“The coup d’état in Honduras was a violent response of the US Southern Command that associated with subsidiaries of US transnational corporations in Honduras to plan, execute and strike a blow to democracy in order to prevent the peaceful and democratic processes we were promoting”.

This synthesis was written by the Honduran president, Jose Manuel Zelaya, who was ousted a year ago. He pronounced this speech before an audience called for the Regional Meeting of the Education International in Dominican Republic.

Zelaya currently lives in that country, which shares the island Hispaniola with Haiti. He was invited by Dominican president Leonel Fernandez to reflect on the coup, a year after.

“Fighting ideas with weapons is backwards. Taking me out of the presidency because I did not share the criteria about false free trade that they professed, imposing the Washington Consensus to rule our countries (...) all that made me unacceptable to them”, said Zelaya.

During his speech before the Regional Committee of the Education International, a global federation of education trade unions representing over 30 million workers around the world, with presence in 18 Latin American countries, he highlighted the role of education in the continent’s democratic processes.

He also emphasized the key role played by peasant and women organizations, as well as education trade unions in the resistance to the coup, and still today, in mobilizing the Honduran people.

In fact, Monday marked the coup with massive street demonstrations 365 days after the incidents that ended his term in office that had been lawfully obtained.

These twelve months did not go by without either struggle or human deaths in the Central American country. In declarations to Telesur network, the former president said that since June 28, 2009, over a hundred members of the popular resistance have died and nearly 200 went into exile because of the repression. The victims are peasants, workers, students, said Zelaya.
Arias, the legitimizer

Coecoceiba/ Friends of the Earth Costa Rica, issued a press release in support of the Honduran resistance and exposing the violations the people have been subjected to.

“Human rights violations increase in Honduras: Every day we hear news of arrests, intimidation, disappearances, assaults by armed groups or the army, peasants being evicted from their lands, leaders of the resistance being murdered”, says the press release. It also mentions the legitimizing role of Zelaya’s ousting in the mediation attempts played by former Costa Rican president Oscar Arias when the conflict was at its worst.

“During the time of “dialogue” promoted by Arias, there were murders and disappearances and the Micheleti bunch took over the Honduran institutions while it openly mocked the rest of the world. The Nobel peace prize winner remained silent to all this violence, but insisted that the trade negotiations with the European Union should continue”, recalls COECOCeiba.

Smoke curtain
Reflecting before the educators in Santo Domingo, Zelaya denied the false claims of the current Honduran president Porfirio Lobo – who was ’elected’ in a process that had 60 per cent of abstentions- who has publicly talked about the existence of a coup plan against him.

“I do not take those versions seriously. If they were serious they should mention names and begin an investigation” said Zelaya in interview with correspondent Fernando Francia.

Meanwhile in Honduras, the marches, vigils, road blockades and other actions began this week and extended to the other departments, where thousands of people demanded the reinstatement of Zelaya and the calling of a Constituent Assembly to transform the country.

The chief of the National Police, Jose Luiz Muñoz justified the deployment of officers with the purported aim of preserving order and protecting the public and private property.

“In Honduras there was a coup and that breach can only be reestablished with a new Constitution”, said Carlos Reina, leader of the National Front of Popular Resistance, which comprises a wide range of trade union, indigenous, peasant organizations and progressive politicians, in declarations published by Prensa Latina.

Reina said this situation was outrageous a year after the incidents and reported that violence and arbitrary killings are still in place.

Photo: Fernando Francia