Thanks to all of you who have urged your members of Congress to support HRes 630, condemning the coup in Honduras. Today you have another opportunity to act on behalf of democracy. See below for the Action Alert from SOA Watch.

Earlier this week, the SOA graduate-backed Honduran military coup regime refused all diplomatic options to return democracy. The U.S. State Department responded by asserting that visas to Hondurans would no longer be granted under the coup. Late yesterday State Department officials made it clear that they are considering legally defining the situation as a “military coup.” This would create an automatic cut-off of all remaining aid to Honduras. The coup regime immediately responded by saying that they would allow the rightful President Zelaya to return with amnesty, but not as president. Clearly the coup leaders are caving to the pressure.  For more background information, check out this article:

http://www.reuters.com/article/vcCandidateFeed1/idUSN27328207

. We need you to act now to return democracy to Honduras. Please make two very important phone calls!  For information on how to respond, please read below or click the “read more” link.

1.) Call the State Department at 202-647-5171 or 1-800-877-8339 and ask for Secretary Clinton. Deliver the following message:

“My name is ________ and I live in ______ (city/state). I am calling to ask you to legally define the de facto regime in Honduras as a military coup and cut off all aid to Honduras until President Zelaya is unconditionally reinstated.”

2.) Call the White House at 202-456-1111 and repeat the same message

“My name is _______ and I live in __________ (city/state). I am calling to ask you to legally define the de facto regime in Honduras as a military coup and cut off all aid to Honduras until President Zelaya is unconditionally reinstated.”

Delegation to Meet with Social Justice and Human Rights Organizations

Since the June 2009 military coup in Honduras, CRLN members have partnered with local and national organizations to work to restore democracy to Honduras.  Two of those local partners,

La Voz de los de Abajo

and

Casa Morazan

are organizing a weeklong delegation to Honduras, to build ties with Honduran organizations working on behalf of social justice.  Join us – to hear directly from human rights leaders in Honduras so that we are equipped to advocate for just US policies.

The coup in Honduras, led by a graduate of the US’s School of the Americas program, has led to the deaths of human rights and social justice leaders in Honduras and called into question the US’s commitment to democracy in this hemisphere.  The cost of the delegation is $1,200 including airfare.  Please prayerfully consider joining us on this delegation and working with us upon your return to advocate for policies that will encourage restoring democracy in Honduras.

For more information, call 773-293-2964

.

Recent CRLN Webstories on Honduras

https://www.crln.org/Condemn_Military_Coup

https://www.crln.org/Honduran_Coup_Tom_Loudon_Report

https://www.crln.org/Honduran_consulate

Summary of Delegation from La Voz de los de Abajo and Casa Morazan

For more than 2 months, the Honduran people and their
organizations have surprised the world with their sacrifice and bravery in
mobilizing daily in resistance to the coup of June 28.  In response to the call from social organizations and the
Honduras National Front Against the Coup, La Voz de los de Abajo and Casa
Morazan is organizing a week-long delegation to Honduras, with the overall goal
of building a solidarity movement supporting the social justice movement in
Honduras and strengthening ties between U.S. organizations and activists and our
counterparts in Honduras.

There is limited space on the delegation. We are looking for
people involved in solidarity work, media, cultural work, trade union and
workers’ rights, healthcare, immigrant rights and others who are interested in
learning directly about the situation in Honduras and willing to help bring
information about the Honduran people’s movement to the U.S.

The delegation will meet with organizations that are
participating in the National Front Against the Coup and with human rights and
alternative media organizations. The National Front Against the Coup is the
coordinating organization for all the organizations in the country that are
resisting the coup. It holds regular general assemblies in which decisions are
made for resistance activities. Below is an introduction to some of the organizations that our delegation will have the opportunity to meet and to talk with.

The Central Nacional
de los Trabajadores del Campo (CNTC) The National Center for Rural
Workers


is one of the largest
and most active campesino base organizations in Honduras. It was founded in 1985
when 5 campesino groups joined together to build an organization dedicated to
the struggle for land for the landless and poorest farmers.  It
organizes not only for land, but also for access to healthcare, education,
housing and other basic services. The CNTC has affiliated communities in most of
the 18 departments (states) of Honduras. It was one of the few campesino
organizations to publicly oppose U.S. intervention in Central America during the
1980’s and it has continued to take progressive positions on international and
national social justice issues.  Because of its work in the
countryside its communities and leaders have frequently been targets for
governmental and landowner repression. The CNTC is a member of the Popular
Block, the National Coordinator for Popular Resistance and since the June
28 coup it has been an active participant in the National Front
Against the Coup (Frente Natcional en Contral el Golpe).

El Comite de Familiares de los Desaparecios en Honduras
(COFADEH) The Committee of the Families of the Disappeared in Honduras


was rounded on November 30, 1982 in Tegucigalpa. COFADEH is a center for moral
and political resistance to the abuses of government and an organization for the
defense and promotion of human rights. Its objectives are to fight against
impunity; to use the law and justice to end the practice of politically and
ideologically motivated forced disappearance of persons; to contribute to the
protection of the full application of human rights and to maintain alive the
collective memory of the past.

El Consejo Cívico de Organizaciones Populares e
Indígenas de Honduras (COPINH) The Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous
Organizations of Honduras


is an activist indigenous organization in the
southwestern region of Honduras with national reach. It was founded in March of
1993 to fight for the recognition of and achievement of political, social,
cultural and economic rights for the indigenous peoples in Honduras. It is also
a center for analysis of the regional and national conditions with the aim of
developing actions and proposals on an ongoing basis for the achievement of its
goals. COPINH is an active member of the Popular Block, National Coordinator of
Popular Resistance and it is an active member of the National Front Against the
Coup.

La Central General de Trabajadores


(CGT) The General
Workerr’ Center is one of the union
centersin Honduras. It was formed in 1970 and has aroudn 120 thousand affiliated
workers. The CGT is one of the few workers’ organizations to survive through the
decade of the 1980’s which saw the most cruel and bloody refpression against the
working class and the other diverse organized sectors of the people. The CGT is
one of the largest organizations active in the National Front Against the Coup.

The organization LOS NECIOS


is a political organization working for radical change in the dominant and unjust
social and economic structures in order to build a different society. The
organization is centered in Tegucigalpa and is composed of members, mainly
youth, from different sectors who are committed to social transformation.
The Necios’ political activity is organizing in diverse social sectors,
political education and ongoing analysis of the national reality. Much of their
work is also in alternative media. The Necios organization was a member of the
National Coordinator of Popular Resistance prior to the coup.

Colegio de Profesores de Educación Media de Honduras
(COPEMH) The College of Secondary School Professors of
Honduras


is the organization of
all the high school teachers in the country. Teachers have played an extremely
crucial role in Honduran society and COPEMH is the strongest teachers’
organization in Honduras with an impressive ability to mobilize and sustain the
mobilization of its members and supporters. It is an important participant in
the National Front Against the Coup and at least 2 of its members have been
killed during the repression since the coup on June 28^th


La Organización Fraternal Negra de Honduras
(OFRANEH) The Fraternal Black Organization of Honduras


was founded in 1979 to defend the
Garifuna and other Afro-Honduran’s rights, lands, and culture and to fight for
justice in all spheres of life for these communities. The Garifuna people are
the largest ethnic minority in Honduras and OFRANEH has struggled for legal
recognition and protection of their lands and territory, and for bilingual
education. OFANEH is an activist organization that has participated, since its
founding, in the movements for social justice in Honduras; it has also been a
target for repression throughout its history. It is currently an active
participant in the National Front Against the Coup.

Dr. Luther Castillo and the
First Garifuna Hospital in Honduras


Dr. Castillo is a Garifuna physician and outspoken community organizer and also the
director of the Luaga Hatuadi Waduheno (“For the Health of Our People”
Foundation. The foundation is dedicated to bringing health services to the
isolated indigenous communities on the Atlantic Coast. Dr. Castillo graduated
from the Latin American School of Medicine in Cuba in 2005 and returned to his
region to lead the building of the first “Garifuna hospital” which serves 20,000
people. He was named “Honduran Doctor of the Year” by the International Rotary
Club of Tegucigalpa in 2007. Since the coup in June of this year, Dr. Castillo
has been threatened and the coup government has tried to shut down the hospital.
Dr. Castillo was a member of the delegation of Honduran civil society that
toured the United States this summer to lecture on the situation in
Honduras.

Each of these organizations is playing an important role in
the struggle to restore the constitutional order in Honduras, beginning with the
restitution of President Manuel Zelaya Rosales, and in the fight for the “4th
Urn”  aimed at constitutional reform. The delegation will have the opportunity
to visit these organizations and leaders of the National Front Against the Coup
in Honduras, including candidates and elected officials from the Democratic
Unification Party (UD), independent candidates, Carlos H. Reyes and Berta
Caseres, and  anti-coup members of the Liberal Party. The delegation will also
have the oppoortunity to meet with representatives of the communication media,
that have truely informing the people about what is going on in Honduras and to
hear of their experiences and contributions to the resistence.

La Voz de los de Abajo is a Chicago organization that has
worked in solidarity with the social justice movements in Honduras for 11 years.
Much of our work has been directly with the campesino movement and the National
Center for Rural Workers (CNTC). Over the past 11 years we have participated in
organizing for the Pastors for Peace caravans to Mexico, Honduras and
Nicaragua.  We have organized many small delegations that have
traveled to campesino and indigenous communities across Honduras and
participated in conferences and visits to social organizations in Tegucigalpa.

Timeline of Events Surrounding Coup

Both the U.S. and Honduran mainstream media has published misinformation about the events surrounding the coup of June 28,2009.  For example, the allegation that President Zelaya wanted to change the constitution in order to extend his time in office was invented by the coup leaders and repeated early and often.  However, President Zelaya never stated this.  The following timeline includes critical events leading up to and following the coup, including social legislation passed by President Zelaya in the months before the coup:

November 11, 2008:


President Zelaya announces his intent to conduct an opinion poll to see if the people want to have a fourth ballot box installed at polling places during the next election (11/29/09).  This fourth ballot box would be in addition to the ballot boxes for President, Congress, and local officials for the purpose of holding a non-binding referendum asking people if they want the government to hold a National Constituent Assembly to draft a new constitution.

February 2009:


President Zelaya increases the minimum wage by 60%. Chiquita (formerly United Fruit Company) and Dole join the Honduran Business Council in complaining that this will cut into their profits and lead to mass unemployment.  However, this increase results in salaries that are still less than a third of a living wage for Hondurans.

March 24, 2009:


President Zelaya issues a decree to the National Statistical Institute to hold the opinion poll on June 28, 2009.  Article 5 of the Honduran “Civil Participation Act” of 2006, approved by Congress and the Supreme Court at the time, allows public officials to perform non-binding public consultations to inquire what the population thinks about policy measures.  While the constitution can only be changed by a 2/3 majority of the Congress, Zelaya was merely attempting to gauge public opinion as an advisory measure for Congress.

March 25, 2009:


The Attorney General’s office notifies Zelaya that if he proceeds with the opinion poll, he will be charged with abuse of power.

May 2009:


The Supreme Court, the Congress, and the Supreme Electoral Tribunal all rule that the opinion poll is illegal, in spite of the fact that in 2006, the Congress had passed and the Supreme Court had approved the above-mentioned Civil Participation Act allowing for non-binding public consultations.

June 25, 2009:


Gen. Romeo Vasquez, trained at the U.S. Army School of the Americas, tells President Zelaya that the armed forces will not distribute ballots for the non-binding referendum as ordered by the president.  President Zelaya fires him.

June 26, 2009:


Supreme Court rules that Gen. Vasquez be reinstated.  President Zelaya refuses to do so, saying “If an army rebels against a president, then we are back to the era of the cavemen, back to the darkest chapters in Honduran history.”  He and his supporters go to the Air Force base to collect and distribute the ballot boxes themselves.

June 28, 2009:


Early in the morning, armed forces led by Gen. Vasquez storm Zelaya’s home, disarm the Presidential guard, and fly him to Costa Rica.  The plane stops at Palmerola, a joint U.S. and Honduran military airfield.

The military patrols the streets in tanks and fly overhead in planes.  Electricity, phone lines, and international cable TV lines are cut; water is cut off to some neighborhoods; TV and radio stations supportive of Zelaya are taken off the air; and the stations still on the air report no news.

Nine ministers in Zelaya’s administration are detained.  A dozen Zelaya ministers go into hiding, fearing arrest.

An extraordinary session of Congress is called, but not all legislators are notified or present.  There is later dispute over whether Congress had a quorum.  A fake letter of resignation from President Zelaya is read and a vote is taken to remove Zelaya from office and install Roberto Micheletti, President of the Congress, as President.  Micheletti immediately orders a 24 hour curfew for all citizens which lasts for three days.  People cannot leave their houses even to buy food or water, without fear of army retaliation.  After the third day, the curfew is suspended and reinstated arbitrarily, at the whim of the coup government, for the next several months.

The Front of Resistance to the Coup is born, a coalition of labor, farmworker, student, indigenous, Garifuna (a mixed Afro-Caribe people), and feminist groups.  People who had not been part of protests in the past join the Front’s non-violent resistance in daily public demonstrations and marches in spite of the curfew.

All Latin American countries, the European Union and much of the rest of the world unequivocally condemn the coup and call for the reinstatement of President Zelaya.  Many over the next several days recall their ambassadors and cease economic relations with Honduras.  Secretary of State Clinton, refusing to use the word “coup,” condemns the “action” taken against President Zelaya and calls on “all parties in Honduras to respect the constitution and the rule of law.”  President Obama calls Zelaya’s ouster “illegal.”  However, the U.S. does not recall its ambassador, withdraw its military personnel from Honduras, cut off aid, or cease trade relations with Honduras.

June 30:


UN General Assembly calls for restitution of Zelaya as president of Honduras.

July 1:


Introduced by Micheletti, Congress issues an order suspending freedom of assembly, freedom of transit, due process, and permitting search and seizure without a warrant.

July 2:


European Union countries recall their ambassadors to Honduras.

July 4:


Organization of American States (OAS) suspends Honduras’ membership.

July 5:


President Zelaya flies to Honduras.  Crowds gather at the airport to meet him, but coup government prevents the plane from landing.  1 killed, dozens wounded.

August 4:


The State Department sends a letter to the Senate to “clarify” the U.S. position on the events in Honduras.  “We energetically condemn the actions of June 28. We also recognize that President Zelaya’s insistence on undertaking provocative actions contributed to the polarization of Honduran society and led to a confrontation that unleashed the events that led to his removal.”  The State Department is still unwilling to call the events of June 28 a coup.

September 3:


U.S. State Department stops $30 million in non-humanitarian aid from going to Honduras but is still unwilling to call the events of June 28 a military coup.

September 21:


President Zelaya returns to Honduras secretly and takes up residence in the Brazilian Embassy.  The coup government again declares a curfew, which lasts until Sept. 23 at 10 a.m., only to resume at 4 p.m. that same day.  People are trapped in their houses, many without food or water.  Nevertheless, many defy the curfew and gather outside the Brazilian Embassy in support of Zelaya that night.

September 22, 2009:


Early in the morning, police violently break up the gathering of Zelaya supporters.  Mr. Micheletti issues a secret decree suspending the constitution and civil liberties for 45 days, finally published in the government register September 26.  Campaign of harassment begun against those in the Brazilian Embassy.

September 30, 2009:


Police invade the National Agrarian Institute, arresting 50 farmworkers who had been occupying the building since the coup.  The farmworkers were trying to prevent the coup government from destroying or changing land titles that were finally being registered for farmworkers under Zelaya’s land reform measures.

October 29, 2009:


Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Shannon negotiates an accord between Zelaya and Micheletti, in which Micheletti agrees to let the Congress vote on Zelaya’s restoration to the presidency in return for Zelaya’s agreement that he will not seek a constitutional assembly or change the constitution, that he will support November 29 elections and encourage his supporters not to protest them in any way, that the army will be responsible for elections logistics and “keeping order” during the campaign season and on election day, and that he will participate in a “unity and reconciliation government” with those who carried out the coup.  Sec. Shannon makes clear that the expectation on all sides is that Congress will vote on Zelaya’s reinstatement very soon, by November 6 at the latest.

October 30, 2009:


Congress announces it will go on indefinite recess.

November 3:


Sec. Shannon announces that the U.S. will recognize the legitimacy of the November 29 elections whether or not Zelaya is restored to the presidency.

November 9:


President Zelaya announces he will no longer support the accord, since the Congress shows no sign of voting on his reinstatement.