Protests in the capital of Honduras today, led by the Anti-Coup Resistance Front, were brutally repressed by the police and the army under control of the coup regime. Dozens of protesters were injured by the coup forces, several left unconscious by the repression and some remain hospitalized in critical condition.
The Honduran people have been resisting the dictatorial regime that took over last June 28 - over one month ago - which ousted democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya from power. The regime installed a national curfew in order to control protests and social movements, and impose a state of terror in the country in order to consolidate the illegal regime, which remains in place today. Throughout most of the country, the curfew is in effect throughout the night, except in the border areas nearing Nicaragua, which have been plagued with a curfew from 6pm through 6am during the past week. Last week, the curfew was 24-hours in these areas, causing millions of dollars in losses in commerce in these regions, which serve as principal routes of transit for business between Nicaragua and Honduras.
US Ambassador to Honduras, Cuban-American Hugo Llorens, travelled to Nicaragua today to meet with President Zelaya in Managua, in order to "negotiate" a solution to the crisis. Llorens reiterated Washington's "recognition" of President Zelaya as the legitimate president of Honduras, yet refused to take further steps to isolate and pressure the coup regime. Washington remains the only country in the regime that has not recognized a coup having taken place in Honduras and that has not suspended diplomatic relations. The United States is also the principal source of economic support to Honduras -both through commerce as well as aid - and none of that has been suspended. Furthermore, Washington continues to maintain its immense military presence in Honduras on the Soto Cano base, engaging in military operations and missions together with the Honduran armed forces, today under control of the coup regime.
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WASHINGTON ON MAJOR OFFENSIVE IN LATIN AMERICA
By Eva Golinger, Postcards from the Revolution, July 30, 2009
Will post later today on this subject - I'm putting together some major figures ($$$) that evidence a heightened focus of US-funding - defense and diplomacy/democracy promotion - in Latin America for 2010.....
stay tuned.
PS: President Zelaya still remains at the Nicaraguan border while the coup regime banks on the passage of time allowing for their complete consolidation - at least enough to make it to the November elections. Zelaya's wife and family still remain detained by the regime's police and army forces, who had previously attempted to deceive them into crossing the border and then face expatriation - in other words, the coup regime was trying to get them out of the country and not allow them back in. Luckily, Zelaya's family realized the plan before it was fully executed, and so they remain on the other side of the border in Honduras.
The Spanish government has fully condemned the coup regime and called for the European Union to prohibit all coup regime representatives from travel to Europe.
Meanwhile, the visas "revoked" by the US State Department that belonged to 4 Hondurans were just diplomatic visas. This is standard procedure considering the individuals no longer work for the Zelaya government, which technically is the only Honduran government accredited with the State Department. Tourist visas for these individuals, however, have not been revoked, which means they are still free to travel to the US. No ban has been placed on members of the coup regime to prohibit entry to the US. That is the key. The mere revocation of diplomatic visas is by no means a sign of US pressure on the coup regime. It was minimal effort to comply with the law.
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