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The Sound and Fury of the Honduran Coup: Acoustic and Chemical Attacks on Brazilian Embassy
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By Laura Carlsen
Americas MexicoBlog
Tuesday, Sep 29, 2009
- "Acoustic arms" employed by coup government against Brazilian Embassy and protesters
- Analysis of chemicals used in attack on Embassy
- Reports of radioactive cesium
- Offshore factory workers forced to make up days lost due to coup curfews
- Political ground shifted to demand for constitutional reforms
We
have received many reports today of the use of sonic devices and
chemical warfare in attacks on the Brazilian Embassy by the Honduran
coup. The use of Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD)
has been confirmed by observers and journalists, who report that the
devices are being installed throughout the area. Numerous photographers
have also documented their use.
The UN Security Council
today called upon the de facto government of Honduras to "cease
harassing the Brazilian Embassy" and "condemned acts of intimidation."
(See photo above: the caption on the first photo of the LRAD reads
"State-of-the-art Israeli artifact used in repression and torture that
causes damage to the ear and loss of equilibrium. What President Zelaya
denounced from the Brazilian Embassy.") The second photo (below) shows
the installation near the Embassy.These devices are described as a "non-lethal weapon"
produced by the U.S.-based American Technology Corporation. They emit
painful sound at 151 db. with a range of 300 meters on land, and are
used in situations of war and to control demonstrations.
While
acoustics weapons have been used over the past several days, today the
Armed Forces actually began to spray the Embassy with poisonous gases
and by some accounts pump them into the building through the drainage
system. The Honduran News Network reports that First Lady Xiomara
Castro de Zelaya climbed a ladder to ascertain the source of the
attacks and was sprayed with chemicals. She and others in the Embassy
are reportedly bleeding profusely as a result of the effects of the
chemicals.
Father Andres Tamayo described the situation to Radio
Progreso, "Over a thousand soldiers in front (of the Embassy) left and
returned with a cistern and helicopters spraying gases. There are also
neighbors that lent their houses to spray these substances and house
the military. They have placed pipes to spread the gases. We feel a
tightness in our stomachs and throat, vomiting, dizziness and some
people are urinating blood. There are more than a thousand people
around here and at this moment all we can do is drink a little milk."
A
press conference was called to reveal the results of the analysis of
the gas, done by public health specialist Dr. Mauricio Castellanos.
- Above normal concentrations of ammonia, which is used as a base of pepper gas
- Concentration detected between 100 and 200 particles per thousand
- Hydrocyanic
acid, which produces a rapid reaction upon inhalation when it comes in
contact with the iron in the blood producing vertigo, nausea, stomach
pain, headaches and breathing difficulties
The
report concluded, "This mixture is a purely military technology,
prohibited under international treaties. Exposure for a prolonged
period is lethal to any living organism."
Juan Almendares, a Honduran medical doctor and human rights leader, states:
"The
occupants of the Brazilian Embassy that accompany President Manuel
Zelaya Rosales, his wife and family, communities and protesters are the
object of the launching of chemical arms from helicopters and airplanes
or on the ground troops and the use of sophisticated sound and
electromagnetic equipment that have produced severe diarrhea, vomiting,
nasal hemorrhages and gastrointestinal problems in both the Embassy and
surrounding areas."
"According to the clinical reports, this
could be due to the usage of toxic substances including: pesticides,
chemical components of gases, radioactive substances like radioactive
cesium and toxic mushrooms."
"It
is urgent that an international medical team from the United Nations
and the World Health Organization be sent. We are facing an irregular
war against the people of Honduras. The Armed Forces do not allow the
International Red Cross entry into the Brazilian Embassy, violating all
international health treaties and conventions and human rights."
Numerous
reports, including Honduran News Network sources, also mentioned the
use of radioactive cesium. If the use of radioactive cesium is
confirmed, the consequences are very serious. The Agency for Toxic
Substances and Disease Registry finds that the effects of high levels
include the symptoms listed above and even coma and death.
This
is the notorious "day-after" effect of nuclear bombs. The agency adds
that "it is reasonable to expect that individuals exposed to high
levels of radiation from a source of radioactive cesium will develop
the same types of cancer observed in survivors of the atomic bombs in
Japan."
As described in the Sept. 22 blog,
embassies are protected under the Vienna Convention and any violation
of this is an international issue. With the notable exceptions of
Colombia and the United States, all nations of the region expressed
concern about the Honduran situation at the 64th UN General Assembly
meeting.
As the society breaks down into a coup-provoked crisis,
the Women's Collective CODEMUH writes that workers in offshore assembly
plants have been forced to work overtime to make up for time lost due
to the coup's curfews, in clear violation of labor law.
The
Collective notes, "According to Article 23 of the Labor Code, ‘Workers
can participate in profits or benefits of the boss, but never assume
the risks and losses,’ meaning that business cannot charge workers for
the losses caused by the national political crisis, which the
businessmen and women are key actors in causing. Ladies and gentlemen,
you cannot force workers to pay for the losses that you provoked with
the coup d'etat.”
"We call on transnational brands like Nike,
GAP, Adidas, Hanes, HBI and Walmart, among others, as well as
university students in the U.S. and consumers in general, who wear the
products produced in the sweatshops of Honduras, to demand the offshore
industry pay its workers for the days they did not show up for work due
to the curfew of the de facto government, without requiring that they
make up these days. And that the workers refuse to accept these extra
days."
President Zelaya has called on
“the resistance to maintain the fight that together, the people and the
president will achieve the constitutional reforms and fall of the
usurpers."
With the no-holds-barred repression unleashed by the
coup regime and the increasing militancy and organization of the
resistance—still adhering to principles of non-violence, to their
credit—the political ground has once again shifted in Honduras. The
terms of the San Jose Accords, hammered out by President Oscar Arias of
Costa Rica and consistently rejected by the coup regime, have become
clearly obsolete. The demand for a constitutional assembly has grown in
breadth and volume throughout the country. The urgent tasks before the
international community are to recognize that the crisis requires
structural reforms and not patch-ups, to halt the human rights
violations immediately, and to take all diplomatic steps toward the
reinstatement of the constitutional government.
Americas MexicoBlog
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