Two people evacuated from Brazilian embassy for health reasons

As feared after the shutdown of the media outlets Radio Globo and Canal 36, the de facto government militarized the streets around the Universidad Pedagógica teachers college to prevent thousands of Hondurans from celebrating three months of peaceful resistance against the June 28 coup.

Juan Barahona

Defying the mass deployment of military and police troops, the National Front Against the Coup (FNR) is firmly and actively rejecting the illegal Executive Decree aimed at severely curtailing key individual and collective rights of the Honduran people. And despite being banned from the streets of Tegucigalpa, Hondurans challenged the order to stay home and staged a demonstration in front of the college, some sitting on the ground while others chanted songs and slogans, and many braced themselves for the worst.

Dozens of officers from the Special “Cobra” Command (COECO) were ready for the demonstrators, geared up with gas masks, clubs and rifles, and backed by a water cannon riot truck, but the order to clear out was fortunately not given and a truce was reached, averting what could have turned into massacre.

Minutes later, members of the joint leadership of the National Front Against the Coup called a press conference to read out their Public Statement No.26, citing Article 3 of Honduras’ National Constitution to categorically condemn, reject and disobey “Executive Decree PCM-M-016-2009, issued on Monday September 27, 2009 by the de facto regime in a simultaneous broadcast on all national TV and radio stations. The decree imposes a 45-day suspension of the constitutional rights of the Honduran people who are standing up against the coup, in what is yet another demonstration of the human rights violations committed by the dictatorship headed by Roberto Micheletti and supported by the national army and police, with financing from the corporate right.”

The public communiqué goes on to say that the NFR also condemns and rejects “the armed attack cowardly executed by the de facto regime against the facilities of Cholusat-Sur Canal 36 and Radio Globo, independent media outlets that have accompanied the people’s resistance against the coup by reporting locally and abroad the terrible events of this dark period of the country’s history. By means of this communiqué the FNR also declares its solidarity with these stations, offering them any support that may within its means.”

Lastly, the FNR calls on the Honduran people resisting the coup to not be intimidated “by the illegal actions of an illegitimate regime that is attempting at all costs to paralyze popular opposition so it can consolidate its hold on power and continue to scorn, exploit and humiliate the people.”

For Juan Barahona, union leader and member of the FNR’s steering committee, “this Executive Decree is manifest proof of who is really responsible for the repression and violence.”

“They’re banning our protests, but we will not obey their order and we’re going to stand firmly and defend our country, our people and the interests of the many. As of today, by decree from the resistance movement, we will meet here at Universidad Pedagógica every day,” Barahona concluded.

When the activity was over, the hundreds of people who remained at the site marched to the headquarters of the Union of Beverage and Related Industry Workers (STIBYS), from where they left to join thousands at the funeral of Wendy Elizabeth Ávila, a young member of the resistance movement who was killed by the military.

More repression

Honduras continues to suffer repressive actions in a campaign of terror orchestrated by the de facto government.

According to information provided to SIREL, Delmer Membreño, a young journalist working for the newspaper El Libertador, was illegally seized by military forces as he was headed to report the raid on Radio Globo, and was violently beaten and even tortured with cigarette burns, before being dropped by the side of a highway.

Meanwhile, members of a delegation of observers from the United States, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Spain were victims of a gas attack from police forces, which affected their health. This action was reported to human rights bodies in Honduras.

As for the earlier reports of the use of chemical substances against the Brazilian embassy to hurt President Zelaya and his supporters - who have been holed up for nine days now -, thorough studies were conducted by experts who asked to remain anonymous, and air samples revealed high concentrations of teargas agents used for riot control (Cesium 132, phenacyl chloride and Orthochlorobenzylidenemalononitrile).

Two more people have been evacuated from the embassy due to health problems.