The People of Honduras Do Not Owe Obedience to an Imposed Government
FEBRUARY 21, 2018
Despite brutal repression, the people of Honduras have resisted the U.S.-backed dictatorship since the 2009 coup d’état.
BY MELISSA CARDOZA
Since elections widely denounced as fraudulent this November, the social movements of Honduras have taken to the streets, confronting violent repression by a Honduran state armed with millions of dollars from U.S. taxpayers. Melissa Cardoza, Honduran feminist and author of 13 Colors of the Honduran Resistance, was in the United States last spring for a book release tour in honor of assassinated Honduran indigenous leader Berta Cáceres. Here she speaks of and to those from grassroots struggles in the U.S. about the current period of unyielding resistance and brutal repression in Honduras. The following essay was translated by Matt Ginsberg-Jaeckle.
Honduras is considered by the U.S. government to be its back yard, its dump, its military base par excellence in the region, the banana plantation that has enriched its businesses with the blood of workers.
There, in the histories of banana exploitation, is one of the origins of the history that we are now living through in this January—full of calls expressing people’s struggles and expressing grief for the lives stolen from us. These are the lives of compatriots who have taken to the streets to say “no” to another brutal coup against the people—this time an electoral coup.
But that history could also be told starting centuries ago, when the ruin that arrived by sea with stories of a singular, punishing god and the inconceivable greed of the white Europeans practically condemned this country to oblivion. Through force and exploitation, relations based on avarice and cruelty in all of their forms developed. It would be the same story centuries later in the mining and banana enclaves, now run by North American bosses. All that changed through time were the masters.
More:
http://inthesetimes.com/article/20933/Honduras-protests-Juan-Orlando-Hernandez-coup-banana-exploitation-strike/
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Honduras: ‘They're afraid because we aren’t’
Daryl Davies
May 1, 2010
Issue 835
Repression and resistance. These two words sum up Honduras today.
There is truly terrible repression — reminiscent of the Central American “dirty wars” run by US-trained militaries in the 1980s.
But there is also unprecedented resistance that has mobilised a previously compliant majority.
This is the situation that exists in the aftermath of the June 28 military coup last year that overthrew the elected president, Manuel Zelaya. Zelaya’s crime was to agree to the demands of a united front of social movements to start a democratic process of writing a new constitution
. . .
The coup radicalised the nation. In response, the Lobo regime is cracking down hard on protesters. Non-violent protesters are met with volleys of tear-gas, police beatings and army bullets.
The Committee of Families of the Disappeared in Honduras (COFADEH) said more than 3000 people have been illegally detained. Many have been beaten, tortured or raped.
Dozens of activists have been assassinated and more have disappeared. The number is growing constantly.
Journalist Cesar Silva was abducted on December 29, interrogated and tortured for 27 hours.
More:
https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/honduras-‘theyre-afraid-because-we-aren’t’
You may remember hearing this song during the evil following the coup in 2009:
"Nos tienen miedo porque no tenemos miedo".
( “they’re afraid of us because we’re not afraid”.)
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