Jul 25, 2009
Armed Police Infiltrate Funeral of Murdered Zelaya Supporter, Human Rights Abuses Mount in Desperate Attempt to Repress Popular Uprising
Honduras' military coup has murdered two demonstrators in the border area of Honduras, federal congressman Cesar Ham reported on Jul 25. The human rights organization, the Committee of Families of the Disappeared in Honduras (COFADEH) and other sources report that the body of Pedro Mandiel Muñoz was found with signs of torture following his arrest by coup security forces in Alauca, near the Nicaraguan border. Supporters of President Zelaya´s return are gathering there despite a military state of siege in the region. The organization notes that this brings the tally to six confirmed assassinations of Zelaya supporters.
As I am listening to the live transmission of the funeral over Radio Globo, the scene turns from somber to mayhem. The Radio Globo reporter at the funeral begins to run from the scene. The crowd has identified and captured armed police infiltrators, interrupting the burial. The fear in the voices is palpable. Radio Globo is calling for people to avoid violence despite the pain and rage, to deliver the police to justice. They report that a third police infiltrator has been captured. All you can hear is shouting as some seek to attack the infiltrators. Rafael Alegria exhorts to the crowd, "Our movement is peaceful... Do not attack them. We are going to remove them and deliver them to justice."
The police infiltrators have been taken into custody and disarmed. Alegria gives the names and says that the police are from the Direction of Criminal Investigations. "Who would send them into a burial when the people are already indignant..?", he says. "Our movement has proved that it is completely peaceful. We are protecting them so the people will not mistreat them even though we do not receive this treatment. This is a humane movement."
Alegria continues. "This is a direct provocation of the movement... We don't want any kind of confrontation."
Listening to the direct transmission, it is one of the most moving broadcasts I have heard. The reporters and interviewees are out of breath, and the calm voice of Rafael Alegria comes across, controlling the situation. Imagine the scene to get an idea of what this movement has accomplished at this very moment—in the burial service of a murdered countryman, they are forced to flee, leaving the coffin unburied, when armed police infiltrators are discovered. There is clear potential for a lynching. And it is controlled by experienced, committed, non-violent leaders that have the full respect of the people.
As Zelaya prepares to re-enter the country from Nicaragua, the entire zone is under 24-hour-a-day curfew and convoys of supporters have been blocked at over twenty checkpoints between Tegucigalpa and the border. AP reports,
"The Honduran armed forces, under orders from the de facto government, block the advance of Hondurans attempting to reach the border to meet Zelaya. The highways are infested with checkpoints and barricades. Some groups have evaded the checkpoints to reach their destination."
Many people, including Rep. Ham, have taken up the journey on foot. Radio Globo reports between three and five thousand supporters are gathered near the border.
Alegria himself was a victim of this repression just Saturday when the coup arrested him near Danli, despite cautionary measures issued for his safety by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.M He was detained and then released due to pressure from the national and international community.
Desperation and Resistance
Alegria's arrest is emblematic of the attacks on movement leaders by a coup desperate to maintain power in the face of a popular uprising for a return to democracy. As a national leader and former International Secretary of Via Campesina, he coordinates growing global opposition to the coup and represents the determination to continue to oppose the military coup of thousands of Hondurans despite mounting risks. For the armed forces to detain a prominent national and international leader who was engaged in non-violent, unarmed protest and the exercise of freedom of expression and freedom of movement demonstrates the true face of the group of army and political leaders who simultaneously seek to convince the international community of the "legality" of their cause.
More:
http://americasmexico.blogspot.com/2009/07/armed-police-infiltrate-funeral-of.html
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