12 April 2011 | News | Free Honduras | Human rights | Social activists at risk
Tired of the Coup
Honduran Trade Unions call for strike supported by Zelaya
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In Honduras, a mobilization by trade unions was repressed and a teacher was killed. But sadly, this doesn’t seem to make the news, due to the increasing violence exerted by Porfirio Lobo’s coup regime against social actors that has resulted in tens of dead people and absolute impunity.
Despite this, the organizations resisting the coup continue mobilizing. On April 12th, the main trade union organizations, among them the Workers Union Confederation of Honduras (CUTH) called for a national strike.
The high cost of living, the price of fuels, the criminalization of protests, the violent evictions and the demand for the restitution of teachers fired for being members of unions are some of the issues on the table.
The organizations blocked some roads and carried out other forms of peaceful protests, according to the Red Morazanica de Informacion.
The National Front of Popular Resistance is also one of the organizers of this mobilization. The Front is supporting the teachers’ strike that resulted in the death of a teacher and 18 demonstrators arrested.
“The strike is a way of making the government see that violence, tear gases and arrests do not solve the problems related to the violation of human and labor rights in the country,” said Idalmi Carcamo, from the CUTH, in an interview with the Trade Union Confederation of the Americas (TUCA).
Honduran legitimate President Jose Manuel Zelaya Rosales sent a letter from Santo Domingo to address the Honduran people who are struggling against Lobo’s dictatorship.
The ousted president considers that the demands by the teachers unions are fair and that the conflict around education is “deepened by the intolerant attitude of the regime that is attacking those people who express their fair demands”.
