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<h1><font size=4><b>Venezuelan Solidarity Convoy Bound for Honduras
Detained in Colombia</b></font></h1><font size=3>July 7th 2009, by Kiraz
Janicke - Venezuelanalysis.com <br>
<a href="http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/4596" eudora="autourl">
http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/4596<br><br>
</a>June 7, 2009 (Venezuelanalysis.com) - A solidarity convoy of sixty
people bound for Honduras was detained in Maicao, Colombia, by military
forces, Venezuelan public television channel VTV reported on Monday. The
convoy, which included nineteen Honduran doctors, was initiated by
grassroots organisations, workers representatives and students in
Venezuela and aimed to show solidarity with the Honduran people in the
aftermath of the military coup that ousted the democratically elected
president of that country, Manuel Zelaya, on June 28. <br><br>
Miguel Mora, a member of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV),
and a participant in the convoy, denounced via telephone, that
immediately after Colombian customs had allowed the convoy to cross the
border, they were detained by the Administrative Security Department
(DAS) of Colombia, who alleged they had committed crimes, such as
carrying political material. <br><br>
"First they allowed us to pass, but when we had crossed the border
towards the interior of Colombia and we were going in buses with logos of
President Hugo Chavez that said ‘Solidarity with the Honduran
people', the DAS immediately detained us alleging that we were
committing a crime that in their country is not allowed, of carrying
political material, of carrying images of President Chavez and material
in solidarity with the Honduran people," Mora explained. <br><br>
The convoy, which departed on Saturday from Simon Bolivar House, Caracas,
had planned to pass through Colombia, Panamá, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and
arrive a few days later in Honduras via land. <br><br>
Mora said the forty Venezuelans, nineteen Honduran doctors and one Cuban
participating in the convoy remained detained; their passports had been
taken from them and the place where they were located, cordoned off. Mora
indicated that he had managed to slip away with a telephone and, through
this, communicate with VTV. <br><br>
"They detained us simply for carrying pictures of Chavez and a
solidarity banner with the Honduran people," he said. <br><br>
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