Central America Theater

Resistance continues in Honduras —despite state of emergency

De facto Honduran President Roberto Micheletti announced a suspension of civil rights for 72 hours the morning of July 1, in a decree approved by the National Congress. Freedom of assembly is restricted, and security forces are granted the power to detain citizens without charges and enter homes without a court order. The dusk-to-dawn curfew that has been in place since the June 28 coup has been extended for six more days.

Honduras: countdown to confrontation?

Honduran Prosecutor General Luis Alberto Rubi said June 30 that ousted President Manuel "Mel" Zelaya would "immediately" be arrested if he returns to the country, where legal officials have accused him of 18 crimes including "treason" and "abuse of authority." Zelaya, meanwhile, vows to return on Thursday July 2—raising the prospect of an imminent showdown. The secretary general of the Organization of American States, José Miguel Insulza of Chile, Argentine President Cristina Kirchner and Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa have offered to accompany Zelaya on his return.

Honduras: will coup d'etat stand?

One day after Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was ousted and deported by the army, thousands of protesters continue to mass at the presidential palace in Tegucigalpa—in an increasingly tense stand-off with hundreds of camouflage-clad soldiers carrying riot shields and automatic weapons. The New York Times reports June 29 that the protesters—many wearing masks and carrying wooden or metal sticks—yelled taunts at the soldiers across the fences ringing the compound and braced for an attack. Shots were heard in the Honduran capital late Sunday the 28th, after de facto President Roberto Micheletti imposed a nationwide 48-hour curfew—which protesters continue to defy. AFP reported Monday evening that police and army troops outside the presidential palace were using tear gas to scatter protesters, who fought back with rocks and bottles. More shots were heard, although no casualties have yet been reported.

Honduras: resistance and repression follow coup

According to the Venezuela-based TeleSUR television network, thousands of Hondurans took to the streets of Tegucigalpa the morning of June 28 to demonstrate against the military's removal of President José Manuel ("Mel") Zelaya Rosales several hours earlier in a dispute over a non-binding referendum the president was planning to hold that day. TeleSUR showed footage of protesters at the Presidential Palace and other locations arguing with heavily armed soldiers, sometimes blocking their way or otherwise defying them. Ignoring a curfew imposed by the de facto government, the protesters said they would remain in the streets until Zelaya returns to office. (TeleSUR, June 28)

Coup d'etat in Honduras; Latin anti-imperialist bloc pledges resistance

Soldiers stormed the home of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya in a pre-dawn raid June 28, placing him on a plane to Costa Rica. The Honduran National Congress quickly named its leader, Roberto Micheletti, as president after voting to accept a "resignation letter" supposedly written by Zelaya. A resolution read on the floor accused Zelaya of "manifest irregular conduct" and "putting in present danger the state of law"—a reference to his refusal to obey a Supreme Court ruling against holding a referendum on constitutional reform that had been scheduled for that day. Television stations are reported to be off the air, and electricity is out in parts of the capital, Tegucigalpa. Army troops have a heavy presence in the streets. Hundreds of soldiers in riot gear have surrounded the presidential palace; tanks patrol the capital's thoroughfares and military jets streak overhead.

Honduras on edge as president defies courts, military

The Supreme Court of Honduras June 25 rejected President Manuel "Mel" Zelaya's dismissal of the country's senior military officer, Gen. Romeo Vásquez, deepening a confrontation over Zelaya's proposal to reform the constitution. Zelaya vowed to push ahead with a vote scheduled for June 28 to measure public support for holding a National Constituent Assembly. At a rally in Tegucigalpa, he told supporters that the court's decision amounted to a coup. As tens of thousands of Hondurans rushed to the defense of the president, filling and surrounding the presidential palace, soldiers were ordered into the streets.

Guatemala: protesters burn mine equipment

Indigenous Mam campesinos set fire to a pickup truck and an exploration drill rig on June 12 at the Marlin gold mine in San Miguel Ixtahuacán municipality in the western Guatemalan department of San Marcos, according to media reports. The protesters said the mine—operated by Montana Exploradora de Guatemala, SA, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Canadian mining company Goldcorp Inc.—had illegally placed its equipment on their land, endangering their water supply, and that they had been asking for two weeks for the company to move the equipment.

Nicaragua: Miskito elders declare independence

A Council of Elders of the Miskito indigenous people on Nicaragua's Caribbean coast, citing the central government's opening of the region to corporate exploitation with little return to local residents, have announced their secession from the country and declaration of a "Communitarian Nation of Mosquitia." But the ruling Sandinista government are charging that the US embassy has fomented the move.

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