This summarizes some of the events of June 28th, 2010, commemorating the one-year anniversary of the overthrow of President Manuel Zelaya. He was replaced first by Roberto Micheletti, and then, following an election held under conditions which no reputable election monitor considered suitable, by Porfirio Lobo. The repression and violence has, if anything, intensified under Lobo. Today, there were large demonstrations throughout Honduras calling for a Constitutional Convention.
The OAS, which serves as a sort of proxy for the UN in the Western Hemisphere, does not as of this date recognize the new government.
I have previously presented a detailed analysis of the events of the Honduran coup which began on June 28th, 2009:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
and a detailed update:
The Human Rights Crisis Intensifies
The following is drawn from my post at Mercury Rising. As usual, Quotha (by anthropology professor Adrienne Pine) and Honduras Culture and Politics (by two academics versed in Honduras) are the best sources of information, though I have scoured far and wide, including the Honduran electronic media. The demonstrations were largely peaceful, though there were scattered reports of police brutality. However, there was an atmosphere of intimidation and, in the context of a new year that brought the killings of many journalists and resistance leaders, the pall of intimidation is real:
Events on 6/27
Protests in Chelsea, MA (via Quotha)
Events planned for 6/28
Protests in Madrid (Vos el Soberano via Quotha)
Protests in Washington DC (via Quotha)
Protests in Minneapolis (via Quotha)
Protest by US congressmen (via Quotha, which reproduces the letter to Hillary)
Commemoration and concert, San Pedro Sula (Vos el Soberano)
Protest in New York City, 4PM (DemocracyNow)
Events of the day
Berta Caceres of the human rights group COPINH detained by police (on the 27th) (Defensores en Linea, no direct link). Caceres was placed under protective measures by the OAS. She blames US troops for the harassment she and other associates have suffered.
Belen Fernandez commemorates the 1-year mark
Joyce and Sheptak on Hillary Clinton's amnesia and other cognitive deficiencies as she demands that other nations accept Honduras back into the fold
Dawn Paley on the Honduran business elite, especially mining
Quixote Center and other human rights groups visit (6/24-7/1)
The dictatorship is celebrating its accomplishments with a march (El Libertador)
Amnesty says that the Lobo regime has not demonstrated that it's serious about ending human rights abuses.
Tiempo editorializes. In an editorial, no less
DemocracyNow has an interview with Gerardo Torres, a very young journalist. Among the important points: he claims there is definite proof of a US role in the coup and he says that the proven human rights violations under Lobo are nearly as numerous as under Micheletti; also the repression is heavier.
Via Quotha, Joseph Shansky has a piece in Upside Down World titled The Coup is not Over
Via Quotha, Defensores en Linea reportthat the police equipped with billy clubs and tear gas surrounded a peaceful demonstration in Villas del Sol. First Lady Xiomara Castro was expected to be at the demo, according to Telesur.
Defensores en Linea also reported that Radio Uno in San Pedro Sula was harassed by police
Zelaya reiterated that the US was behind the coup, and said it was planned by the US military in Palmerola air base
Brother John has a retrospective and comments on the present. Most pertinent was the comment of a woman who was asked what her concerns were: "Eating", she said. Brother John says that the resistance needs to focus on helping people meet basic needs. He also remarks that the teachings of early church fathers on inequality, as represented by Charles Avila's book would have been regarded as radical today. It's true: the epistles are pretty clear that where Christ is, there is no hoarding of resources
COPINH has joined the national strike called by the FNRP (Resistance)
Peace Reporter has a film retrospective, interviewing Padre Andres Tamayo, who has been exiled (via Hibueras)
Quotha has photos from the night of 6/27-28
Bill Quigley of the Center for Constitutional Rights writes.
Sarah Stephens of the Center for Democracy in the Americas writes
Joseph Huff-Hannon writes for The Guardian about the atmosphere of intimidation in Honduras on the eve of the coup:
"A lot of people can't quite understand a movement that doesn't revolve around a caudillo," Gerardo tells me. "This resistance movement is wide and complex. We have feminists working with Christian activists, who are working with labour activists. Zelaya is important, but the popular movement more so. And we think the repression has built up because those who have always run the country are scared, and this is their desperate response. Them with their arms, us with our ideas."
Irina Bokova of UNESCO
condemned the killing on 14 June of Honduran journalist Luis Arturo Mondragón Morazán, the owner and director of Channel 19 television station... "It is essential that this murder, like those that preceded it, is subject to a thorough investigation to stem the tide of alarming violence against media that is crippling democracy in Honduras," said Ms. Bokova. "It is crucial that the bloodshed ends to uphold the universal right to freedom of expression and the right of Honduran citizens to be informed about what is happening in their country," she added.
Film from Channel 36 shows large demonstrations. The commentators say that the "camisas blancas" (white shirts; oligarchists) were able to fill the plaza once-- by emptying out all the government buildings-- while the resistance was able to raise a superior number without forcing people to attend. It really does look like a broad swath of society.
Rights Action: Presente!
Pro-coup La Tribuna reports that the Resistance "paralyzed traffic at the exits of Choloma, El Progreson, Santa Rita, and Tela for over three hours." That was about all the coverage the Resistance got in the Honduran media.
For pictures of both demonstrations, see Tiempo. However, note that the "camisas blancas" (oligarchy) assembled only in Tegucigalpa, and on the orders of their employers, while the Resistance had marches across Honduras, and no one was paying them to be there. More photos here
________________________________________________
Added (6/29): I spoke too soon with regard to Tiempo. They did move coverage of the resistance marches to the front web page.
In Tegucigalpa, the resistance was up and at 'em at 7AM. A crowd of people of all ages and social strata assembled at Villas del Sol was joined by leaders such as "Carlos H. Reyes, Juan Barahona, Rafael Alegría, Daniel Durón, Eulogio Chávez, Rasel Tomé", but First Lady Xiomara Castro and her daughter Hortensia "La Pichu" Zelaya were not there. They greeted the marchers at the Plaza Colprosumah later. The crowd chanted "Urgent, urgent, we need a president who won't screw the people" and Mel [Zelaya] endures, let the people rise up, rain or thunder, the Resistance is not delayed" (these rhyme very nicely in Spanish). At noon, they marched down John Paul II boulevard through Palmira and up to the National Congress.
In La Ceiba, marchers from Jutiapa, La Ceiba, El Porvenir and San Juan Pueblo dressed in black filed down San Isidro de La Ceiba to commemorate those slain by the dictatorship. They said that the country was stagnating and had been set back 60 years by the coup.
In Choloma, marchers seized the bridge over Rio Blanquito. At 10:30AM, they went by caravan from Choloma to San Pedro Sula at 3:10PM, where there was a mariachi band. They replaced a statue of General Mauel Bonilla with one of President Zelaya. A leader of the resistance, Samuel Madrid, said that they would return some day with cement to make sure that the statue stayed there, but that in the meantime they would take it with them.
In El Progreso, marchers seized the Amistad Bridge and blocked traffic for three hours. In Santa Rita, they took the main highway from 9-12.