One Year Later: Honduras Resistance Strong Despite US-Supported Coup

[Judi Lynn]

One Year Later: Honduras Resistance Strong Despite US-Supported Coup
By Bill Quigley

One year ago, on June 28, 2009, Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was awakened by gunfire. A coup was carried out by US-trained military officers, including graduates of the infamous US Army School of the Americas (WHINSEC) in Georgia. President Zelaya was illegally taken to Costa Rica.

Democracy in Honduras ended as a de facto government of the rich and powerful seized control. A sham election backed by the US confirmed the leadership of the coup powers. The US and powerful lobbyists continue to roam the hemisphere trying to convince other Latin American countries to normalize relations with the coup government.

The media has ignored the revival of US hard power in the Americas and the widespread resistance which challenges it.

A pro-democracy movement, the Frente Nacional de Resistencia Popular (FNRP) formed in the coup's aftermath. Despite horrendous repression, it has organized the anger and passion of a multitude of mass-based popular movements -- landless workers, farmers, women, LGBTQ folks, unions, youth and others-- and spread a palpable energy of possibility and hope throughout the country.

These forces of democracy have been subjected to police killings, arbitrary detentions, beatings, rape and other sexual abuse of women and girls, torture and harassment of journalists, judges and activists. Prominent LGBTQ activists, labor organizers, campesinos and youth working with the resistance have been assassinated. Leaders have been driven into exile.

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