Tensions rise in Honduras while Manuel Zelaya and Roberto Micheletti continue their political impasse.In the capital city of Tegucigalpa, police fired tear gas and water cannons at reportedly pro-Zelaya demonstrators. Approximately 400 people rallied the Autonomous University of Honduras yesterday as some protestors threw rocks at police. Officers subsequently retaliated and arrested four people.
University director Julieta Castellanos claimed that she was beaten by police while attempting to restore calm. "I went out to talk with the members of the student board and the police hurt us. I am not going to allow that; we are going to sue the police," said Castellanos over Wednesday’s disturbances.
Zelaya visited Mexico this week where he received the support of President Felipe Calderon. He will soon travel to Brazil to meet with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and other officials. Micheletti claimed that protestors were weakening Honduras’ already fragile economy while military leaders appeared on local TV to defend the coup against Zelaya:
The joint chiefs of staff insisted Tuesday that the military acted to save Honduras from dictatorship. Honduras' Supreme Court had ordered Zelaya's arrest on abuse of power charges for trying to hold a referendum on changing the constitution in defiance of court rulings declaring the vote illegal.Image- AFP
"What the armed forces did on June 28 was the defense and survival of the state, which was under threat," Rear Adm. Juan Pablo Rodriguez said on "Face to Face," a show on local Channel 5 television. He was accompanied by military chief Gen. Romeo Vasquez and two other generals.
Online Sources- The Latin Americanist, AP, Bloomberg, AFP, Xinhua, Voice of America
3 comments:
they say: Honduras' Supreme Court had ordered Zelaya's arrest on abuse of power charges then why didn't they imprison zelaya?
a coup is a coup no matter how you disguise it!
The reason Zelaya was not imprisoned but sent out of the country was because their was a credible threat that his supporters would have tried to free them, just like they stormed the air force base where the ballots for the so called survey that Chavez had sent over where stored. Just a couple of thousand of his followers would have done a lot of damage.
Also protest for Zelaya have grown louder and more violent. But they have become smaller. Only the hardcore of his followers goes out to protest anymore. (A few hundred)And the reason that they have been confronting the police is because they vandalize private and public property. Last friday they had a peacefull artistic rally in the Central Park, and noone bothered them. The police were there, but no confrontation happened.
The government has said that they will respect the protesters rights of free speech as long as they respect other people's rights of free movement and they dont damage private and public property.
The Honduran constitution doesn't allow for the violation of Article 102 (prohibits the expatriation of any Honduran) because of a "credible threat". It was clearly agaisnt the law. Compare that to the intellectual gymnastics you have to do in order to link the ballots Zelaya wanted to distribute to Article 239, which is the stated reason for his removal.
Another Comparison worth making is between the violence of the Zelaya protesters and the brutality of the new regime. Political allies of Zelaya are disappearing or turning up dead. They're shutting down all independent media, Many parts of the country are still under a curfew, there is no due process, etc.
Regardless of how much you may dislike Zelaya, I think it's very difficult for anyone to embrace the regime that has replaced him.
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