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<h1><font size=4><b>National Resistance Against the Coup d’Etat Announces
Boycott of November 29 Honduras Elections<br><br>
</b></font></h1><h2><b>Coup Regime’s Noncompliance with the October 30
Accord Renders Last Week’s Agreement Moot<br><br>
</b></h2><h3><font size=3><b>By Tamar Sharibi<br>
Reporting from
Tegucigalpa</b></font></h3><font size=3>
<a href="http://www.narconews.com/Issue61/article3917.html" eudora="autourl">
http://www.narconews.com/Issue61/article3917.html</a><br><br>
November 6, 2009<br><br>
<b>TEGUCIGALPA, HONDURAS, NOVEMBER 6, 2009:</b> Hundreds of people have
congregated daily outside the Honduran National Congress to pressure its
members (known as <i>‘Diputados,’ </i>or Deputies) to finally reinstate
President Manuel Zelaya. The new wave of hope came after the US State
Department’s visit that many interpret as a tactic to guarantee the
November 29 elections. While US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
proclaimed a “breakthrough in negotiations in Honduras,” things on the
ground still seemed to be at a stalemate as of Thursday afternoon,
November 5, the date that, according to the accord signed last week,
should have brought – but didn’t bring – the end of the coup
regime.<br><br>
In response to the never-ending and not so genuine negotiations, the
National Resistance Front Against the Coup d’Etat published this
statement:<br><br>
<i>The National Resistance Front against the Coup d’Etat announces to the
Honduran population and the international community:<br><br>
Whereas:<br><br>
</font>
<dl>
<dd>1.That during 131 consecutive days of the struggle, we have pressured
for a peaceful resolution to the political crisis that our country has
lived resulting from the coup d’état perpetrated by the Honduran
Oligarchy. In this period we have supported the initiatives that have
been driven by various national and international sectors, maintaining
three fundamental demands: a) the return of institutional order with the
restitution of the legitimate president Manuel Zelaya Rosales, b) respect
for our sovereign right to install a National Constituent Assembly that
brings together the country and c) punishment for the violators of human
rights.<br><br>
<dd>2.That the call of the agreement Tegucigalpa-San Jose contains the
priority element the return of constitutional order and literally states
its purpose as “to bring back the title of the Executive Power to the
state previous to the that of June 28 until the conclusion of the actual
governing period, January 27, 2010”<br><br>
<dd>3.That the National Congress, coauthor of the breaking of
constitutional order on the June 28, is using delaying tactics, in not
wanting to convene the complete assembly in order to repeal the decree
that installed the de facto regime.<br><br>
<dd>4.That the OEA and the government of the United States, who we
consider accomplice of the military coup d’état, do not represent our
interests in the definitive exit of the people involved in the coup
d’état out of power.<br><br>
</dl>So we resolve:<br><br>
<dl>
<dd>1.If today, Thursday, November 5, no later than midnight President
Jose Manuel Zelaya Rosales is not reinstated to his position, the
National Resistance Front against the Coup d’Etat will not recognize the
electoral process and its results.<br><br>
<dd>2.We alert all the organizations in the resistance on a national
level so that in case President Zelaya is not reinstated in the
established period to be ready to execute the actions of negating the
farse elections.<br><br>
<dd>3.We call on the international community to maintain the position
that the de facto regime and the elections of November 29 are
illegitimate.<br><br>
<div align="center">
<dd>We resist and we will be victorious!<br>
<dd>Tegucigalpa, M.D.C. 5 of November 2009<br><br>
</i></div>
</dl>Many resistance members have commented that the same Congress that
invented the President’s resignation letter last June is now being
trusted to clean up the mess.<br><br>
US officials have given mixed signals about whether they will recognize
the 29 elections regardless of whether President Zelaya is restored.
<a href="http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2009/nov/131346.htm">On
Wednesday</a>, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly danced around
reporters’ questions that sought more specificity:<br><br>
<dl>
<dd>QUESTION: It appears as though, as long as the congress agrees on
something, you’re willing to accept it even it falls short of Zelaya
being restored before the election.<br><br>
<dd>MR. KELLY: I think what we’re saying is that we want the two parties
to agree.<br><br>
</i>
</dl>Despite last week’s US Delegation and the accord that resulted,
police and military repression continue. On Thursday Oct 29, Day 124 of
the resistance, a peaceful march organized by the resistance movement and
the UD, the Democratic Unification Party, the only national political
party to oppose the coup from the beginning, came under physical attack
from coup security forces. The Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE, in its
Spanish initials) had granted the UD party a permit to hold the march.
Interestingly enough, the October 29 was also the first day that control
over the military was transferred to the TSE purportedly to guarantee the
‘safety’ of the elections.<br><br>
All the major news agencies were covering the official press conference
being held at the American Embassy when the action broke out. The
repression on this day was different because there was almost no warning
on the attack. The march was making its way through a neighborhood called
El Prado, passing by the main offices of TSE. As a few protestors ripped
down election material, military trucks arrived and started beating
anyone in sight.<br><br>
After canisters of tear gas were shot into the crowd, people dispersed in
all directions. Approximately 300 reassembled within the hour near the
Marriot Hotel, two blocks away from the Presidential Palace. Once again,
the military regrouped and attacked the crowd. Soldiers followed people
into the bathrooms of local businesses to pull them out and either beat
them or temporarily detain them.<br><br>
Andres Pavón, director of CODEH, the Committee of Human Rights in
Honduras, reported 12 people receiving medical attention with severe
lesions. Since soldiers and police have arrested people from the public
hospital in Tegucigalpa, Hospital Escuela, it is likely more people were
in need of medical attention but too frightened to present themselves.
Many people who are victims of last Thursday’s police repression prefered
to take refuge in CPTRT, Center for the Prevention, Treatment and
Rehabilitation for Victims of Torture and their Families.<br><br>
So what conclusions can we draw from the US State Department visit?
Considering the
<a href="http://honduras.usembassy.gov/links_media.html">US Embassy’s
media contacts list</a> or following the mainstream media, one might be
lead to believe that the State Department delegation truly was as
historic as Secretary Clinton claimed it was. The walls of Tegucigalpa,
though, shout a different message: “Solo el pueblo salva el pueblo,”
(Only the people save the people</i>). On the ground, most people never
really trusted any of the diplomatic visits in the first place.<br><br>
As of midnight last night, the National Resistance Front against the Coup
d’Etat will begin its process of delegitimizing the electoral process. In
a statement issued by President Zelaya, from the Brazilian Embassy in
Tegucigalpa where he has taken refuge the past 46 days and nights, he
said that the coup regime was plotting “a giant political-electoral
fraud” through “constant violations of human rights, the cancellation of
public liberties, the shutdown and confiscation of media like Channel 36
and Radio Globo, and the situation of having the President who was
elected by the people surrounded by military soldiers in the diplomatic
seat and the overall political persecution.” Zelaya added:<br><br>
<dl>
<dd>“We announce our total non-recognition of this electoral process and
its results. Due to the above mentioned violations, elections under a
dictatorship are a fraud to the people.”<br><br>
</i>
</dl>The de facto government on the other hand, went about interpreting
the Tegucigalpa/San Jose Accord as it pleased, supposedly naming its
reconciliatory government while maintaining coup “president” Roberto
Micheletti in power. The US will now have to answer to the international
community – including the Organization of American States (OAS) – as the
only government that says it might recognize the Nov 29 elections in
Honduras.<br><br>
<br><br>
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