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HONDURAS: Growing Social Unrest a Week after Coup
By Thelma
Mejía
TEGUCIGALPA (IPS) - The provisional government that
took power in Honduras a week ago closed the airport
to all traffic Monday after clashes between the
military and supporters of ousted President Manuel
Zelaya left at least two people dead and 11 injured
Sunday.
The deaths occurred when the security forces opened
fire on supporters of the ousted president who
massed at the airport where Zelaya was kept from
landing Sunday by obstacles placed on the runway by
the military.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in
Geneva Monday that he was saddened by the loss of
life in Honduras, and urged the authorities to
protect civilians, who he said should be allowed to
freely express their opinions.
Zelaya is expected to meet with U.S. Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton Tuesday in Washington.
After the deposed president announced that he would
return to the country Sunday at noon, the interim
government that took power during the Jun. 28 coup
announced that he would not be allowed to land.
Despite the warning, Zelaya, accompanied by United
Nations General Assembly President Miguel d'Escoto,
circled the airport in an attempt to land, before
flying on to El Salvador in the small Venezuelan jet
in which he flew down from Washington, D.C.
In San Salvador he was met by the members of an
international support committee made up of
Organisation of American States (OAS) Secretary
General José Miguel Insulza and Presidents Fernando
Lugo of Paraguay, Rafael Correa of Ecuador and
Cristina Fernández of Argentina.
The police blamed Sunday's violence at the
Tegucigalpa international airport on "a mob of
demonstrators that tried to break through the cordon
around the airport," which obliged the security
forces to "repel" the attack.
Police spokesman Iván Mejía told IPS that the
incident "was so confusing that we have launched an
investigation to provide the public shortly with a
reliable report."
In statements to Telesur, Zelaya said the military
kept him from entering the country, threatening to
send up air force planes and placing vehicles on the
runway "to keep us from landing."
He said that if he had had a parachute, "I would
have jumped out. The people weren't allowed on the
airstrip because the idea was that they would remove
the obstacles keeping me from landing, but they (the
military) did not let them."
Thousands of Zelaya's supporters were surrounding
the airport waiting for his plane.
After lamenting the violence, Zelaya accused the
military and the de facto government of "repressing
the people. Please stop this barbarity, in the name
of God I am asking you to stop the repression."
Juan Barahona, the leader of the Bloque Popular, a
coalition of trade unions and civil society
organisations, said "the deaths of our fellow
demonstrators at the hands of the military have made
us very sad. No one wanted violence, but we are not
going to renounce our right to protest until
President Zelaya returns to the country and to
power."
"We are going to continue our protest outside of the
presidential palace, to demand that (de facto
president Roberto) Micheletti step down. That is our
aim, because this is a repressive government without
grassroots support, which was ushered in by a coup,"
Barahona told IPS while walking alongside thousands
of protesters marching towards the seat of
government.
The faces of the protesters reflected sadness and
anger over Sunday's events. But "we are not going to
back down; we will stay here because this country
has to stand up for its rights, and if we allow the
coup-mongers to stay, we will lose the democracy
that has cost us so much to gain, and that must not
happen," Honduran folksinger Karla Lara told IPS.
After Honduras failed to meet a deadline to restore
Zelaya to power, the OAS voted over the weekend to
suspend the country – the second time the
hemispheric body has taken such a measure. (Cuba was
expelled in 1962.)
Zelaya, who alienated his own party as well as the
wealthier conservative elites after taking a turn to
the left, antagonised the other branches of
government, including Congress and the Supreme
Court, by trying to hold a non-binding referendum on
the possibility of constitutional reform.
The legal authorities and parliament declared the
informal ballot unconstitutional because referendums
cannot be held in an election year, precipitating a
series of events that culminated in a coup the day
the vote was to take place. The president was seized
from his home in a pre-dawn raid by soldiers and put
on a plane – still in his pyjamas – for Costa Rica.
Zelaya's term was to end in January, and general
elections are due in November.
Several leaders of OAS member countries had
cautioned Zelaya against returning to Honduras until
talks were set up with the de facto government.
Honduran cardinal Óscar Andrés Rodríguez also called
on the ousted leader to carefully consider his plans
to return, in order to avoid a "bloodbath."
Honduran Defence Minister Adolfo Sevilla said Zelaya
was kept from returning because it would have caused
"serious problems for the country. The police had
orders to arrest him; if he had landed he would now
be in prison and the social unrest would have been
worse."
The provisional government announced that it was
willing to engage in talks with an OAS technical
mission to resolve the crisis. "The rank of the
interlocutors would gradually increase as the talks
advanced," added Martha Lorena Alvarado, who was
appointed deputy foreign minister by the provisional
government.
Honduras is facing complete international isolation.
All European Union and most Latin American
ambassadors have been withdrawn, and the
neighbouring Central American countries – Nicaragua,
El Salvador and Guatemala – have closed their
borders.
Political analyst Juan Ramón Martínez told IPS that
what is happening in Honduras is the fault "of the
carelessness and irresponsibility of the Honduran
political class, where former president Zelaya is
just a direct expression of the political crisis."
Left-wing analyst Aníbal Delgado told IPS that "this
crisis has got out of our hands; we are being
portrayed as a country of brutes, and that is not
how things are. I condemn the coup against Zelaya,
but it's clear that he broke the law, and we are not
making the right interpretation of what happened
here."
A week after the coup, the situation in Honduras
remains tense, with continued demonstrations by both
Zelaya supporters and opponents, a night-time
curfew, a paralysed educational system, and growing
polarisation reminiscent of the 1980s, a period of
repressive violence against social movements and
activists. |
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