Reply #4: Honduras: Coup regime prepares massive repression [View All]

[Judi Lynn]

Honduras: Coup regime prepares massive repression
28 November 2009

Anti-coup resistance is continuing in Honduras, despite ongoing repression. There are strong indications the regime is preparing for greater repression in the lead-up to the November 29 elections, which it is seeking to use to legitimise its rule.

Elected President Manuel Zelaya was overthrown in a military coup on June 28. Since then, mass resistance from the poor majority, led by the National Resistance Front against the Coup (FNRG), has continued unabated. Zelaya and the FNRG are calling for a boycott of the poll and urging other governments and international institutions not to recognise the outcome.

Honduras Resists blog said: “Channel 36, the only television channel that has continued broadcasting the truth about the coup in Honduras, has been taken off the air again in the run-up to the elections.”

On November 26, it said: “The campaign of terror carried out by the dictatorship against the popular sectors is coming … Today is the burial of the body of the teacher Luis Gradis Espinal, a teacher from the resistance of the south of the country.

“His body was found yesterday, tied and executed, after having been reported disappeared by his family. Witnesses are sure that he was detained by the police and military.”

Honduras Resists said: “In the city El Progreso, the police are carrying out intense operations in the homes of the leaders of the Resistance … In the city Danli, several young people were kidnapped by the army causing terror among the population who fears for their lives …

“The police this week imported a huge arsenal of arms including 10,000 tear gas grenades, 5000 rubber bullets and a new anti-riot tank worth $12 million.”

Popular resistance is continuing. Honduras Resists reported: “University students have taken over the National Autonomous University and reached an agreement with the rector for there to be no more classes. The University was to be a center for voting and is now under control of the Resistance.”

Honduras Resists concluded: “The oligarchy needs to eliminate the political opposition to consolidate its new project of domination, that elimination can only occur through terror, killing and genocide.

“Nonetheless, they once again commit the same error that they committed on the eve of the 28th of June.

“They underestimate the creative capacity, the transformational capacity of the struggle, the combativeness of a people that has identified its enemy and understands, this time even more clearly, that a path towards national liberation, towards the re-founding of Honduras, has begun.”

More:
http://www.greenleft.org.au/2009/820/42161