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Manuel Zelaya: `Democracy has a price and I am prepared to pay
it'<br><br>
Giorgio Trucchi's interview with Hondura's President Manuel Zelaya
Rosales <br>
was conducted on July 19 in Managua, Nicaragua, as an exclusive <br>
for Sirel-UITA (Regional Latin American Secretariat of the International
Union <br>
of Food, Agriculture and Hotel Workers World Wide). The English language
website <br>
of the UITA is at
<a href="http://www.iuf.org/www/en/">http://www.iuf.org/www/en/</a>. The
interview only appears in <br>
Spanish at the Latin American website based in Montevideo, Uruguay, at
<br>
<a href="http://www.rel-uita.org/">http://www.rel-uita.org/</a>.<br><br>
This translation is by Felipe Stuart Cournoyer, July 22, 2009. Words
within <br>
square brackets [like this] are the translator's additions made for the
sake of <br>
clarity.<br><br>
* * *<br><br>
By Giorgio Trucchi<br><br>
When the Managua press conference of the constitutional president of
Honduras, <br>
Manuel Zelaya Rosales, ended I was able to get into the president's
vehicle <br>
along with his minister of the presidency Enrique Flores Lanza to go to
an <br>
interview with international media. In just a few days -- or perhaps
hours -- <br>
President Zelaya was to set out on his return trip to Honduras. In the
intimacy <br>
of the vehicle we began this exclusive interview for Sirel.<br><br>
Giorgio Trucchi: In the last few days you've announced your intention to
return <br>
to Honduras, no matter the cost . Is this a definitive decision?<br><br>
Zelaya Rosales: This is not a question of something that goes against the
<br>
stability of the country; rather it is a solution in the search for
stability. <br>
We hope that this will be the best way to undertake an internal dialog
that <br>
solves the conflict and end the repression under which the Honduran
people are <br>
suffering.<br><br>
Dialogue with whom?<br><br>
With the people because the people command in a democracy . The
power-sectors <br>
who have taken up arms are repressive groups and they have to give up the
<br>
exercise of command that the people have not granted them.<br>
What has most saddened you about this coup against your person and your
<br>
government cabinet?<br><br>
What pains me is that the country is being destroyed. Society is
suffering, and <br>
they are trying to destroy the progress we have achieved and the efforts
of so <br>
many generation through the use of arms. <br><br>
The de facto government is totally isolated on the international plain
and is <br>
facing a strong and tireless internal resistance from grassroots
movements. <br>
Despite that, it is carrying on with a totally intransigent attitude. The
<br>
question arises -- is this just a matter of insensitivity, or are they
placing <br>
their confidence in support from foreign actors?<br><br>
They are like wild animals from the jungle who cling to their food. They
think <br>
Honduras is their personal ranch. They're a group of ten families who
want to consolidate their economic wealth and privileges. Their fear is
groundless <br>
because no one is trying to get at them. Nevertheless, they believe that
<br>
democratic development will [badly] affect them and so do not accept
democracy.<br><br>
In the press conference you said that sectors of the United States
extreme right <br>
supported and continue to back the coup. Are you convinced the
involvement of <br>
those sectors?<br><br>
These people have made public demonstrations of their support to the
coup, <br>
including US senators and members of Congress. Mr Otto Reich is the
former Under <br>
Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere and he came out in support
of the <br>
coup. Many people in the United States have done the same. Hence, there
is proof <br>
and evidence that ex-president George W. Bush's hawks are behind this
coup. <br><br>
What importance has the grassroots, social, and union movement had in
blocking <br>
the progress of the coup? <br><br>
The are protagonists in defence of democracy because the think that
democracy is <br>
an instrument that enables them to make social conquests. They are
combating the <br>
coup and won't give up until the effects of this attack against the
Honduran <br>
people and against democracy is ended.<br><br>
The coupsters are defying the world and we have to set a precedent before
it is <br>
too late.<br><br>
UITA [International Union of Food, Agriculture and Hotel Workers] has
been <br>
following events from the optic of grassroots movem ents, before, during,
and <br>
after the coup? For those sectors there are two elements that cannot be
<br>
negotiated: rejection of amnesty for the coupsters, and going ahead with
having <br>
a fourth ballot box [in the coming elections that would consult voters
about <br>
whether or not a constitutional reform process should be undertaken], and
the <br>
installation of a constituent assembly. What do you think about those
points?<br><br>
It would be ridiculous to award a prize to the coupsters for carrying out
a <br>
coup. I think the position of the social movements is to seek a solution
to the <br>
conflict, but without any prizes or pardons for committing penal and
common <br>
crimes. At the same time, I think that the seven points put forward by
[Costa <br>
Rica's] President Oscar Arias speak about political amnesty but not for
ordinary <br>
and penal offences.<br><br>
Regarding social reforms, I think that finding a new strategy to carry on
with <br>
these reforms must be part of a broad process of discussion throughout
Honduran <br>
society. Social reforms should not be ended, nor should the peoples'
rights to <br>
participation [in political decisions] be blocked because they are <br>
constitutional rights. In that sense, Oscar Arias's points were not
discussed in <br>
their breadth because the coupsters do not accept restitution of a
democratic <br>
system. They want a de facto regime that is lawless; they want to
maintain it <br>
with violence. We cannot accept that. <br><br>
It's been said that there are two basic elements in trying to find a
solution to <br>
the conflict: the position of the United States and the role of the armed
<br>
forces. What's your opinion on that?<br><br>
Today we sent a letter to President Barrack Obama, respectfully asking
him to <br>
stiffen measures not only against the repressive state, but also against
those <br>
individuals who conspired and carried out the coup. We hope a quick
response so <br>
that the measures undertaken will really restore a system based on law
and <br>
order. If that does not happen we are all in a precarious situation, not
just <br>
myself -- a victim of a coup for defending society's rights -- but the
whole <br>
population. I believe that President Obama not only has diplomatic
mechanisms <br>
to exercise pressure, but also has other strong resources that I hope he
<br>
applies; and also other countries in Latin America [should do the same].
<br><br>
Regarding the armed forces, if they are going to be used to carry our
coups, <br>
then logically we have to evaluate their role. However, I believe that,
in this <br>
case, it was the high command that ordered the coup. The officers and the
new <br>
generation that is going to receive blood-stained armed forces do
not agree <br>
with this coup.<br><br>
Is it getting close to the moment of your return to Honduras? Aren't you
afraid <br>
of being arrested or assassinated?<br><br>
I have no fear. But I am taking precau tions and being careful. When life
<br>
demands, you have to live with a sense of effort and of its rewards.
Sometimes <br>
sacrifice is necessary to bring about social conquests, and I am ready to
make <br>
the effort for people's liberty, democracy, and peace.<br><br>
Did you ask the media to accompany in your attempt to return to the
country. Are <br>
you really proposing to go back?<br><br>
I've asked them to accompany me. I am going to risk everything and the
world is <br>
taking the same risk with my return. I've said that if there is an
assassination <br>
General Romeo Vasquez Velasquez will be responsible for my
death.<br><br>
<br>
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