All Out to Support the People of Honduras!
• October 2: International Day of Solidarity with the Honduran People
• Resistance Front says ‘We Will Not Rest Until Victory’ • Phoenix Honduras Solidarity Action • Call the State Department Today to Demand All Aid to Honduras Be Cut and Zelaya Restored to Power • Demands at UN for Rule of Law
• Inter-American Human Rights Commission Condemns Suspension of Rights
• OAS: Mass Violation of Human Rights Would Justify Immediate Intervention
• The Second Honduran Coup Came Today Because the First One Failed
• Honduras Coup Leader Micheletti Decrees 45-Day Suspension of Constitution
All Out to Support the People of Honduras!
October 2
International Day of Solidarity
with the Honduran People
Against the State Coup, for the Restitution of Democracy and the Constituent Assembly
Outraged by the State coup in Honduras and the repression of the Honduran people carried out by the de facto dictatorship, we — organizations and social movements, members of regional and global campaigns and networks — are calling for an International Day of Solidarity with the Honduran people, to be held simultaneously on the 2nd October, following on from the actions we have been carrying out since the 28th June. We call on all of you to:
1. Organize actions in front of United Nations (UN) bodies, the United States embassy or consulates as well as representations of the Latin American Business Council in your countries (check names of the board members and national chapters at http://www.ceal-int.org);
2. Carry out demonstrations, concerts, ecumenical celebrations, press conferences, events etc, engaging celebrities, activists, intellectuals, parliamentarians, artists, religious leaders and other people who can attract the attention of the mass media in order to share information and denounce the situation in Honduras;
3. Denounce and boycott the companies related to the coup leaders
4. Send letters to the UN, the European Union, the Organization of American States, the Interamerican Commission of Human Rights (ICHR) demanding urgent action and strong pressure against the coup government in Honduras and the immediate restitution of democracy and the legitimate president Manuel Zelaya;
5. To take advantage of these initiatives and activities in each country to constitute national, provincial, municipal, local and district solidarity committees with Honduras and contribute with campaigns of information and communication, of political pressure and of fundraising in solidarity with the resistance
We also call you to mobilize celebrities, activists, intellectuals, parliamentarians, artists, and religious leaders who can attract the attention of the mass media to follow in solidarity our Honduran brothers and sisters in resistance, making a special effort to participate in the First International Meeting against the State Coup and for the Constituent Assembly, to be held from the 8th to 10th October, in Tegucigalpa (encuentrohonduras@gmail.com).
Against the State Coup and For the Constituent Assembly! Honduras Is Not Alone!
Send email to alba@movimientos.org for further information and adhesion to this call. For news on the events and initiatives, write email to contraelgolpedeestadohn@gmail.com and alba@movimientos.org
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Resistance Front says
‘We Will Not Rest Until Victory’
“The whole world knows that what we have here in Honduras is a coup regime”, Armando Licona, a leader from the Revolutionary University Student Front said. Licona, whose organization is part of the National Resistance Front Against the Coup (FNRG), was speaking from the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa. On September 25 the military attacked the Brazilian embassy with chemical weapons. President Manuel Zelaya is inside the Brazilian embassy after secretly re-entering the country on September 21.
The Honduran people have waged a campaign of constant resistance against the coup regime to demand that Zelaya be restored and a constitutional assembly called to create a new constitution to meet the peoples’ needs in one the hemisphere’s poorest nations.
Since Zelaya’s return, both repression by the dictatorship and resistance by the people have significantly increased. An unknown number of peaceful protesters have been killed or disappeared, and the regime rounds up protesters daily. Despite this, protests continue on the streets.
Licona said that, despite the repression, “Our dignity will not allow us to give up.” He said “We are a people fighting to ensure that the great changes we have initiated come to fruition. We will not rest until President Zelaya is restored to power and the national constituent assembly is called, which will allow these great changes that we dream of become reality — a country based on social justice that is not in the hands of some eight or 10 rich families who do whatever they want with complete impunity.”
Chemical warfare
Licona explained: “Today, the 91st day of resistance, we held a massive march in Tegucigalpa. But the most serious event was the attacks made against Zelaya ... they are using chemical weapons [on the embassy] causing many people inside to vomit blood.”
Dirian Pereira, from the FNRG international commission reported that despite Zelaya denouncing the chemical attack, the International Red Cross, the Human Rights Committee of Honduras and Zelaya’s doctors were denied entry by the military. The soldiers “had orders to not let any one pass”. “This is chemical warfare … it seems clear that the order is to get Zelaya out dead or alive — but preferably dead.”
Meanwhile, the regime has again imposed a night curfew across most of the country, which resistance activists expect will be enforced with brutal repression, and met with defiant resistance.
Licona said: “The coup regime wants a bloodbath. But the resistance has stood firm on its strategy of peaceful mobilizations, even despite their attempts to infiltrate our marches to carry out acts of vandalism, carrying guns. [The regime is] totally armed, that is why it is hard. What we see is a resistance and a people with dignity, but who are fighting with their hands in the face of bullets, batons and tear gas.”
“Dialogue” ruse
The attack against the embassy comes less than 24 hours after the coup regime said it was willing to start a dialogue with Zelaya, who has continuously repeated his willingness to talk.
Licona said that the supposed dialogue attempt “was a proposal of the coup plotter [Roberto] Mitchelleti [installed by the coup as “president”]. What they want is a pretext to claim that all possible avenues of dialogue have been exhausted.”
Pereira explained the position of the FNRG: “We have four well-defined positions: 1) the restoration of President Mel Zelaya; 2) the restoration of constitutional order; 3) the withdrawal of the military to its barracks; and 4) the installation of the national constituent assembly. We will not back down on these.”
Pereira said the resistance would continue with its street protests on September 26. “There will be a march starting at 8am where we will once again aim to bring together the largest number of people possible. In the afternoon there will be a caravan of vehicles throughout the barrios and colonias [poor neighborhoods].”
(Reprinted from Green Left Weekly)
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Phoenix Honduras Solidarity Action
The Honduras Solidarity Committee of Arizona will participate today in an International Action of Solidarity with the people of Honduras who are mobilized across the country in support of President Miguel Zelaya. President Zelaya returned to Honduras September 21 in spite of the de facto government issuance of an order of arrest, and has been received in the Brazilian Embassy in Tegulcigalpa, the capital of Honduras.
In the tense situation, the Honduras Solidarity Committee of Phoenix calls upon all peoples of good conscience to express support for a return to democracy and peaceful resolution of the crisis brought upon the people of Honduras by a military coup initiated on June 28 with the support of the U.S. based School of the Americas based in Ft. Benning, Georgia.
The action in Phoenix , in protest and denunciation of the military coup will deliver a message to U.S. President Barack Obama and members of the U.S. congress demanding an immediate end of military aid to the illegal regime of the defacto government led by Roberto Micheletti and challenging the Obama administration to speak unambiguously, and act decisively, by joining with the other nations of the hemisphere in restoring the constitutional government of President Mel Zelaya.
Recalling the period in history from 1865-1867, when the U.S. government applied diplomatic pressure in favor of Mexico’s legitimate president Benito Juarez and against the illegal right wing usurpers of power, the battle for constitutional government in Honduras takes place during new era of democratization across the hemisphere.
The developments in the central part of the continent also are framed by the constitutional recognition for the first time of Indigenous Peoples, as declared by the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples adopted by the UN General Assembly on September 13, 2007.
Calling for investigation of the role of the U.S. based School of the Americas at Ft. Benning Georgia in the military coup in Honduras, the Honduras Solidarity Committee of Arizona is also calling upon congressional support for House Resolution 630 before the Committee on Foreign Affairs, demanding the reinstatement of President Zelaya.
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Call the State Department Today to Demand All Aid to Honduras Be Cut and Zelaya Restored to Power
Oppose stand of U.S. State Department to blame Honduran President Zelaya for Military Coup’s brutal violence against civilians.
On September 21, President Manuel Zelaya returned to Honduras, taking refuge in the Brazilian Embassy. The Honduran military, under the command of the de facto regime of Roberto Micheletti, immediately began to attack the Embassy with tear gas and other chemicals. Violations of international law have continued, including cutting off electricity, water and food, drawing recent condemnation by the United Nations (UN) Security Council.
The military has dramatically increased violence against the civilian population demonstrating in support of the legitimate President Zelaya. Among other deaths, Wendy Elizabeth Avila was killed by tear gas intoxication during the violent displacement of protesters outside the Brazilian embassy on September 22. International human rights groups have documented assassinations, torture and rape of regime opponents since the coup on June 28.
On September 26, coup leader Micheletti signed an executive order that suspends all Constitutional guarantees for 45 days, including freedom of the press and freedom to assemble. This decree prohibits meetings and demonstrations that do not have the permission of the military. Following the order, various independent radio and television stations have been shut down, in some cases violently.
Rather than denouncing the clear human rights violations by the Honduran military, the Barack Obama administration remained silent. As Mark Weisbrot, Director of Center for Economic and Policy Research stated, "After 90 days and not one word from the Obama administration on the abuses in Honduras, it looks an awful lot like a tacit endorsement of the repression by the U.S. government.”
Yesterday the State Department broke its silence, but not with the condemnation and swift action the Honduran people have been calling for. Instead, officials from the U.S. State Department blamed Zelaya of for the violence being waged on the Honduran people. Lewis Amselem, interim U.S. representative to the Organization of American States (OAS) stated, “The return was irresponsible… Zelaya and those who facilitated his return are responsible for the actions of their followers.”
Join individuals and organizations across the country in denouncing the State Department's tacit endorsement of the coup regime! This is far from the “new” foreign policy that Obama promised; in fact it is a terrifying throw back to U.S.-supported coups in Latin American and the brutal military violence that has ensued (several top military officials in Honduras were trained by the United States at the School of the Americas).
The State Department should take immediate and decisive action against the de facto regime, declare the situation in Honduras a MILITARY coup, and cut all aid to Honduras as required by law.
1. Call the State Department comment line at 202-647-4000 or write President Barack Obama and urge the administration to:
• Call for a return of Zelaya to the presidency of Honduras and demand that the coup authorities, the army and the police respect the right to assembly and the human rights of the citizens of Honduras.
• Emphasize that any bloodshed and violence is the responsibility of the coup government and the security forces which they command.
2. Call the Congressional switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask to speak to your Representative and Senators (or send an email to your Senators and Representative) with the same message. Also encourage your Representatives to sign on to the Delahunt-Serrano-McGovern House Resolution 630 condemning the June 28 military coup in Honduras.
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Interventions by member nations at the debate currently underway at the United Nations General Assembly's (UNGA) 64th session have been marked by widespread concerns about upholding the rule of law in Honduras and opposing foreign interference in the Honduras' internal affairs, as in the case of certain U.S. forces.
Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, who remains inside the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa, on September 29 addressed the UNGA via cell phone. He called on the UN to "to restore the rule of law and the freedom that Honduras deserves. Anybody who had any doubt that a dictatorship is taking hold of my country, now with what has happened in the last 93 days of repression, I think any of those doubts that might have existed are dispelled."
Honduran Foreign Minister Patricia Rodas spoke in person at the UNGA debate the day before where she called for President Zelaya's return to power. She also expressed her appreciation for the support shown for her country's "long way back towards our democracy." Rodas conveyed Zelaya's demands "for life to be respected, for integrity to be respected, for the freedom of speech to be respected," and for "this sad story of persecution" to never be repeated.
Cuba's Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez used the occasion of his address to the General Assembly on September 28 to point out the clash between the people's forces and their demands for justice and progress and reactionary forces who wish to maintain the status quo that led to the coup in Honduras. He noted that the U.S. has yet to clarify its role in the coup where the military plane, which kidnapped President Zelaya on June 28, made a stopover at the U.S. Palmerola air base. He also demanded an immediate end to the siege and aggression against the Brazilian embassy in Honduras.
Speaking on September 24, Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom Caballeros deplored the military coup in Honduras, saying that "what is at stake for the whole world is much more than President Zelaya. We cannot and should not accept the establishment of a precedent to remove a government through a coup d'état." The announcement of presidential elections to be held in the near future does not legitimize Zelaya's overthrow, Guatemala's leader said.
In related news, UN Under-Secretary General B. Lynn Pascoe stated on September 28 that any action taken against the Brazilian embassy in Honduras would be a disaster. Referring to the coup regime's 10-day ultimatum to Brazil to decide whether to grant President Zelaya asylum or hand him over, Pascoe told a news conference at UN Headquarters in New York, "I must say the situation there took a seriously bad turn with the threats on the Brazilian embassy. It is a very serious problem for all of us. It would be a disaster if any action were taken to violate international law on the inviolability of the embassies. We are also concerned to see the worsening situation as the de facto government has been turning up the screws internally, closing media outlets and also taking state of emergency measures against the population.
"We are very concerned about all of that and have been trying to work with others to see whether we can move that process forward," he added, reiterating that the UN is ready to provide whatever help it can to resolve the crisis and its full support for the efforts of Costa Rican President Oscar Arias Sánchez to mediate the crisis.
(UN News Center)
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Inter-American Human Rights Commission Condemns Suspension of Rights
The Inter-American Human Rights Commission (IHRC) September 29 condemned the suspension of rights recognized in the American Convention on Human Rights as ordered by the coup regime in Honduras. The dictatorship headed by Roberto Micheletti last Saturday issued decree PCM-M-016-2009, which suspended civil guarantees.
In a communiqué, the IHRC stated that the measure is in violation of international law, in that it was adopted to support the illegitimate government born from the rupture with democratic institutions that took place on June 28, 2009 when President Manuel Zelaya was ousted from office.
The IHRC, a branch of the Organization of American States (OAS), explains that the suspension of guarantees is foreseen in Article 27 of the American Convention as an exceptional mechanism, in which the enjoyment and exercise of rights are suspended in case of "war, public danger or other emergency that threatens the independence or security of the member State."
The IHRC indicates that for this to be legitimate, "the fulfillment of a series of requirements established in the Convention is necessary."
The first of these requirements is that the suspension be adopted by a government "that exercises public power in a legitimate form within the context of a democratic society."
The decree dictated by the coup leaders suspends for 45 days the constitutional guarantees relating to personal freedom, freedom of association, the right to circulate freely and freedom of expression and establishes that the Armed Forces will participate in operations "to maintain order and the security of the Republic" and to force audio-visual media off the air.
It also prohibits all public meetings not authorized by the police or military authorities, restricts free circulation — indicating that the de facto authorities will announce the duration and the locations where the curfews will apply — and orders the detention of anybody who is circulating outside the established times.
In face of this situation, the IHRC expresses its "profound preoccupation with this decree, whose dispositions restrict fundamental human rights in an arbitrary fashion, and which contains vague norms that grant absolute discretion to the authority and, in particular, to the Armed Forces and the Police."
(Agencia Bolivariana de Noticias)
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OAS: Mass Violation of Human Rights Would Justify Immediate Intervention
At a press conference at OAS headquarters in Washington, DC September 28, General Secretary of the Organization of American States (OAS), Jose Miguel Insulza stated, "If there is mass violation of human rights in Honduras, we might have to intervene in the country for the security of the population and the whole continent. I will devote myself to the issue of Honduras until there is democracy in Honduras. The situation calls for it because with this de facto government peace and security in the continent are threatened."
"There is a break in the constitutionality of the country and I hope we succeed by means of diplomacy to solve the conflict, though the de facto foreign minister has said that he does not believe in diplomacy," he added.
He said that the visit of the OAS mission will take place when the results are in place: "An OAS mission means having answers, we will not go there unless we have them." The only negotiable thing is a return to constitutionality and democracy in Honduras, he stated.
Commenting on the Honduran presidential elections scheduled for November 29, Insulza stated, "The elections in Honduras will not be recognized unless democracy and Zelaya are returned to Honduras."
(Agencia Bolivariana de Noticias)
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The Second Honduran Coup Came Today
Because the First One Failed
On the morning of June 28, coup regime soldiers stomped into the offices of Radio Globo and Channel 36 in Tegucigalpa and silenced their transmitters. The two networks filed court orders to be able to get back on the air. And for the past three months they’ve each been subject to written orders from the Honduras regime to cease broadcasting (the journalists, in turn, refused to be censored) and to paramilitary attacks that poured acid on their transmitters, and yet they and their journalists heroically got themselves back on the air rapidly.
On this morning, three months later, it was déjà vu all over again, as those same military troops reenacted the battle of June 28, busting down the doors of both broadcasters and this time removing their transmitters and equipment. And soldiers have surrounded both houses of media to prevent the people from retaking them.
This time, due to yesterday’s coup decree, there is no legal recourse for the journalists. Under the decree, if a judge even looks at a motion from those media, he, too, can be rounded up, arrested and detained. And if another media reports what happened, it, too, can be invaded and silenced by force.
Today’s “do over” of the June 28 Honduras coup proves two big truths.
First: that the original coup failed to establish control over the country and its people. More than 90 days of nonviolent resistance have demolished what little support the coup regime had inside and outside of Honduras, and left them only with their small core of oligarchs and security forces to defend their putsch against the majority.
And second: That despite all the regime’s Orwellian talk of how it was a “legal” coup, how it was executed to defend the Constitution, and how the continued broadcasting of critical media proved it was not a dictatorship, its intention all along was far more sinister: to erase democracy and its most basic freedoms in order to establish autocratic control by a few over 7.5 million Honduran citizens and the lush natural and human resources in that land.
A significant portion of the Honduran population has gone underground overnight. Tipped off that last night their homes would be raided and they would be hauled off to the soccer stadium in Tegucigalpa where the regime already holds at least 75 citizens incommunicado – reports of the use of torture are all the more credible because the regime will not allow any attorney, doctor or human rights observer inside the stadium to inspect – other rank-and-file Hondurans opened their homes to resistance organizers throughout the country. They are hiding from the regime, but they are in constant contact with each other, and with our reporters.
Another part of last night’s wave of state terror came in the form of this provocation: Key human rights leaders and attorneys were notified anonymously of an alleged roundup of dissidents at a particular police station in the capital. They rushed down to look for the detainees, only to be greeted by the very nervous and heavily armed station police who had, simultaneously, received an anonymous phone call telling them that a mob was on its way there to burn down the station. Fortunately, cooler minds prevailed and once the human rights attorneys explained to the police the message they had received, both sides figured out it was an attempt trick them into a violent confrontation.
That the regime has to try and fool and manipulate its own police forces provides an indication that not all of them are thrilled with the latest decree and events.
This is what the coup plotters always wanted: the prohibition of constitutional rights and total authoritarian power in their hands. They tried to have it both ways for three months — defending themselves to the world with their absurd “the coup is not a coup” doublespeak — but that failed. Now they have gone to Plan B, which unmasks them for what they are: terrorists, and enemies of democracy and freedom.
Their first coup failed in only three months. That is why the date of September 28 now enters the history books as the second coup attempt in Honduras for 2009. The second resistance is out there, regrouping, figuring out its next moves, and when those moves come, probably soon, we will be reporting their words and deeds, despite the fact that the coup regime has also just made that reporting illegal, too.
Similarly, our longtime friend and colleague, the Brazilian cartoonist Latuff, author of the image above, does not take orders from golpistas either. Today he makes public his email address — carlos.latuff@gmail.com — and offers support and his talents at image-making to all members of the Honduran resistance as the next phase of the struggle begins.
The second coup — today's — came because the first one failed miserably, as this one will, too.
Update from Honduras, September 28, 2009
Update 11:26 a.m. in Tegucigalpa: And another few rings fall away from the coup regime "onion" of support. The daily Tiempo reports that National Party presidential candidate Pepe Lobo — who leads in all polls for the November 29 "election" — has now spoken out against yesterday's coup decree and its 45-day suspension of constitutional rights and liberties:
“The National Party presidential candidate, Porfirio Lobo Sosa, lamented what has happened in the political crisis and after calling upon Manuel Zelaya Rosales and Roberto Micheletti to sit down and dialogue, he criticized the Executive Decree published in the Gaceta that restricts various freedoms inherent to human beings.
“Lobo made those statements after leaving a meeting that four presidential candidates, a former president of the nation and various businessmen had with U.S. Ambassador Hugo Llorens.
“The presidential frontrunner confirmed that, in addition to him, candidates Elvin Santos, Bernard Martínez and Felicito Avila of the Liberal, the Innovation and Unity, and the Christian Democratic parties, respectively, were also present at the meeting.
“Lobo Sosa questioned the military curfews and the emission of the Executive Decree against individual rights and news organizations because ‘they damage the image of the country abroad and directly harm the population.’”
The meeting with the U.S. Ambassador from which Lobo emerged to make his first-ever public criticism of the coup d'etat and its repressive maneuvers was also attended by former Honduran President Carlos Flores Facussé, and business magnate Adolfo Facussé — who had both been original backers of the June 28 coup attempt. If either of them follow Lobo into denouncing the coup and its decree, the "coup onion" would lose one or more of its most inner and powerful layers of support.
4:46 p.m.: Radio Globo is now broadcasting over the Internet from a clandestine location, at http://64.191.46.5:8213 (click "listen").
There are also reports that the coup regime, unable to sell this 45-day suspension of the Constitution to the National Congress, is talking about withdrawing the decree. However, unless that includes returning the equipment to Radio Globo and Channel 36, and releasing political prisoners, any reporter who reports it as such would be a fool. Coup dictator Micheletti reportedly asks "forgiveness" for having executed the decree. No se olvide, ni perdón.
5:44 p.m.: Micheletti really seems to be losing it, mentally speaking. Today he handed out another ultimatum, this time to the governments of Spain, Argentina, Venezuela and Mexico (Mexico?!!):
"In the case of those countries that unilaterally decided to break diplomatic relations with Honduras... the situation of Argentina, Spain, Mexico and Venezuela, I'll let them know that the government will not receive diplomatic agents from those countries."
He gave them "ten days" to obey. I'm sure they are quaking in their shoes, crying and contemplating suicide because that silly little petty tyrant Micheletti threatened them. Not.
6:25 p.m.: Radio Globo - via its Internet broadcast - is calling on its listeners to go to its seized studios on Bulevar Morazan tomorrow (Tuesday) morning at 8 a.m.
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Honduras Coup Leader Micheletti Decrees 45-Day Suspension of Constitution
Now they have really done it. On the same day that the Honduran coup regime detained six foreign diplomats from the Organization of American States (OAS) — two U.S. officials, two Canadian, one Colombian and Chilean OAS chief Jose Miguel Insulza — for six hours in the Toncontin International Airport, barring their entrance into Honduras, it has made public the following decree, which bans freedom of assembly, transit, the press and orders National Police and the Armed Forces to arrest and detain any person suspected of exercising those rights.
There really isn't much editorial comment necessary to explain what this means. Read the decree yourself, which we have just translated into English:
Decree:
Article 1. For a period of 45 days beginning with this decree's publication, the Constitutional rights of Articles 69, 72, 81 and 84, are suspended.
Article 2. The Armed Forces will support, together or separately with the National Police, when the situation requires, to execute the necessary plans to maintain the order and security of the Republic.
Article 3. The following is prohibited:
First: Freedom of transit, which will be restricted according to the parameters established by press releases broadcast on all radio and TV stations by the President of the Republic, which will be in effect in all national territory and during curfews, with the exception of cargo transport, ambulances, and urban traffic in the cities excluded in said communiqués, and medical personnel and nurses that in those cities work during curfew hours.
Second: All public meetings not authorized by police or military authorities.
Third: Publication in any media, spoken, written or televised, of information that offends human dignity, public officials, or criticizes the law and the government resolutions, or any style of attack against the public order and peace. CONATEL (the Honduran communications commission), through the National Police and the Armed Forces, is authorized to suspend any radio station, television channel or cable system that does not adjust its programming to the present decree.
Article 4. It is ordered:
First: Detain all persons who are found outside of the established orders of circulation, or that in any manner are suspected by police and military authorities of damaging people or property, those that associate with the goal of committing criminal acts or that place their own lives in danger. All detainees will be read their rights, and at the same time must be brought to be booked in a police station of the country, identifying all persons detained, their motives, the hour of arrest and release from the police station, recording the physical condition of the detainee, to avoid future accusations of supposed crimes of torture.
Second: All persons detained must remain confined in the legally established detention centers.
Third: All public offices, national, state and municipal, that have been occupied by demonstrators or have persons inside of them engaging in illegal activities will be cleared.
Fourth: All Secretaries of State, decentralized institutions, municipalities and other state organisms must place themselves at the orders of the National Police and Armed Forces without any equivocation, along with all means at their disposal, for the development of these operations.
Article 5. The present Decree becomes law immediately, being duly published in the Official Daily "La Gaceta" and will be sent to the National Congress to be made law.
Ordered from the Presidential Palace in the City of Tegucigalpa, municipality of the Central District, on the 22nd of September of 2009.
— Roberto Micheletti Bain, Constitutional President Of The Republic
The four articles of the Honduran Constitution that have been declared suspended for the next 45 days by this decree are:
Article 69: Personal liberty is inviolable and only through law can it be restricted or suspended temporarily.
Article 72: The expression of thought by any media, without censorship, is free. Those who interfere with this right or through direct or indirect means restrict or impede the communication and circulation of ideas and opinions will be held responsible by the law.
Article 81: Every person has the right to circulate freely, leave, enter and remain in national territory.
No one can be obligated to move from his home or residence except in special cases in accord with the law.
Article 84: No one can be arrested or detained except through written order by competent authorities, executed through legal formalities and for motives established by law.
Notwithstanding, open delinquency can be apprehended by any person only to deliver the delinquent to the authorities.
The arrested or detained person must be informed clearly of his rights and the facts of the accusations against him, and, additionally, authorities must permit him to communicate his detention to a family member or person of his choice.
In other words, out of 375 articles in the Honduran Constitution, it is revealing that those most basic liberties are the four that Micheletti and his coup regime have chosen to suspend for the next 45 days.
Those 45 days happen to coincide with more than half of the remaining period until the November 29 "election" that it insists will be carried out fairly and freely. I guess one can theoretically campaign for his or her candidate, but only with a written permission note, according to this decree, from police or military authorities.
The rogue regime that just instituted this decree enjoys the support of some U.S. citizens, including lobbyist Lanny Davis in Washington, DC, a gringo expatriate on the Honduran island of Roatan named Mitch Cummins who leads a global PR effort by a small group of U.S. expatriate in Honduras to defend the coup, the cowardly and serially dishonest (and not very bright) anonymous blogger who claims to be a U.S. citizen in the La Ceiba Honduras area that goes by the pseudonym of La Gringa Blogocito, and, now, a new defender of this authoritarian state terrorism: The U.S. public relations firm of Chlopak, Leonard, Schechter & Associates has just received, according to U.S. Department of Justice records, a $290,000 dollar contract to advise the coup regime.
Given the irrational and authoritarian move by Micheletti and his regime today announcing this decree — one that is apparently already a week old but was kept clandestine until now — the aforementioned companies and individuals ought to be challenged to clarify if they still support a regime that is capable of the atrocities and war crimes it has just announced, in advance, today. And if they do not loudly proclaim their severance from the regime's latest attack on basic human rights and liberties, they, too, will be judged harshly by history, present and future, as sharing in the responsibility for what happens next, by the freedom loving peoples of Honduras and all of América. [...]
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