Reply #18: ¡Golpe!

[Octafish]

Honduran riot police have met unarmed anti-coup protestors with beatings, chemicals, and in some cases even live rounds.



From the Earth Island Institute's Journal:

¡Golpe!

Last Summer’s Right-Wing Coup in Honduras Still Threatens Human Rights and the Environment

By Jeremy Kryt
Earth Island Institute Journal
Winter 2010, Vol. 24, No. 4

The farmers had been barricaded inside the National Agricultural Institute, in the heart of downtown Tegucigalpa, Honduras, for more than three months. There were almost a hundred of them, including women and children, sleeping in the offices and cooking on wood fires in the courtyard. When I visited, in September of 2009, a spokesperson for the Workers Union of the National Agricultural Institute (NIA) said they had peacefully occupied their own offices as an act of protest against the military coup that toppled the government last June. The farmers hoped to protect ownership titles and other important paperwork against what they called “a land-hungry illegal regime.” And so they had camped out in their makeshift bunker, taking turns with the chores, and guarding the gate against police and soldiers – determined to hold out until the nation’s democratically elected president, Manuel “Mel” Zelaya, was returned to office, and Constitutional order was restored.

“We are struggling for the heart of the country,” said Ramon Navarro, leader of one of the farmers’ unions, after telling me that authorities had already cut off water and electricity to the building. “In these central offices are located more than 700 files with documents belonging to farmers and small business owners.” Navarro wore boots and jeans, with a knife and cell phone in twin holsters on his belt. “We know the putschists have the power to void these documents. We’re here to find a solution, and to protect the only proof of ownership we have.”

The farmers had called a press conference that morning because they feared police were getting ready to storm the institute. A harsh, nationwide crackdown was underway, and several trucks filled with heavily armed officers had been spotted near the compound. A few blocks away, the riot squad had detained a peaceful, anti-coup protest march.

Someone Must Defend the Earth

The trouble in Honduras started when President Zelaya was kidnapped by soldiers and flown into exile on June 28, 2009 – a move backed by local business and political elites, but condemned unanimously by the international community. Under threat of arrest, Zelaya had slipped back into the country in late September, taking refuge in the Brazilian Embassy. But by then his role in the anti-coup resistance had become largely symbolic. Under the auspices of a controversial US-mediated peace plan that went into effect on October 30, the coup-regime was granted political legitimacy. The previously scheduled presidential elections were authorized to go forward, with far-right, coup-friendly candidate Porfirio “Pepe” Lobo ahead in the polls. Meanwhile, Honduras continued to devolve into a police state.

CONTINUED...

http://www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/eij/article/golpe/

Thanks for understanding what it's all about, laughingliberal! These fascist gangsters want to re-introduce slavery on a global scale.