hospital and helping paint a mural along with the community.

The rest of the group drove to Siguatepeque for an evening meeting with members of the Honduran resistance from Red COMAL, a network of co-operatives and small producers working for the creation of "solidarity economies" and COPINH, the Civil Council of Popular and Inidgenous Organizations of Honduras.

Trinidad Sanchez, director of Red COMAL and a leader within the National Front Against the Coup d'Etat, called the present moment in Honduran history the most important in the last 50 years, both for Honduras and for the world. He explained clearly that what is at stake is not a decision between two political figures, but a struggle over the aspirations of an entire people for a new type of society based on participatory democracy and addressing the root causes of poverty.

"For us, the most important thing is the struggle and the consciousness of unity that has been achieved. There is a unity in diversity, all of the different indigenous peoples, women's organizations, community councils, rural workers, there is a lot of collective vision of the new country that we want. That's why I believe that the call for a new Constitution is what most unites the Honduran people. Now the challenge in the future is to be able to maintain this collective spirit of the people and look for strategies that allow us to continue articulating ourselves as a united Honduran social movement," explained Trinidad.

Efrain Sorto and German Corea from COPINH explained that after months of constant mobilization in Tegucigalpa, COPINH has left a small delegation in the capital but re-focused now on work in the communities to deepen and strengthen the base and prepare to continue the long-term struggle towards a new Honduras. "we have started a process of consciousness-raising amongst the bases of the COPINH. Most of the leadership is back in communities working with the base to make sure they are the main participants of the resistance against the coup d'etat. We are in this struggle because of our conviction and our consciousness," explained Efrain. German explained that, "COPINH has been working even harder than normal ever since the coup d'detat. We are going to continue this process of struggle, we are living in a dictatorship that is terrible like those we had lived through before but we won't allow it to continue."

Maria Arab Pinedas, another leader with Red COMAL, explained the importance of international solidarity. "With the media siege it is more important than ever to let the world know what is really happening here. People have been beaten, jailed and killed for fighting for the restoration of democracy in Honduras. This isn't just about Honduras, we need to globalize the struggle and realize that if a coup can take place here, it can take place anywhere."

Communique Number 30 of National Front of Resistance Against the Coup d'Etat

Communique Number 30 of National Front of Resistance Against the Coup d'Etat

The National Front of Resistance Against the Coup d'ETat in Honduras communicates to the Honduran population and the international community:

1. We denounce the manipulative acts and delay tactics with which the de facto regime tries to buy time and get to the electoral farse of November 29th without having re-established the institutional order and without having returned to his post the legitimate President Manuel Zelaya Rosales.

2. We reiterate that the Honduran people will not recognize the campaign and the results of the electoral process of the 29th of November while the dictatorial regime that the oligarchy sustains through armed force continues.

3. We condemn the disinformation campaign carried out by the media in service of the oligarchy through which they attempt to present the National Front of Resistance Against the Coup d'Etat as a violent organization. We reiterate that the methods of peaceful struggle are the only ones that we have used throughout 115 days of resistance.

4. We denounce the economic crisis through which the de facto regime is taking us and which is provoking an increase in the levels of poverty of the population.

5. We express our indignation at the continuation of the repression by the police and military bodies of the State, which is expressed in assassinations of militants of the Resistance, actions of intimidation and surrounding the marches and rallies, the illiegal and immoral juridical processes which persecute and jail our sisters and brothers and, more recently, the actions of harassment and intimidation against teachers throughout the country.

6. We reiterate our unbreakable will to install a democratic and popular National Constitutional Assembly with which we will refound the country and rescue it from a minority economic class that exploits the working class.

“AT 115 DAYS OF STRUGGLE, HERE NOBODY IS GIVING UP”
Tegucigalpa, Honduras October 20th, 2009

Comunicado No. 30 del Frente Nacional de Resistencia contra el Golpe de Estado

Comunicado No. 30 del Frente Nacional de Resistencia contra el Golpe de Estado

El Frente Nacional de Resistencia contra el Golpe de Estado en Honduras a la población hondureña y la comunidad internacional comunica:

1. Denunciamos las maniobras manipuladoras y las tácticas dilatorias con la que el régimen de facto intenta ganar tiempo y llegar hasta la farsa electoral del 29 de noviembre próximo sin haber restablecido el orden institucional y sin haber restituido en su cargo al presidente legítimo Manuel Zelaya Rosales.

2. Reiteramos que el pueblo hondureño desconocerá la campaña y los resultados del proceso electoral del 29 de noviembre mientras se mantenga el régimen de dictadura que la oligarquía sostiene con la fuerza de las armas.

3. Condenamos la campaña de desinformación montada por los medios de comunicación al servicio de la oligarquía, con la que intentan presentar al Frente Nacional de Resistencia contra el Golpe de Estado como una organización violenta. Reiteramos que los métodos de lucha pacífica son los únicos que hemos empleado a lo largo de 115 días de resistencia.

4. Denunciamos la crisis económica a la que nos está llevando el régimen de facto y que está provocando el aumento de los niveles de pobreza de la población.

5. Manifestamos nuestra indignación por la continuación de la represión por parte de los cuerpos policías y militares del Estado, que se expresa en asesinatos de militantes de la Resistencia, acciones de intimidación y cerco las marchas y plantones, procesos jurídicos ilegales e inmorales con los que se persigue y encarcela a compañeras y compañeros y, más recientemente, acoso y acciones de intimidación contra maestros y maestras en todo el país.

6. Reiteramos nuestra voluntad inquebrantable de instalar un Asamblea Nacional Constituyente democrática y popular con la que refundemos la patria y la rescatemos de la una clase económica minoritaria que explota las clase trabajadora.

“A 115 DÍAS DE LUCHA AQUÍ NADIE SE RINDE”
Tegucigalpa, M.D.C. 20 de octubre de 2009

Maria Rita Matamoros: "The poor people are putting their lives on the line to save this nation."

Interview with Maria Rita Matamoros

Maria Rita Matamoros explains how the police and the army his them and threw tear gas bombs when the march of the Resistance heads to the Guatemalan embassy to stand in solidarity with the 12 members of COPINH seeking political asylum after having received death threats. Matamoros was fired from her job in the Secretariat of Natural Resources and Environment for being part of the Resistance and for supporting President Manuel Zelaya.

Today they shot at us with tear gas and fired live rounds at us. They began to follow us because we were heading to the Guatemalan embassy to protest because a few friends were there asking for political asylum. So when we started to go there they began to throw tear gas bombs. We began to look for places to hide and they were running behind us shooting at us. One after the other, the people were running in a wave, people were choking. I helped one man. I brought him a bag of water because he was choking. I gave him a towel because he had nothing. He was red. I ran if I had continued going straight toward the bridge, they would have caught me and beat me but thanks to god, I ran from the street and I went to the soccer field. There someone helped me and we hid. There were a few of us and we hid behind a car. There was also and man there who was choking because he had swallowed the gas. A girl opened a door and said "Come here. Come here. Take refuge here." So we entered and we helped the man because he was already choking. There was also a boy who fell off the bridge and broke his leg. There were also people who had been beaten up because the people who made it got beat up by the police. I heard them say that everything was in peace. Here there is no peace because they are repressing us. There's no freedom of expression. There's nothing here for us. Here we are in a tremendous insecurity. We are full of fear because they are entering the neighborhoods in operations to arrest the people who are resisting. You just saw that they are taking our pictures, recording our faces and later they follow us and kill us. So there is a tremendous persecution. People are afraid to put themselves out there because they fear for their lives. They have killed a few people already. They are driving about in motorcycles shooting people. I think the more powerful countries should step in to help us because the poor of the country don`t have anything to defend ourselves with. We don't have anything. We only have water and towels. They are coming to control us and later kill us. People are hurt with bones broken, with their lungs spitting up blood. They are killing us in the roads. They are on motorcycles dressed as civilians. The first thing they do is take their picture and then kill them. They identify them and they kill them. I hope people around the world raise their voices that people do something because we are dying. one by one they are eliminating us. Many people haven't gone out. Many people have been disappeared and the press isn't talking about it. The press doesn't realize what is happening because one by one they are killing us and throwing our bodies on the side of the highway, in the mountains.

They are trying to say that it is unrelated but these are people from the resistance. The poor people are putting their lives on the line to save this nation. "What's your name?" Mariarita Matamoros "How old are you?" 51 years old "Are you a teacher?" No, I'm a secretary. I just got fired because you know there is so much repression going on now. People have their feelings to defend the country. We see that we are fighting for something just. President Zelaya was someone who was standing up for poor people. The only crime he committed was giving something to the poor. He was popular with the people. He sat down with the poor. He liked to share with the people. This is what has caused so much repudiation because his ideas were popular.The president didn't share in the wealth of those people because all of the other presidents have done what the powerful rich have told them to do, but this president didn't. He put them in their place. That was his only crime, to put them in their place. And he gave space to the popular power. When the president was in power, he showed up in a market and the people went to see him...

They are repressing us. This is not democracy. Democracy shows itself with peace, with dialogue, with people listening to each other. I believe here there is no democracy. Here there is only repression. And the "president" that is sitting there, the only way he got to power was by his weapons. The people don't want him. A person like him cannot govern because he is not tolerant. He only surrounds himself with friends.

When a journalist begins to ask him real questions he grows nervous. Those are the orders he has given to the police, to kill us, to repress us to torture us so that we won't come out on the streets. But we aren't going to stop. We are going to continue. The elections aren't going to stop us because the elections have the same people. We know that if a new president comes it will be the same member of the coup regime. We don't want that. We want the people to have power. They have taken the power away from us. We have to rise up again. We know that the people want to constitutional assembly. You know the misery of Honduras, There are people who live in cans. Some of us are lucky to have houses and places to sleep. Some people don't even have a place to lay.

Interview with Agustina Flores, Recently freed political prisoner

Interview with Agustina Flores: "Bars did not shut me up, prison hasn't diminished my beliefs"

By Mario Casasus/El Clarin de Chile

Tegucigalpa: Professor Agustina Flores Lopez (1959) was freed October 12, after 21 days in high security women's prison in the Honduran capital. There are still 6 political prisoners there, still being held without bail by the de-facto government, charged with sedition, and terrorism as members of the peaceful civil resistance. They are being held in a legal process that's plagued with irregularities, and is taking place under the suspension of Civil Liberties (the decree of which is still active).

Professor Agustina welcomes us in front of the circle of press in the offices of the Comitttee for the Family of the Detained and Disappeared in Honduras (COFADEH). She made her first statements to teleSUR and this is the first interview she is doing with the international press. The College of Professors paid the fine (100,000 lempiras) and lawyers Kenia Oliva and Noelia Núñez were able to reverse part of the injustice. Agustina Flores comes from a combative family: her mother and brother were persecuted during the dirty war in the 1980's and today her sister Bertha Cáceres is the director of the Civil Council of Indigenous Popular Organizations in Honduras, (COPINH).

Agustina Flores boldly defied the defacto regime: "one of the conditions of my release is that I don't go to protests for the restitution of President Zelaya- it says that in the text of my conditional release- but the bars won't shut me up, and prison hasn't diminished even a tiny bit my beliefs. I think there are many ways I can keep working. This struggle begins right now, in the workplace, in the union, in my neighborhood, with housewives, until we win the Constitutional Assembly which brings us new hope."

MC- When did you first join the Resistance to the coup?

AF- On June 28th my mom told us: "You all have to go. I can't go with you because of my health, but you have grown up in the struggle, so eat up so that you don't get tired." We were working for the fourth ballot box, and the coup made us take to the streets to protest.

MC- How did you survive the 21 days in jail?

AF- It was tough but inside it was wonderful to know that so many people and organizations were in solidarity with the Resistance. Not one day passed when we didn't get visitors from compañeros, from the media, and it's thanks to them that I'm free, because so many people demanded my release. When I was arrested I was beaten very badly, and I remembered what we had lived through in the '80's, when my brother and my mother were constantly persecuted, and they also came after us. We had to move to La Esperanza in 1978. The dictatorship of Micheletti made me remember that repression of the dirty war, and I was afraid of being detained and then disappeared. My crime was to fight for my rights. That's what I said to the police "There's no problem here, tell me what crime I'm accused of, and read me my rights." That made them really angry, and that's when they started to hit me. I told them that I would denounce them to all of the Human Rights Organizations, even at the international level, and when they were threatened with this, they didn't disappear me or have me killed. They make a lot of things up. I was marching with the protesters as the Constitution of Honduras allows me to, they didn't deny that. I've never acted like a gangster, which is how they treated me in prison.

MC- Why did they free you on bail after 21 days?

AF- In the first hearing, when they were presenting the defendants, the judge sent me over to the General Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DGIC), where after 6 days I had an initial audience before another judge. She didn't accept my defense, nor my 32 years of service as a professor, nor my work in drug abuse prevention, nor my commitment to non-violence, or my workshops with the "Mara Salvatrucha", she was uninterested in all of the roles I've played, much less the recognition I've received, like Teacher of the Year. On the contrary, she used all of that against me. The judge said that because I was considered a leader she couldn't let me out on bail, because I could reorganize the groups from the Resistance and attack the witnesses for the prosecution, the same police that had beaten me.

MC- You were the only female political prisoner of the de facto regime?

AF- Yes, the same day they detained two other compañeras, they held them for 6 days but when they sentenced me to prison, they freed them on bail. When the judge read my sentence I felt like they were prosecuting someone else, like President Manuel Zelaya, because they never failed to mention him - at least 8 times. I felt like the punishment wasn't directly against me, but against the President, against the women in the movement, and against the teachers.

MC..- When the de facto government claims that "There are no political prisoners" and tries to fool international public opinion that here "nothing is going on"; How do you contradict them?

AF.- Of course, unfortunately in the prison we weren't allow to watch the news or read the papers, so now I'm not well informed about the compañeros who are still being held prisoner. I knew that there was a Spanish citizen, and another Colombian being held for not respecting the curfew. I'm sure that there are political prisoners, but I don't know the exact number or the details of each case. Thanks to the international pressure, the coup leaders are changing their act, but we need to free these compañeros, because they never committed any crime, except defending our democracy. We need them to overturn the Decree Suspending Individual Rights.

MC.- As a professor, what do you think about the de facto government's decree ending the school year early?

AF.- I just found out about this news yesterday. A cousin who's a teacher was telling me that they're going to end the school year on October 31st. Imagine the consequences if we have in 2010, all of these students who were automatically passed without finishing the whole year. The next year the teachers will have students who never finished the study plans. They won't allow the teachers to continue classes until November 30, it's a huge mistake.

MC.- Is it a way to demobilize the teachers?

AF.- It's a strategy of the coup leaders. You know that they're trying to keep the teachers quiet, to empty out the schools and to militarize the elections.

MC.- Going back to the personal, I know your family lives in Northern Honduras. Have you spoken to your mother yet?

AF.- My mom was really emotional, and after all of this had happened what hurt me the most was to see my mother and daughters because they couldn't hide it, I could see in their faces the traces of pain, of sadness and of anger... Today I was happy because I spoke to my family after coming out of the gates and I told them that it wasn't that bad of an experience, because of the 19 women who were with me in the (high security) wing, I learned to see and know them, and never discriminate against them for the crimes they committed, but to see them as human beings, smart, fighting the pain, the anguish, we cried in prison, and now we're so happy. They were sad to see me leave, and this helped me understand injustice.

MC.- Is the National Resistance Front Against the Coup going to rebuild?

AF.- One of the conditions of my release is that I don't go to protests for the restitution of President Zelaya- it says that in the text of my conditional release- but the bars won't shut me up, and prison hasn't diminished even a tiny bit my beliefs. I think there are many ways I can keep working. This struggle begins right now, in the workplace, in the union, in my neighborhood, with housewives, until we win the Constitutional Assembly which brings us new hope.

MC.- In closing, having been jailed by an illegitimate government, will you ask that your record be cleared when democracy is returned?

AF.- I will ask that my record be cleared, when I was in jail they took our signatures four times, and I demanded that my file be cleared. Until a policeman told me: "I think all of this is unjust, and you have to demand when Mel Zelaya returns that they clear your records, instead of just suspending the charges." I insist that we haven't committed any crimes, the only thing that we've done is to believe in the rights that the Constitution gives us: the right to free expression of ideas and to disobey illegitimate governments.

Entrevista con Agustina Flores, presa politica recien liberada

Agustina Flores: “No me callan los barrotes, la prisión no ha disminuido mi ideología”

Escrito por Mario Casasús (Publicado en El Clarin de Chile

Martes, 13 de octubre de 2009

Tegucigalpa.- La profesora Agustina Flores López (1959), recuperó su libertad el 12 de octubre, después de 21 días en el penal de máxima seguridad para mujeres de la capital hondureña; todavía quedan 6 presos políticos, el régimen de facto sigue negándoles la fianza, en un proceso jurídico plagado de irregularidades, amparados por el concepto de Suspensión de Garantías Individuales (decreto en vigencia), y bajo los cargos de sedición y terrorismo en contra de los manifestantes de la Resistencia civil pacífica. La profesora Agustina nos recibe –en exclusiva- antes de la rueda de prensa, en las oficias del Comité de Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos en Honduras (COFADEH), las primeras declaraciones las hizo a teleSUR y esta es la primera entrevista que concede a un medio internacional. El Colegio de Profesores pagó la fianza (100, 000 lempiras), y las abogadas Kenia Oliva y Noelia Núñez lograron revertir parte de la injusticia. Agustina Flores proviene de una familia combativa: su mamá y hermano fueron perseguidos durante la guerra sucia en la década de 1980, y en la actualidad, su hermana Berta Cáceres es directora del Consejo Cívico de Organizaciones Populares e Indígenas de Honduras. Agustina Flores, desafía con valentía al régimen de facto: “Una de las medidas sustitutivas es no acercarme a las manifestaciones por la restitución del Presidente Zelaya –lo dice textual mi acta de libertad condicional-, pero a mí no me callan los barrotes, la prisión no ha disminuido ni una milésima mi ideología, yo pienso que existen diversos espacios donde seguir trabajando, esta lucha comienza ahora, en el campo laboral, en el ámbito gremial, en mi colonia, barrio, con las amas de casa, hasta lograr la Asamblea Constituyente que nos traiga una nueva esperanza” MC.- ¿Cuándo comenzó a marchar en la Resistencia contra el golpe de Estado? AF.- Desde el 28 de junio, mi mamá nos dijo: “Todas ustedes tienen que ir, yo no puedo acompañarlas por mi enfermedad, han crecido en la lucha, así que coman bien para que tengan energía”. Estábamos trabajando por La Cuarta Urna y el golpe de Estado nos hizo salir a las calles a protestar. MC.- ¿Cómo vivió los 21 días de prisión? AF.- Fue difícil, pero dentro de todo ha sido hermoso saber que tantas personas y organizaciones se solidarizan con la Resistencia, no hubo un día sin que recibiera una visita de los compañeros, de los medios de comunicación y es gracias a eso que estoy afuera, porque había tantas personas reclamando por mi libertad. En el momento de la detención fui muy golpeada, recordé lo que habíamos vivido en la década de 1980, cuando mi hermano y mi mamá fueron perseguidos constantemente, a nosotras igual nos perseguían, tuvimos que mudarnos de la localidad La Esperanza en 1978. La dictadura de Micheletti me hizo recordar la represión de la guerra sucia, tenía miedo de ser una detenida desaparecida. Mi delito fue luchar por mi derecho, lo que yo les dije a los policías: “No hay problema, dígame de qué delito se me acusa y léanme mis derechos” eso les molestó mucho, luego cuando sentí el primer golpe les dije que los denunciaría ante todos los Organismos de Derechos Humanos, incluso a nivel internacional y al verse amenazado el cuerpo policíaco recapacitaron y no me desaparecieron o ejecutaron extrajudicialmente. Inventaron muchas cosas, yo andaba en las manifestaciones como me lo permite la Constitución de la República de Honduras, nunca lo negué, mi comportamiento nunca ha sido de una pandillera como me señalaron en prisión. MC.-¿Por qué procedió la fianza hasta después de 21 días? AF.- En la primera audiencia, en la presentación de imputados, la jueza me envió en calidad de depósito a la Dirección General de Investigación Criminal (DGIC), a los 6 días tenía que ir a la audiencia inicial con otra jueza ella no aceptó mi defensa, ni mis 32 años de servicio como profesora, ni mi trabajo de prevención de drogas, de no violencia, o mis talleres con la “Mara Salvatrucha”, poco le interesó los cargos que he desempeñado, mucho menos los reconocimientos que he recibido, como Maestra del Año, al contrario todo lo utilizó en mi contra. La jueza dijo que por considerarme una líder no podía darme medidas sustitutivas (libertad condicional), porque podía reorganizar a los grupos de la Resistencia y atentar contra los testigos de la fiscalía, los mismos policías que me golpearon. MC.-¿Usted era la única mujer presa por el régimen de facto? AF.- Sí, el mismo día detuvieron a dos compañeras, a ellas las mandaron a la cárcel durante 6 días, pero al momento que me dictan formal prisión, a ellas las liberan con medidas sustitutivas. Cuando la jueza leía mi sentencia sentí que estaban procesando a otra persona, al Presidente Manuel Zelaya, porque no dejaban de mencionarlo –por lo menos 8 veces-, creí que el castigo no era directamente para mí, sino para el Presidente, para las mujeres en Resistencia y en contra del magisterio. MC.-Ante las declaraciones del régimen de facto sobre la “No existencia de presos políticos” y pretender engañar a la opinión pública internacional de que aquí “no pasa nada”; ¿usted puede contradecirlos? AF.- Por supuesto, desgraciadamente por la prisión teníamos prohibido ver las noticias y leer los diarios ahora no estoy bien informada de los compañeros que todavía quedan presos. Sabía que un ciudadano español y otro colombiano purgaban condena por no acatar el toque de queda, tengo la certeza de que sí hay presos políticos, pero no sé el número exacto ni los detalles de cada expediente. Gracias a la presión internacional los golpistas están cambiando de actitud, pero necesitamos que los compañeros salgan en libertad porque nunca cometimos un delito, sino defendimos nuestra democracia. Queremos que se derogue el Decreto de Suspensión de Garantías Individuales. MC.- Usted como profesora, ¿qué opinión tiene sobre el decreto del régimen de facto que termina prematuramente el ciclo escolar? AF.- De esta noticia me enteré ayer domingo, me estaba contando una cuñada que es docente, que el régimen de facto cerrará el ciclo escolar el 31 de octubre. Imagínese las consecuencias que tendrá en el 2010 los alumnos que aprobaron automáticamente sin cursar el año completo, el próximo ciclo escolar los docentes trabajarán sin conocimientos previos de los planes de estudio. No permitir que los docentes terminemos las clases hasta el 30 de noviembre, es un grave error. MC.-¿Es una forma para desmovilizar a los compañeros del magisterio? AF.- Es una estrategia de los golpistas, usted sabe que pretenden que los docentes estemos incomunicados, desocupar los planteles educativos y militarizarlos para las elecciones del 29 de noviembre. MC.-Regresando a lo personal, sé que su familia vive en el norte de Honduras, ¿habló por teléfono con su mamá? AF.- Mi mamá estaba muy emocionada, y de todo esto que ha pasado lo que más me dolía era ver a mi mamá e hijas porque no podían disimular, veía en sus rostros el semblante de dolor, tristeza e indignación. Hoy estaba feliz, cuando hablé con mi familia al salir del portón y les dije que no fue tan mala la experiencia, porque a las 19 mujeres que me acompañaron en la sala 5 (de máxima seguridad) aprendí a verlas y conocerlas, jamás las discriminé por el delito que cometieron, sino que las miré como seres humanos, sensibles, combatíamos el dolor, la angustia, llorábamos en la prisión y ahora de alegría, se quedaron tristes porque me iba, todo eso ayuda a comprender la injusticia. MC.-¿Se reincorporara al Frente Nacional de Resistencia contra el Golpe de Estado? AF.- Una de las medidas sustitutivas es no acercarme a las manifestaciones por la restitución del Presidente Zelaya –lo dice textual mi acta de libertad condicional-, pero a mí no me callan los barrotes, la prisión no ha disminuido ni una milésima mi ideología, yo pienso que existen diversos espacios donde seguir trabajando, esta lucha comienza ahora, en el campo laboral, en el ámbito gremial, en mi colonia, barrio, con las amas de casa, hasta lograr la Asamblea Constituyente que nos traiga una nueva esperanza. MC.-Finalmente, al ser encarcelada por un régimen usurpador, ¿exigirá que se borre su expediente al retorno de la democracia? AF.- Pediré que mi expediente sea borrado, cuando estaba en la prisión nos ficharon 4 veces, exijo que mi expediente sea borrado. Hasta una policía me dijo: “Yo considero que esto es injusto y ustedes tienen que pedir cuando regrese Mel Zelaya que les borren los expedientes, de lo contrario quedaran en suspenso sus condenas”. Insisto, nosotros no hemos cometido ningún delito, lo único que buscamos es hacer valer los derechos que la Constitución nos da: la libre manifestación de las ideas y la desobediencia a los gobiernos usurpadores.

Indigenous organization COPNIH: After 517 years the resistance continues and deepens

CIVIL COUNCIL OF POPULAR AND INDIGENOUS ORGANIZATIONS OF HONDURAS - COPINH

AT 517 YEARS THE RESISTANCE CONTINUES AND DEEPENS

The Civil Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras COPINH, on the occasion of the commemoration of the date that our peoples and territories began to be the subject of genocide, exploitation, extraction and destruction; emits the following statement:

1.- We condemn once more the assassinations, tortures and all type of attacks suffered by the indigenous peoples by the colonialist powers and their criminal institutions throughout theses 517 años.

2.- We denounce the execution of a plan of world domination against the peoples of the world, which is executed through the implementation of the neoliberal system and the imperialist wars of invasion, with the goal of taking power over all the natural resources of the planet and subjecting humanity to extreme exploitation.

3.- We call the peoples of the world to resists and defeat the order of exploitation advanced by the fascists and construct in its place a society of fraternity and solidarity living in harmony between humans and nature.

4.- We condemn the political-military dictatorship that with armed force took power in Honduras through a cruel coup d'etat which has left in its wake various killed Hondurans and a huge quantity of beaten, tortured and politically persecuted women and men. This coup d'etat is part of the plan of world domination with the objective of taking power over the natural resources of Honduras and stopping in Honduras the processes of emancipation of the Latin American peoples.

5.- We make a call to the Honduran people to deepen the resistance against the dictatorship until we defeat them and achieve the punishment of Roberto Micheletti, the coup-plotting Supreme Court magistrates and congresspeople, the attorney general of the state, the leadership of the Catholic and Evangelical church, the commissioner of human rights who today is supporting the violation of human rights of the Honduran people by the entire police and military leadership. We also call for the convening of a national Constitutional Assembly with representatives who emit a new constitution of the republic that allows a new juridical framework and a new set of institutions in the name of participatory democracy.

6.- We call to the peoples of the world to support the Honduran people not just to be in solidarity but as a means of self-defense since if this coup d'etat wins all teh processes of emancipation of the peoples of the world will be more at risk.

With the ancestral force of Lempira, Iselaca, Mota and Etempica we raise our voices of life, justice, liberty, dignity and peace.

At 517 years of struggle nobody is giving up here!

Intibucà, Honduras - October 12th, 2009