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<h1><font size=4><b>Honduran Teachers Defy Coup Government, Maintain
Strike</b></font></h1><font size=1>
<a href="http://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/kristin-bricker/2009/07/honduran-teachers-defy-coup-government-maintain-strike" eudora="autourl">
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/kristin-bricker/2009/07/honduran-teachers-defy-coup-government-maintain-strike<br>
</a></font><font size=3>Posted by
<a href="http://narcosphere.narconews.com/users/kristin-bricker">Kristin
Bricker</a> - July 7, 2009 at 2:00 am <br><br>
<b>The Teachers Union Won't Return to Classes Until Zelaya is Back in
Office; Street Protests Continue<br><br>
</b>With the death of 19-year-old Obed Murillo allegedly at the hands of
Honduran security forces at Tegucigalpa airport yesterday while President
Manuel Zelaya was attempting to land there, the coup government
demonstrated its willingness to resort to lethal force to maintain its
power. <br><br>
Likewise, the Honduran people have demonstrated their resolve to oppose
the coup government, no matter the cost. On Monday, just one day
after Honduran security forces opened fire on an unarmed crowd of Zelaya
supporters at the airport, resulting in one death and a still-unknown
number of injuries, thousands of Zelaya supporters took to the streets
for the ninth straight day, with protests reported in
<a href="http://www.abc.es/20090706/internacional-iberoamerica/tension-baja-honduras-aunque-200907062324.html">
Tegucigalpa</a>,
<a href="http://www.prensa-latina.cu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=98473&Itemid=1">
San Pedro Sula</a>, and El Progreso. <br><br>
Meanwhile,
<a href="http://www.radioamerica.hn/sitio.cfm?pag=leenoticias&t=Dia&id=13488">
Radio America</a> reports that schools across the country remain
shuttered on Monday as part of a national strike called by the Federation
of Teachers Organizations of Honduras (FOMH, the Honduran teachers
union). <a href="http://www.latribuna.hn/web2.0/?p=16634"> The strike
continues</a> despite pressures from the coup government to resume
classes. The Micheletti regime's Ministry of Education spent the
weekend <a href="http://www.latribuna.hn/web2.0/?p=16712">ordering
teachers back to classes</a>. Teachers and their families called
into Radio Progreso over the weekend decrying strong pressures from the
Micheletti government to return to classes.<br><br>
The Micheletti regime triumphantly
<a href="http://www.latribuna.hn/web2.0/?p=16712">declared</a> that
classes would begin on Monday at all levels, from primary schools to
universities. Micheletti's Secretary of Education, Santos Eleo
Sosa, attempted to convince the press that "the majority of inland
educational institutions" resumed classes on Monday.
Notwithstanding, Radio America and Radio Progreso both reported that
schools remained shuttered due to the strike. <br><br>
Teachers across Honduras have been on strike since last Monday, one day
after the military forcibly removed President Zelaya from Honduras.
They have steadfastly declared that they will not return to classes until
Zelaya returns. The
<a href="http://www.elpais.cr/articulos.php?id=8669">union leadership's
message to members</a>, in addition to declaring an indefinite strike,
requested that teachers "begin civil disobedience and defy any
regulation or order that comes from the de facto government, because we
do not recognize any authority other than that which was legitimately
elected by the Honduran people." <br><br>
In the one school where some (not all) classes were scheduled to begin on
Monday, the National Autonomous University of Honduras
(UNAH),<a href="http://www.prensa-latina.cu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=98449&Itemid=1">
students occupied the school to maintain the strike</a> despite the
university rector's attempts to re-open the school. A student who
is participating in the occupation told Radio Progreso that the students
will continue to occupy the university until Zelaya returns.
<br><br>
Other sectors of Honduran society continue to mobilize for the return of
President Zelaya.
<a href="http://www.elheraldo.hn/Especiales/Honduras%20en%20contra%20de%20la%20ilegalidad%20del%2024%20de%20junio%20de%202009/Ediciones/2009/07/07/Noticias/Manifestantes-regresan-al-interior-del-pais">
El Heraldo</a> reports that movement leaders have announced that
highways and bridges all over the country will be blocked until Zelaya
returns to Honduras as its president. While highway blockades have
occurred throughout the coup, an increased focus on blockades could
represent a more sustainable strategy for nation-wide mobilization.
Up until now, Zelaya supporters' tactics have focused on mass
mobilizations and mega-marches in Tegucigalpa. Highway and bridge
blockades, particularly on the northern coast, could strike a significant
blow to Honduras' economy while allowing Zelaya supporters to mobilize in
support of the president from their towns and communities, rather than
leaving their jobs and homes to travel to Tegucigalpa to participate in
actions there. <br><br>
<br>
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