HONDURAS UPDATE AUG 12 2009

HONDURAS UPDATE AUGUST 12 2009

By Emile Schepers

1. PROTESTS CONTINUE IN TEGUCIGALPA, SAN PEDRO SULA. Massive protests demanding the return to power of President Manuel “Mel” Zelaya are continuing in the two largest cities in Honduras, Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula. I do not have access to detailed reports on what is going on in San Pedro Sula, but evidently the actions are large scale in Tegucigalpa. The headline in the Spanish daily “El Pais” (Madrid) says “Zelaya’s Followers Take Tegucigalpa”. The article quotes Zelaya’s daughter, Hortensia Zelaya Castro, who with her mother Xiomara Castro de Zelaya is leading some of the actions in Tegucigalpa, as saying “Honduras resists, insists and persists! This resistance is an example for the world and for the social movements”. Her mother said “They’re afraid of us because we’re not afraid” (nos tienen miedo porque no tenemos miedo”. The latter is a pretty good slogan that can be recycled for the purpose of many struggles. It is hard to get even approximate numbers of the turnout for the protests; some sources are saying 10,000 or more, but others including Tom Loudon from the Quixote Center, who was present in Tegucigalpa yesterday, think it is in the hundreds of thousands. See Loudon’s report on the website of the School of the Americans Watch at http://www.soaw.org

2. GLOBAL DAY OF ACTION FOR HONDURAS. I do not have a clear picture yet of what exactly happened throughout the United States and beyond during yesterday’s Global Day of Action for Honduras. The School of the Americas Watch (again, at http://www.soaw.org talks about events having taken place in Atlanta, Boston, Milwaukee, Miami, Montreal, New York City, Phoenix, Portland, San Francisco, St. Louis, Vancouver etc. I had planned to go to the one in DC but in the end was not able to get down there. If anyone attended or has information on what happened at these events please let me know at zola2642@aol.com and I will put it in the blog.

3. ZELAYA IN BRAZIL. President Zelaya was in Brazil today and repeated his plea for stronger action on the part of the United States and others to put an end to the coup regime by applying diplomatic and economic pressure.

4. NOTHING NEW FROM THE STATE DEPARTMENT WHICH TAKES A STAND TO PROTECT GOLF. We do not have any new developments from the U.S. Department of State in response to Zelaya’s requests. However, today State Dept. spokesman P.J. Crowley criticized Venezuela because President Hugo Chavez criticized the sport of golf as bourgeois, and announced that two publicly owned golf courses in his country will be turned into public housing. Crowley may have been joking but possibly State’s spokespeople can find better things to occupy their time, no?