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The government of Brazil has gone before the U.N. Security Council to denounce
that its diplomatic offices in Honduras are being subjected to acts of
harassment and intimidation by the de facto authorities, which staged a coup
three months ago and are currently threatening to attack the Brazilian embassy
in Tegucigalpa. President Manuel Zelaya Rosales confirmed this aggression and
reported the use of electronic devices and harmful chemical substances against
the people in the embassy.
“The government
of Brazil is gravely concerned that the same people who perpetrated the
coup d’état in Honduras in June might threaten the embassy’s
inviolability to forcefully arrest president Zelaya,” Brazilian Foreign
Minister Celso Amorím told the members of the U.N. Security
Council gathered at a formal meeting to examine the situation in Honduras
and issue a statement.
“Our diplomatic
office has been subjected to acts of harassment and intimidation by the de facto
authorities, and this constitutes a clear violation of the Vienna Convention,”
Amorím concluded, while asking the Council to expressly condemn the de
facto government so as to avert any hostilities.
Sirel
had exclusive access to a telephone conversation between members of the
National Front Against the Coup and Zelaya, in which the president
confirmed the situation at the Brazilian embassy.
“We’re being
constantly attacked and harassed, apparently with electronic devices to block
our cell phone communications and affect our hearing, and also some sort of
chemical product, because there are several people suffering from dizziness,
acute headaches and sore throats, vomiting and nose bleeds,” Zelaya said
visibly worried.
“We have to let
the whole world know what is going on. We know that Brazil has already
issued a harsh call. We cannot let our guard down with these people, not for a
minute, because if we do they’ll come down really hard on us, and we have to
continue struggling.”
“We have the
support of the entire world,” the Honduran President continued. “And today
Brazil has requested a special meeting of the United Nations Security
Council to consider the situation in Honduras.”
“Now more than
ever the resistance movement must act as one. And rest assured that we will not
be brought down. We’re going to fight to the end to achieve our aim of restoring
peace to the Honduran people.”
“It’s not the presidency I’m interested in,” Zelaya added. “I’ve been
president already. What I want is to put an end to the coup. I want Honduras
to become a world symbol, an image of what must never be allowed to happen
again,” President Zelaya concluded.
Many are ill
To learn what
is really happening at the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa,
Sirel contacted Esteban Félix, an Associated Press
(AP) photographer, who on Sep. 21 was locked up in the embassy grounds
with other journalists.
“A lot of
people woke up feeling generally unwell, with sore throats and headaches, tired,
with muscle pains, and at least two people had nose bleeds,” Felix told
SIREL.
“My throat
feels really dry and my body feels strangely sore. They’re saying it could be
something chemical that’s affecting us, and right now the International Red
Cross is with President Zelaya; there are three doctors with him -who are
going to see us later- and some other people.”
“There was a
moment of tension when we realized that most of us were having the same
symptoms, but the situation is calmer now,” he concluded.
These
persistent provocations, harassments and violations of people’s rights have
raised many voices who are demanding that the de facto government change its
attitude and define what it really wants to do.
Its declarations that it is willing to dialogue with Zelaya and will
respect the inviolability of the Brazilian embassy are contradicted by
the continuous harassment and violations it commits daily.
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