Honduras denounces plans to boycott presidential election

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Deutsche Presse-Agentur

Nov 29, 2009, 5:30 GMT
Honduras denounces plans to boycott presidential election


Tegucigalpa - The de facto government urged Hondurans to vote peacefully this weekend, and denounced plans to boycott the election that is considered illegitimate by former president Manuel Zelaya and some countries in the region.

Interim President Roberto Micheletti, who took office June 28 after a coup ousted Zelaya, accused Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez of exerting 'enormous influence' to disrupt the election.

'Hugo Chavez will not stop, he will continue trying to disrupt the right of Honduras to be free, through the president of Nicaragua and other leaders of South American countries that follow his line,' Micheletti said.

He urged voters to turn out in force Sunday and reject the acts of violence that have occurred in recent months, including an explosion that left one person dead last week.

'Let's have a massive turnout, we are going to elect a new president but we will have to support him because there will be enormous influence to attempt to boycott the process,' he said.

Read more: http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/americas/news/article_1515946.php/Honduras-denounces-plans-to-boycott-presidential-election

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[Judi Lynn]

1. Honduras: Military shooting must be urgently investigated and witnesses protected

November, 28 2009
Honduras: Military shooting must be urgently investigated and witnesses protected

Amnesty International today said it was deeply worried about the safety of victims of and witnesses to a shooting at a military blockade that took place in Tegucigalpa last night. The organization called on the Human Rights Prosecutor to urgently investigate the incident.

According to eye witnesses interviewed by Amnesty International, last night, four men were on their way back home when they saw a military blockade moved from its normal position, close to the Estado Mayor (military compound). They were not given any indication to stop or request to slow down so they drove past.

Immediately after, shots were fired by the military at the car. The men drove on and as they went into a new road, one bullet hit the driver, 32-year-old Angel Salgado, in the head. He lost control of the vehicle which then crashed into a taxi and injured several bystanders, including 45-year-old woman, who was also hit by a stray bullet. She is now in a serious condition in hospital.

At the time of writing, Angel Salgado was in hospital in a critical condition.

Eye witnesses said military personnel began cleaning the scene immediately after the crash occurred.

“We are extremely concerned about this case given Honduras’ track record of widespread impunity for human rights violations committed by police and military,” said Javier Zuñiga, Head of Amnesty International’s delegation in Honduras.

Amnesty International delegates in Honduras visited the hospital where both injured were being treated and heard the relatives of Angel Salgado had found it difficult to gain entry to see him.

The organization’s delegates also saw two men in military outfits passing by and going directly into the theatre where Angel Salgado was recuperating. The men said they wanted to check on his condition.

More:
http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?id=ENGPRE200911281428&lang=e

[Downwinder]

3. First you institute curfews to keep people home and make it unsafe

to go out, then you complain and blame Hugo when they don't go out and vote. Nice to have a convenient whipping boy.

Sounds like their totals are going to be off if people don't vote.

[boppers]

2. Voting is undemocratic!

er...

[harmonicon]

5. if you are actually as stupid as you make yourself out to be, I'm impressed

However, I know that you're just agitating. You know the score. You've even had it spelled out to you many times on this board.

Now, I'm having an election today to choose a new president of the US. It's going to be me or my dog, Sam. Who are you going to vote for? If you don't vote, I'll know that you hate democracy, and that you hate America. The only person monitoring the polls is me. Check in later and I'll tell you who won the election. If you try to protest against this, you are against the rule of law, and someone from my military will shoot you and it will be justified, right?

[bemildred]

4. Illegitimate governments cannot hold legitimate elections.

Seems obvious when you think about it.

[Judi Lynn]

6. News video: Honduras: Elections as coup laundering

Honduras: Elections as coup laundering
Report from Tegucigalpa: Coup regime rides police state repression into elections hoping for clean slate

http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=4535

[L. Coyote]

7. Previous LATEST thread: Stock pile of tear gas grenades in Honduras

NEWS Compilation:

Fri Nov-27-09
Stock pile of tear gas grenades in Honduras triggers fears of human rights abuses
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4162029

[L. Coyote]

8. FALSE FLAGS?? Honduras Votes Amidst Bomb Attacks as Police Seize More Explosives ...

No one was injured in any of the blasts.

Honduras Votes Amidst Bomb Attacks as Police Seize More Explosives
http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=348185&CategoryId=10718


TEGUCIGALPA – Honduran police seized ... a stick of dynamite, several meters of detonating cord and a bomb-making manual from an apartment .....

Also seized were a vehicle and a motorcycle supposedly used in recent attacks, as well as clothing and a flag that indicated the people planning the attacks had leftist sympathies ...

Police spokesman Orlin Cerrato said that no one was arrested in the operation.

..... three new attacks were carried out with explosives: one against Tegucigalpa’s Radio America, another on a street in a commercial zone of the northern city of San Pedro Sula and yet another at a polling station in the western town of Lempira.

Cerrato said two unknown assailants launched a fragmentation grenade at a Radio America building and two other stations of the Audio Video chain ... The explosion ... damage a window ...

Journalist Luis Edgardo Vallejo, coordinator of Radio America’s El Minuto news program, denounced Friday night’s attack and said it is the fifth time the station has been targeted ..............

[L. Coyote]

9. State Employees Forced to Attend Campaign Rally = MEMO: "will take attendance"

The Junta is treating workers like a bunch of school kids, forcing them to be in a rally and even taking attendance!
What a laughing stock this coup would be, were it not for their murderous ways and the impunity of their undemocratic methods.

======================
Honduras State Employees Forced to Attend Santos Campaign Rally
by Al Giordano - November 29, 2009 at 6:55 am - http://narcosphere.narconews.com/thefield/3632/memo-honduras-state-employees-forced-attend-santos-campaign-rally


While today's coup-sponsored "election" in Honduras won't settle the country's crisis created by the June 28 coup d'etat, it continues to provide a showcase for the profoundly anti-democratic nature of the regime.

This just in from Tamar Sharabi, reporting from Honduran territory:

Evidence has surfaced that state employees were forced to attend the closing campaign ceremony of Elvin Santos, the ex-Vice President under Zelaya. In the letter, addressed to all department heads of the office of Civil Service, general director Marco Tulio Flores wrote, “I instruct all employees that are fulfilling their duties, without any exception, to attend the closing campaign of the Liberal Party that will take place Sunday November 22 at 9:30am. In a booth at the entrance to the coliseum Xiomara Orellana will take attendance of all personnel of this institution.”

Sharabi also reports that jack-booted regime repression continued right up through yesterday, as a pretext for larceny, too:

On Saturday November 28 military soldiers raided the offices of small business collective RED-COMAL in Siguatepeque, Comayagua, a city approximately 2 hours north from the capital. The Police Commissioner issued a search warrant 15 minutes after the raid began with the purpose of looking for weapons, posters and any documents that call on the population not to vote. .....

.......... We'll keep you updated throughout the day and into tonight as the "mock election" reaches its culmination...

.... http://narcosphere.narconews.com/

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[L. Coyote]

11. Amnesty International: Military shooting must be urgently investigated and witnesses protected

PRESS RELEASE
November, 28 2009 - http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?id=ENGPRE200911281428&lang=e


Honduras: Military shooting must be urgently investigated and witnesses protected

Amnesty International today said it was deeply worried about the safety of victims of and witnesses to a shooting at a military blockade that took place in Tegucigalpa last night. The organization called on the Human Rights Prosecutor to urgently investigate the incident.

According to eye witnesses interviewed by Amnesty International, last night, four men were on their way back home when they saw a military blockade moved from its normal position, close to the Estado Mayor (military compound). They were not given any indication to stop or request to slow down so they drove past.

Immediately after, shots were fired by the military at the car. The men drove on and as they went into a new road, one bullet hit the driver, 32-year-old Angel Salgado, in the head. He lost control of the vehicle which then crashed into a taxi and injured several bystanders, including 45-year-old woman, who was also hit by a stray bullet. She is now in a serious condition in hospital.

At the time of writing, Angel Salgado was in hospital in a critical condition.

Eye witnesses said military personnel began cleaning the scene immediately after the crash occurred.

“We are extremely concerned about this case given Honduras’ track record of widespread impunity for human rights violations committed by police and military,” said Javier Zuñiga, Head of Amnesty International’s delegation in Honduras.

Amnesty International delegates in Honduras visited the hospital where both injured were being treated and heard the relatives of Angel Salgado had found it difficult to gain entry to see him.

The organization’s delegates also saw two men in military outfits passing by and going directly into the theatre where Angel Salgado was recuperating. The men said they wanted to check on his condition.

Until the authorities take serious action to investigate and bring to justice those responsible for human rights violations, this will be another shocking example of how the lives of Hondurans can be devastated in a moment by the police and military, who act knowing that noone will ever hold them to account,” said Javier Zuñiga.

END/

[L. Coyote]

12. Military “takes responsibility” for shooting

Military “takes responsibility” for shooting
Monday, 30 November 2009, 11:33 am
Article: Julie Webb-Pullman with Rights Action in Honduras - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0911/S00328.htm


Maria Elena Hernandez lies in a coma in Escuela Hospital today, election day, after being critically injured in Tegucigalpa yesterday. Maria Elena, a street vendor, was going about her business when a car driven by Angel Fabricio Selgado (see http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0911/S00318.htm) went out of control after he was shot in the head by soldiers outside the Military High Command, crashing into a barrier and also hitting her.

These two victims of the military dictatorship, who had never previously met, now lie side by side in the intensive care unit as a result of bullets from the same gun, one on life support and the other perhaps paralysed.

.......... Maria Elena was in surgery for three hours yesterday for injuries to her lower abdomen, right leg, forehead, cheek, and left ear. She is still in a coma, but today was moving one arm. Her sister, Ofelia Hernandez, informed that as far as they have been able to determine, Maria Elena was hit in the body by the car, and grazed in the ear by a bullet. “The nurses say that it is a good sign that she has moved her arm,” she said. “We hope she will recover.”

“It has left the family in a very difficult situation,” she added. “My sister has three children and no husband, and she sells things in the street to support them. Now who is going to pay their rent and feed them? The Government of Honduras will not do this, they care only for the rich.”

Ofelia said that Maria Elena is a poor and humble woman who works very hard to support her family. ................

[L. Coyote]

13. Observers: Peaceful march faces 'brutal repression' in San Pedro Sula

Observers: Peaceful march faces 'brutal repression' in San Pedro Sula
By Mike Faulk - Nica Times Staff - Sunday, Nov. 29, 2009, 4:06 p.m. - http://www.ticotimes.net/dailyarchive/2009_11/112920092.cfm


TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras – About 500 people marching peacefully in the northwestern city of San Pedro Sula were repressed by tear gas and water cannons on Election Day today, election observers said.

Tom Loudon, leader of the Quixote Center delegation observing the elections in San Pedro Sula, told The Nica Times that soldiers deployed on the scene of the march at around 12:30 p.m., put on gas masks and began attacking the marchers “unprovoked.”

“The crowd just scattered, people went running in every direction, I was one of those,” Loudon said. Speaking over the telephone, Loudon was choking from the gas and said he was still watching marchers and bystanders run away in panic from the continued repression.

“It's just pure unprovoked brutal aggression against many people who haven't done anything, people are just walking down the street,” Loudon said.

Juan Barahona, who leads a resistance group critical of the de facto government and the elections, had told followers not to protest today .............

[L. Coyote]

14. At least two injured in clashes in northern Honduras

At least two injured in clashes in northern Honduras (Extra)
Americas News - Nov 29, 2009, 21:50 GMT - http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/americas/news/article_1516022.php/At-least-two-injured-in-clashes-in-northern-Honduras-Extra


Tegucigalpa - At least two people were injured Sunday in northern Honduras, when police used force against demonstrators ......

'(Police) are throwing tear gas and hitting people who are taking part in the demonstration, where there are also children,' one reporter at the rally told Radio Globo.

Those were the first reports of violence on election day ....

The Committee of Families of Missing Detainees in Honduras (COFADEH) on Sunday denounced the arrests of close to 30 people over the previous 24 hours.

........... Polls were set to close at 2200 GMT, but electoral authorities extended voting for an hour due to what they described as a large turnout. Turnout was regarded as crucial for the legitimacy .......

[Selatius]

15. Isn't the OAS boycotting the election? nt

[L. Coyote]

16. New LATEST thread: Latin American leaders divided by Honduras election

Latin American leaders divided by Honduras election
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4165581