Thursday, Bloody Thursday in Honduras
By Al Giordano
JULY 30, 2009, CUESTA DE LA VIRGEN, COMAYAGUA, HONDURAS: The first signs came in the form of tractor trailers, miles and miles of them, easily thousands, laden with melons and pineapples and bananas and sports apparel manufactured in the factories to the north, frozen in place, engines turned off, on the side of the road, about 80 kilometers out of the capital city of Tegucigalpa.
It was one p.m. today and there were no cars or trucks coming from the other direction. The oncoming lane was empty and that’s the one your correspondent took.
The blockade had been in place since early morning. By 1:20 p.m., driving down from the mountain in the wrong lane, your vehicle still had not come to the blockage point. Finally, even the oncoming lane had become an endless traffic jam of more cars and trucks seeking the same southbound route, stopped cold.
A little after two p.m. the long line of vehicles began crawling forward again.
At a stretch of the road at the bottom of the miles-long hill stood three hundred or more military soldiers, National Police and specialized riot police with the acronym COEDO on their uniforms. They stood alongside the remains of burning matter, rocks and other debris that had just been cleared to the shoulders. The terrible sting of teargas clung to nostrils and throats and burned the eyes. But no remaining protesters could be seen anywhere.
The ANSA press agency would report that here, in Cuesta de la Virgen, the coup regime’s show of force against the nonviolent blockaders wrought a toll of 156 arrests, including three seriously wounded.
In the same hour, Radio Globo – its northern signal at 101.1 FM had weakened at this point in the highway as its capital city signal at 88.7 FM became accessible – reported that the violent repression against the pacific demonstrators was not an abberation restricted to Cuesta de la Virgen. Today’s crackdown had been ordered nationwide.
Roger Abraham Vallejo Cerrado, 38, secretary of the San Martín high school, who had participated in a different anti-coup demonstration in Tegucigalpa, received a bullet wound to the head. That is him in the photo. Another 88 arrests and 25 wounded was the body count from the illegitimate state repression on this same road, at El Durazno, five kilometers from the capital.
Among the arrested today were presidential candidate Carlos Reyes, beaten violently by the coup soldiers, left with a broken arm and a bloodied ear, and also arrested was national union leader Juan Barahona.
The news team of Venezolana de Televisión (VTV) was physically attacked by the police, TeleSur reports.
Those are just a few glimpses of the story as seen and reported from below, from the ground level in a country occupied by a military coup regime.
Meanwhile, up above, the illegitimate “president” Roberto Micheletti, continued to mock the neutered "peace process" championed in San José and Washington. With the left hand, he flashed a peace sign, while with the right hand, according to multiple press reports, he today ordered the police and military forces to “put a stop” to the peaceful blockades.
And in the next-door country’s capital of Managua, Nicaragua, the legitimate President Manuel Zelaya met with US Ambassador to Honduras Hugo Llorens, who led a delegation of US officials there for talks of which the details are not yet publicly known.
The full toll of Thursday, Bloody Thursday in Honduras has not yet been counted. “They treated us like animals,” Baranhona told Prensa Latina, while under arrest. The “forces of order” pursued and brutally beat the multitude in many locations across the land that had, for the fifth time in three weeks, successfully blockaded the key points of the country’s major arteries for most of the business day.
The logic of such ritual animalistic repression has never been clear to this observer. It never works to win hearts and minds. It very rarely works to cause protests to diminish. More often, it reminds the people that the repressive nature of the regime is a big part of why they are willing to risk life and limb for a just cause.
As events of the next few days will demonstrate, the civil resistance to the Honduran coup is visibly growing in size, organizational capacity and geographical scope. Today was the first time the people had put up a blockade in Cuesta de la Virgen. Despite the bloody repression – more likely because of it – don’t make any bets that it will be the last.
Update II: Today in the state of Olancho, home of President Manuel Zelaya, coup supporters (popularly called "los perfumados" by many in Honduras) had announced a march in the President's home town of Catacamas, and loaded two busloads from the Tegucigalpa to play the role of local citizens two hours away. The authentic local citizens caught wind of it, though, and went to the town before Catacamas - La Real - and set up this blockade:
The coup supporters never made it past the blockade, which was held peacefully and successfully without in cident. Lacking local participants, the announced pro-coup march in Catacamas never happened.
Update III 10:44 Tegucigalpa Time, 12:44 a.m. ET: The legitimate First Lady of Honduras, Xiomara Castro, who has been in the border regions with Nicaragua for the past week, is right now entering the city of Tegucigalpa in a caravan and heading for Radio Globo, where she will make an announcement tonight. You can listen to it here. Lord knows, most of Honduras will be. There is a certain optimism, if not giddiness, in the voices of the radio announcers telling this story. Remember that her husband, Mel Zelaya, met with a US delegation today in Managua. Oh my, here she is...
Update IV: There are conflicting reports about the status of schoolteacher Roger Abraham Vallejo Cerrado with some media saying he passed away tonight and others saying he is still fighting for life. Neither version is confirmed.
Update V: The Zelaya family has been on the air with a supporting case of hundreds on Radio Globo for 70 minutes now, with some very moving moments, but no "hard news," at least none announced. Tomorrow will be a most interesting day.
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Comments
Good luck, Al
Submitted July 30, 2009 - 8:19 pm by Paul Smirl (not verified)First rate journalism. Keep your head down and your eyes and ears open.
An observetion "behind the fence"
Submitted July 30, 2009 - 8:46 pm by Héctor (not verified)Today, one thing must be clear to everybody, Micheletti is just a puppet with no control over the military; the oligachy who paid for the coup are the ones giving orders to the armed forces. Billy Joya is the man to watch for.
I believe the strategy they are following is to push people to counterattack the repression with firearms in order to have a excuse to shoot people back with much more violence! I am afraid they might want to kill protest leaders, more importantly Carlos H. Reyes, given that the golpistas have no political foothold. There is not chance that either National nor Liberal Party would win the Presidential Election in a fair election. Carlos H. Reyes is the key here; he is an independent candidate.
And they have shown clearly they don´t care much of the international opinion.
Teacher killed
Submitted July 30, 2009 - 9:30 pm by PATUCAWARRIOR (not verified)Roger Abraham Vallejo Cerrado, 38, secretary of the San Martín high school...
Is dead...
"Whistling past the graveyard"
Submitted July 30, 2009 - 9:38 pm by Nancy Chester@Hector
"And they have shown clearly they don´t care much of the international opinion."
I don't know what country you are from, but have you ever heard the North American expression, "Whistling past the graveyard".
The most common usage is a show of bravado pretending or disguising one's fear. I believe this might describe some of the oligarchs' public statements.
tide's a turnin'
Submitted July 30, 2009 - 9:39 pm by Mike Blair (not verified)Looks like the military is continuing to break ranks. Check this out'
http://hibueras.blogspot.com/2009/07/los-militares-comienzan-sacar-la.ht...
Keep up the good work Al, and stay safe!
Prayers for solidarity
Submitted July 30, 2009 - 10:47 pm by John SladeAie! I'm wanting to send all the best to the people of Honduras as the crackdown comes.
I have no ideas of numbers. How many in the army? How many in the states? How many units can the coup leaders use, and in which areas? Are the police still on strike?
Good luck to all. Stay safe, Al. (Safe as you can as you get a close look...)
Now more than ever...
Submitted July 31, 2009 - 1:21 am by bonkers (not verified)...we must hit the "Make a Donation" button in the upper right corner of this page.
The majority of problems we're trying to fix now in America, and the world, are a direct result of BigMoney control of the message machine. In response to the social upheaval of the 1950s and 60s, they started their strategy to buy up all the major "news" outlets, and change laws through aggressive lobbying to help them in this mission.
Al's reporting in Honduras is such a pristine example of how we can fight back. We need to have Al and his colleagues' backs, and it's so easy now to contribute.
For Roger Abraham Vallejo Cerrado!
@ Nancy
Submitted July 31, 2009 - 10:02 am by Héctor (not verified)Nancy,
I'm honduran and live in Tegucigalpa. Also, I've been to some demostrations.
It´s clear to me that the golpistas have no chance at getting any official support by a democratically elected goverment. My past comment is based on what one can feel on the streets, some people believe that international community is not doing enough, especially USA (goverment) making this agony last longer than needed.
Your comment sticks to reality. However, our reality resembles pure orwellian novels.
People keep dying, and one can listen on the radio (globo and progreso) more and more poeple day after day asking for support to bear arms. Well, I´m leaving to UPNFM where the first lady will be today.
hooded gunmen
Submitted July 31, 2009 - 10:22 am by Calvin (not verified)Hi Al
Stay safe! I was there last week travelling with President Zelaya's family towards the Nicaraguan border. We were stopped on the road by hooded gunmen wearing police uniforms, soldiers with clubs and guns, and a team of snipers. I managed to get away that evening, the rest of the convoy of sixty cars and buses remained at the checkpoint without food, water or shelter. The following morning the multiated corpse of Pedro Magdiel, a 23 year old oppenent of the coup regime, was found 400 yards from the checkpoint. I believe it was left there as a warning.
Here's the report, together with pics
http://21stcenturysocialism.com/
Good luck Al
Hell yeah, Al
Submitted July 31, 2009 - 12:01 pm by Keene (not verified)This is the best reporting I've seen, and while trying to come up with a "since ___" I realized i had nothing to compare it to.
Stay safe!
Kudos for your solid work;
Submitted July 31, 2009 - 2:40 pm by Mark D Morris (not verified)Kudos for your solid work; wish I were doing the same. I noticed that the Mercado Colon went up in flames again, 13 years after the last major fire there. Guessing at the political mood of the country, I've been thinking about the colonias and barrios linked and contiguous to the market zone of Comayaguela. If you start on 7th Ave. and just walk up and up, you get into some pretty tough and very spirited neighborhoods. As a rough barometer, I would say that if this population is decidedly against the coup government, that government is on its way out or things could get really ugly as it is escorted out. On the other hand, if the opinion in those colonias is divided, ambivalent or apolitical, the Micheletti governments has a lot of wiggle room on the domestic front. Maybe linked to a look at the recent fire itself and its impact, a little sniffing into the political mood around the Colon and Americas market would bring up some valuable insights.
best,
Mark
P.S. I'd be happy to explain in more detail in private correspondence why I think the popular colonias of Comayaguela are an important barometer.
The photo of Roger
Submitted July 31, 2009 - 6:11 pm by Charlie HardyLooking at the photo of the assassinated Roger Vallejo Cerrado, I recalled Oscar Arias’s strange words some days ago that if a peaceful agreement wasn’t reached, an armed civilian might shoot an armed soldier…or an armed soldier might shoot an armed civilian. Armed soldiers had already shot UNarmed civilians. Didn’t he realize which part of this conflict is the armed part? They were strange, strange words coming from someone who is supposed to understand the situation in Honduras.
Hector, Thank you for your
Submitted July 31, 2009 - 8:52 pm by Nancy ChesterHector, Thank you for your response and courage. I understand your perspective now that I know you are participating in the resistance. My prayers go with you and your countrymen.
From what Al said today about Mrs Zelaya's comments it sounds like the coup is winding down. Perhaps it might have ended earlier with fewer deaths and injuries had Hillary Clinton handled it differently. And yet when this victory comes, it will be the Hondurans who claim the laurels. It seems very clear to me that without the Honduran resistance, had the coup held that oligarchs in other Central & South American countries would also have tried the same tactic against democracy and the "left".
Nancy
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