Latin American teachers demand to reinstate democratic rule in Honduras

Source: Education International

2010-06-16
Latin American teachers demand to reinstate democratic rule in Honduras

Meeting with the EI Regional Committee for Latin America in the Dominican Republic, where he lives in exile, Jose Manuel Zelaya Rosales, ousted president of Honduras, thanked teachers from all over Latin America and the world for their support.

Forced from his elected position and his homeland by a coup d’état in June 2009, Zelaya Rosales told the leaders of Latin American education unions assembled in Santo Domingo: "The neo-liberal model that perhaps may work in highly developed economies is not at all a suitable model for many low income countries, such as Honduras, which have not even succeeded to meet the most basic social needs, such as education and healthcare. I have refused to abide by the 'Washington consensus' and to accept the harsh conditions the international financial institutions were trying to impose on us."

He highlighted the fact that the accusation that he had not respected the Honduran constitution held no ground, and that he was illegally removed from his elected position. EI General Secretary Fred van Leeuwen said that Education International had strongly condemned the coup d’état, and that EI would help strengthen its member organizations in Honduras, which have mobilized the teaching profession in support of the reinstatement of democratic rule in their country. Since the ousting of Mr. Zelaya, repressive measures have been taken against the teachers’ organizations, while serious violations of human rights have been reported, including the killing of eight teachers.

The Regional Committee adopted a statement in support of the struggle for democracy in Honduras, reaffirming a resolution adopted by the Latin American Regional Conference held in Sao Paulo in September 2009.

Read more: http://www.ei-ie.org/en/news/show.php?id=1284&theme=rights&country=honduras

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(My emphasis.)

They want Honduras to just get over it and accept the coup that had US support.


Our behavior is shameful.

Personally, I think 'neo-liberalism' besmirches liberalism. It should be called 'neo-libertarianism' because that's what it is.

Just as communism is always talked about as looking good 'in theory', the same is true for neo-liberalism/libertarianism. Yes, it's true that 'in theory' free markets should work. But in practice, every corporation has as it's primary goal the avoidance of competition. In reality, companies use patents and exclusive marketing agreements to avoid competition. They use mergers to absorb competition. Volume buying to undercut and eliminate competition. They use advertising to mislead and stroke consumers.

The last thing in the world that any company wants is absolute free market competition with a well-informed, well-reasoned consumer. If a consumer can easily compare two competing products secure in the knowledge that the only difference is price, then the lowest price will always win. That's why insurance companies fear the exchanges.

Colonialism.

1)Topple any existing local government.

2)Establish an authoritarian Dictatorship.

3)Murder and Beat the indigenous population into submission so they may be used as slave labor.

4)Claim all the natural resources.

5)Suck the country dry of anything of value, and ship the profits to the new Absentee Owners.

and will not change anytime soon. What has changed though is how Latin American countries respond to such events and their willingness to stand together (with some exceptions like Colombia of course).

Lobo attacked over Honduran journalist deaths

Thursday 17 June 2010

International journalist unions have denounced Honduran President Porfirio Lobo to the International Criminal Court after yet more journalists and opposition supporters were reported assassinated.

The journalists were joined by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in declaring that the government had "shown a total disregard for human rights and freedom of citizens" since Mr Lobo (pictured) came to power through elections held under the gun following last year's coup.

At least nine radio and newspaper reporters have been assassinated since the coup which ousted former President Manual Zelaya in June 2009, while union and peasant worker activists have reported at least 50 killings by police and landowners allied to Mr Lobo's government so far this year.

Ibero-American Journalists Organisation organiser Julio Martinez urged "heads of state to intervene and stop these killings and respect the rights of workers."

http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/news/content/view/full/91671

U.S. House panel urges Latin America to protect journalists

09:51 AM CDT on Thursday, June 17, 2010
By ALFREDO CORCHADO / The Dallas Morning News
acorchado@dallasnews.com

WASHINGTON – Violence against journalists in Latin America is reaching dangerous new dimensions, experts told a House subcommittee Wednesday, noting a surge of killings in Honduras as organized criminal groups expand their territory from Mexico.

Honduras, a nation of 8 million people, has recorded eight killings of journalists this year. Most of them were covering issues related to drug trafficking, U.S. law enforcement officials have said, and their deaths are a testament to the power of organized criminal groups and their efforts to control information about their activities.

"When freedom of expression is threatened, democracy is threatened," said Carolina Botero Marino, special rapporteur for freedom of expression at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

Mexico, with a population of 110 million, remains the deadliest country for journalists in Latin America, with at least 30 journalists killed since President Felipe Calderón took office in December 2006 and declared war on drug cartels.

"Mexico is Iraq-like," said Joel Simon, executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists. "It's deadly. The numbers are simply astounding."

More:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/world/stories/DN-honduras_17int.ART.State.Edition1.4027aba.html

Is the theory that these groups are in control of the government, or that the government is able to stop them but unwilling, or that the government is ineffective to stop them, or... what?

What's the narrative being proffered?

Thanks for the rec., L. Coyote. :hi:

WEDNESDAY 16 JUNE 2010
Nine Journalists Killed This Year in Honduras

TEGUCIGALPA - The assassination of journalist Luis Arturo Mondragon brings the number of media professionals killed this year in Honduras to nine, making it the most unsafe country for journalists.

Mondragon, who was news director for Channel 19 in the city of El Paraíso, was shot dead last night as he was sitting with his son on the sidewalk outside his house, minutes after his program.

He had received death threats for exposing corrupt local and national officials.

The media has been one of the sectors most affected since the June 28 coup, with over 300 attacks reported, including assassination, abuse, intimidation, censorship, and the shutdown of news agencies.

The nine journalists killed to date this year belonged to different news media in different regions, and the majority had used their programs to denounce human rights violations and cases of corruption or drug trafficking.

http://www.insidecostarica.com/dailynews/2010/june/16/centralamerica100061602.htm

Landowners in Honduras hired Colombian paramilitaries, UN saysMembers of the AUC, classified as a terrorist organisation by the US, reportedly hired to offer protection for landowners
Associated Press
guardian.co.uk, Friday 9 October 2009 14.50 BST

Honduran landowners have reportedly hired former Colombian paramilitaries as mercenaries to protect them against possible violence stemming from government tensions, a UN panel said today.

The UN working group on mercenaries said that it has received reports that some 40 former members of United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia, or AUC. The US government classifies the AUC as a terrorist organisation.

They will protect properties and individuals "from further violence between supporters of the de facto government and those of the deposed President Manuel Zelaya," it said.

Separately, a 120-person group of paramilitaries from several countries in that region was reportedly created to support the coup in Honduras, the panel said.

More:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/09/honduras-colombia-auc-landowners


Colombia exporting paramilitaries to Honduras: El Tiempo
Monday, 14 September 2009 10:53
Javier Emilio Valencia

Colombian illegal armed groups are recruiting demobilized paramilitaries to work as mercenaries in Honduras, several Colombian media reported Monday.

According to newspaper El Tiempo, some Honduran business people are hiring Colombian former paramilitaries to strengthen their security against urban gangs.

According to the news report the drafting is taking place in ‘El Japon’, an estate seized from a drug trafficker by antinarcotics authorities in the Magdalena Medio valley. The report says some demobilized paramilitary lieutenants are engaging former paramilitary combatants of the disarmed paramilitary organization AUC to serve as security personnel in Honduras.

Colombian police say ‘Los Rastrojos’, the drug gang that inherited the drug trade from the Norte del Valle cartel, was reported recruiting demobilized paramilitaries in the vicinity of ‘El Japon’, where the alleged recruitment of mercenaries would be taking place.

"We do not rule out that ‘Los Rastrojos’ are the ones involved in the Honduran case. We will investigate," Police Colonel Ricardo Restrepo said.

Colombian migration authorities said no significant increase of Colombian travelers to Honduras has been reported, but they do not rule out the possibility that the alleged mercenaries arrive in Honduras through connections in other Central American countries.

Hernan Bermudez, Honduran ambassador to Colombia said that his country’s armed forces have total control of the Honduran territory. He also said that the Honduran intelligence authorities do not report the presence of paramilitary in their country.

Anti-coup organizations in Honduras, on the other, had denounced the foreign presence of paramilitary mercenaries in the Honduran provinces of San Pedro and Santa Barbara.

http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/5900-colombia-exports-paramilitaries-to-honduras.html


UN experts concerned about Colombian paramilitaries in Honduras
Friday, 09 October 2009 07:00 Adriaan Alsema

U.N. human rights experts voiced concern Friday at reports that former paramilitaries from Colombia had been recruited to protect wealthy people and property in Honduras after that country's military coup.

The U.N. working group on the use of mercenaries said "information available to date" suggested that land-owners hired 40 former members of the Autodefensas Unidas rde Colombia as guards after violence erupted between supporters of the de facto government and backers of deposed President Manuel Zelaya.

They also cited reports that 120 paramilitaries from several neighbouring countries had been brought in to support the late-June coup that has triggered Central America's worst crisis in years.

"We urge the Honduran authorities to take all practical measures to prevent the use of mercenaries within its territory and to fully investigate allegations concerning their presence and activities," the five independent experts said in a joint statement issued in Geneva.

More:
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/6321-un-experts-concerned-about-colombian-paramilitaries-in-honduras.html

(The violence which broke out "between" police and Hondurans was completely one-sided. Resistance was TOTALLY non-violent.)


Honduras "importing" Colombian paras as mercenaries?

Submitted by WW4 Report on Mon, 10/12/2009 - 03:55. A group of independent UN experts expressed concern Oct. 9 over the increased use of mercenaries in Honduras since the June coup d'etat. The panel said it received reports that 40 former Colombian paramilitary veterans had been hired to protect properties and individuals in Honduras since the June 28 ouster of President Jose Manuel Zelaya. The panel also heard reports that 120 mercenaries from various Latin American countries had been contracted to support the de facto regime.

"We urge the Honduran authorities to take all practical measures to prevent the use of mercenaries within its territory and to fully investigate allegations concerning their presence and activities," the panel said in a press release. The experts noted that Honduras is a signatory of the international convention tha bans the recruitment, use, financing and training of mercenaries.

The panel was established in 2005 by the Commission on Human Rights, which has since been succeeded by the Human Rights Council. It consists of five members, from Fiji, Libya, Colombia, Spain and Russia. (CNN, Oct. 10)

Three weeks before the panel issued its statement, the Bogotá daily El Tiempo reported that demobilized paramilitary fighter Walter Ochoa Guisao had been approached by a group of Honduran businessmen to recruit veterans of the paramilitary bloc formerly led by Ramón Isaza AKA "El Viejo". The fighters were reportedly offered a monthly salary of $750, plus living expenses. The meeting is said to have taken place at a finca (large farm) dubbed "El Japón" in the Magdalena Medio region, formerly owned by accused narco-trafficker Jairo Correa Alzate and now officially property of the Colombian state. The paper said the businessmen sought to "import" to Honduras ex-combatants of the notorious United Colombian Self-Defense Forces (AUC). (EFE, Oct. 10; El Tiempo, Sept. 13)

http://www.ww4report.com/node/7816


Honduran National Resistance Update 10/11

~snip~
The ongoing peaceful protests, strikes and blockades have continued in the face of increasingly severe repression. The Honduras Resists website said, as of October 2, at least 4000 people had been detained and 17 killed, although many anti-coup activists believe the real number to be much higher

There are a number of reports of torture at the hands of the security forces.

The Committee in Defence of Human Rights in Honduras (CODEH) said more than 100 people have been injured by police using chains. wooden bats and other objects. CODEH also said more than 105 “homicides” had been officially registered during the coup-imposed curfew periods.

On October 9, Radio Globo said that snipers had begun firing into the Brazilian embassy, home to Zelaya and hundreds of his supporters. The Associated Press said the same day that right-wing Colombian paramilitaries, infamous for human rights abuses, were arriving in Honduras.

More:
http://hondurasoye.wordpress.com/2009/10/11/honduran-national-resistance-update-1011/