Honduras: Crisis and Progress

By Bill Quigley and Laura Raymond

October 21, 2010

Today the democratic resistance in Honduras will
celebrate Artists in Resistance Day.  This event
contrasts directly with today's official recognition of
Honduras Armed Forces day.  The resistance, which is
working for a truly democratic Honduras, renamed the
day and created an alternative celebration because of a
brutal police attack on musicians and others last month
that left one dead and scores injured.

On September 15, 2010, a non-violent march and musical
concert in Honduras was attacked by police and security
forces.  Incredibly the police involved in the attack
made it a point to destroy the instruments of the
musicians.

The musicians who were attacked called for today to be
renamed Artists in Resistance Day. To mark the occasion
the collective Artists in Resistance and the National
Front of Youth in Resistance (FNJR) organized concerts
tonight in San Pedro Sula and in Tegucigalpa.

These groups reflect just a small sliver of the
National Front of Popular Resistance inn Honduras (FNRP
for its initials in Spanish), one of the most mobilized
social movements currently taking shape in our
hemisphere.  The FNRP represents social movements,
organizations and individuals from nearly every sector
of Honduran society.  They are organizing to stand up
to one of Latin America's foremost human rights crises:
the 2009 coup in Honduras and the intimidation,
assaults, silencing, and killing of those who have
resisted the subsequent regimes that took power.  The
hope is that today's concerts will underscore the
resistance to the crisis in Honduras and mobilize more
international solidarity with the FNRP.

Ongoing Crisis in Honduras

Since the coup in June 2009, two regimes - the de facto
coup government under Robert Micheletti and the
administration of the sitting president Porfiro Lobo -
have done little to protect human rights while police
and security forces have subjected members or those
identified with the FNRP to mass arrests, beatings,
tear gas raids, rape and other forms of torture, and
kidnappings.  Judges critical of the coup and post-coup
authorities have been divested of their positions,
transferred arbitrarily, and faced disciplinary
proceedings.

At least ten journalists have been killed in 2010
alone, under circumstances overwhelmingly indicative
that these were assassinations.  Journalists not killed
have faced state censorship.  Violence and repression
of political speech, public assembly, and critical
democracy have become a part of daily life.

Rather than investigate these crimes and hold the
perpetrators accountable for their actions, Honduran
officials have looked the other way.  The official line
mouthed by Honduran officials and getting much play in
Honduran newspapers (which make no effort to hide their
support for the coup and post-coup regimes) is that
this violence is a by-product of drug and gang wars.
Sadly, this narrative has gained some traction in the
blogosphere and diplomatic circles even though these
speculations are not based on any independent
investigation or arrests.

The surge in violence against union leaders, community
organizers, journalists and activists has in fact come
only after the coup and the targets are undeniably
leaders and members of the resistance.

According to the Committee of Relatives of the
Disappeared in Honduras (COFADEH) there have been 83
murders of members of the FNRP, countless injuries from
assaults, and a steady stream of exiled individuals who
have left the country after being raped or otherwise
tortured and/or have had their lives threatened as a
result of being part of, or being perceived as part of
the resistance.

Time to "Move on"?

Despite the overthrow of democratically elected
President Manuel Zelaya last year, the repressive
actions of the interim Micheletti coup regime, the
illegitimate "election" of Lobo (one that groups like
the Carter Center and even the United Nations refused
to observe because of its clear illegality), the lack
of justice for any of the victims of the coup and the
subsequent and continuing political violence, the post-
coup authorities are repeatedly saying that it is time
for the Honduran people to move on.

The latest incarnation of effort to "move on" is a
bogus invitation by Pepe Lobo to the FNRP to dialogue
about the Constituent Assembly process.   The FNRP
considered the invitation carefully.  They met in two
separate assemblies-one for the Directorate and one of
the General Assembly-and decided to reject the
invitation to dialogue because of the ongoing violence
and repression directed at the resistance.  The reasons
for rejecting included the fact that President Zelaya
is still being forced into exile with false charges
against him, that there are many political prisoners,
and that there has no accountability for all the human
rights violations against the movement.  FNRP
leadership stated that this was just another attempt by
Lobo to legitimize his authority before a national and
international audience.

Resistance Progress

The FNRP is committed to changing the Honduras
constitution but in a way that reflects democracy and
human rights.  Many in Honduras view the constitution
as having been written for the elite of the country and
giving far too few rights to the poor and historically
marginalized.  Some say the constitution is one of the
main reasons why  Honduras has one of the highest
poverty rates and gaps between rich and poor in the
Americas.

The Constituent Assembly, or constituyente in Spanish,
has been the principal focus of the FNRP for much of
the past year.  They recently they presented 1.3
million signatures that they had gathered in support of
the process.

At first glance, it might seem counter-intuitive; if
this is the movement's primary focus and the current
President wants to dialogue about it, wouldn't the
resistance at least try to engage?  The resistance
views Lobo as an illegitimate official and actively
involved in the repression against the FNRP.  Dialogue
with Lobo had the potential to compromise the careful,
deeply democratic process that the FNRP has been
engaging every sector of Honduran society- unions,
youth, peasant farmers, LGBTQ groups, and beyond-with
for months.

The FNRP has now resolved to move forward with the
Constituent Assembly  as an autonomous, deeply
democratic process.  This is incredibly exciting, even
historic, for our hemisphere and an example of
participatory democracy that we all could learn from.

Meanwhile, in the United States, 29 members of Congress
took a bold step, especially given the lead-up to
midterm elections, in issuing a strongly worded
condemnation of the "deplorable human rights record" in
Honduras listing several recent cases of political
violence.  See
http://quotha.net/docs/honduras/10.19.10.Dear_Colleague_Letter.pdf.

The members of Congress registered their "serious
concern that the rule of law is directly threatened by
members of the Honduran police and armed forces" and
called on the Obama Administration to end all direct
assistance to Honduran authorities, especially the
police and military.  They also called on the US to
cease its lobbying for the re-admittance of Honduras
into the Organization of American States (OAS).

While most member countries of the OAS have stood firm
in their rejection of Honduras as a member of the OAS,
U.S. Secretary of State Clinton has made Honduras's
reinstatement a US priority in the region, raising it
in her meetings with Latin American heads of state and
lobbying for it at various regional meetings.  For
reasons that the Center for Constitutional Rights laid
out in our Open Letter to Secretary of State Clinton,
the Obama Administration must stop and the OAS should
remain firm in rejecting Honduras as a member.  See
http://ccrjustice.org/files/CCR%20Letter%20to%20Clinton-Honduras.pdf

Those committed to working in solidarity with ordinary
people organizing for democracy, equality and social
justice in the Americas are outraged that the Obama
Administration has become the Lobo regime's most
important ally. Without US support, the Lobo regime
would not have been able to hold its illegitimate
elections or hold on to power for as long as it has.

But history shows that anti-democratic regimes in Latin
America and elsewhere can be overcome, even when they
have the backing of the US, by campaigns for democracy
and human rights.  The FNRP is working to show the way
in Honduras. Those of us in solidarity from afar watch
in admiration as they work to transform their country
and salute their efforts to celebrate while doing so!

Tonight's concert in San Pedro Sula with be streamed
live via the FNRP's website:
http://www.resistenciahonduras.net/
_____________

Bill and Laura work at the Center for Constitutional
Rights. Contact Bill at [log in to unmask] and Laura
at [log in to unmask]

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