Weeks of demonstrations continue against de-facto regime and its plans to privatize public education.
DAVID DOUGHERTY: On Wednesday, March 30, the Honduran popular resistance called for a general strike and public works stoppage while attempting to occupy universities, schools, and major thoroughfares following several weeks of mobilizations. The de facto regime of Honduran President Porfirio "Pepe" Lobo has stepped up violent police and military confrontations against demonstrators across the country in recent weeks. Today, several universities were among the various areas targeted by the regime's military and police forces.
HEIDY ALACHAN: Right now we are at the university for the advantage of the movement. We are a group with a lot of students. We have been here for around two hours resisting the teargas bombs and police repression. We have knowledge now that their strategy is to surround the university. They have now sent reinforcements, because they already cleared much of the civic strike that was planned and carried out today with the occupation of toll roads in the north and south. So they vacated those. And right now, at this very moment, they are starting to bombard us. Our companions are running. We are attempting to resist, but the bombardment is too much. There are around 30 or 40 teargas bombs so far this morning. These are more powerful bombs. They are not like the others--way stronger than what we have seen in other marches and protests. When this gas hits us, instantly it affects the skin and respiration and you can't walk. We've had to retrieve various friends who have fainted and look for a place where we can get them water.
Travel has been made practically impossible in certain areas. Kids can't go to school. University students can't receive classes. Traffic is stopped. Multiple policeman have been killed or are in the hospital.
In some departments, students have been receiving as few as 90 days of education a year out of more than 200 "required days" of education per school year. And yet teachers feel that they deserve higher pay and thus refuse to teach and instead enjoying creating chaos in the capital city (and in other places).
The entire city has been littered by the vandalism of the "resistencia."
Also it would be great to read the Honduran constitution sometime. That way you could understand that ex-president Zelaya was attempting to overturn the constitution, the congress, and the supreme court and essentially pave the way for his own Chávez-styled dictatorship.
Also the "violent coup d'état" was incredibly peaceful in all reality.
While it is true that Honduras is a very dangerous country for journalists, that figure goes hand in hand with the fact that it has the highest homicide rate in the world--something not provoked by merely bad government (though corruption has and continues being a HUGE problem), but also by an increasing drug trafficking problem.
Sorry to sound biased, but after being here for nine months and encountering at least one teachers strike every three months looking for a pay raise. It has been obvious to me that it is not the teachers who are the victims of the government, but rather the children of the country who are the victims of the teachers union. Not to mention it is incredibly annoying to be forced out of a public bus to have to walk at least two or three kilometers to get to my university because the teachers have taken a street. Or know friends who have to pay thousands and thousands to go to a private university, because the UNAH has become extremely dangerous due to the resistencia. Or hear the stories of my host sister who continues to go to the UNAH in spite of the risk and has lost at least a dozen days of classes due to the resistencia and teachers strikes. Or know of my neighbor who lives in Nueva Suyapa, one of the poorest colonias in the city, who was trying to get to work one day and got his truck taken and burned by the resistencia.
Calling the resistencia "peaceful and defenseless" is a joke.
I agree with everything Amy said. The teachers' salary is 6 times what my fiance makes, working 6 days a week, 10-12 hours a day in Honduras. Honduran President Porfirio "Pepe" Lobo was legally elected. The primaries were held before Zelaya was arrested, not only for defying the constitution, the supreme court and the congress, but also for taking money. Honduras is such a poor country, you would think someone who supposedly loves the poor people would not steal their money. The date of the election was also set in advance and held at the normal time. There is nothing 'de facto ' about President Lobo. Just because the "resistencia." choses not to participate in the vote, in the truth commission, or in becoming a recognized political party, does not make it undemocratic. They are agitators, communistas, trouble makers who want to replace order with chaos, progress with rhetoric, investment with land grabbing. How would you feel if you owned a house and came home one day and found a group of demonstrators had appropriated it? Instability only brings more poverty. They are scaring away tourists, and investors. They do not recognize property rights, or the rights of the children to get a public education. A lot of them are on Chavez' payroll.
And whose payroll are you on?
You both mention the constitution, which was put in place in 1982 under a government heavily supported by the US, which was simultaneously funding the contra terrorists in Nicaragua, who were engaged in drug smuggling and massacring thousands of innocent civilians whose crime was not bowing to US hegemony over the region. Where in this precious constitution does it say it is 'legal' to
support drug-running death squads?
The constitution was in great need of democratic reform, as it was written to support the landed elite and foreign investors, not the poor majority. When these reforms were proposed, the Supreme Court, Congress and the military (the sacred cows of protecting the domestic oligarchy and foreign interests) moved against Zelaya. You mention how
Zelaya was trying to "pave the way for his own Chavez-styled dictatorship" by "over-turning the constitutions." You should consult a dictionary immediately. Look up "dictatorship" and "over-turn."
Neither of these terms applies to this situation, except of course, after the VIOLENT coup (as it was extremely repressive of the pro-democracy demonstrations that immediately sprung up, banned free speech and free assembly and shut down much of the media), when democracy was
"over-turned" and the country was left with a de facto military
dictatorship. Zelaya was proposing reform to the constitution; reform that was much-needed. Also, Chavez is not a dictator unless of course you get your information from the U.S. State Department, which has a long history of supporting brutal and repressive dictatorships. Chavez
has had 8 elections in the past 10 years. Simply because you do not like him or his policies, does not de facto make him a dictator.
Question: Where in the 'sacred' constitution of Honduras does it say it is 'legal' to kidnap a democratically-elected President and then hold "legal" elections replacing him???
You brand the resistance as "communists" and "trouble makers" who commit "land grabbing." What of the farms and homes of these people whose land and lives are taken by the few oligarchs within Honduras and the foreign "investors" from without? Where are your outcries against these "land grabbers" being killed by the military and security companies of the large conglomerates?
I suppose it comes more natural to rail against unions, the poor, democracy, and justice when you are the descendants of the Spanish conquistadors, who make up the minority and the oligarchy within Honduras. But for the poor majority, this is about their right to life, their right to exist and survive. In that sense, it is a true struggle for democracy.
So you must ask yourselves: what side of history would you like to be on: that which supports the rights of the poor to live and survive, to seek justice and equality, to eat and be healthy, to work and be happy; or, that which supports the few over the many, the oligarchs over the people, the foreign conglomerates over the poor, the 'might' over the 'right'?
Frankly, it's hard to take your comments seriously when they appear as if your principle sources of information derive from State Department briefings and Fox News commentary. But your Orwellian double-speak does not go unnoticed. Only in a world so distorted and disturbed could you declare a military coup d'état to be "democratic" and "legal", and democratic reform to be a "dictatorship."
What of the many journalists, union leaders, activists, armers, students and even teenagers who have been killed and assassinated by the "democratic" regime? Do their lives not matter? Or is it that their lives simply mean less than your "right to stability"?
If there is one thing which is truthful to draw from your comments, it is the importance in acknowledging the remaining resistance to democracy and the rights and lives of the poor that persist in Latin America (and for that matter, the world). Blind injustice spills forth with every word you write, and as such, thank you for reminding readers just how hard it is for the poor to struggle for the basic right to exist in a world where "property" is held above people; where
"stability" is more desired than democracy; and where the struggle for life and liberty can be cynically ridiculed as "trouble making."
“A foolish faith in authority is the worst enemy of truth.”
- Albert Einstein
I agree with AGM and Al. The first two posts are rather incredible for this website, but anyone can read and/or post here.
I think it might be a good idea if Poolshark and Amy looked at the report sent to Washington by the US Embassy in Honduras immediately after Zelaya was taken out of the country (Wikileaks eventually divulged the report.) The US Embassy carefully considered every argument that had been marshaled by those who supported the eviction of Zelaya and concluded every one of them was hollow. The fact that the US Embassy – which of course did not even raise the question of the validity of the 1982 Constitution which AGM raises – would nevertheless conclude that the events of June 2009 were indefensible is pretty eloquent evidence against the integrity of the Honduran elite.
But read the report: it is a very impressive analysis – in fact the best of the many analyses, pro and con, I have read about the event.