De facto government remains unyielding,
while police cracks down again on opposition.

 
If the first day of talks between President Zelaya, de facto authorities and the OAS mission is any indication, “The Mountains In Labor” would be a more appropriate name for the so-called “Guaymuras Dialogue.” As the dialogue began, police and army forces brutally repressed mobilizations throughout the capital, while the 51 people accused of sedition for occupying the National Agricultural Institute (INA) were released on bail.

Miguel Insulza

Juan Barahona

What was to be a historical day for the Honduran people, quickly emerged as a media show carefully planned by the de facto government. On Oct. 7, the Guaymuras Dialogue began amidst great fanfare and an inexplicable deployment of police forces.

In the first day of talks, de facto foreign minister Carlos López Contrera, Zelaya representative Victor Meza, and OAS secretary-general José Miguel Insulza all spoke and revealed a major distance between the parties.

While for the OAS and Zelaya delegations it is imperative to resume discussions of the Arias Plan, reinstate President Manuel Zelaya in office, and put off elections until democracy is fully restored in the country, the de facto government is participating in the talks purely with the intent of legitimizing the Nov. 29 elections before the international community.

Having categorically ruled out the possibility of reinstating Zelaya in a previous meeting with the OAS mission, de facto president Roberto Micheletti now repeated that he might be willing to step down if a third person were named to replace him, and cautioned that any resolution would have to be adopted in accordance with the Constitution and the laws of Honduras.

Micheletti also said that as head of state he could not assume any commitments on behalf of the other branches of government, and that “there is no way that the elections will be canceled; the only way that will happen is force is used, if the country is invaded.”

For his part, OAS secretary-general Juan Miguel Insulza underlined the importance of recognizing that ousting a constitutional president is not an effective way to solve a situation; on the contrary, after more than 100 days the situation remains untenable.

Insulza called on everyone to recognize the need to change direction or else risk regional and international rejection of the election’s outcome, and asked that constitutional guarantees be reestablished, that all the media closed down be reopened, that the delegations be given powers to adopt binding agreements, and that clear and short-term deadlines be set for the conclusion of negotiations.

He also asked that the parties come to the negotiating table in good faith and without a hidden agenda, leaving their prejudices and fears aside.
 

Resistance movement joins dialogue but remains critical

Following the first day of dialogue, the National Front Against the Coup issued a communication reaffirming its conviction that “dialogue is the best way to solve differences, and as token of our willingness to find a solution to the current political crisis, we have decided to send a representative, our general coordinator, Juan Barahona, to the poorly termed “Guaymuras Dialogue” convened by the de facto regime.”

The press release went on to caution that “in order for any dialogue to be viable, the parties must act with sincerity and certain minimum conditions must be observed, as without that it will be a futile exercise.”

The Resistance movement explained that it was participating as a counterpart and not as a delegate of Zelaya, and that no dialogue would be possible as long as certain conditions remain unchanged, including the Official Gazette’s failure to publish the decree that lifted the state of siege, and the fact that members of the resistance are still being killed, and dozens of people are being tried for sedition and persecuted.

The communication cited the case of the peasants who occupied the INA peacefully for three months (now released on bail) and the indigenous group that requested asylum in the Guatemala embassy.

The National Front Against the Coup demanded that the de facto government cease its persecution of media outlets that do not share the regime’s views, and that it remove the military barricade surrounding the Brazilian embassy.

“As long as these conditions persist, the National Front Against the Coup will not allow its representatives to join what is only a dialogue in name,” Juan Barahona said at the end of the first session.

“For the time being we only agreed on the agenda for the next few days, which includes three points. First, the San José Agreement, whose first clause is the reinstatement of President Zelaya, will be analyzed. Second, if no agreement is reached, possible amendments to the agreement will be considered. And third, conditions for a new political and social will be discussed.

“For us,” Barahona continued, “the unconditional reinstatement of President Zelaya is non-negotiable, and neither is the demand that the coup perpetrators be punished, and that a National Constituent Assembly be convened. Honduran society and the international community have understood the magnitude of this conflict and our struggle to undo the coup.”

“Allowing the de facto regime to be consolidated in Honduras is tantamount to allowing the possibility of similar coups being staged in other countries of the continent, because the ultimate goal of the coup is to stop the processes of change that are underway,” he said.

“I’m skeptical, but over the next few days we will see who’s willing to find a real solution to the crisis and if there are some who are merely putting on a political show to strengthen the electoral farce that is aimed at legitimizing the coup candidates,” the Resistance leader concluded.
 

Repression and more repression

While the first session of the dialogue was being held in a Tegucigalpa hotel, the police and the army cracked down on hundreds of people gathered in front of the U.S. embassy, spraying teargas and firing rubber bullets against the demonstrators, who planned to march to the Guatemalan embassy, where twelve members of the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH) have requested asylum.

Despite the repression, people took spontaneously to the streets in several points of the capital to protest.

Students of the National Autonomous University of Honduras (UNAH) blocked Boulevard Suyapa, burning tires and defying the authorities, while a large caravan of vehicles drove down the main avenues of Tegucigalpa, and concentrated in front of one of the military posts blockading the Brazilian embassy. In this case too, special police corps dispersed protesters, threatening them with teargas.

At night, thousands of people throughout Tegucigalpa staged a “cacerolazo,” banging pots and pans in the streets to protest and demand the immediate reinstatement of President Zelaya.