SUYAPA G. PORTILLO VILLEDA
Suyapa G. Portillo Villeda is a research fellow at Pomona College and is originally from Honduras. She said today: “With the elected president Zelaya in Nicaragua and saying he will enter Honduras shortly, thousands are gathering at the border and there is a very tense standoff between them and the military.” She is in touch with people in Honduras and following events on various webpages, including: http://hondurasresists.blogspot.com and http://contraelgolpedeestadohn.blogspot.com and the webpage of the ousted government: http://www.guaymuras.net .
DANA FRANK
Professor of history who has written on Honduras at the University of California at Santa Cruz, Frank said today: “Most Americans are not aware that since the morning of the coup, the Honduran military has occupied every town and city in the country, including the hospitals, migration services, and public ministry. In spite of this massive military presence, ordinary people have been in the streets day after day, in greater and greater turnouts, demanding an immediate restoration of Zelaya’s legitimately elected government and an end to human rights abuses.” Frank also notes that in addition to a general strike throughout Honduras, there was also a police strike — indicating that some security forces may break from the coup government.
She continued: “The myth that President Manuel Zelaya was somehow a criminal and subverting democracy continues to shape analysis of the coup in Honduras. He was merely going forward with a legal referendum poll. Coup leader Roberto Micheletti and his allies have tried to twist this into something for which Zelaya should be somehow given amnesty, or even put on trial — ignoring the fact that Micheletti and the military are the real criminals, who, ignoring the legal process that allows for charges against a president, or even impeachment, took over the whole country with a military coup.” Frank wrote the piece “Honduras: Are We Going to Make Concessions to Those Who Perpetrate Coups?”
RAY DEL PAPA
Ray Del Papa is with South Florida School of the America’s Watch. He said today: “According to some reports, one of the coup leaders, U.S.-trained General Romeo Vasquez, will be in Miami on Saturday. In either event, we are protesting at Southern Command, calling for, among other things, a withdrawal of the 600 U.S. military personnel in Honduras.”
For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167
