LRAD sonic area denial actively being used by Honduran coup. (IMAGE)

[Poll_Blind]

Just tuned into TeleSur's top-of-the-hour coverage and I saw (and heard) two shots of LRAD sonic area denial being actively used by the coup government to keep protestors away from the Brazilian embassy. Not to mention a few shots of Honduran police/military face-slapping around handcuffed middle-aged women. Way to go coup plotters! Winning hearts and minds, indeed!

Originally created as a way to hail vessels coming too close to U.S. warships, the technology has been co-opted into the growing and murky pantheon of "less-than-lethal weapons". Misuse of the LRAD can easily cause permanent deafness, physical pain and impaired vision- in some cases preventing victims from being able to get away, causing much more serious damage or secondary injuries from trampling due to confusion and impaired vision.

Here's a stock shot of the U.S. military deploying LRAD on a ship. Next to it, a snapshot from a live TeleSur broadcast right now. And, of course, the sound is unmistakable.



Telesur is not round the clocking this yet but it seems like they're doing between 20-30 minutes an hour based on a http://www.telesurtv.net/noticias/canal/senalenvivo.php">streaming version of their broadcast. If you watch for any length of time, it should not be difficult to eventually see their footage of the LRAD use.

PB