Thousands march against the coup government in Honduras

Editor's Note: If the illegal regime of Porfirio Lobo thinks the world will forget and they have a free ride in the future, they received a reminder yesterday that the Honduran Resistance against their coup government is not fading. In fact it's growing into an international demand that the leaders step down and that Honduras returns to democracy. Our friends at Presente-Honduras!, the US National Committee on Honduras, the Quixote Center led a fundraising campaign to create and publish the following message in a paid ad in El Tiempo - directed to the people of Honduras on February 25, 2010, the day of massive Resistance March in Honduras. Signatories are included. Below the ad is an announcement from Quixote Center, followed by a photo journal of yesterday's march in Tegucigalpa.

- Les Blough, Editor

From the USA

To the People of Honduras - You are Not Alone!

We Salute the Honduran People in Resistance and the

March of Resistance on February 25, 2010

From the USA To the People of Honduras - You are Not Alone! We Salute the Honduran People in Resistance and the March of Resistance on February 25, 2010

The undersigned organizations working in the U.S.A. declare to the international community and to the Honduran people the following:

The Coup d’etat of June 28, 2009 was unconstitutional and illegal; the human rights violations that it generated, including mass detentions, beatings, imprisonment, rapes, kidnappings, and murders constitute crimes against humanity. Nearly every article of the American Convention on Human Rights has been violated, beginning with the rupture of constitutional order and continuing with the thousands of rights violations
These crimes and the crime of the coup itself have not been investigated and the perpetrators have not been brought to justice.
The elections of November 29 were organized by an illegitimate coup regime, using violent repression against public protest and civic dissent, making free and fair elections impossibility. These elections were not recognized by most of the Honduran people and by most of the international community.
Since the illegitimate elections of November 29, and, since the inauguration of the defacto government of Pepe Lobo, the human rights violations continue unabated, involving the military, national police, and increasingly, paramilitary death squad forces, targeting anew trade unionists, journalists, indigenous, Garifuna and campesino communities, and other members of the civil resistance to the coup. In just the first two weeks of February there have been at least 6 documented murders, kidnappings or other extra-judicial repression against resistance members:

15 February, JULIO FUNES BENITEZ, a member of the water and sewage workers union SITRASANAA: assassinated.

12 and 14 February, MOVIMIENTO UNIFICADO DE CAMPESINOS DE AGUAN- MUCA: armed attacks by army, police and paramilitaries.

12 February HERMES REYES, a cultural worker with the Broad Movement for Dignity and Justice (MADJ): attacked and beaten by paramilitaries in Siguatepeque

12 February, PORFIRIO PONCE, vice president of the beverage workers union STYBIS and a leader of the National Resistance Front: His house in Tegucigalpa raided, his computer confiscated and his belongings destroyed.

9 February, EDGAR MARTÍNEZ, CAROL RIVERA, MELISSA RIVERA and JOHAN MARTÍNEZ, all active in the resistance movement: Kidnapped, beaten and severely mistreated for three days in San Pedro Sula.

3 February VANESSA YAMILETH ZEPEDA, a nurse and a unionist from the Honduras Institute of Social Security SITRAIHSS active in the resistance movement: kidnapped and assassinated in Tegucigalpa.

Therefore, the installation today, February 25, 2010 of the so-called Truth Commission, organized by the criminals themselves, is a travesty of justice. There can be no “truth” and no “reconciliation” without the end of impunity and the restoration of the Honduran people’s democratic sovereignty

As organizations in the United States of America we pledge:

To continue working in solidarity with the Honduran People.
To publicly and actively oppose the continuing U.S. government policy and actions, both overt or covert, that support as legitimate the defacto government, that continue to give aid or training to the Honduran military, police forces, or paramilitary forces and that are in contradiction with the rights and needs of the Honduran people.
We also pledge to advocate for justice for the Honduran people in the international courts and international organizations charged with defense of human rights.

No Truth is Possible While Impunity Reigns!

Signatories

United Steelworkers (USW), AFL-CIO/CLC

Quixote Center, USA

U.S. Labor Education in the Americas Project (USLEAP)

Alliance for Global Justice

Nicaragua Network

US-El Salvador Sister Cities Network

Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES)

Grassroots International

Association of Internally Displaced Afro-Colombians (AFRODES-USA)

National Lawyers Guild, Task Force on the Americas

Grassroots Global Justice Alliance

Oscar Romero Faith and Solidarity Network in the Americas (SICSAL-USA) School of the Americas Watch (SOA Watch)

School of the Americas Watch – Illinois

School of the Americas Watch – San Francisco Bay Area, California

Hondureños por la Democracia, Washington, DC

May I Speak Freely Media, Rockville, MD

Resistencia Honduras NY/NJ, New York & New Jersey

Central New York Caribbean/Latin America Coalition (CNY CLAC)

Proyecto Hondureño, Boston, Massachusetts

Comité de Solidaridad con la Resistencia Hondureña, Boston

Chelsea Uniéndose Contra la Guerra, Boston

Centro De Desarrollo Dominicano, Boston

Comité de Refugiados de El Salvador (CORES), Boston

Axis of Logic, Boston and Caracas

Project Voice (AFSC), Massachusetts

Centro Presente, Massachusetts

Job With Justice, Massachusetts

Red Nacional Salvadoreña USA

Romero Interfaith Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

InterReligious Task Force on Central America, Cleveland, Ohio

Casa Morazán, Chicago, Illinois

La Voz de los de Abajo, Chicago, Illinois

Illinois Maya Ministries, Illinois Conference, United Church of Christ

Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America (CRLN)

Eighth Day Center for Justice, Chicago, Illinois

Durango Unido en Chicago – Federación de Duranguenses de México

St. Louis Interfaith Committee on Latin America, St. Louis, Missouri

Latin America Solidarity Committee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Harriet Tubman Center for Organizing, Detroit, Michigan

Minnesota Cuba Committee Hands Off Honduras, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota

Bay Area Latin America Solidarity Coalition (BALASC),

California Marin Interfaith Task Force on the Americas,

California Coalition for Peace and Democracy in Honduras, Los Angeles, California

Koreatown Immigrant Worker Alliance (KIWA), Los Angeles, California

Carolina Interfaith Task Force on Central America, Raleigh, North Carolina

Friends of Chilama Sister City Project, Crystal Lake, Illinois

Chicago-Cinquera Sister City Project, Chicago, Illinois

Madison/Arcatao Sister City Project (MASCP), Madison, Wisconsin

Binghamton-El Charcón Sister City Project, Binghamton, New York

Lawrence-El Papaturro Friendship Committee, Lawrence, Kansas

Patria Morazán, Houston,

Texas Border Agricultural Workers Project, El Paso, Texas

Nonviolence International Hemispheric Social Alliance

Ecumenical Committee of English Speaking Church Personnel (CEPRHI), Nicaragua

The people of Honduras are not out of the woods yet. And Zelaya is not out of the Brazilian Embassy and back in the Presidency.

Despite the push by the dictatorship to go ahead with elections;

Despite the "special emergency" visit of US Hemispheric functionaries to press for an end to the stalemate;

Despite the almost nonexistent coverage the ongoing crisis is receiving within Honduras and abroad;

Despite the violent repression against non-violent protests in three locations in Tegucigalpa- yet again today.

The Honduran people are still in resistance. Their resistance is vibrant and nonviolent. Their resistance is cogent and consistent. Their resistance is strong.

The Honduran people continue to struggle for the restitution of their democratically-elected president Manuel "Mel" Zelaya. They struggle against being railroaded by the dictatorship into illegitimate elections. And, most of all, they struggle for the creation of a Constituent Assembly to draft a new, freer and fairer constitution.

And they need our support.

Please join people throughout the United States-from the East Coast to West and all parts in between-in the formation of the US National Committee in Solidarity with the People of Honduras. Through this diverse, national network, we will continue to transmit a common message using congressional lobbying, conscious-raising, and nonviolent direct action, to increase the pressure on the US government.

And to show the people of Honduras that they are not alone.
Please join today

El pueblo Hondureño no esta a salvo todavía.
Y Zelaya no ha sido liberado de la Embajada Brasileña y restituido a la Presidencia.

A pesar del empujo que la dictadura esta dando a seguir con las elecciones;

A pesar de la "visita de emergencia" de unos funcionarios del hemisferio de los EE.UU. a presionar para un fin al punto muerto;

A pesar de la casi inexistente cobertura que recibe la crisis dentro y afuera de Honduras;

A pesar de la represion violenta de una protesta no-violenta, otra vez hoy- en tres lugares de Tugicgalpa.

...El Pueblo Hondureño todavía esta en resistencia. Su resistencia es vibrante y no-violenta. Su resistencia es convincente y consistente. Su resistencia es fuerte.

El Pueblo Hondureño continua en la lucha para la restitución de su presidente democraticamente-electo Manuel "Mel" Zelaya. El Pueblo lucha contra ser presionado por la dictadura a unas elecciones ilegitimas. Y, sobre todo, El Pueblo lucha para la creación de una Asamblea Constituyente que redactara una nueva Constitución mas libre y mas justa.

Y necesitan nuestro apoyo.

Favor de unirse con gente a lo largo de los EE.UU.--de la Costa Este al Oeste y todos puntos intermedios-en la formación en los EE.UU. de un Comité Nacional en Solidaridad con el Pueblo de Honduras. Con esta red diversa y nacional, continuaremos la difusion de un mensaje comun mediante cabildeo congresional, conscientización, y acción directa no-violenta, a incrementar la presión contra el gobierno estadounidense.

Y para mostrar al Pueblo Hondureño que no está a solas.

unirse hoy!

Thousands of Hondurans March in Anti-Coup Protest

In Honduras, thousands of supporters of the ousted former President Manuel Zelaya took to the streets Thursday for a march in the capital Tegucigalpa. It was the first major demonstration since the inauguration of Honduran President Porfirio Lobo last month. Protesters called for constitutional reforms, payments of back wage to teachers, and an end to attacks on Zelaya supporters. The National People’s Resistance Front says one of its supporters was shot to death this week at her home in front of her two young children. The victim, Claudia Brizuela, was the daughter of a radio host critical of the coup that ousted Zelaya last year. (Democracy Now!)

Photos of the March

Honduras March - St. Paul, MN