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Americas Program Special Report
Special Report to Americas Program:
Military Forces Sow Terror and Fear in Honduras
Dick Emanuelsson | August 13, 2009
Translated from: Las Fuerzas Militares siembran terror y horror en Honduras
Translated by: Laura Carlsen
Americas Program, Center for International Policy (CIP)
americas.irc-online.org
The armed forces and police attacked tens of thousands of Hondurans in Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula, the industrial center of the country, resulting in two days of terror and fear in Honduras. Hundreds of people have been arrested, beaten, and many are wounded, according to reports from different human rights organizations.
The nation’s two principal cities have been militarized. The peaceful marches that for 46 days have maintained an order not to respond to provocations have been attacked by army units, the Cobra Command, and the national police. There are many accounts that the armed forces, police, and mayor’s office of Tegucigalpa have sent infiltrators into the marches. They have provoked the security forces, which have in turn attacked the demonstrators, who defend themselves with whatever they have in their hands.
Labor leaders Juan Barahona of the Unified Federation of Honduran Workers (FUTH) and the Popular Block, and Israel Salinas of the Unified Confederation of Honduran Workers (CUTH) reject accusations by the coup-controlled press and the spokesman of the national police that the de facto authorities do not attack the marchers as long as they don’t affect public or private property.
“It’s Like Hitting a Chained Burro”
“The burning of the bus and of Popeye’s (on Tuesday) was the work of police infiltrators. It’s hard to prevent this in a mobilization of 30,000 people,” Salinas, also a leader of the Front Against the Coup, told AFP.
“This comes from infiltrators. We have carried out peaceful actions since the first day, 46 days ago,” added another leader of the Front, the liberal Rasel Tome.
“We’re not going to provoke violence; we’re not going to confront the police. This is a peaceful demonstration—if there’s a confrontation, it would be like beating up a chained burro,” Barahona said.
“This struggle is peaceful, organized, and is not getting desperate. The coup leaders are getting desperate—they haven’t been able to govern a single day in tranquility and we will defeat them,” the leader added.
On Wednesday the marches continued and so did the provocations, which resulted in more attacks by security forces.
“We hadn’t even gotten to the Congress. The infiltrators are hurting us. The people didn’t even know what happened. We can’t explain what happened—there’s a lot of provocation by people who are not part of the resistance,” Barahona commented to Radio Globo.
Detention Center Set Up Behind Congress
The demonstrators were savagely beaten and many people were later tortured. A taxi driver reported to Radio Globo that he saw the army take 30 people out of the back part of the National Congress. Eyewitness accounts and testimonies from some of those released said the prisoners were stretched out face down, barefoot, and shirtless.
They were placed on a bus that took them to the First Infantry Battalion on the outskirts of Tegucigalpa. Many faces were bloodied. The taxi driver said first he counted them then followed the bus to find out where the arrested demonstrators were being taken.
Human rights groups have gone to corroborate the testimonies in terms of the existence of such a center.
Congressman from the Democratic Unity Party Shot
“The Committee of Families of the Detained and Disappeared in Honduras (COFADEH) told the national and international public that during the police repression of demonstrators in downtown Tegucigalpa that day, Congressman Marvin Ponce was wounded by a bullet and is receiving medical attention at the Hospital Escuela. Along with Ponce, Dr. Napoleon Vallejo was also shot,” COFADEN reported. Vallejo is a medical doctor who joined the popular resistance.
The Francisco Morazan Pedagogical University was taken over by military forces and the people inside were tortured, according to testimonies broadcast over Radio Globo.
In San Pedro Sula, thousands of demonstrators were also attacked.
More at link in original post.
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People WILL find out about this, no mattter how deep the corporate media try to bury it, just as they did throughout Latin America starting long ago, leaving so many USAmericans absolutely dumb as a box of hammers concerning what has been happening there for ages.
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