Honduras: coup and resistance

The military-Liberal Party-business elite coup that deposed President Manuel Zelaya in the middle of the night on June 28 has yet to run its course. What is key at the present moment is the ongoing resistance within Honduras that has taken a number of creative forms. As well, there is the looming presence of the U.S. (See Honduras and the U.S.: long, tragic history.)

The coup leaders immediately imposed martial law, closed broadcast stations, arrested journalists and hundreds of demonstrators and shot protesters, murdering two. Coup leader Roberto Micheletti proclaimed himself President, but is in effect the new dictator. Negotiations in Costa Rica broke down quickly as Micheletti refused to consider Zelaya's return as President.

The Honduras military and the Right had proclaimed for months that Zelaya wanted to impose a "Hugo Chavez" solution. Using the excuse that Zelaya "violated the Constitution" by asking for a consultative vote on possible changes to the constitution, the coup was carried out. It is not Chavez's influence that the business elite, the established Party and Church hierarchies fear; it is their own Honduran masses, living in deep poverty and social instability for decades. In Zelaya they saw someone who at least was willing to listen to their concerns and begin to push for some incremental changes in their lives.

The crucial turning point that the coup birthed is not the imposition of the right-wing dictatorial rule enforced by the military and the police. Rather, it is the mobilization of the masses in opposition to the coup. One saw it in the thousands upon thousands who streamed to the airport to await the arrival of Zelaya. The military blocked the runway, and fired into the demonstrators. Two were killed, including 19-year-old Isis Obed Murillo, shot in the back of the head. As a Miami Herald headline proclaimed: "Honduran teen's slaying propels youth movement."

The July 13 article noted: "The teenager's name and the images of his bloody body being carried away from the scene have now become a rallying point for those against the post-Zelaya government. Graffiti bearing Isis's name has been spray-painted on city walls with words calling for Zelaya's return. 'He was just a kid standing up for his rights,' said José Miguel Otero, 23, at a recent pro-Zelaya march down one of Tegucigalpa's main streets. 'His sacrifice has now given others like me the courage to continue standing up for what we believe in.'...Just a day after Zelaya's removal, [Isis] started making the roughly 30-mile journey to central Tegucigalpa to join the Zelaya rallies."

The struggle has involved workers, particularly teachers, women, and many different citizens' groups. All have come together in blockading streets and highways throughout Honduras. Thousands have participated in these unarmed protests, often met by the armed state. Many teachers' unions have suspended classes and are striking. One leader, Lina Pineda noted, "Besides suspending classes, we are going to block roads, because the resistance will continue. We are completely united, and we are not going to stop until the coup-mongers leave."

Juan Barahona, a founder and leader of the National Front Against the Coup, said: "The other thing we can't give up is our right to hold a constitutional assembly. That's a right we have been fighting for over these past days of actions that we won't give up." A call for a constitutional assembly lies at the heart of the differences between the wealthy oligarchy, backed by the Armed Forces, and the farmer, worker and Indigenous organizations that look to change the constitution to guarantee a more just distribution of wealth in the sharply unequal nation.

Women have been very active in the protests. In the capital, Tegucigalpa, thousands of demonstrators protested in front of the Honduran Women's Institute, which coup officials had taken over. A report from Rights Action, a solidarity group working inside Honduras, reported on the actions to protect President Zelaya's home: "On July 17, when townspeople [of Catacamas] learned that the military had surrounded the president's family house, more than 4,000 protesters marched to the house to take it back. When confronted by the crowd, the 50 or so soldiers quietly retreated. Since then, the pro-democracy movement in Catacamas has maintained a constant vigil at the president's residence. The home has become a symbol of popular resistance. Hundreds of people from communities around the state of Olancho gather here daily to guard the property and wait anxiously for the return of President Zelaya. Military planes and police helicopters circle in the skies above the crowd--an ominous reminder of the powers they're confronting."

Certainly support for the return of Zelaya is a central demand of the protests. But the social movements inside Honduras today are reaching for more than a restoration of his presidency. They are looking for and acting to bring forth a new beginning in Honduran society.

--Eugene Walker

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