Ousted President Manuel Zelaya is widely reported to be returning to Honduras Saturday.
DANA FRANK, danafrank at ucsc.edu
Frank is professor of history at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and the author of Bananeras: Women Transforming the Banana Unions of Latin America, which focuses on Honduras. She said today: “President Zelaya’s return offers a brief glimmer of hope, but the ongoing repression by current President Porfirio Lobo’s military regime — now even worse than immediately after the coup — remains undiminished, as state security forces now routinely use tear gas canisters as lethal weapons, and teachers, trade unionists and campesinos in the opposition are still being assassinated with complete impunity. Lobo and Secretary of State Clinton insist that democracy has been restored to Honduras. But the reality on the ground remains terrifying, which is why over 75 Congress members are calling for a suspension of U.S. military and police aid to Honduras.” Frank just wrote a piece titled “Ousted president’s return to Honduras doesn’t mean repression is over.”
ADRIENNE PINE, [in Houduras] pine at american.edu
Pine is assistant professor of anthropology at American University specializing in Latin America. She is the author of Working Hard, Drinking Hard: On Violence and Survival in Honduras and has been writing about Honduras and other issues at: quotha.net.
JESSE FREESTON, [in Houduras] jesse at therealnews.com
Freeston is a reporter for The Real News who has produced several segments on Honduras since the June 2009 coup. He is currently in Honduras. He said yesterday: “On Saturday, the last person ever elected to lead the Honduran people will step back on Honduran soil. In the 23 months since Mel Zelaya was overthrown, the country has witnessed dozens of farmers killed for land, teachers being teargassed, beaten, and imprisoned for demanding their stolen pensions back, LGBT community suffering dozens of hate killings, 11 of the country’s most critical journalists assassinated, and the perpetrators of the coup rewarded with key positions in the current regime. And to top off the tragic nature of Zelaya’s arrival, he signed an agreement to both recognize the regime and support Honduras’ return to the OAS in return for the regime’s permission for him to come home.” See The Real News’ pieces on the Honduran coup and its aftermath here.
For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 421-6858; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167