HONDURAS UPDATE SEPTEMBER 11 2009

By Emile Schepers

There is now a nearly complete lineup of contries which have cut off all or part of their aid to Honduras, including all the countries of Central and South America plus the United States and the European union. Furthermore, most of these countries, including the United States, have now declared that they will not recognize the results of the November 29 elections if president Zelaya and constitutional order are not returned forthwith.

There are a few holes in this fabric. One is that Canada, which has important mining interests in Honduras, is not on board for sanctions, though Canada did vote with everybody elsei in the OAS to condemn the coup. There is also some pressure from US military to allow the coup regime to participate in join naval maneuvers in the Caribbean, which are coming up.

Internally, there is no letup in protest activities including national and local work stoppages, street protests and car caravans. The resistance media seem to be back on the air again. The demands of the National Front Against the Coup, the main resistance organization, has demands which go beyond the return of Zelaya to include also a constituent assembly to re-write the Honduran constitution, and no impunity for the coup leaders.

Agencia Bolivariana de Noticias quotes National Front coordinator, paraphrases labor leader Juan Barahona, as saying the following (my translation from Spanish): He pointed out that the prolonged resistence of Honduran men and woman makes no sense if it is limited to these purposes [of restoring Zelaya and constitutional order and carrying out a constituent assembly], for which reason he indicated that it is necessary to go on toward a real transformation of the country.

Barahona advised the Front to maintain its unity and not get itself dispersed by the activities of the various political parties which only want the people's votes and forget about them afterward.

"He said that the struggle is to overturn the neoliberal privatizations which have had the result that a small group of businessmen and transnationals have taken control of the riches of the nation.

"He added that this model should be replaced by one that provides high quality and absolutely free education and health care for the poorest".

The report adds that there was a protest at the US embassy in Tegucigalpa today, demanding that the US exercise effective pressure for the return of Zelaya, with the added demand for the freedom of the Cuban 5, imprisoned in the US for their efforts to stop terrorist attacks on Cuba by ultra-right Miami exile groups.

All for now.