It is perhaps fitting that my time in Honduras should end right where it began – facing a lineup of police in riot gear in front of the Brazilian embassy where the elected President of the country remains in exile. There is much that can be said about what Honduras was like under Zelaya – it certainly was no paradise for the millions of people who struggle to survive from day to day – but it was not a police state.
Honduras today is like an Orwellian nightmare. A façade of calm as soldiers patrol the streets with automatic weapons; a theatrical production of democracy in a state that no longer has a functioning code of law; a discourse of peace that so completely fails to convince, it almost seems like it is intended to mock its victims. Indeed, one placard yesterday read, “2 + 2 = 5? Do not insult us, golpistas.”
And Canada is already falling all over itself to recognize the ‘elections’ as fair, free and legitimate.
No doubt the United States will follow suit – it appears the North American strategy on Honduras is to have Canada jump in first and take whatever heat comes from it. We don’t care, evidently, that our already souring international reputation (as a result of the occupation of Afghanistan, our participation in the 2004 coup in Haiti, the brutality of our mining operations in Central America, etc) will be even further damaged by playing along with a lie that is painfully obvious to most of Latin America. Then when the road has been cleared, Prince Obama will give his blessing and everyone will go home and forget that any of this ever happened.
But Hondurans cannot go home – their home has been stolen. In a literal sense, their homes are not safe. Police raids on private residences are a daily occurrence; warrants rarely provided or obviously faked, protocols on human rights of people who have been proven guilty of nothing patently and brutally ignored, people involved in the peaceful resistance targeted and terrorized ruthlessly. It is the heliotype of a totalitarian state, everything we are led to believe our governments oppose and, indeed, everything we are said to be fighting against in Afghanistan and Iraq.
And in the larger sense, the country they call home has been taken from them. Even according to the official numbers, barely 10% of Hondurans voted for Porfirio Lobo (Pepe Robo - Pepe the Robber - as the walls call him) on Sunday. There are nearly 8 million Hondurans, and only 1.7 million voted. By a manipulation of how many people are considered ‘eligible’ to vote, the golpistas have claimed that there was a 60% turnout (Fox News in the United States, in a comical display of disregard for anything resembling truth, is reporting 70%. Not even the golpistas in Honduras have claimed anything so stupid.) Pepe is to be sworn into ‘office’ on January 27th, but even the notion that he is being sworn into something is absurd – the coup on June 28th marked the end of constitutional order and rule of law in this country.
But no matter how the golpistas and their North American allies spin this, Nov. 29th was a small victory for the Resistencia, in that the massive rejection of the election spoke eloquently to the support behind the movement. I was back in the capital on Nov. 30th, and I attended an assembly at the STIBYS union hall in Tegucigalpa, where members of the Frente gave a press conference responding to the pantomime elections, followed by a massive rally and a caravan through the city. After five months of almost-daily protest, people still found the energy to take to the streets; thousands of Hondurans cheering, singing, waving flags, honking horns and - in what may yet become the most poignant symbol of the movement – waving their un-inked pinky fingers high to show that they had not voted.
Manuel Zelaya spoke to the assembly as Juan Barona held a microphone up to his cell phone. But Zelaya is overshadowed by what he represents. Zelaya, himself a junior member of the oligarchy gone rogue, is only a figure who has opened the floodgates of popular resistance in Honduras. “Where are the people?” asks Rafeal Alegria. “The people are in the streets, demanding their freedom!” comes the reply. When it comes from thousands of enthusiastic people, in a crowded union hall, in direct defiance of the state, the sound is truly electrifying.
As we paraded through the streets of Tegucigalpa, it became clear that this was not, as the coup regime keeps saying, a movement of a few thousand Melistas. In nieghbourhood after neighbourhood, people streamed into the streets to greet the caravan, cheering and waving their un-inked fingers. Riding on the back of a falling apart pickup truck through the barrios and colinias, I felt like I was bringing home the Stanley Cup. In a way, I was; riding shotgun in our truck was Bertha Oliva, the founder and director of COFADEH, a human rights group that has been at the center of the struggle against oppression for the last 27 years.
When we finally arrive at our destination, the Brazilian embassy, the police line has already formed. Over the next couple of hours, thousands of Hondurans filled the spaces between the banks and the Burger King, while more and more police and soldiers arrive on the scene. The protest is peaceful, as usual. The police didn’t fire tear gas at this gathering, the way they did in San Pedro Sula the day before, but they made a point of loading up the cannons and aiming them at the crowd. Even with my ‘international observer’ badge displayed prominently, I found my video camera staring into the barrel of a water cannon that had been adjusted to set its sight on me, and felt my heart start racing at the idea that they might actually fire. And that was only a water cannon.
I didn’t get hammered with water, no one was hurt, the protest was slowly disbanded on its own initiative. But the scene was both intimidating and inspiring, and it made me wonder what would have happened if there hadn’t been such a huge presence of international press, with cameras and notebooks at the ready. That presence is leaving, to most people, the story is over. I worry about what will happen now, when the world turns its back on Honduras and the golpistas are given a free hand to terrorize their opponents – the people – as they see fit.
“We will keep fighting for the constituyente,” announces Carlos H. Reyes, an independent candidate who has withdrawn from the elections in protest weeks earlier. “People keep saying the election in the solution to our crisis, that there is no alternative to move forward in Honduras. Of course there is an alternative, there has always been an alternative. We want the constituyente, like we’ve been saying for years. We want to write our own laws. We don’t want the golpe laws, we don’t want Facusse’s laws, we want the people’s laws.” The crowd erupts, un-inked fingers point to the sky, a ‘no vote’ chant builds up, and a small man in a crisp white shirt idles up beside me. “I’m Donzalo Rosales, I teach at the autonomous university. I see you are taking notes, so you must be a writer. I’m a writer too. Someday, I will write a book about our struggle, you see, it is not over. You see that, don’t you? I think you see that. This is only the beginning. I will write the book and it will have a great ending, where the people will finally have the power in our state. I hope you will read it when it is finished.”
Barack Obama - more of the same - unfortunatelly.
I hope the book that Carlos reyes is going to write is about how Honduras didn't ended like Venezuela
You must have been wearing Marxist-colored eyeglasses.
The majority of Hondurans don't think like the small minority you associated with.
I should know, I lived there for 10 years, and have contact with a broad base of people there.
90% of the "abuses" and oppression reported amongst the "resistance" is exaggeration, rumor or outright lies.
Of course, there is division in the country, and as the "resistance" burns tires, breaks windows, trashes vehicles, throws rocks, and sprays graffiti everywhere, and block roads, the authorities have to do something. They responded with a lot of restraint in the first few months, but as time went on, they used more force because the vocal minority was trying to shut down life for the majority. Of course there were injuries, arrests, and even a few deaths in the skirmishes (only 3 or 4 that can be confirmed by reputable sources, and even most of those it is not clear who is responsible).
You will hear plenty of lies and propaganda, rumors and exaggerations from the likes of Radio Globo, which seems to be living in a parallel universe. Along with this blog entry as well.
The whole brouhaha and claims of victimhood supporting Zelaya is being whipped up by the far Left and neo-Marxist groups associated with the Foro de Sao Paulo. This is a group of Communist parties, narco groups like the FARC, and the more moderate (by comparison) but still far left groups and individuals that came together after the fall of the Berlin Wall, to devise a new strategy forward. They chose to reject the most extreme forms of Communism, but instead to adopt a more moderate image, using democracy to come into power, but once in power, subverting all institutions and thus undermining democracy from within.
Hondurans saw this happening with Zelaya, who had allied himself closely with Chavez and other Foro de Sao Paulo members and was making moves to remove a perfectly good Constitution with vague claims that it was oppressive to the people, and other such demagogery that these groups use to dupe the people. Hondurans have a strict Constitution, and fortunately, some strong institutions, which fortunately stopped this before it could happen.
They made mistakes, and the situation is messy, but it is the least of two evils. Had Zelaya had his way, no elections would have occurred, and he would still be in power. I have video proof (it is on YouTube) of Zelaya specifically talking about removing the term limits, so don't try to deny it. Under the Honduras Constitution, proposing that carries a consequence of immediate loss of position and even of citizenship.
Jeez dude, you actually believe this garbage you are writing? The TSE is estimating 62% turned out using the exact same counting method they used four years ago to determine that only 55% turned out to vote for Zelaya. More than half of the Honduran population is under age and that 8 million you are claiming is an overly generous estimation of the population.
And his supporters don't number in the thousands anymore, try more like three hundred. Get a life and stop trying to spread lies about Honduras. All the opinion polls are at least 80% in favor of dumping Mel and so was the vote tonight. Get over it. Head back to Canada and work on making it more socialist and leave the work of building a strong democracy to people with balls.
15-0 Supreme court removes Zelaya as he attempts to viloate the constitution
14-1 Supreme court ratifies decision above
63% of the population voted (2.8 million).. Zelaya is clearly not the leader he claims to be
111-14 Honduran congress rejects Zelaya a second time around...
Hondurans do not want him
A proud, democratic honduran
I live in Honduras and you don't seem to have ever been there. When you say there are nearly 8 million people you forget to mention who and where these people are. Of the 7.5 million people 3.25 million are children, look at the demographics, that leaves 3.25 million over 18. Of those eligible to vote over 1 million live in other countries, the US, Spain, Canada, Mexico. That would leave 2.25 million voters in the country. This is just one of the ways that you have misrepresented the facts to spew your own brand of socialist dictators on these poor people. I doubt if you care, you, Hugo, Fidel, Daniel and Mel.....
Obama was nothing more than a package to win back the hearts and minds of the people. But it is what's always been, business as usual!
Official statistics don't show a 10% voting rate, it shows a 60% voting rate and this is where world news organs are getting their information.
If you are so concerned about the laws of Honduras why place a double standard when it comes to the actions of the former President who undermined the constitution? Zelaya was subject to the laws of the land like any other president. The constitutional institutions of the Honduran government, who have competency in such matters, found that Zelaya was actively undermining the constitution and thus the remedies laid out in the constitution applied, removal.
The constitutional crisis was initiated by Zelaya. He undermined the electoral council by using his mobs to illegally take possession of the ballots. Presumebly, pro-Zelaya mobs were to govern the process of the illegal referendum. Furthermore, Zelaya was withholding the budget of the upcoming election which he was constitutionally obligated to disperse.
The crisis began with Zelaya's reckless actions and will likely end with his lawful imprisonment after a fair trial before the Supreme Court of that country. T
Do you see what I see? In the photo, half of the people showing their un-inked fingers are clearly children. What is the minimum age to vote in Honduras?
Hey Tyler, thanks for your thoughtful responses.
You say:
To be more specific: 1.7 million people voted (not 2.8 million, as the fifth respondant claimed.) Of those, only 1.2 million actually voted for a candidate (nearly 50,000 spoiled or blanked their ballots.)
Those numbers don't add up. Were there 0.5 million people who spoiled their ballots (500,000) or was it 0.05 (50,000)?
Thanks again for your continued great reporting on this issue Tyler. I'll be checking in frequently to see how things are developing in Honduras.
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