CNN Video Shows Coup Soldiers Shoot Tires on Protest Bus

By Al Giordano

One of the bragging points of the Honduras coup defenders is that their rallies, they say, are "bigger" than the anti-coup rallies. The largest crowd count I've seen from the pro-coup side is "65,000," but as the total count of all the rallies held on the same day in all the cities of Honduras. If true, that would be 0.8 percent of the Honduran population of eight million; pretty small potatoes considering that the coup government and business interests have vast resources at their disposal to bus them in, give them time off with pay from work, provide food, etcetera. Me thinks they brag about protest too much.

But what of the coup opponents, who have also had rallies in the tens of thousands, but somewhat less large than those of the coup defenders?

We've seen plenty of footage in recent days of many times when Hondurans have gathered against the coup only to be attacked by military soldiers. Right there is a measure of the passion of the coup opponents: they know when heading out for these rallies that they are risking life and limb. But that keeps most children and seniors away, and others wishing to avoid violence, even if their hearts are there.

The government ordered curfew from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. each night is also aimed at preventing massive protest gatherings. Roads are in bad condition: Honduras' two largest cities, San Pedro Sula and the capital of Tegucigalpa are 178 kilometers (110 miles) apart, but the trip takes four hours even when there aren't military roadblocks and citizen blockades, both of which have been common since Sunday's coup. The curfew virtually assures that such long trips can't be made roundtrip during daylight hours if one is also attending a demonstration in between.

CNN reports on the video above:

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (CNN) -- Honduran soldiers shot out the tires of buses headed for a demonstration in support of ousted President Jose Manuel Zelaya, a video obtained by CNN shows.

The video, believed shot within the past two days, shows a line of buses stopped on a road in what is reported to be the city of Limones. The city is about 70 miles (112 kilometers) northeast of the capital, Tegucigalpa…

Gunfire is heard and the crowd grows quieter. More shots are heard and then the video shows soldiers shooting out the tires on a yellow bus. Air hissing from a tire can be heard and the video shows a flattened tire.

(The video was obtained by CNN from a citizen journalist, of course.)

At about one minute into the 1:52 video you can clearly see the soldiers shooting at the bus tires. One marvels at the courage of the citizen journalist, Oscar Baron, keeping his head about him as he broke the information blockade amidst gunfire at close range.

Over the past five days there have been many similar reports of soldiers shooting out bus tires (or shooting up entire buses) to prevent a critical mass of coup opponents from gathering in Tegucigalpa or anywhere else. Coup defenders have vehemently denied these reports, accused opponents of inventing them, but now you can see the video with your own eyes and know which were telling the truth.

The use of the Armed Forces, in the media age, has expanded beyond traditional methods of repression. This week it has invaded TV and radio stations, rounded up key dissidents, and has been set to use not only to beat up demonstrators but also to prevent them from traveling to protests.

One wonders what the size of the anti-coup protests would be if not under such constant and violent attack even before they happen. You can be reasonably sure that they would not only be larger than the 65,000 (if we use the coup defenders' own numbers, likely exaggerated) that are part of the show to claim that "Honduras hearts a coup d'etat," but significantly larger and more powerful.

Well, just as the air is out of the tires of those buses in the video, the claims about pro-coup demonstrations being larger than anti-coup ones are now deflated as a propaganda point, thanks to the efforts a brave citizen journalist in the town of Limones, Honduras.

The drama underway in Honduras is, above all, an information war, one in which, as in Iran, the state is using its guns with the singular goal of trying to keep the lid on the fact that a people aren't swallowing its military coup d'etat.