Reuters reports that descendants of African slaves who fled to Guatemala two centuries ago honored their ancestors on Thursday in a celebration of a culture threatened by mass migration to the United States. Hundreds of people from the Black Carib Garifuna culture re-enacted their forefathers’ arrival in Guatemala by dugout canoe, then swayed through the streets to the sound of drum beats and the blowing of conch shells.

The Garifuna are descendants of escaped slaves who mingled with Carib Indians on the Caribbean island of St. Vincent. The British deported them to an island near Honduras from where they spread along the Central American coast, arriving in Guatemala in 1802. Today almost half of Central America’s 200,000 Garifuna live in the United States, mostly in New York City. In the Guatemalan port of Livingston, home to more than 10,000 Garifuna in late 1970s, the population has dwindled to around 4,000.

Garifuna in Livingston say they face discrimination in Guatemala, and there are few jobs in the port town which is only reachable by sea. “I own a boat and fishing helps me keep my head above water, but most of the businesses here are Latin-owned and they control the economy,” said Polo Martinez, whose three brothers and two sisters live in the United States. Many older Garifuna say their lifestyle of fishing and farming is being lost as so many migrate.

Garifuna National Day was created in Guatemala 13 years ago to honor the country’s Black Carib population. Annual festivals in Livingston and Belize are seen as a way of connecting with their roots. Hundreds of people crammed into Livingston’s brick Catholic church for a mass given in Spanish and the Garifuna language that blends words from West Africa with the Caribbean’s Arauak, as well as French, English and Spanish. Garifuna came to the festival from New York, Miami and Los Angeles, the major U.S. cities where many now live.

Celebrations wera also held in Honduras and Belize. In Belize, celebrations took place on November 19. At break of dawn, a large group of Garifunas proceeded to the beach side where they boarded boats with palms in hand, for the reenactment of the arrival of the Garifuna to the shores of Belize. From afar, the sounds of drums and traditional songs in the Garifuna language broke the silence of the early morning. As the boats approached the shores, the music turned to one of happiness symbolizing their ancestor’s joy and triumph in finding new land. It’s a very symbolic event that proceeded with a traditional thanksgiving mass, traditionally considered, solemn and highly spiritual in the Garifuna culture.

For more go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/26/AR2009112602061.html

While living in Central America!

With 4 more day left in Honduras, so many things are flashing before our eyes. We are trying to take it all it and enjoy every moment like it is our last! So we can not leave you with the images from our “Things We Won’t Miss About Honduras” post. So along with the 2 previous “Things We Will Never Tire of…” (click to read that post) and “More things We Will Never Tire of…” (Click to read that post) we are adding even more things we love and will miss about our second home, Honduras.

PEOPLE WEARING AMERICAN T-SHIRTS!
They wear high school, college, professional sport teams, 5k runs and just some whacky tee-shirts that make sense in the States but not here…like the old dude wearing a “I love mullets” T-Shirt! The same with the baseball caps too!

From Juayua Food Fest!

GETTING OFF THE BUS IN THE MIDDLE OF NO WHERE!
People getting off the bus in the middle of no where with no houses around, just disappearing into the woods on some tiny trail on the side of the highway. It is like they live in a secret Narnia land!

MACHETES!
Can’t help it, but we love them. They are an every day tool here: need something cut no matter how small, whip out the machete; your kids wants to cut open a coconut, give them a machete; or your grass needs a mow, do it with a machete!

From Perquin

From Perquin

LOS GALLOS!
Central Americans love the Rooster, not only for a food source, but for advertising! We had a love for the Rooster before we came to Honduras, and now we love them even more! We will miss roosters and chickens walking the streets, under your feet and crowing at any and all times of the day and night!

From 2009 – Feb. Dogs and Roosters

From Roosters for Kris!

HONDURAS Y FUTBOL!
It is just so awesome to see a whole country cheering all for the same thing! All and any differences are shoved aside in order for all their energy to go towards another National Win! Our energy will be with Honduras in their World Cup 2010 matches!

From On the Street After World Cup Qualifying Games

From On the Street After World Cup Qualifying Games

HONDURAN COWBOYS!
We love to see campesinos/vaqueros riding through small towns on their horses for a few reasons. 1) Everyone loves a cowboy, a real cowboy. 2) In Honduras the horse may be that cowboys only source of transportation. 3) Some cowboys teach their horses to prance. And 4) The saddles are wonderful, whether a fancy leather one, a worn old one or a wood one!

From The People of Honduras – A and T's Trip

From The People of Honduras – A and T's Trip

THE GREAT LIGHT SHOWS!
What we are talking about is the awesome lightening and thunder storms. We have never, especially West Coast Jim, heard thunder so loud and close before in our lives. And the rain that comes with it, it is so hard and thick it is like a cleansing blanket that covers the dry dust covered city.

From Austino and Turnito's Trip Start to End

OUR BOYS!
We mentioned children in general in one of our other posts about things we will never tire of here, but in particular we would never tire of spending time with our boys at the Casa Del Nino orphanage. Even if we do not feel good or are super tired, we still have a blast with them and come out happy. We will miss them so intensely that we KNOW we will be back.

From Jim's B-day 2009

MOVIES FOR $2.00 – $3.00
We often go to movies every weekend watching whatever movie they have…some silly teen movies and even a horror movie once and I do not even like them. But in a town where there is not a lot to do and the movie is cheap, why not. And it is the only place I can get popcorn here!

OVERWEIGHT WOMEN!
Most Honduran women have meat on their bones…and it is okay.

From Gurifuna Fest – Corozal Honduras

From Carnival – El Sauce – May 09

THE TWO ON A BIKE MADE FOR ONE RIDE
First someone sits on the seat, and another person sits kind of side saddle on the bar that goes in between the seat and the handlebars. Okay, that might be do-able, but the person sitting on the seat is peddling with their hands on the shoulders of the bar sitter. The bar sitter steers the bike. I have totally wanted to try this with Jim, but I know we would break our necks!

OLD GARIFUNA WOMEN
In their old style cotton long dresses and head scarf, I often think that if I sat and talked with them, that I would get Maya Angelou type wisdoms. Hmmmm…maybe this is where Maya gets all her great quotes!

From Gurifuna Fest – Corozal Honduras

From Gurifuna Fest – Corozal Honduras

OUR WONDERFUL SUPER HONDO UMBRELLAS
I am sure you have heard me mention our umbrellas before….but we do so love them. They are super large, double paneled and double spoked. Forget the fancy super fold down Totes variety…the Super Hondo Umbrella is the way to go. We even bought two new ones to bring home with us…Jim’s is a sassy yet masculine lime green and dark green striped number, my new one is…rrrooooar…tiger striped (I heard that animal print is still in…please say it is so).

From Brullys & boots

From Brullys & boots

From Brullys & boots

THE NICKNAMES THE BOYS AT CASA DEL NINO USE FOR EACH OTHER!
Mono (Monkey) for little Andres who loves to climb on things. Siete Mundos (Seven Worlds) for Marcos who has a big head. Timba (big belly) for little Isreal that has a belly that grows when he eats! Vaca (Cow) for Walter, because they say he is heavy (he actually looks like normal teen – not skinny like the rest of the kids). And El Tunclo (Loud person) is Jonathon’s nickname because he makes this ear piercing whistle noise! El Diablo for Julio because he’s a bit of a trouble maker. And Jefe (boss) for Jan Carlos because he used to make crank calls saying he was the boss of a local gang. Ay Ay Ay! Some are mean…but the kids do not mind for some reason. Check out the album below with all the nicknames AND the nicknames they have for us!

Los apodos de los niños en Casa Del Niño (Nicknames of the boys at Casa Del Nino)

FLOUR TORTILLAS
Honduras make the best flour tortillas hands down!

From 2009-02-12 The Art of Baleadas

OUR BIG BLACK RAIN BOOTS
Although not attractive at all, I feel like a kid ready to jump into puddles when I have them on. Actually that is what they are for as the streets flood regularly in the rainy season…so bring on the puddles, uh, mini rivers is more like it!

From Brullys & boots

SNORKLEING
Although I have been a diver for along time and Jim became one at the start of this year away…we have both come to love snorkeling. Maybe that is so because the water is so clear off the islands you do not need to dive down deep to see a lot of great underwater life!

From Panama – San Blas Islands – March 2009

From Panama – San Blas Islands – March 2009

$1.00 TAXI RIDES
Especially if we move to any city in the U.S. of A. So long cheap ride home after a few cervesas!

OLD SIRENS FROM THE BANANA REPUBLIC DAYS
La Ceiba was a company town, Vaccaro Brothers’ Standard Fruit Company from New Orleans started up the banana business here. Everyone that lived here worked for the fruit company. Sirens still go off to mark certain times of the day for current day citizens. But back in the day here was their daily schedule; sirens go off at 6am for a wake up call, then at 7pm for work, again at 11am for lunch, back to work at 12noon and the day is done at 4pm! There is something homey about the sirens. Here is a link to United Fruit Company which is the current fruit company doing business out of La Ceiba for a history of their company, which does involve the above mentioned Vaccar Brothers.

I am sure more things will pop up after a couple of weeks back in the states. We love Honduras and I am sure we will be back sooner or later, if not because we need a baleada fix, but for sure to see “Our Boys” again.
————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Garifuna Settlement Day was celebrated all over Belize (and beyond).  I did not take any pictures (and even if I had they would not be this great).  When someone does such a fabulous job taking and then posting pictures as was done by Kate Joynes-Burgess, the only thing to do is share!

In pictures: Belize’s ‘Thanksgiving Day” is an absolutely wonderful pictorial essay of Garifuna Settlement Day as observed and photographed by Kate in Dangriga. Please do not miss it!  Thank you, Kate.

National Public Radio (NPR) has just broadcast a program about the Garifuna community in New York City. It focuses on how, despite keeping a low profile in the city since they first started arriving in the 1940s, community leaders are now asking the Garifunas in NYC to stand up and be counted in the 2010 census. Here’s a brief excerpt. For the complete story and the audio of the NPR broadcast follow the link below.

Community leader José Avila is convinced that more than 100,000 Garifuna live in New York City, and he’s trying to use the upcoming 2010 census to prove it.

“It’s not just about being counted,” Avila said. “It’s about resource allocation. It’s about housing. It’s about transportation, education — which translates into schools.”

Avila is busy giving talks and presentations, explaining how easy it is to be counted and why it’s important. He says in the last census, hundreds of thousands of Bronx residents marked “other” for their ethnicity. In order for the Garifuna to get an accurate tally, they simply need to write in the name of their group.

Every third Sunday of the month, the Garifuna celebrate their culture with a traditional mass at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church. Women in colorful blue and pink traditional dresses and head scarves dance down the aisle, accompanied by men with drums and tambourines.

After a recent mass, 47-year-old Raul Melendez leaned against the church, trying to stay warm in a driving rain. Melendez said he loves the U.S., but being Garifuna is more important to him.

“The Garifuna person who doesn’t speak Garifuna has no identity,” he said. “The person who has no identity, who has no origin, is buried.”

Two years from now, when the new census results are released, Melendez will find out for the first time just how many of his fellow Garifuna living in the United States agree with him.

For more on the story and audio of the NPR broadcast go to http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120381718

November is here and the yellow, black and white flag is being waved across the country. It is the month that we celebrate the Garifuna culture and heritage as part of the Garifuna Settlement Day activities. Having settled in our country in 1832, the Garifuna have incorporated themselves beautifully in this, our melting pot of cultures. Not only have the incorporated themselves but through their beliefs and music, have transcended our country into a new level of cultural pride. Andy Palacio allowed the Garifuna beats to shine brightly and proudly worldwide and although his time was cut much too short, his legacy continues to live on, not only in his music but through the love of our country and his culture. His music evokes the culture we so proudly celebrate in this month of November.

!!! 

    November 19^th marks the arrival of the Garifuna people to Dangriga. The Garifuna are a people produced from the merging of two cultures. The history goes that two slave ships were shipwrecked in the Caribbean near the island of St. Vincent. The slaves escaped the sinking boat and reached the shores of the island, where they were welcomed by the Caribs, who offered their protection. Their intermarriage formed the Garifuna people. The Garifuna adopted the Carib language but kept their African musical and religious traditions.

 Read more by clicking here.

San Pedro National Garifuna Council Calendar of Events 2009

- Friday November 13th, 2009:

*All day Huduth Sale @ 11:00am to 6:00pm

*Cultural Foods fundraising, Cultural Drumming

-Saturday November 14th, 2009:

*Uraga Night / Garifuna king @ 7:00pm

*Story telling night

*The Mr. Garifuna Competition at the Lions Den

-Sunday November 15th, Monday November 16th 2009:

*Garifuna Awareness day @ 10:00am to 5:00 pm

*Cultural Garifuna Exhibition

*Drumming at Central Park Palapa

- Tuesday November 17th, 2009:

*School Talent Show @ 7:00pm

*Cultural talent show at the Lions Den

- Wednesday November 18, 2009:

*Battle of the Drums / all night drumming. @ 7:00pm

*Cultural night Show at central park

*Jankunu Dancers from Dangriga

*Live band Punta rock music

- Thursday November 19th, 2009:

*Garifuna Settlement Day Celebrations / Award ceremonies @ 2:00 pm

*The reenactment of the Garinagu, arriving to Belize @ 6:00 am

*Cultural Parade around San Pedro Town

*Live Band Punta rock music

*Cultural Activities at the Central Park

DECLARATORIA DE ANCIANOS  Y ANCIANAS GARIFUNAS

Reunidos en asamblea en la comunidad de Triunfo de la Cruz, los 23 y 24 días del mes de octubre del 2009, representantes de ancianos y ancianas Garífunas después de reflexionar sobre las múltiples problemáticas que enfrenta el país y nuestro pueblo Garífuna, DECLARAMOS QUE:

1. El golpe Estado perpetrado por  los intereses de compañías multinacionales del petróleo, telefónicas y bananeras y otras en contubernio con la elite de poder nacional, han colocado al país al borde del abismo social, económico y político; por lo que el Consejo de Ancianos y Ancianas Garífuna repudia de forma enérgica las acciones cometidas en contra de los derechos humanos de nuestro pueblo y de todos los hondureños. Al mismo tiempo hacemos un llamado para que se retorne de inmediato al régimen constitucional del país representado por el presidente electo Manuel Zelaya Rosales.

2. El recrudecimiento del racismo ha sido evidente desde los primeros días del golpe de estado, siendo notorio el acoso al  primer Hospital Garífunas de Ciriboya, las radios comunitarias y organizaciones garífunas que han asumido una posición de defensa de la democracia. Ante el incremento de la xenofobia y el racismo por parte de los golpistas, hacemos un llamado al pueblo Hondureño para instaurar una defensa de la multiculturalidad, el respeto a la diversidad racial y los derechos fundamentales, sin entrar en persecuciones, como las que se vienen dando en los últimos días.

3. El despojo sistemático que han venido realizando la elite de poder en contra de las comunidades, en nombre del supuesto arribo de las inversiones turísticas, han colocado a nuestro pueblo en una situación de desesperación y resistencia permanente. Proyectos como el PATH, DIPA, PROCORREDOR, pretenden individualizar nuestras comunidades con el propósito de excluirnos de nuestras tierras y territorios que hemos conservado históricamente, incrementando de esta manera la migración tanto a lo interno como externo.

4. Ante las graves consecuencias del cambio climático que están padeciendo las comunidades garífunas, miskitas e indígenas  del país, exigimos la urgente elaboración de la Estrategia Nacional de Mitigación y Adaptación al cambio climático, además que se inicien acciones de mitigación las cuales debían haberse efectuado  desde la época post huracán Mitch, razón por la cual se originado pérdida de las playas y salinización de los humedales.

5. Por el aumento de enfermedades como el VIH-SIDA y de otras enfermedades de reciente aparición como resultado del cambio climático (leptospirosis, leshmanianis, babaisis, etc.) esperamos el apoyo de la OPS, para tomar las medidas necesarias y así poder enfrentar el declive en materia de salud de  nuestro pueblo.

6. Una década después de la desaparición de la palma del coco en nuestras playas, la que era fuente de alimentación fundamental y material de construcción, hasta la fecha no hemos visto que se haya desarrollado un programa coherente para la recuperación de la palmácea, el cual también es esencial además para la protección de la erosión costera que devora nuestras  playas.

7. Como consecuencia del Estado fallido impuesto por factores exógenos, tales como el golpe de Estado y la ingobernabilidad instaurada, visualizamos la Asamblea Constituyente como la única solución posible para remediar la situación de crisis que enfrenta el país y así romper el feudalismo que viene aquejando a Honduras. La participación de nuestro pueblo en la instalación de la futura Asamblea Nacional Constituyente se convierte en afirmación para la  construcción  de una nueva patria incluyente en los aspectos social, cultural y económico.

8. Finalmente enfatizamos que las ancianas y ancianos somos la fuente de sabiduría de nuestro pueblo fundamentalmente en la educación la conservación de la lengua materna, medicina tradicional y la identidad por lo que consideramos imperativo hacer un llamado para que el Estado, resuelva la situación del Programa Nacional de las Etnias Autóctonas y Afroantillanas de Honduras; PRONEEAAH, en la cual se respete la participación del pueblo Garifuna, a través de nuestra organización OFRANEH.

Dado en la comunidad Garífuna de Triunfo de la Cruz, a los 24 días del
mes de Octubre de 2009.

Organización Fraternal Negra Hondureña, OFRANEH
Teléfono (504) 4420618, (504) 4500058
Av 14 julio, calle 19, Contiguo Vivero Flor Tropical, Barrio Alvarado, La Ceiba, Honduras
email:garifuna@ofraneh.org, ofraneh@yahoo.com

7:00PM

> Round 14, the boxing match is almost over and, as it has been all along, the State Department reporters are way ahead on points.  Meanwhile Shannon and his posse are heading for Tegucigalpa — is this yet one more orchestrated delay or, with only one month until the scheduled election, is it time to introduce a new face into the mix?

State Department Daily Press Briefings > 2009 > October
Ian Kelly
Department Spokesman
Daily Press Briefing
Washington, DC
October 27, 2009
INDEX:

HONDURAS
 Condolences on Death of Mr. Micheletti’s Nephew
 Travel of U.S. Delegation to Honduras / Will Discuss Strategies to Move Guaymuras Process Forward / Urge Both Sides to Show Flexibility and Redouble Efforts to Bring Crisis to an End
 Rapidly Developing Situation / U.S. Actively Engaged with Both Sides / Working Through OAS / Getting Quite Urgent / Want to See Election with Legitimacy that People of Honduras Deserve

TRANSCRIPT – EXCERPT ON Q & A re: Honduras:

1:19 p.m. EDT

MR. KELLY: Good afternoon. Just a few remarks at the top on – related to Honduras.

The United States was saddened to learn of the death of Mr. Micheletti’s nephew and we extend our condolences to his family for their tragic loss. As of now, we have no information about the motive of this violent act.

I also would like to announce that Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs Tom Shannon, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Craig Kelly, and White House Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Western Hemisphere Affairs Dan Restrepo will travel to Honduras later this week. The delegation plans to meet with representatives from both sides to discuss strategies to move the Guaymuras process forward. They will urge both sides to show flexibility and redouble their efforts to bring the crisis to an end.

And I’ll take your questions.

QUESTION: On that subject, Ian.

MR. KELLY: Yeah, Dave.

QUESTION: And is it – is the – are the talks down there at an impasse? I understand that Zelaya isn’t engaging anymore on that subject.

MR. KELLY: Well, it’s, as we say, a rapidly developing situation. There have been some developments both last night and this morning. The two sides are still talking, and the U.S. remains actively engaged with both sides. We’re talking to them on the phone, and our Embassy on the ground is talking to them. There are also representatives of the OAS who are helping facilitate this dialogue. And we’re just taking every opportunity to try and press on both sides the urgency of the situation and to try and get them to resolve this as soon as possible. The Secretary spoke with both sides as well, spoke to Mr. Micheletti and to President Zelaya. So we are –

QUESTION: When was that?

MR. KELLY: — very actively engaged. Saturday, I believe. It was over the weekend, anyway.

QUESTION: Ian?

MR. KELLY: Yeah.

QUESTION: You say that the U.S. remains actively engaged with both sides. But in fact, you – I think “remains actively engaged” is a bit of a misstatement, is it not? Because you had not been actively engaged with both sides for very long.

MR. KELLY: Well, yeah.

QUESTION: I mean –

MR. KELLY: Fair enough. I mean, we’ve been saying consistently that we’re working through the OAS, that we were trying to play a helpful and active role through the OAS mechanism. The Secretary yesterday decided that the time was right to send this senior delegation down to get more directly involved in the process. We continue to support the OAS involvement in this. But the Secretary thought it was time for Assistant Secretary Shannon and NSC Senior Director Restrepo, as well as Craig Kelly, to get involved in this.

QUESTION: Prior to this, the only time that you would have sent people from Washington to deal directly with Micheletti’s side was as part of the OAS delegation, correct?

MR. KELLY: That’s right. Well, Ambassador Llorens has been involved, of course, on the ground. But as far as participation –

QUESTION: No, no –

MR. KELLY: — from Washington –

QUESTION: — but from here.

MR. KELLY: Yeah, you’re right. It was only as part of an OAS –

QUESTION: So – right.

MR. KELLY: — delegation.

QUESTION: Okay. So why did she make the decision that it was now time for you to become directly –

MR. KELLY: Well– yeah. I just – I think it’s getting quite urgent. What we want is we want to see an election, which is coming in about exactly a month, to enjoy the kind of international legitimacy that the people of Honduras deserve for their government. And we have said all along that we’ve made this a priority and we wanted to be as helpful as we could to try and bring this to a successful resolution. And I think things – talks on Friday seemed to break down, and it was at that point that the Secretary decided to get involved directly and called both Mr. Micheletti and President Zelaya.

QUESTION: Okay. And when are they going?

MR. KELLY: I believe they’re going tomorrow and will stay, I think, for a couple days.

Yeah.

QUESTION: Nick Spicer, Al Jazeera. Could I ask a question about the now rather public resignation of Matthew Hoh, who is –

MR. KELLY: Is there anything else on Honduras? Did you have something on –

QUESTION: Yeah, I do. Do you still think a legitimate election is possible given that it is only a month away?

MR. KELLY: Well, I think the clock is ticking. I think, in order for it to be seen as legitimate and for the authorities down there to conduct a completely open and transparent electoral process, that there needs to be some time, and this is precisely why we see some urgency in this.

So – yes.
 

>U.S. Officials To Travel to Honduras

Senior U.S. officials will travel to Honduras this week to press ousted President Manuel Zelaya and the country’s coup leaders to break a stalemate in a four-month-old political crisis. This marks the first time since the coup that the Obama administration has taken a leading role in pressuring the leaders of the de facto government to restore democratic order in Honduras. On Friday Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke with both Zelaya and Honduras’ de facto leader, Roberto Micheletti. Officials said Clinton told the two leaders that there was “increasing frustration” over the deteriorating situation in Honduras. Clinton is said to have reserved her toughest comments for Micheletti because the United States believes he has been “the most difficult.”

>US Stepping up Role in Honduras Political Crisis

By David Gollust

State Department

27 October 2009

Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya attends a meeting with his representatives at the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa, 16 Oct 2009

Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya (file photo)

The Obama administration is sending a team of senior officials to Honduras Wednesday to try to expedite a settlement of the political crisis spawned by the ouster in June of elected President Manuel Zelaya. The deposed leader remains at the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa.

The Obama administration had preferred to let the Organization of American States and its designated mediator, Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, take the lead role in Honduran diplomacy.

But it is now stepping up U.S. involvement with settlement talks stalled and a planned presidential election in Honduras looming in little more than a month.

State Department Spokesman Ian Kelly said a team headed by Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Thomas Shannon and White House staff director for Latin America Dan Restrepo will urge both sides to show flexibility and redouble efforts to bring the crisis to an end.

Interim President Roberto Micheletti, who has headed the government since Mr. Zelaya was detained by soldiers and deported in late June, has refused to accept the return to office of the deposed leader as demanded by all other OAS member states.

Micheletti contends Mr. Zelaya’s ouster was not a coup, and that the troops who put him on a plane to Costa Rica acted legally after he had unconstitutionally sought to extend his term in office through a plebiscite.

State Department Spokesman Kelly, who said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke to both principals in the crisis Friday, said the crisis needs to be resolved quickly in line with OAS settlement guidelines if the Honduran election planned for November is to have any legitimacy.

“I think it’s getting quite urgent. What we want is to see an election, which is coming in about exactly a month, to enjoy the kind of international legitimacy that the people of Honduras deserve,” he said. “We have said all along that we’ve made this a priority and wanted to be as helpful as we could to try to bring this to a successful resolution. Talks on Friday seemed to break down and it was at that point that the Secretary decided to get involved directly.”

The U.S. team, expected to be in Tegicigalpa through the end of this week, will meet with both Micheletti and Mr. Zelaya, who has been sheltered at the Brazilian embassy in the capital since slipping back into the country five weeks ago.

A senior State Department official said the sides are in agreement on all terms proposed by OAS mediator Arias except for critical language providing for Mr. Zelaya to return to office and complete his term, which ends in January.

The deposed leader has said he would renounce any ambition to hold on to power beyond January despite his previous backing for a referendum that would have allowed him to run again in next month’s election.

State Department Spokesman Kelly also expressed sadness Tuesday over the death of Enzo Micheletti, a nephew of the interim president, who had gone missing several days ago and whose body was discovered Sunday in a northern Honduran town.

Kelly, who extended condolences to the family, said he had no information on the motive in the killing of the Micheletti nephew, who was found shot to death along with another man.

Honduran officials have said they are treating the death as a local criminal case and that it does not appear to be related to the political crisis.

>Honduran freedom fighter seeks American allies

by via PWW

Tuesday Oct 27th, 2009 6:41 AM

Monday, October 26, 2009 : DALLAS — Dr. Luther Castillo, Communications Secretary for the Committee to Oppose the Coup d’etat in Honduras, spoke recently at a meeting held in the Honduran immigrant community in Plano, Texas, on October 17. Castillo responded to a call from the Dallas Committee for the Restoration of Democracy in Honduras.

Dr. Castillo was already internationally famous before the June 28 coup, because he established a medical clinic for the desperately poor Garifuna peoples of Central America. Pastors for Peace and other North American organizations attempted to help with this humanitarian effort.

After the oligarchy kidnapped president Manuel Zelaya Rosales, Castillo was in danger because of his close ties to the progressive aspects of the Honduran government. He came to the United States and began organizing support for democracy. In September, he was well received at the AFL-CIO convention, which then strengthened its position in favor of the democratic forces.

Following the Plano meeting Dr. Castillo visited religious, civil rights, and union groups to make personal appeals for support. He asks that U.S. citizens put more pressure on the government here to restore democracy in Honduras. Even though President Obama has denounced the coup d’etat, certain Republican Congressmen have been promoting the illegal Honduran government and trying to legitimize the elections that the illegal government expects to hold in November. The U.S. could add additional economic sanctions against the illegal government, too, says Castillo.  Read More

>Day Two Report of La Voz de los de Abajo Human Rights Delegation in Honduras

The London Times has published an interesting article on Garifuna singer-turned-politician Aurelio Martínez.  The article is worth a look, as it offers glimpses into Garifuna political life in Honduras. Here are some excerpts, and you will find the link to the complete article below.

Never be seen dancing” should be a golden rule for politicians, but that won’t deter the woman in the vest and skintight black hipsters. She marches towards her local representative, spins in front of him and starts sensually winding and grinding against his hips. With his right arm round her waist, he starts dancing in a reciprocal fashion, increasing the intensity until the embroiled pair shake themselves into a frenzy. She turns to pay tribute to the drummer, then departs, another woman quickly taking her place on the platform. This, fortunately, was not David Cameron ending a successful party conference; this, as Congressman Aurelio Martinez will confirm later, is how you meet your constituents Garifuna-style.

. . .

 “Garifuna are a mixture of Arawaks [indigenous West Indians] and African people,” explains the singer-songwriter, who was elected to the government in 2008. “We had some trouble on St Vincent with the… er… your people, and they sent us here.” He laughs, a scratchy giggle that punctuates almost every sentence. Garifuna culture received little international attention until nine years ago, when a group of musicians led by Andy Palacio, from Belize, released a compilation of acoustic songs in the style known as paranda. Palacio released two more albums (his own, Watina, and Umalali, the songs of the Garifuna women) before dying last year. Initially, there seemed nobody to fill his shoes, but, fortunately for Martinez, the Swiss watch company Rolex had heard the album Garifuna Soul, which he recorded in 2004. “Somebody called me from Europe,” he laughs. “But they were talking English and I didn’t understand it then.” What the voice was saying was that the Honduran had been chosen for the company’s Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative, in which those at the top of their professions (this year, Jiri Kylian, Wole Soyinka and Martin Scorsese are among the mentors) assist people on the way up.

. . .

To meet Martinez, you fly to the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa, then drive north for eight hours to the Caribbean coast, to La Ceiba, the main Garifuna community. This is where the singer’s civic potential was spotted — his concerts attracted bigger crowds than any politician could. Although he is the first black congressman in Honduran history, he is quick to dispel any notions that Garifuna culture is undergoing a renaissance: “The Protestant evangelists came here and said they wanted to help us because we were poor; our people had nothing but their culture. Now they tell us we can’t dance, we can’t drink wine, that our drums are diabolico. These things are important to our culture, but our people have nothing else. So they turn their back on their traditions to get something to eat.”

At a time when the Garifuno language is absent from radio, television and schools, he berates the international community for sending aid to entrepreneurs in Tegucigalpa: “They bring only debt.” Then he decides that that is enough politics: it is April 12, 2009, the 212th anniversary of his ancestors’ arrival in Central America. Time to celebrate.

. . .

Martinez takes to the stage at 11pm, and the young women are quick to take this as their cue to get up and show off their moves. Martinez’s band get less attention, but the drummers lay down a heavy polyrhythmic beat and are occasionally rewarded by one of the dancers coming over to pay her own short, quivering homage to the spirits that crossed the Atlantic 400 years ago. It only highlights the problem the culture faces that while Martinez takes a break between sets, much of his crowd wanders off to a beach-front disco and beauty contest.

. . .

A few days later, we meet again, this time outside the modern government building in which he has his office, yards from the bright-pink cathedral that is the focal point for Tegucigalpa life. He isn’t the only black man, but he still stands out in his green African robes. As he disappears into the building, the arrival of another politician, Roberto Micheletti, goes almost unnoticed. Two months later, he would launch a coup and take control of the country. This, he almost seems to be saying to the all-singing, all-dancing upstart congressman from La Ceiba, is how real politicians behave.

For the complete article go to http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article6874642.ece

9:00PM

>Augustina Flores, teacher and reporter for Radio Liberada, beaten seriously while being arrested illegally,was released from jail today.  She was arrested on September 22, 2009.

>Honduras Resistance to Discuss Next Steps

Tegucigalpa, Oct 11,(PL).- The National Front against the coup in Honduras is expected to discuss today in a national assembly its actions for this week, considered crucial in the ongoing talks about the future of the crisis.

Rural leader Rafael Alegria said on Saturday that nearly 100 representatives of organizations grouped in the popular Front, created in the wake of the coup of June 28, are expected to take part in the meeting.

They will focus on talks sponsored by the Organization of American States started last Wednesday between representatives of constitutional President Manuel Zelaya and of the de facto government.

On Friday, negotiations were put into a recess until Tuesday, following declarations by the parties that they had advanced nearly 60 percent in discussions of the so-called San Jose Agreement proposed by Costa Rica President Oscar Arias.

General coordinator of the Front and also a member of the Zelaya’s delegation Juan Barahona admitted progress in the talks, but warned that a main issue, that is the president’s restitution, remains at a stand still.

  >OPEN LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS TO THE EUROPEAN UNION

 October 12, 2009

Honduras : OPEN LETTER: The FIDH urges the European Union to maintain a forceful position on the coup d’état in Honduras and to reject the electoral process in view of persistent human rights violations

Your Excellencies the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of European Union Member States,

I write to you as the President of the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) to express my deep concern at the situation in Honduras and the repeated human rights violations perpetrated there with total impunity.

In spite of the efforts at conciliation made by the Organization of American States (OAS) and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Oscar Arias, in the past few days the de facto government has again demonstrated that it is unwilling to find a negotiated and peaceful settlement to the situation brought about by the military coup; it refuses to reinstate the constitutionally elected president, Manuel Zelaya, and has stepped up the repression.

The golpistas have said they will revoke decree 016-2009, which was issued after the return to the country of President Zelaya and which suspends constitutional guarantees (including freedom of expression and of movement), for 45 days. However, that decision has not been published in the Diario Oficial, and the golpistas continue to invoke the decree to maintain their censorship and repression of the regime’s opponents and to make excessive use of force against them.

At the same time, the de facto government has adopted and published a new executive agreement (124-2009) instructing the Comisión Nacional de Telecomunicaciones (the National Telecommunications Commission, CONATEL) to revoke or cancel the permits and licences of radio and television station broadcasting messages “that generate (…) social anarchy against the democratic State, undermining social peace and human rights” [translated from the Spanish]. The repeal of decree 016-2009 notwithstanding (a repeal that has yet to be formally introduced), the de facto government has no intention of restoring one of the most fundamental constitutional guarantees: freedom of expression.

What is more, the repression continues, and all those publically rejecting the military coup continue to be threatened and persecuted. For example, journalists and politicians close to President Zelaya have been abducted, tortured and threatened, disciplinary action has been taken against judges opposing the coup, and the police continue to fire tear gas and plastic bullets at and to beat demonstrators assembling in front of the Guatemalan and United States embassies.

In view of the above, and of the persistent human rights violations in Honduras, the conditions have not been met for a legitimate electoral process that can be recognised by the international community, according to the United Nations Secretary-General, the United States Government and the OAS.

For all these reasons, the FIDH appreciates the reactions of the European Union and urges it to:

* declare that, in the current situation of dictatorship in Honduras, it does not recognise the ongoing electoral process nor the outcome of the elections called for 20 November 2010;

* uphold its demand that the constitutionally elected president, Manuel Zelaya, be reinstated as a sine qua non condition for the restoration of democratic order in Honduras;

* reassert that it condemns the continued human rights violations being perpetrated in Honduras and the failure of the de facto government to find a peaceful solution;

* again request the expulsion from the territory of the European Union of all members of the Honduran diplomatic corps backing the coup and introduce travel restrictions for officials and businessmen supporting the de facto government;

* support the activities of the International Criminal Court’s Office of the Prosecutor to monitor the situation in Honduras and call on it to take further preventive action.

Yours respectfully,

Souhayr Belhassen, President, FIDH”

>Sanctions threat against Honduran coup leaders

Associated Press

2009-10-13 05:21 AM

The ousted government of Honduras is warning that if President Manuel Zelaya isn’t returned to power by Oct. 15, his backers will call for sanctions against the coup perpetrators.

Patricia Rodas, the foreign minister in the ousted government, says Zelaya’s government will also work to discredit any elections organized by the coup leaders unless he is returned to the presidency by Thursday’s deadline.

She told a news conference Monday that the first face-to-face talks in months between the two sides, launched by the Organization of American States last week, were now “on hold” because the coup-installed government is refusing to reinstate the president.

Rodas protested the conditions that Zelaya is being subjected to in the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa, claiming daily occurrences of noise, lights and psychological warfare.

>Zelaya skeptical ahead of Honduran talks

October 13, 2009 – 5:59AM

Ousted Honduras president Manuel Zelaya said on Monday that he did not believe the military-supported government of Roberto Micheletti would let him return to power, a key part of negotiations to end the months-long political crisis.

On Tuesday, representatives of Zelaya and the de facto Micheletti regime are to negotiate the final details of an Organisation of American States-brokered deal that is hung up on the thorniest point – Zelaya’s reinstatement.

“It will be a key day of talks to know if this will be resolved, but I am sceptical,” Zelaya told AFP in a telephone call from the Brazilian embassy.

“I believe that the putschist regime will continue refusing to implement the resolution of the OAS and the international community,” he said, referring to a measure calling for Zelaya’s return to power.

Zelaya was kicked out of the country at gunpoint in a June 28 military coup. He snuck back into the country and has been at the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa, surrounded by soldiers and riot police, since September 21.

“I am always open to dialogue, but I have no trust in the putschists. It will be a slap in the face against the international community if they refuse to restitute what they usurped,” he said.

And if talks fail? “We will continue fighting in the streets and the crisis will deepen,” Zelaya said.

Zelaya has even agreed to end his time in office on January 27, when his original term was to end. “Tuesday is decisive,” he said.

Zelaya said he believes the interim regime negotiators are playing for time so they can hold elections on November 29, a vote that many countries have already said they would not recognise if held by the interim regime.

Zelaya and Micheletti representatives last week agreed on five points of the San Jose Accord, an agreement hammered out by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias.

A high level OAS diplomatic delegation left Honduras on Thursday without resolving the political impasse between Micheletti and Zelaya, though they maintained that progress has been made.

The Micheletti government has accused Zelaya of 18 crimes, including treason, corruption and abuse of authority.

A rancher known for his trademark white cowboy hat, Zelaya veered to the left after his election and alarmed conservatives by aligning himself with leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. They feared Zelaya was seeking to change the constitution to allow himself to seek reelection.

1:00PM

On a day for which a holiday should never have been created and certainly never celebrated, a few articles in Spanish to pay tribute to the indigenous peoples of the world.  This is followed by an update article on Honduras.

>Indigenous Reistance began 517 years ago (in Spanish)

A 517 años del comienzo de la Resistencia Indígena

 >The moment has arrived for a new constitution: Celeo Alvarez Casildo (in Spanish)

Domingo, 11 de Octubre de 2009 22:24

La Ceiba – En el Día de la Raza, los garífunas conmemoran 517 años de resistencia indígena, negra y popular, en medio de una crisis política e institucional que les afecta aun más sus ya precarias condiciones socio-económicas.Contrario a otros años, esta vez los afrodescendientes callan sus tambores y sus matracas. No saldrán a las calles, porque no existen condiciones idóneas en el ámbito político, ni económico.El dirigente comunitario Céleo Alvarez Casildo sostiene que la lucha de los negros en este país, lleva más de 500 años, sumergidos en el olvido de los gobiernos de siempre, con poca asistencia para paliar sus necesidades.Señala que en pleno siglo XXl, aún existen comunidades remotas como su natal Plaplaya en la Mosquitia, donde no hay los servicios mínimos para vivir, como agua potable de buena calidad, electricidad o acceso a la educación secundaria.Zulma Valencia, de la Organización Negra Centroamericana (Oneca), explicó que el Día de la Raza es una fecha propicia para recordar aquel 12 de octubre de 1492, cuando se concretó el llamado “encontronazo de tres mundos, que representa la deplorable y más prolongada violación de los derechos humanos de los pueblos indígenas de las Américas y consecuentemente de millones de personas africanas y afrodescendientes”. Céleo Alvarez Casildo, quien es presidente de la Organización de Desarrollo Etnico Comunitario (Odeco), señala que para los africanos y afrodescendientes, significó “la tragedia más gigantesca de la historia humana por su magnitud y por su duración”, conocida como la trata de negros transatlántica.         Los afrodescendientes no saldrán a conmemorar los 517 años de presencia en Honduras, debido a la crisis política que vive el país. “Hoy como ayer, los afrodescendientes luchamos contra las injusticias recetadas por organismos internacionales de Occidente que aprendieron muy bien la receta ambiciosa de sus ancestros: riqueza y opulencia a costa del sacrificio de millones de personas”, apuntó. Los pueblos y comunidades chortís, tolupanes, lencas, afrodescendientes de habla inglesa, tawahkas, misquitos, nahuas, pech y garífunas, se debaten en deplorables condiciones de pobreza, discriminación racial, exclusión y marginalidad sin precedentes, la batalla constante por el reconocimiento de sus derechos. “No cabe duda que la indiferencia de los gobiernos ha jugado un papel crucial en la continuación del neocolonialismo y de la aplicación inmisericorde del modelo económico neoliberal, afectando severamente los intereses de estos pueblos y de las mayorías aglutinadas en los sectores populares”, señaló. LA CONSTITUYENTE   “Nosotros reiteramos nuestra condena al golpe de Estado y hacemos el llamamiento para que se logre la reconciliación nacional, para lo cual proponemos las reformas a la Ley Electoral y de las Organizaciones Políticas y la convocatoria a un plebiscito para que la ciudadanía se pronuncie por una nueva Constitución”. Para los negros, este momento que vive el país, si bien es cierto les afecta como a todos, representa una oportunidad histórica para cambiar el rumbo de Honduras y que las grandes mayorías se vean beneficiadas. Es evidente, dice Céleo Alvarez, que nos encontramos ante una frágil institucionalidad en cuanto a la impartición de la justicia, seguridad alimentaria, seguridad ciudadana, participación política y la defensa de los derechos humanos. Son alarmantes los índices de criminalidad, corrupción e impunidad y deterioro del nivel de vida en el campo y la ciudad, situación agravada a partir del golpe de Estado ocurrido el pasado 28 de junio de 2009, apuntó. Añadió el dirigente que la clase política y económica tradicional implementa diferentes mecanismos para controlar la cosa pública. “Los grupos de poder, acostumbrados a saquear y a controlar los poderes del Estado, no duermen, especulan, calumnian y levantan falsas expectativas cuando consideran que pueden ser afectados sus leoninos intereses”. Dijo que es urgente garantizar la libertad de expresión, de movilización pacífica y la seguridad personal de todos los ciudadanos, evitar la represión y otras violaciones de los derechos humanos. Así como conjugar esfuerzos para impedir que se regrese a la temible, retrógrada y tenebrosa década perdida de los años 80, garantizando los derechos y libertades contemplados en la Constitución de la República y en los convenios internacionales. Por eso, Céleo Alvarez Casildo considera que ha llegado el momento para redactar una nueva Constitución, mediante la instalación de una Asamblea Nacional Constituyente, en la cual se tome en cuenta a las grandes mayorías. SELVIN FERNANDEZ

I have seen a lot of pictures of Honduran police/military over the past 105 days, but nothing has unnerved me more than this one.

>Zelaya supporters blast Honduras media crackdown

(AFP) – 14 hours ago

TEGUCIGALPA — Supporters of deposed Honduran president Manuel Zelaya have warned an interim government crackdown on opposition media could derail talks scheduled to resume on Tuesday and aimed at resolving the months-old political crisis.

“It is a really appalling issue, something right out of a dictatorship,” said Sunday Rafael Alegria, a leading coordinator of protests against the ouster of Zelaya, the elected president.

A government decree published in the official Gazette Saturday gave authorities the right to “revoke and cancel” licenses of radio and television stations considered to be a threat to “national security” and accused of spreading “hatred.”

Last month, the government of Roberto Micheletti, which came to power as the result of a June 28 military coup, already shut down Radio Globo and Channel 36 television seen as close to Zelaya and restricted freedom of assembly and movement.

The new decree gives the coup leaders legal grounds for future similar measures, according to analysts.

“The new decree is simply aimed at silencing us once and for all,” said Channel 36 director Esdras Lopez. He charged that Micheletti was trying to keep the television channel for his own use.

Saturday Zelaya and the interim government agreed to create a joint cabinet and ditch an amnesty for coup leaders, one of the negotiators announced.

But both measures remain dependent on Zelaya’s return to the presidency, still far from certain four months into the standoff that emerged from the coup.

Union leader Juan Barahona, one of Zelaya’s top three negotiators, told a rally of hundreds of the president’s followers Saturday that the joint cabinet, if indeed formed, would be made up of ministers from both governments.

A diplomatic delegation from the Organization of American States left Honduras Thursday without resolving the political impasse between Micheletti and Zelaya, who was forced out of the country at gunpoint.

A rancher known for his trademark white cowboy hat, Zelaya veered to the left after his election and alarmed conservatives by aligning himself with leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. They feared Zelaya was seeking to change the constitution to allow himself to seek reelection.

The Zelaya camp, Barahona added, opposed amnesty because such a move would mean “amnesia, forgetfulness and forgiveness, and we cannot condone the coup.”

Zelaya for his part said Sunday that he had never asked for an amnesty because he did not need it.

“A proposal to include it in the deal came from the other side,” he told AFP.

Talks are set to resume Tuesday, with OAS diplomats maintaining that progress has been made, though the key issues have not yet been addressed.

“If after all of this, they say that there is not going to be reinstatement (of Zelaya), what difference does it make if we made progress on anything else?” Barahona asked.

“Tuesday, we are going to get at that key point in detail. If on October 15 we do not have a deal, the talks will have failed.”

Tensions in the capital rose Sunday after shot were fired against the headquarters of the Episcopal Conference and a seminary located in a southern suburb of Tegucigalpa.

Nobody was hurt, but a police spokesman said political motives had not been ruled out.

The Episcopal Conference had spoken in support of the June 28 military coup, and Honduran cardinal Oscar Rodriguez had unsuccessfully urged Zelaya not to return to the country.”

Friday, October 9, 2009
Army Raids Garifuna Hospital in Honduras – The Repression Continues

Interview with Dr. Luther Castillo and Denunciation from La Voz de los de Abajo

This is to make known that on October 7th at 6am three army patrols broke down the doors and stormed the first Garifuna hospital in Honduras, located on the Atlantic Coast.

Alexy Lanza of La Voz de los de Abajo interviewed Dr. Luther Castillo, a young Garifuna doctor and community organizer who is the founder and director of the hospital that is bears the name “For the Health of Our People” (Luaga Hatuadi Waduheno in the Garifuna language)

The hospital and clinic is dedicated to providing the most important health services to the indigenous communities isolated on the Atlantic Coast. After graduating from the Latin American School of Medicine in Cuba in 2005, Dr. Castillo returned to the coast of Honduras and led the construction of the first “Garifuna hospital” which now serves 20,000 people in the area. The hospital opened in December 2007 and Dr. Castillo was named “Honduran Doctor of the Year for 2007 by the International Rotary Clubs of Tegucigalpa. Since the military coup on June 28, 2009, Dr. Castillo and the hospital have been subject to many threats of closure and other attacks by the military.

AL: Please tell me Dr. Luther what happened yesterday, on the morning of Wednesday October 7th?

Dr. Castillo: I am extremely worried about the situation at the hospital. As you well know, the repression, intimidation, extra-judicial executions, the fabrication of criminal charges – the grave violations of human rights against the resistance movement against the coup have been worsening. Yesterday three carloads of army troops arrived, broke down the doors to the hospital and searched everything.

AL: What time did this occur?

Dr. Castillo: It was about 6 in the morning which is the time of shift change for the doctors. The doctor who has stayed all night goes to rest and between 6-7 am the other shift arrives. The army took advantage of this to enter the hospital. The most alarming thing is that they used the pretext of a raid in search of drugs; they said that they had received information that there were narcotraficantes at the hospital.

AL: Narcotics traffic at the first hospital in service to the indigenous communities. What was that about?

Dr. Castillo: Intimidation. They want to wipe us out, they want to shut us up. We have been strongly denouncing the coup d’etat and we are a part of this people in resistance that refuse to accept a military coup. After the coup they took away our standing as a hospital and reclassified us as a medical center. We had achieved the classification of hospital due to the recognition we received for the high quality and commitment of our work. President Zelaya, through our work, advocated for us and that was how we were established as a hospital. So what is happening now is that they want to intimidate us and destoy us, but we won’t give them that pleasure.

AL: Why do you think they are doing this?

Dr. Castillo: Look, what we think is that they want to use this fabrication to hurt the reputation and all of the work that we have been doing in favor of the people. We are worried that they will come again and confiscate the medical equipment that we have been able to obtain through donations from different organizations and people from around the world. So we are denouncing this, to alert everyone who knows our work.

AL: Tell me, did they arrest anyone during the raid? What is the situation in the hospital now? Is it closed or open?

Dr. Castillo: Fortunately they did arrest anyone, but we are in constant fear that they might come back and takeover the hospital. It is not closed but continues open and we continue to do our work as doctors taking health to our people.

This was a short interview with Dr. Luther Castillo on October 9th. The diagnosis we can make from these events is that it makes very obvious the plan of the coup government to fabricate criminal charges against the leaders of the popular organizations that are an essential part of the resistance movement against the military coup in Honduras. This is a common practice that different repressive, dictatorial and right wing governments in Latin America have practiced. – To intimidate, to silence, to repress, to fabricate charges so that later they can wipe out the resistance movement that has popular support.

We call on the national and international community to join in denouncing any act of repression that arises from this incident. This has been an act of intimidation not only against the medical team of the hospital but against all of the communities that it serves.

We ask that letters be sent to Congressional representatives and Senators expressing not only our concern and outrage but also demanding an end to the violations of human rights by the golpistas and demanding the return to constitutionality of Honduras. We demand that those guilty of all these crimes against the Honduran people related to the coup d’etat be punished.

We Demand:

The immediate return of President Jose Manuel Zelaya Rosales

The return to constitutionality

No to the illegal elections called by the de facto government.

Respect for the popular vote – Yes to the national constituent assembly.

Stop the violations of human rights.

Honduras belongs to all the people and no just to the oligarchy — we will struggle to the end!

Because solidarity is the tenderness of the people. WE ARE ALL HONDURAS!”

The Ugandani Dance Group, which preceded the Garifuna All-Stars and Umalali in the international stage but later disbanded, reunited for a performance last Saturday night at the Bliss Center in Belize City. Noemi Flores formed the group in 1986 and for 20 years the Ugandani dancers and drummers crisscrossed Europe and Asia as ambassadors of Garifuna dance and music. But Ugandani fell off the radar after its 2003 performance in Japan. The members moved away, fell out of touch, and that brought an end to the drum beat. But 30 members of the original group have reunited and performed together for the first time in a long this weekend.

In an interview before the concert, Mathew Martinez, the group’s director, said that “the title of the show is ‘We are meeting again’ or we are reuniting and the major purpose of this show is for us to bring all, as much as possible the old members, of Ugandani together as well as the current members. So we are starting from 1986 since our inception to 2009.

The show will feature traditional Garifuna music and dance as well as drumming and singing. We also have for the show, a highlight of the show is the Wanagra and that will be done by some children, some young boys from Belize City. It is not only a reunion concert, it is also to reorganize the group itself because the group has been a little dormant for about three to four years, about four or five years, and we believe that Ugandani is a very strong group and it is a group that educates the general public and uplifts the Garifuna culture here in Belize City because most of us are originally from different parts of the country.

Susan Mayclin Stephenson’ painting Garifuna Dancers and Musicians, Roatan, Honduras at http://www.michaelolaf.net/susanartOPM.html

NOTE:  I will be on jury duty tomorrow, but if there are things you would like me to include in a late night update tomorrow nite, just post a comment.

8:00PM

>MILITARY ASKS FOR HONDURANS TO FIND PEACEFUL SOLUTION

By FREDDY CUEVAS (AP) – 2 hours ago

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — The general who oversaw the ouster of President Manuel Zelaya implored all sectors of Honduran society to join in resolving the country’s deepening crisis Tuesday, a message that seemed aimed at calming an uproar over a government order suspending civil liberties.

Gen. Romeo Vasquez’s comments on Channel 5 television came hours after interim President Roberto Micheletti said he would accept congressional calls for him to reverse the emergency decree suspending civil liberties that he had announced on Sunday.

But little had changed on Tuesday. Two critical broadcasters remained shuttered and police faced off with about 500 demonstrators who sat in the middle of a street after officers blocked them from marching.

Micheletti also said he would allow an Organization of American States team whose arrival was blocked this weekend. The OAS hopes to persuade the coup leaders to bow to international demands they reinstate Zelaya, who was arrested and expelled from the country on June 28.

Micheletti’s backpedalling reflected the largest public show of dissent within the ranks of his supporters to date. Conservatives expressed fear that Sunday’s decree would endanger the Nov. 29 presidential election, which they consider Honduras’ best hope for regaining international recognition.

The message by Vasquez seemed aimed at easing domestic and international protests that escalated after the government imposed the restrictions in response to Zelaya’s surprise return home.

The decree suspended freedoms of speech and assembly and allowed warrantless arrests. Officials also closed dissident television and radio stations and expelled OAS employees.

“I am sure that Hondurans will find a peaceful solution soon to the crisis we are facing,” Vasquez said, adding that “All sectors of society should put aside their differences to unite the homeland.”

Zelaya, speaking via telephone to a United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York said the decree was proof that the interim government “is a fascist dictatorship that has repressed the Honduran people.”

The interim government said the measures were needed to counter calls for an uprising by Zelaya’s supporters ahead of the three-month anniversary of the June 28 coup.

The reversals came in a roller-coaster 24 hours.

Micheletti first gave the Brazilian government a 10-day ultimatum to get rid of Zelaya — who has been holed up at the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa since sneaking back into the country Sept. 21 — warning Brazil it would have to take down its flag and remove the embassy crest. Then on Monday, Micheletti said he wanted to send “a big hug” to Brazil’s president and pledged nothing would happen to the diplomatic mission.

Micheletti also announced late Monday that he would soon cancel the measures and that an OAS delegation would be welcome to help mediate talks scheduled for early October. Micheletti said his decision came after talking to congressional leaders, who were concerned about the decree’s effect on the election, in which all the major candidates oppose Zelaya’s policies.

Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, who mediated U.S.-backed talks between the two sides, commended Micheletti for saying he would reverse the decree, but he criticized him for refusing to budge on reinstating Zelaya.

Speaking at a business forum in Miami, Arias said Micheletti “has not moved an inch” in negotiations to return Zelaya to power with limited authority — a plan brokered by Arias. He warned that the results of the November presidential election in Honduras will not be recognized unless the terms of his San Jose Accord are met.

The decree was declared as Zelaya called for a “final offensive” against the government, and Micheletti said pro-Zelaya media outlets were calling for violence. One of the closed broadcasters, Radio Globo, was transmitting on the Internet Tuesday, a day after police raided its offices raided and confiscated equipment.

All the drama belied the fact that throughout three long months, demonstrations by both sides have been largely peaceful. The government says three people have been killed since the coup, while protesters put the number at 10.

On most days, pro-Zelaya marches have been accompanied by mocking “Goriletti” gorilla dolls dancing on poles, while the Jesus Aguilar Paz School band beats out a samba-like “punto” rhythm from Honduras’ Garifuna region, sending protesters into hip-swaying dances.

But in deeply divided Honduras, even the high school band is split: the more conservative horn section quit, while the drums renamed themselves “The Band of the Resistance” and have marched in about five dozen protests to demand Zelaya’s reinstatement.

Associated Press writer Mark Stevenson in Tegucigalpa contributed to this report.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jAkMGKIUDg_ngUiZboxQbYj5_DPwD9B15PO80

>Radio Globo reported that two Israelis are instrumental in assisting the golpistas in the application of toxic gases at the Brazilian embassy. Article in Spanish:

http://hondurasenlucha.blogspot.com/2009/09/dos-oficiales-israelies-asesoran-en-la.html

>Business people in Honduras came up with an idea to break the current deadlock: continue the coup without the golpistas!  Article in Spanish, but check out a separate post I did about this earlier this evening.

http://www.rlp.com.ni/noticias/general/61610

>Al Giordano has the 411 down-low on mean mouth US Ambassador to the OAS, Lew Anselem.

http://narcosphere.narconews.com/thefield/3476/us-ambassador-lew-amselem-ghoul-horror-films-past

12:00PM

This update features UN Speeches and  Action Alerts

>UN SPEECHES : Links to summary and video of Honduran Foreign Minister, Patricia Rodas’ speech to the UN yesterday and a link to a news article regarding President Zelaya’s phone call to the UN yesterday regarding the situation in Honduras.

>Calls for  action regarding Honduras from CISPES and from ALBA Movimientos in coordination with El Frente Nacional Contra el Golpe de Estado

>>UN SPEECHES

GENERAL DEBATE OF THE 64th SESSION (2009) - HONDURAS
Statement, September 28, 2009
H.E. Ms. Patricia Isabel Rodas Baca, Minister for Foreign Affairs
speech summary - 
Video:  English [RealPlayer, 36 min] (As delivered) 

Ousted Honduran president calls UN for help by mobile phone
Posted : Tue, 29 Sep 2009 04:05:18 GMT

	

>>ACTION ALERTS

FROM:  CISPES - NATIONAL OFFICE






Honduras: Call the State Department Today to Demand the New Foreign Policy Obama Promised!
 U.S. State Department Blames Honduran President Zelaya for Military Coup’s Brutal Violence against Civilians

On Sept 21, President Manuel Zelaya returned to Honduras, taking refuge in the Brazilian Embassy. The Honduran military, under the command of the de facto regime of Roberto Micheletti, immediately began to attack the Embassy with tear gas and other chemicals. Violations of international law have continued, including cutting off electricity, water and food, drawing recent condemnation by the U.N. Security council.

Even worse, the military has dramatically increased violence against the civilian population demonstrating in support of the legitimate president Zelaya (watch a video here). Among other deaths, Wendy Elizabeth Avila was killed by tear gas intoxication during the violent displacement of protesters outside the Brazilian embassy on September 22.  International human rights groups have documented assassinations, torture and rape of regime opponents since the coup on June 28.

On September 26, coup leader Micheletti signed an executive order that suspends all Constitutional guarantees for 45 days, including freedom of the press and freedom to assemble. This decree prohibits meetings and demonstrations that do not have the permission of the military. Following the order, various independent radio and television stations have been shut down, in some cases violently.

Rather than denouncing the clear human rights violations by the Honduran military, the Obama administration had remained silent. As Mark Weisbrot, Director Center for Economic and Policy Research stated, "After 90 days and not one word from the Obama administration on the abuses in Honduras, it looks an awful lot like a tacit endorsement of the repression by the U.S. government.” (Read the press release from CEPR here or breaking news from the journalist Laura Carlsen of Americas Policy Program here)

Yesterday the State Department broke its silence, but not with the condemnation and swift action the Honduran people have been calling for.

Instead, officials from the U.S. State Department blamed Zelaya of for the violence being waged on the Honduran people. Lewis Amselem, interim U.S. representative to the Organization of American States (OAS) stated, “The return was irresponsible… Zelaya and those who facilitated his return are responsible for the actions of their followers.”

Please join individuals and organizations across the country in denouncing the State Department's tacit endorsement of the coup regime! This is far from the “new” foreign policy that Obama promised; in fact it is a terrifying throw back to U.S.-supported coups in Latin American and the brutal military violence that has ensued (several top military officials in Honduras were trained by the United States at the School of the Americas).

The State Department should take immediate and decisive action against the de facto regime, declare the situation in Honduras a MILITARY coup, and cut all aid to Honduras as required by law.

1. Call the State Department comment line at 202-647-4000 or write President Barack Obama and urge the administration to:

A.)               Call for a return of Zelaya to the presidency of Honduras and demand that the coup authorities, the army and the police respect the right to assembly and the human rights of the citizens of Honduras.

B.)               Emphasize that any bloodshed and violence is the responsibility of the coup government and the security forces which they command.

2. Call the Congressional switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask to speak to your Representative and Senators (or send an email to your Senators and Representative) with the same message. Also encourage your Representatives to sign on to the Delahunt-Serrano-McGovern House Resolution 630 condemning the June 28 military coup in Honduras.

 




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 © 2009 CISPES - The Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador
 CISPES National Office | ph. 202-521-2510 | 1525 Newton St. NW, Wash. DC 20010| cispes@cispes.org




 

FROM:  ALBA Movimientos in cooperation with El Frente Nacional Contra el Golpe de Estado

International Day of Solidarity with the Honduran people: against the State 
Coup, for the restitution of democracy and the Constituent Assembly


Outraged by the State coup in Honduras and the repression of the
Honduran people carried out by the de facto dictatorship, we –
organizations and social movements, members of regional and global
campaigns and networks – are calling for an International Day of Solidarity
with the Honduran people, to be held simultaneously on the 2nd October,
following on from the actions we have been carrying out since the 28th
June. We call on all of you to:

1. Organise actions in front of United Nations (UN) bodies, the United
States embassy or consulates as well as representations of the Latin
American Business Council in your countries (check names of the board
members and national chapter at http://www.ceal-int.org);

2. Carry out demonstrations, concerts, ecumenical celebrations, press
conferences, events etc, engaging celebrities, activists, intellectuals,
parliamentarians, artists, religious leaders and other people who can attract
the attention of the mass media in order to share information and denounce
the situation in Honduras;

3. Denounce and boycott the companies related to the coup leaders 

4. Send letters to the UN, the European Union, the Organisation of
American States, the Interamerican Commission of Human Rights (ICHR)
demanding urgent action and strong pressure against the coup government
in Honduras and the immediate restitution of democracy and the legitimate
president Manuel Zelaya;

5. To take advantage of these initiatives and activities in each country to
constitute national, provincial, municipal, local and district solidarity
committees with Honduras and contribute with campaigns of information
and communication, of political pressure and of fundraising in solidarity with
the resistance 

We also call you to mobilise celebrities, activists, intellectuals,
parliamentarians, artists, and religious leaders who can attract the attention
of the mass media to follow in solidarity our Honduran brothers and sisters in
resistance, making a special effort to participate in the First International
Meeting against the State Coup and for the Constituent Assembly, to be
held from the 8th to 10th October, in Tegucigalpa
(encuentrohonduras@gmail.com, see attached).

AGAINST THE STATE COUP AND FOR THE CONSTITUENT
ASSEMBLY!
HONDURAS IS NOT ALONE!

Send email to alba@movimientos.org for further information and adhesion
to this call.
For news on the events and initiatives, write email to
contraelgolpedeestadohn@gmail.com and alba@movimientos.org

 

11:00AM

>VIDEO: DEMOCRACY NOW INTERVIEW REGARDING HONDURAS WITH DR. LUTHER CASTILLO (from Washington, DC) and Andres Contreris – Americas Program Director with Nonviolence Int’l. (from inside the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa). Link above takes you directly to the beginning of the interviews (at 9:41 minutes).

Here is the background that was provided on Democracy Now’s website:

Internal Pressure Forces Honduran Coup Regime to Reverse Civil Liberties Crackdown, But Repression Continues

The Honduran coup regime has been forced to reverse a harsh crackdown on civil liberties amidst growing protests for the restoration of the ousted President Manuel Zelaya. But Honduran forces still blocked a large protest march and shut down two media outlets that have criticized the coup regime.
Meanwhile a top US diplomat criticized the coup regime’s decision but then turned around to issue a harsh condemnation of ousted Zelaya. We go to Honduras to speak with Andres Contreras from inside the embassy where Zelaya is hiding and speak to Luther Castillo, a Honduran doctor who is in Washington to speak with U.S. lawmakers.

The coup regime in Honduras appears to be backing off its attempt to shut down protests and limit free speech amidst growing protests for the restoration of the ousted President Manuel Zelaya. ?On Sunday, the coup government of Roberto Micheletti announced a 45-day decree that imposed sweeping restrictions on civil liberties, including banning unauthorized public meetings, allowing the government to shut down broadcasters and giving police the authority to make arrests without warrants.

After congressional leaders warned they would not approve the decree, Micheletti gave a televised news conference Monday evening asking for “forgiveness from the Honduran people” and said he would lift the decree “as quickly as possible.” ?Earlier that day, masked police officers and soldiers shut down two media outlets that have criticized the coup regime. Government forces also cordoned off a street to prevent a march of several hundred supporters of ousted president Zelaya.

Zelaya has remained in the Brazilian embassy since defiantly returning to Honduras one week ago. The Micheletti government has now given Brazil a ten-day deadline to hand over Zelaya or face the embassy’s closure. The coup regime issued the threat as its soldiers continued to surround the embassy and limit the delivery of supplies. Brazil has rejected the ultimatum and says Zelaya will stay as long as he needs. Brazil’s representative to the Organization of American States, Ruy De Lima Casaes E Silva, warned of the severity of the crisis.

The coup regime on Monday refused entry to a delegation from the Organization of American States that had come to seek a negotiated solution to the crisis. Speaking in Washington, the US ambassador to the OAS, Lewis Amselem, criticized the coup regime’s decision but then turned around to issue a harsh condemnation of ousted Zelaya.?

On Monday night, Zelaya addressed the United Nations General Assembly via a mobile phone that his foreign minister held up at the podium.

Andres Conteris, Program on the Americas director for Nonviolence International. He worked as a human rights advocate in Honduras from 1994 to 1999 and is a co-producer of Hidden in Plain Sight, a documentary film about US policy in Latin America and the School of the Americas. He also works at Democracy Now! en Español.

Dr. Luther Castillo, indigenous physician from the Atlantic Coast of Honduras. He founded the first hospital and health center in that region–the Garifuna Rural Hospital–after studying at the Latin American Medical School in Havana, Cuba. He is also secretary of communications for the National Resistance Front Against the Coup in Honduras. Shortly before the coup he had been named director of International Cooperation in the Honduran Foreign Ministry.

>THE NEW YORK TIMES
September 29, 2009
Honduras Shuts Down Media Outlets, Then Relents
By ELISABETH MALKIN and GINGER THOMPSON

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — The de facto government backed off Monday from its attempt to shut down protests and limit free speech after congressional leaders warned that they would not support the measure.

The revolt by Congress, the first public fracture in the coalition that ousted President Manuel Zelaya three months ago, showed that the de facto president, Roberto Micheletti, faces limits on his power to crack down on dissent.

In an extraordinary televised news conference Monday evening, Mr. Micheletti asked for “forgiveness from the Honduran people” and said he would ask the Supreme Court to lift the decree “as quickly as possible.”

But the government’s reversal came on the same day that the United States sent mixed messages about the crisis, comments that critics said could embolden the coup-imposed government.

The Micheletti government announced the decree Sunday night, imposing sweeping restrictions on civil liberties. The decree allowed the government to shut down broadcasters and ban unauthorized public meetings, and let the police detain suspects without warrants.

Early Monday, masked police officers took over a television station and soldiers formed a barricade around a radio station, shutting down two media outlets that had been the principal voices of opposition to the June 28 coup that ousted Mr. Zelaya.

Later, hundreds of police officers cordoned off either side of a street where several hundred protesters had gathered for a march that Mr. Zelaya, who secretly slipped back into the country last week, had billed as a final offensive. His supporters appeared to have been scared off, and the march was prevented.

But by midafternoon, the congressional leadership arrived at the presidential palace to tell Mr. Micheletti that Congress would not approve the decree, which Honduran law requires it to do.

“We need to lower the pressure, and all begin to calm down so that we can have a dialogue,” said José Alfredo Saavedra, the president of Congress and a member of the delegation that met with Mr. Micheletti.

The American response to the decree on Monday was somewhat equivocal. The State Department condemned the government’s actions. “I think it’s time for the de facto regime to put down the shovel,” said a spokesman, Philip J. Crowley. “With every action, they keep on making the hole deeper.”

But at the headquarters of the Organization of American States in Washington, where diplomats met in an emergency session to discuss the Micheletti government’s expulsion of four of its diplomats on Sunday, the American envoy reserved his strongest condemnation for Mr. Zelaya.

W. Lewis Amselem, the acting American representative, called Mr. Zelaya “irresponsible and foolish” for returning to Honduras before a negotiated settlement was reached.

“The president should stop acting as though he were starring in an old movie,” Mr. Amselem said.

Chris Sabatini, an analyst at the Council of the Americas, said that the United States was embarrassed at being linked to Mr. Zelaya, “a dangerously capricious leader.” But he said the mixed messages, which he said have characterized the American response since the coup, could also be an attempt “to soften Micheletti’s position by showing that they are even-handed.”

“The effect is, however, that the United States looks a little weak-kneed before the de facto government,” he said.

José Miguel Vivanco of Human Rights Watch said that if the United States was trying to spread the blame, the strategy was not working. “It has the effect of defusing the pressure,” he said. “Micheletti is the one who is taking away freedoms to an outrageous degree and the United States needs to be focusing all its attention on him.”

Despite international condemnation and an aid cutoff, the Micheletti government has gambled that it can hold out until scheduled elections go ahead on Nov. 29 and a new president takes office in January.

But Mr. Zelaya’s return to Honduras, where he has taken refuge in the Brazilian Embassy, seems to have forced Mr. Micheletti’s hand, drawing him into taking ever more severe and self-isolating measures.

On Saturday, the de facto government told diplomats from Spain, Mexico, Argentina and Venezuela to turn in their credentials if their nations did not recognize the Micheletti government.

On Sunday, the government turned back four diplomats from the O.A.S. who had arrived to begin setting up a visit of foreign ministers from O.A.S. countries. It threatened to shut down Brazil’s embassy within 10 days if Brazil did not either turn over Mr. Zelaya for trial or grant him asylum, a threat Brazil rebuffed.

The congressional response to the decree appears to reflect differences in strategy within the governing coalition, if not in the final goal. While the government seemed willing to disregard international opprobrium in its efforts to muzzle the opposition, the main parties in Congress have a strong interest in finding a political way out of the crisis.

The leaders who confronted Mr. Micheletti on Monday appeared to be concerned that the decree went too far and would undercut the legitimacy of the election and jeopardize the reinstatement of foreign aid, which had accounted for 20 percent of the country’s budget.

The United States and other countries have suggested that they will not recognize a new president elected under the existing political conditions. The emergency decree, which was to have expired just two weeks before the elections, made it much less likely that the elections would be seen as free and fair.

Over the past week, a few tentative steps at negotiations have begun. Four presidential candidates met with Mr. Zelaya at the Brazilian Embassy and the auxiliary archbishop of Tegucigalpa, Juan José Pineda, has been meeting with both sides.

On Monday evening, the Micheletti government also announced that it would welcome another O.A.S. visit next week.

Elisabeth Malkin reported from Tegucigalpa, and Ginger Thompson from Washington.

>U. S. State Department

Statement on Honduras, Ian Kelly – Department Spokesman, Washington, DC, September 28, 2009

PRN: 2009/971

>OAS Meeting on Honduras – September 28, 2009

If you want to see an international body do everything but deal with international issues, these videos are for you. First, is the OAS full Council meeting. Second video is Sec.-Gen., Jose Miguel Insulza giving a press conference. In Spanish and English, depending on who’s speaking.

http://www.oas.org/en/media_center/videos.asp?sCodigo=09-0244&videotype=

http://www.oas.org/en/media_center/videos.asp?sCodigo=09-0240&videotype=&sCollectionDetVideo=1

>About two hours ago, Radio Globo called for the people of Honduras to demonstrate in front of its offices.http://contraelgolpedeestadohn.blogspot.com

>Carlos Reyes, independent candidate, withdraws from presidential race saying that conditions for holding election are not good.  (“Carlos H. Reyes está considerando retiro,” Políticas 29 Septiembre, 2009″  ttp://www.latribuna.hn/web2.0/?p=45923)

The New America Media (an outlet for ethnic news) writes about how the Honduran de facto coup government under Roberto Micheletti “plans to eliminate the Honduran Garifuna people and culture.” We have not been able to confirm this report, which, if true, would indeed jeopardize the cultural survival of the Garifuna. New America Media reports that Micheletti “has rescinded the Manuel Zelaya authorization to teach in the Garifuna language in school and to teach the language itself. All scholarships to Garifuna students have been eliminated.”

Moreover, Micheletti’s regime has taken over the Garifuna built and operated hospital in the coastal town of Iriona, a project that had been fully supported by ousted President Zelaya. Its staff—made up of Garifuna doctors and nurses trained in Cuba, Honduras, and the United States, has been fired. According to the article its founder, Dr. Luther Castillo Harry, who had been targeted for assassination, is now being sought and risks arrest and imprisonment.

The Garifuna community, As Caribbean Net News reports, is urging “all Garifuna people throughout Central America and the world to file a complaint with Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the United Nations, the United States, other countries and international agencies to condemn this outrageous act.” They are calling on “all Garifuna associations throughout the world, such as the National Garifuna Council in Belize, The United Garifuna Association Inc. in the United States, GAHFU in Los Angeles, Garifuna Coalition USA Inc. and all the other Garinagu associations in the respective countries where Garinagu people reside, to speak out against this injustice.”

In the United States, Bill Camp, executive secretary of the Sacramento Central Labor Council, is preparing a resolution for the AFL-CIO National Convention in Pittsburgh Sept. 14-17 “to embargo all trade with the U.S.-supported de facto coup government in Honduras. This is the most efficient and effective way to prevent the genocide of the Garifuna, to return democratically elected President Manual Zelaya to Honduras, punish Roberto Micheletti and the coup government and rescue the United States from its support of the Honduran coup government.” They are urging other groups to “begin now to boycott all Honduran products such as coffee, fruit etc.”

You can see the New America Media report at http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=9bf0fc2b744767885a293093a23f7e3c

For the Caribbean Net News article go to http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/news-18314–6-6–.html

The photo above is by my favorite news photographer, Patrick Farrell for the Miami Herald.

Hot Indie News just published a review of Umalali’s new cd. The strongly recommend this remarkable cd, so here’s what they had to say:

The first track off of the Umalali disk really caught me by surprise.  It was the singing that comes in in the beginning that shook me and gave me a chill.  I was not expecting the voice to sound so raspy like Billie Holiday, or for it to be so rich in impression, immersed in such a mellow sound and mood.  This CD took 10 years to make and was recorded basically in a seaside hut.  The women on this CD are all part of the Garifuna community, coming from countries such as Belize, Guatamala, Honduras and Nicaragua.  The songs on the album blend traditional stories and songs with contemporary style music like rock, blues, and funk.  The instrumentation is pretty, yet simple, but it is the vocals that really stand out.  It is the natural talent of the voices as well as the distinct precision in singing style that make the vocals so beautiful and full of truth.

The story behind this CD is as remarkable as the music itself.  Jacob Edgar, who was primarily working for the famous Putumayo label decided to branch off on his own to start Cumbancha records.  When Putumayo heard about his decision, they decided to help fund his project and that’s how we have Cumbancha records today.  He has done a brilliant job in scouting out the best of the best of world music with this record.  Most of the women on the CD work to support themselves and their families and do music on the side, while the men in the community either work all day at sea or abroad to help support their families.  The stories in these songs reveal the trials and tribulations of everyday life which includes work, play and family amongst other things.  It is the stories they tell on this CD that get passed down from generation to generation in their community.  Gently realized, and well executed, this album does a great job in exposing a genre of music that is often neglected or overlooked.  I highly recommend this album to people who want to experience something unique as it was a real eye opener for me.

The review appeared originally at http://www.hotindienews.com/2009/09/03/108437

Los jovenes organizados en la OFRANEH – en la foto, participando en la celebracion del Dia del Desaparecido y una asamblea de la Resistencia el dia 30 de agosto en Tegucigalpa – siguen acompanando todas las actividades de la resistencia. El Pueblo Garifuna ha participado en el movimiento de resistencia contra el golpe de Estado desde el mismo 28 de junio. Una voz contundente al nivel internacional ha sido el Doctor Luther Castillo, director de la fundacion Luágu Hátuadi Wadúheñu (‘Por la salud de nuestros pueblos’) que dirige el hospital comunitario semi-autonomo que ha venido trabajando bajo un convenio establecido con el gobierno de Manuel Zelaya con doctores Garifunas y respetando la salud, medicina, y tradiciones del mismo pueblo Garifuna.

**********************************************************

Golpistas racistas: cierre del Hospital Comunitario garífuna  de Ciriboya.

En los útlimos días se viene haciendo efectiva la amenaza de la conversión del Hospital Comunitario de Ciriboya en un simple centro de salud, descalificando la enorme labor de apoyo efectuada por los médicos garífunas graduado en la ELAM y las brigadas cubanas.

Las razones que motivan al régimen de facto a tomar la determinación de destruir el  trabajo efectuado por el Hospital Comunitario de Ciriboya, radica en el racismo de los funcionarios estatales que se han incorporado a la pesadilla orquestada por Micheletti, y al desprecio por la visión social de los médicos educados en Cuba, versus a la mentalidad capitalista de la mayoría de los médicos egresados de las escuelas locales.

La labor efectuada tanto por las brigadas cubanas como por los médicos garífunas, ha servido de paradigma al igual que la construcción con recursos propios de un hospital modelo, único en Honduras y ejemplo para los demás pueblos indígenas.

El Dr. Luther Castillo ha sido uno de los abanderados en la lucha en contra del golpe de estado, situación que lo ha conllevado a ser perseguido y señalado por los esbirros de turno. En las persistentes y heroicas marchas de repudio del pueblo hondureño al golpe, el Doctor Castillo en compañía de Garífunas miembros de la OFRANEH han estado en la cabeza de las movilizaciones, abriendo paso con ceremonias ancestrales para neutralizar la mala fe de los golpistas.

La participación garífuna en el repudio al golpe ha exacerbado el racismo latente en algunos hondureños, siendo las fuerzas de seguridad las más propensas a cometer abusos en contra de nuestros herman@s, en particular en contra de aquellos que viven o se encuentran en Tegucigalpa, pues de inmediato los asocian con la resistencia al golpe.

El cierre del hospital disfrazado de una transformación a puesto de salud, implica la perdida de plazas de doctores garifunas que viene cubriendo la zona, además de una apropiación por parte del Ministerio de Salud de la iniciativa garífuna de poseer un hospital donde se respeta la visión cultural de nuestro pueblo; teniendo como resultado la paulatina destrucción y abandono del centro, tal como sucede con la mayoría de los puestos de salud del país.

Existe por parte de los políticos-empresarios un total rechazo a las iniciativas comunitarias, las que vinculan con una visión anti capitalista, y por ende tratan de destruir. Como muestra se encuentra la empecinada actitud por parte de las últimas administraciones para diluir los títulos de propiedad comunitaria, que son vistos con una enorme animosidad y tratan de convertir en propiedad privada.

El proyecto Luágu Hátuadi Wadúheñu, (Por la salud de nuestros pueblos) se remonta al año 2005,  y en este corto lapso de tiempo  han ofrecido no solamente una alternativa de salud para el pueblo garífuna sino que al mismo tiempo lograron la construcción del hospital modelo. El enorme esfuerzo parece ser que ha irritado al empresario de buses chatarra (goriletti) y sus séquitos de servidores.

La OFRANEH hace un llamado a la restitución del orden constitucional al mismo tiempo que exigimos salvar el proyecto Luágu Hátuadi Wadúheñu, el que representa para el pueblo garífuna, en especial para los habitantes de la zona de Iriona, una promesa de vida y un futuro mejor para nuestros descendientes.

La Ceiba, Atlántida 31 de Agosto del 2009.

Organización Fraternal Negra Hondureña,  OFRANEH

Organización Fraternal Negra Hondureña, OFRANEH
Teléfono (504) 4420618, (504) 4500058
Av 14 julio, calle 19, Contiguo Vivero Flor Tropical, Barrio Alvarado, La Ceiba, Honduras
email:garifuna@ofraneh.org, ofraneh@yahoo.com

Desde hace algunas semanas, los golpista vienen acusando al Frente Nacional de Resistencia de recibir apoyo económico de las FARC. La acusación es un preludio de represión selectiva dirigida a los líderes del movimiento popular.

El 10 de agosto la Sra Mary Anasatasia O’Grady publico en el Wall Street journal un artículo intitulado “Los Amigos de las FARC en Honduras“, en el cual saca a relucir la supuesta información obtenida en las famosas  computadoras “encontradas” en el campamente de Reyes después del bombardeo de parte de Colombia en el Ecuador.

Al final del artículo a continuación se resalta como la supuesta inteligencia colombiana, relaciona a un sacerdote y un lider de pueblos negros cuyos nombres mantienen en reserva.

Hacemos un llamdo a los organismos internacionales  de derechos para que intervengan de inmediato para asegura la integridad de los lideres de la resistencia y el pueblo hondureño en general.

De paso, señalamos el papel del Wall Street Journal como instigadora de la represión selectiva y en especial a la  supuesta periodista, Sra Mary O’Grady, como responsable de la difamación del movimiento y de cualquier hecho de violencia en contra de nuestros herman@s

Pruebas de nexos de las Farc con UD y FUTH
Correos electrónicos revelan la relación entre la guerrilla colombiana y las organizaciones política y sindical de Honduras

Bogotá,

Colombia

Los guerrilleros de las Fueras Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, Farc, aseguran tener contacto y apoyo del partido Unificación Democrática, UD, y de la Federación Unitaria de Trabajadores de Honduras, Futh, en unos correos electrónicos encontrados en el computador del famoso guerrillero “Raúl Reyes”, muerto en 2008.

Las autoridades colombianas estudian minuciosamente todos los documentos hallados en la máquina decomisada a la guerrilla, que también es considerada la máxima distribuidora de cocaína de América. El aparato fue encontrado durante un ataque a las Farc en un campamento asentado en Ecuador. En los correos electrónicos, fechados en diversos meses de 2005, 2006 y 2007, se mencionan nombres de personalidades políticas, obreras y hasta religiosas que apoyan las actividades terroristas de las Farc a nivel continental.

Los correos

El 2 de enero de 2005, “Iván Márquez” escribió un correo a “Raúl Reyes” en el que le informa que hasta el 12 de diciembre de 2004 había varias organizaciones, entre ellas la Federación Unitaria de Trabajadores de Honduras, Futh, y el Partido Unificación Democrática, UD, que se han unido a la campaña de solidaridad con Simón (Trinidad).

“Simón Trinidad”, cuyo nombre oficial es Juvenal Ovidio Ricardo Palmera Pineda, se unió a las Farc en 1984 y al momento de su captura, en enero de 2004 en Quito, Ecuador, era jefe o alto miembro de la comandancia guerrillera. Fue llevado a Estados Unidos, acusado por el secuestro de tres estadounidenses. Recibió una condena de 60 años. Además, se le ha investigado por sus nexos en actividades del narcotráfico, por el asesinato de la ex ministra colombiana Consuelo Araújo, extorsión y secuestro de ex socios bancarios, ex amigos y hasta de familiares. En noviembre de 2004, la Corte colombiana aprobó la extradición a Estados Unidos, por lo que se comenzó la campaña de solidaridad, que al 12 de diciembre ya tenía el “apoyo” de la Futh y UD de Honduras.

El 11 de marzo de 2005, Iván Márquez le confía a Raúl Reyes que la Coordinadora Continental Bolivariana tuvo importantes logros en 2004.

Iván le informa que a nivel americano hay 63 organizaciones que coordinan activamente, de las cuales, dos están en Centroamérica.

Además, le informa que tienen contacto con 45 organizaciones políticas, siendo por Honduras el Partido Unificación Democrática.

Con estas organizaciones políticas y sociales se ejecutaría una campaña de solidaridad a favor del guerrillero Ricardo González o Rodrigo Granda, quien fuera “secuestrado” el 13 de diciembre de 2004 en Caracas y llevado en el baúl de un carro hasta la frontera con Colombia para ser entregado al Gobierno.

Los contactos

El nombre de Raúl Reyes sonó en las noticias durante muchos años como uno de los altos mandos del grupo terrorista y guerrillero de las Farc. Su nombre se mencionaba junto a Pedro Antonio Marín, alias Marulanda o Tirofijo. Su posición al frente del grupo armado era igual a la de los conocidos Jorge Briceño, “Mono Jojhoy” y Guillero León Sáenz, alias Alfonso Cano.

Era el segundo al mando de las Farc. Su verdadero nombre era Luis Edgar Devia Silva, nacido el 30 de septiembre de 1948 en la localidad de La Plata, departamento de Huila, Colombia. Murió el 1 de marzo de 2008 durante un feroz ataque aéreo de las Fuerzas Armadas Colombianas. Aunque su muerte y la de varios guerrilleros constituyó uno de los principales golpes a la narcoguerrilla terrorista, la acción militar terminó en una crisis política en sudamérica en virtud que el comandante Raúl Reyes acampaba en territorio ecuatoriano cuando se perpetró el ataque. Reyes era conocido por sus habilidades de negociador y de vocero oficial.

Por su beligerancia en las actividades del Tercer Frente, con jurisdicción en su zona natal, Reyes se hizo popular e importante. El Mono Jojoy encabezaba las actividades propiamente militares y Alfonso Cano definía la ideología, Raúl Reyes asumía a partir de la década de los 90 su rol como negociador y responsable de los contactos internacionales para las Farc.

De ahí que en su computadora, decomisada la madrugada del 1 de marzo de 2008, minutos después del feroz ataque que dejó 19 muertos, las autoridades colombianas han encontrado correos electrónicos y documentos en los que la guerrilla revela sus contactos, fuentes de financiamiento, compra de armas, rutas del narcotráfico y hasta el apoyo económico de campañas políticas en diversas partes del continente y del mundo.

Sus cargos

En vida, Reyes enfrentaba al menos cien procesos por delitos, como terrorismo, secuestro, sedición, asesinato. Según medios de comunicación colombianos, pesaban contra él alrededor de treinta órdenes de captura y Estados Unidos ofrecía una recompensa de cinco millones de dólares por su captura, ya que era sindicado como uno de los principales responsables de la expansión del tráfico internacional de cocaína hacia Estados Unidos y el mundo.

Las autoridades colombianas estiman que el trabajo que desempeñaba Reyes ha sido asumido por Luciano Marín, alias Iván Márquez. Y son precisamente los correos electrónicos que Iván le remite a su camarada Raúl los que establecen que en Honduras el grupo guerrillero tiene importantes contactos con el izquierdista partido UD y con la Federación Unitaria de Trabajadores de Honduras.

Un sacerdote y un líderde pueblos negros

De acuerdo con los documentos y correos electrónicos encontrados en la computadora de “Raúl Reyes”, aparecen como “importantes” contactos un conocido sacerdote identificado con causas revolucionarias en Honduras y un líder de los pueblos negros y autóctonos de Honduras.

Los nombres de estos dos personajes y de otros que se muestran en la evidencia facilitada por autoridades colombianas se mantienen, por el momento, en reserva. Las autoridades de Colombia y Honduras, que trabajan de forma coordinada, intentan establecer ahora los alcances de los nexos que estos dirigentes han tenido con la narcoguerrilla de las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, Farc.

http://www.laprensahn.com/Apertura/Ediciones/2009/08/24/Noticias/Pruebas-de-nexos-de-las-Farc-con-UD-y-FUTH

Organización Fraternal Negra Hondureña, OFRANEH
Teléfono (504) 4420618, (504) 4500058
Av 14 julio, calle 19, Contiguo Vivero Flor Tropical, Barrio Alvarado, La Ceiba, Honduras
email: garifuna@ofraneh.org, ofraneh@yahoo.com

Day 50, Honduran Coup Resistance, August 16, 2009
(Alert#48)

BELOW:

• Eyewitness report:  About orchestrated repression and violence, Wednesday, August 12th
• Report: Attack Against Via Campesina Organization
• Report: Coup regime takeover of Garifuna community hospital
• National Front Against the Coup: the Elections Should Not Be Supported
• Article: The Revolutionary Priest, Fausto Milla
• Article: The coup in Honduras, “ALBA”, and the English-speaking Caribbean

AT BOTTOM:

• to donate tax-deductible, urgently needed funds to pro-democracy movement in Honduras
• what to do?
• more information

Please re-distribute this information all around

To get on/ off Rights Action’s email list: http://www.rightsaction.org/lists/?p=subscribe&id=3/

* * *

EYEWITNESS REPORT – TEGUCIGALPA – WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 12th BRUTAL REPRESSION & INTIMIDATION

(Translated from a telephone report filed by Alexy Lanza at 9:35 pm Chicago time – translation by La Voz de los de Abajo)

Tear gas was fired directly into the crowds of protesters, rubber bullets and truncheons were used to disperse the thousands of Hondurans who had marched through the city to the National Congress today to protest against the coup and demand restitution of the constitutional government of Mel Zelaya.

There were many injuries and arrests – The soldiers and police, heavily armed and in full combat gear acting against unarmed men and women of all ages. In an unforgettable moment, I watched as a congressional Deputy from the anti-coup leftist party the Democratic Unification (UD), Marvin Ponce, was attacked by at least 12 policemen and brutally beaten. He was seriously injured and was taken to the hospital; witnesses reported that at the hospital the police continued to beat and torment Ponce, interfering with his medical treatment.

As the police increased their violent sweep of the area I joined the rest of the protesters in fleeing the area; trying to avoid arrest or beatings or worse. I made my way to the Francisco Morazan National Autonomous University, which has been held by the students as part of the anti-coup resistance for weeks. The University has also been an organizing center and has provided shelter for people coming in from the rural areas to join in the protest movement.

When I got to the University, people were trickling in from the downtown area. I saw one of the leaders from the Garifuna organization (OFRANEH) who told me almost that a large number of compañeros from their organization were detained in the repression at the Congress.
Suddenly a large number of heavily armed soldiers arrived and attacked with tear gas, and rubber bullets forcing their way into university. They began arresting and beating the students and were able to seize control of at least a large part of the university. As the attack continued, I was forced to run from the troops and got away.

Today’s mobilizations were the second day of massive peaceful marches that began yesterday. Thousands of Hondurans responded to the call for increased mobilization by walking for as many as 5 days from the farthest corners of rural Honduras in order to get to one of the two major cities, Tegucigalpa or San Pedro Zula. Yesterday’s protests were not repressed but today was another story. There have also been increasing attacks of the death-squad type. Today, I spoke with Rafael Alegria from Via Campesina in Honduras who told me that last night (August 11th) after the day of mobilizations, at about 11:30 pm, the Via Campesina center was riddled with bullets fired by men who pulled up in front of the center in a civilian SUV. No one was injured, but the message is clear.

Via Campesina is another organization that has offered its offices as an organizing center and shelter and Alegria has been detained and released and now has another threat of detention against him.

The defacto coup government and its military are increasing the violence again to try and do away with the resistance movement of the Honduran people who are the only real obstacle standing in the way of the oligarchy’s plans.

The National Front for Resistance Against the Coup has called for the mobilizations to continue tomorrow beginning at 8 am.

Everyone from the social organizations to the people in the streets who don’t belong to any organization, are calling for international solidarity to come to their aid in any way possible. They have been in the struggle for more than 40 days and need all of our help to continue.

(Alexy Lanza lives in Chicago and is a member of La Voz de los de Abajo, Casa Morazan and Producciones EN EL OJO-independent media)

* * *

COUP REGIME TAKEOVER OF INDIGENOUS GARIFUNA COMMUNITY HOSPITAL

From: MEDICC Atlanta <admin1@mediccglobal.org>
Date: Tue, 11 Aug 2009 09:08:06 -0400 (EDT)

August 11 – Despite objections by local Garifuna communities, Honduras’ defacto government is moving to take over the first and only Garifuna-managed hospital in the country, ousting its current staff.

The facility – built by Dr. Luther Castillo, other Garifuna doctors, local architects, and the communities themselves – is located in the remote coastal municipality of Iriona.

Last week, says Dr. Castillo, the defacto ministry of health notified hospital staff that the facility was being downgraded to a health center “under new management”. “They told us that the Garifuna staff-both doctors and locally-trained nurses aides-will be fired,” he told MEDICC. “These measures would condemn to death many of our old and seriously ill people, and stop all outreach and prevention services.”

However, he said the staff is staying put, and vows to continue working, even without the small stipend the government had provided in the past and with no guarantee of medicines or vital supplies.

“We will not abandon our people,” said Dr. Castillo. “These are the poorest of the poor, the invisible poor. They are the real victims of the coup,” he told MEDICC.”And they are the reason so many of our young people decided to become doctors in the first place.”

Some 300 representatives of local Garifuna governments gathered last week to support the hospital and its staff, and have declared they will not recognize the defacto government’s takeover move.

The Garifuna hospital officially opened in December 2007, under an agreement with the government of President Manuel Zelaya, and in accordance with an International Labor Organization covenant that supports locally-managed health services for indigenous and tribal peoples.

Since then, according to Dr. Castillo, the ten Garifuna doctors staffing the hospital have treated over 175,000 cases. The physicians – all graduates of the Latin American Medical School in Havana – attend patients at outlying clinics and on regular home visits. The original government agreement permitted this medically underserved region to rely on hospital services, including birthing, surgeries, hospitalization, dental care and laboratory tests.

TAKE ACTION NOW!

MEDICC is joining other U.S. organizations to stand with the staff and over 30,000 patients of the only Garifuna Community Hospital in Honduras.  Here’s what you can do:

1) DONATE to keep the hospital alive. Your donation to Honduras’ First Garifuna Hospital will help pay small stipends to physicians and nurses’ aides, and help stock the hospital with essential medicines and supplies. (Donate Here <https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?aid=18349>)

2) SPEAK UP! Take this message to your city council, labor union, student or professional organization, asking them to pass a resolution in support of the Garifuna Indigenous Hospital in Honduras. Send these resolutions to us, and publicize them in your local media and on the web.

3) GET READY TO GO on a delegation to Honduras as a “Witness for Health” to help guarantee the safety and rights of the Garifuna hospital staff. More information coming soon.

4) Urge the US government to act: Contact the White House, the State Department and your Congressional representatives. Press them to use the US government’s influence to guarantee respect for the lives of Dr. Castillo, his colleagues and all those protesting the coup. State Department: 202-647-4000 or 1-800-877-8339. White House: Comments: 202-456-1111, Switchboard: 202-456-1414.

Contact your Senators here: www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm <http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102666071232&s=3305&e=001Ba222MrT3bL3qaxf3r9E0Xv2SNrnU66fP82Mje-xb9LBZ4sdWxQqrKb7Q_neY3g5S-BrNQWtQf9ZUUuONGyippX02Z_DGDEiuN0QHO4_wKkYnpBtGHVnNWgOr0093RDeqWFJDkqoMU0XXpt-uACBubCnpNvrsC6ukdyOBcOWWm_9F6aO80tcUg==>

Contact your Congresspeople here: https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml <https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml>

5) Keep Honduras in the public eye: Circulate this alert widely. GO ON THE WEB: use your blogs, listservs and networks to get the word out.

MORE BACKGROUND

Since 1999, Luther Castillo has directed the Luaga Hatuadi Waduheñu Foundation (“For the Health of our People” in Garifuna), dedicated to bringing vital health services to isolated indigenous coastal communities. After his 2005 graduation from the Latin American Medical School in Havana, Dr. Castillo returned to the Honduran coast, where he led construction of Honduras’ first Garifuna Rural Hospital, now serving some 30,000 in the surrounding communities. The hospital opened in December 2007, just months after Dr. Castillo was named “Honduran Doctor of the Year” by Rotary International’s Tegucigalpa chapter. “Thank you for inspiring me,” said California Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi, speaking at the hospital’s opening ceremony.

The hospital and its community health outreach are supported by a number of U.S. and other international organizations, including the Sacramento, California Central Labor Council, Global Links, The Birthing Project, and MEDICC.  Several US medical schools also have cooperative arrangements with the Garifuna hospital, including Johns Hopkins, Emory, Charles Drew and University of California (SF). Eight Cuban physicians and nurses also provide specialized services and academic training at the hospital.

A few weeks before the coup, Dr. Castillo was named director of International Cooperation in the Honduran Foreign Ministry. Since July 3rd, he has been included on a list of persons whose lives and safety were declared “at risk” by the OAS Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

Dr. Castillo is featured in ¡Salud! (www.saludthefilm.net <http://www.saludthefilm.net/> ), a documentary film that received the Council on Foundations Henry Hampton Award for Excellence in Film  Digital Media (USA).

MEDICC (Medical Education Cooperation with Cuba), www.medicc.org <http://www.medicc.org/> , is a US non-governmental organization working to enhance cooperation among the U.S., Cuban and global health communities aimed at better health outcomes.

* * *

ATTACK AGAINST OFFICES OF VÍA CAMPESINA, August 12th 2009
From: Phil Stuart C [mailto:fcstuartca@yahoo.ca]

Below is an urgent appeal from Via Campesina regarding a steep, brutal escalation of death squad killings and military-police repression against grassroots organizations and leaders, ordered by the coup regime.

This ferocious escalation of the repression can have many intended and unintended consequences, and brings the Honduran crisis to new levels of danger to peace in the region, and to a complete smashing of democratic rights.

The National Resistance Front, and the Zelayist government in exile are now calling on Washington and the OAS not to recognize the legitimacy and outcome of any elections scheduled by the coup regime.

This appears to reflect a growing fear both within Honduras and across Latin America and the Caribbean that the coup regime can and may hold on the power, mainly because Washington fears what would happen in the power vacuum that could ensue if the Arias Plan to return Zelaya to office, but not to power, is executed.

Rights Action will very likely file a report on these highly inflamable events tomorrow. Check their website if you want more information: at http://rightsaction.org/

Stay alert. Felipe Stuart

ATTACK AGAINST OFFICES OF VÍA CAMPESINA, August 12th 2009

Last night at 11:23 pm, during curfew which began at 10pm, unknown individuals driving a cream colour Toyota Turismo with the license plate PCA1981 fired bullets at the office of Vía Campesina, located in the Alameda neighbourhood of Tegucigalpa, Honduras which is coordinated by Rafael Alegría.

The act was a clear attack against our social organizations and leaders who are part of the National Front Against the Coup.

In addition to the recent attack on Vía Campesina, a bomb capable of killing 15 people went off in the building of the Beverage Workers Union (STIBYS, by its Spanish initials) on July 26th 2009. Both organizations are part of the National Front Against the Coup.

We condemn this incident given that the activities of Vía Campesina and the National Front Against the Coup are completely peaceful. It is important to mention that during curfew only police are permitted to be in the street.

Vía Campesina of Honduras calls for support from national and international human rights organizations to remain attentive and to continue following attacks taking place not only against these organizations and their leadership, but also against the human rights of the entire Honduran people and all those who have been protesting in the streets against the coup for the last 46 days.

Rafael Alegría comments, “People’s rights are being violated and it’s a truly unfortunate situation at the moment. People have been wounded, jailed and killed.”

According to a preliminary report from lawyers assisting the National Front Against the Coup today, hundreds of people were wounded and more than forty people detained following violence occurring after a peaceful mass mobilization in the capital city on Tuesday. The group of lawyers is seeking the liberation of those arrested through Habeas Corpus. The leadership of the Front insists that the disturbances were carried out by people who were not part of the protest, but rather infiltrators interested in provoking confrontations and disparaging the peaceful protests that the Front has been mobilizing.

The people detained are accused of rebellion, terrorism and treason among other crimes.

Alegría emphasizes that “The National Front Against the Coup is not responsible for these incidents. On principle the front supports peaceful marches, peaceful demands and peaceful mobilization. At no point do we use or call for violent acts. It appears that these incidents are the responsibility of groups interested in ruining the social mobilization and they have taken it upon themselves to provoke this situation for which we categorically deny any responsibility.”

Given what has taken place in the last 24 hours, Vía Campesina of Honduras calls out to the entire Vía Campesina network, social movements, as well as national and international human rights organizations to send messages or delegations in solidarity with the resistance against the coup and for the defence of human rights in Honduras, and to assist in bringing about an end to so much injustice and violence against the Honduran people.

Please send complaints and messages of solidarity to the following addresses:

Coronel Jorge Rodas Gamero
Fax: (504) 237-9070/ 220-55-47
E-mail: sseg.06@hotmail.com

Lcda. Sandra Ponce, Fiscal Especial de Derechos Humanos
Tegucigalpa, Honduras
Fax: (504) 221-3656
E-mail: ponce10s@yahoo.com.ar

Committee for the Defense of Human Rights (CODEH)
President Andrés Pavón
E-mail: andres@codeh.hn, codeh@codeh.hn

The Committee of Relatives of People Detained-Disappeared in Honduras
(COFADEH), Coordinadora Bertha Oliva
E-mail: mail@cofadeh.org

Vía Campesina of Honduras
E-mail: laviacampesina@cablecolor.hn

* * *

THE ELECTIONS ARE ILLEGAL

TEGUCIGALPA, August 12.— The National Front Against the Coup d´Etat in Honduras condemned the electoral process now taking place in the country with the support of the de facto government, and said it was illegal, Prensa Latina news agency reported today.

For the social organizations united in the struggle against the regime of Roberto Micheletti, these elections make no sense, after the violent expulsion from the country of Manuel Zelaya, a president who had been elected constitutionally.

The restitution of Zelaya in his post, the people’s movement says, is the only way to validate the results of the elections, with the supervision and acknowledgement of the international community.

The presidential candidate for the Democratic Unification Party, Deputy César Ham, invited the people to unite and take part in the elections, as a way to defeat the coup supporters. He also said he was willing to renounce his candidacy if it were necessary to achieve this objective.

Due to their position regarding the complot that overthrew Zelaya, many Hondurans consider Elvin Santos, candidate of the Liberal Party, and Porfirio Lobo, candidate of the National Party, as coup supporters.

* * *

THE CARDINAL OF THE HONDURAN POOR CLAIMS THE RIGHT TO INSURRECTION

http://iglesiadescalza.blogspot.com/2009/08/cardinal-of-honduran-poor-claims-right.html
Thursday, August 13, 2009

My fellow blogger, Hermano Juancito, has already picked up on this story which I had gathered from Adital about the march and open air Mass celebrated on August 11th in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, by Fr. Fausto Milla.

Daniel Valencia (translation by Rebel Girl)
El Faro Digital, August 12, 2009

In the central park of San Pedro Sula nobody in the crowd could sing “La marcha de la unidad” (“The march of unity”) completely because they did not know the lyrics. So, dissimulating, this Tuesday the 11th they hummed in anticipation of the excitement that would thunder out seconds later in the most famous line of that song. And when it came time to sing, many showed that they were not very able at left-wing paraphernalia and wrongly raised the right fist instead of the left one.

At that rally, on the dais, without raising his fists, but forcefully holding a microphone with both hands, an old man of 81, a Honduran with Spanish roots, tall, white skin tanned by the sun and wearing a white cassock with a pink stole, screamed out the chorus at the top of his lungs without any complex: “The people united will never be defeated!”

Coming from a priest and not real politician, it becomes more important. At least that’s what more than 10,000 demonstrators believed, those who accompanied Father Fausto Milla – “the shepherd of the poor”, as his followers call him here — in taking over the center of the second largest city in Honduras, San Pedro Sula. The gathering took place in the park, opposite the cathedral in that city.

That type of behavior is what his followers appreciate, and they let it be known. “Here is our archbishop, the archbishop of the poor and not the rich. Out with Rodríguez Maradiaga, out with the coup leaders!,” shouted a man from the center of 3rd Avenue, the road that separates the central park from cathedral, which was guarded by about 100 “chepos” (riot police) who trembled at the sight of that wall of people in front of them.

The man contrasted Milla and Honduran Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga, who almost immediately after the coup was branded as a coup backer by supporters of deposed president Manuel Zelaya.

Then, before the inflamed crowd, to calm the situation — the crowd was already receiving the first news of the disturbances in Tegucigalpa, where supporters of the Resistance had set fire to a Popeyes restaurant and a bus on Avenida Juan Pablo Segundo — Milla raised his voice and said: “Brothers, let us make peace and not violence. Repression can only be fought and overcome through peace. Here we do not have to face the oppressive families, we do not have any famous last names. The police are our brothers, they are López, they are Ramos, they are Pérez,” he told them, prior to an outdoor Mass, since the cathedral was closed and guarded by police.

Milla, along with a large group of people appeared marching along 3rd Avenue at 4 pm. The priest had walked from Santa Rosa de Copán, where he is pastor, and along the way he joined the marches that came to the city from the  villages of Yoro, Colón, Atlántida, Ocotepeque, Lempira, Santa Bárbara and Cortez.

Before their arrival, San Pedro residents allied with the Resistance had come to the central plaza of the city, and they waited with a meal, water and food for the demonstrators who also marched from Progreso, Lima and Ceiba.

THE REVOLUTIONARY PRIEST

Fausto Milla has been in hiding, according to some supporters of the Resistance. The priest, however, though he confesses that he has received many threats, has always been where you can find him: in his church, in his territory rich in indigenous, peasant culture.

Since the coup, Milla has been one of the main Catholic religious leaders who has criticized — and condemned — the “abuses” in the interior regions of the country, and who has publicly opposed the position of the highest leader of the Catholic Church, Cardinal Rodriguez Maradiaga.

And Milla’s position was not born at this juncture. During the seventies and eighties, while defending the rights of indigenous peasants, Milla endured persecution from the Honduran army in his Corquín parish in Santa Rosa de Copán.

In his curriculum vitae prepared by the NGO Comunicación Comunitaria it is written that he was among the first priests to publicly denounce the Río Sumpul Massacre, which occurred in El Salvador on May 14, 1980. According to Milla, both the Honduran and Salvadoran armies participated in that massacre.

As he did then, today Milla insists that the true Church is in the people, not in churches or cathedrals, and so, he says, he defends the people. A people that deserves to have their stolen sovereignty returned to them. “I have been a Honduran for 81 years. And I have lived and seen many things, but never anything comparable to what we are all seeing this day,” said Milla, at the beginning of his message.

“When there is inequality there is no freedom,” he added. “And this people is no longer fighting a civil war between supporters of two political parties. This people is in a fight to achieve this equality, generated by those oppressors who have robbed us now of what we have the most right to: sovereignty. They are criminals, and I am not the one who says it, Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution say it: the people are sovereign, whoever steals that sovereignty is a traitor to the motherland, he is a criminal!”

Then, raising his voice even louder, the priest threw out the message that received ovations from the protesters: “Some of those who participated in the drafting of the Constitution have told me that they now regret having written Article 3, because Article 3 calls for insurrection, brothers, for returning this sovereignty to the people of Honduras from whom it has been stolen!”

The action lasted about 30 minutes more, because a torrential rain fell on the city. And as the city has no drainage, right in the center, around the plaza, the river of people in San Pedro Sula had to face a river of water.

* * *

THE COUP IN HONDURAS, ALBA, AND THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING CARIBBEAN

by Faiz Ahmed, MRZine [http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/ahmed130809.html]

The military coup carried out by masked soldiers in the early hours of June 28 against the democratically elected President of Honduras, José Manuel Zelaya Rosales, was a bandit act with differing messages intended for different audiences.

One such audience is the oligarchical groupings throughout the hemisphere, who will be emboldened by Washington’s tacit tolerance of the coup makers. Another audience is the Latin American leftist and popular governments, who are being told that their agendas can be trumped by non-democratic means.

And there is yet another audience: the predominantly English-speaking Caribbean governments who, like Zelaya, are far from ideologically opposed to capitalism, but are aware of their inability to improve the overall quality of life of their societies within capitalism’s current configuration.

As a result, many of these island governments are edging towards regional agreements based on principles antithetical to the capitalist system.

This is perhaps why English-speaking Caribbean nations account for ten of the eighteen countries participating in the Venezuelan-led regional agreement PetroCaribe.  Launched in 2005, PetroCaribe enables Caribbean governments to purchase oil and natural gas on terms that allow for the financing of upwards of 60 percent of the costs over a twenty-five year period at interest rates close to one percent.

Also included in the agreement are mechanisms to finance costs associated with building energy infrastructure projects such as refineries and fuel storage facilities, as well as costs of fertilizer purchases to increase food production.

These Caribbean countries typically have been grappling with debt-to-GDP ratios ranging between 50 percent and 150 percent for the better part of the past two decades.  They are economically dependent on tourism and the export of a very narrow range of agricultural commodities and natural resources.

They remain highly vulnerable to the effects of hurricanes, tropical storms, sea level rises, and climate change.  As a result, this new ability to finance a large portion of their energy requirements creates much needed economic space to pursue domestic agendas which, among other objectives, include: creating national food security; repairing and maintaining physical infrastructure such as roadways and airports; and strengthening social services such as healthcare and education.

Or more simply, building some degree of self-sufficiency, albeit within a program that does not deviate from a capitalist approach to development.

The ability to more freely pursue their domestic agendas is the main reason why, over the past eighteen months, three English-speaking Caribbean states have developed a rather perspicacious outlook and become members of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA — an acronym that also means “dawn”).  In their view, the regional bloc is not oriented towards a competitive model that exploits weaknesses but is instead an example of a cooperative model that creates space for states to cultivate some degree of self-sufficiency.

The coup against Zelaya, the utterly illegal removal of Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide five and a half years before that, and the short-lived coup against Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez two years before that all show that international capitalism cannot tolerate any domestic agenda which includes an objective of self-sufficiency.  Added to this intolerance is capitalism’s long-standing fear of the threat of a good example.

Located in the Eastern Caribbean, the three English-speaking states of Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines form one-third of the nine-member ALBA.  In fact, these islands are also members of three other important regional blocs, namely: the fifteen-member Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the twelve-member Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME), and the nine-member Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS).

All of these groupings, composed mainly of English-speaking Caribbean islands, have done much to create a unified relationship among its members.  As such, the experiences of Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines within ALBA will undoubtedly be watched by other islands in the region.

Each of these islands has been trying to mitigate the myriad challenges facing them over the past two decades, yet are experiencing very little success, as demonstrated by their weakening economies, degrading environments, and alarmingly, declining social indicators such as mortality.

By one measure, life expectancy in the English-speaking Caribbean has fallen by four years over the past decade.1

ALBA AND THE ROAD TO SELF-SUFFICIENCY

Alongside the commitment to facilitate cooperative development, ALBA’s strength lies in its ability to identify member-states’ weaknesses within capitalism and devise projects to mitigate and overcome their challenges.

This analytical quality has allowed for the emergence of a large number of projects organized under ALBA’s four main institutions: the ALBA Oil Agreement, the Bank of ALBA, the ALBA Peoples’ Trade Agreement, and the ALBA Cultural and Sport Initiative.

The sometimes overlapping projects are in various stages of development and implementation and are free to be used or ignored, at will, by any member state.

ALBA Oil Agreement

Modeled on the principles governing PetroCaribe, the ALBA Oil Agreement is a mechanism for member states to finance their oil purchases on a long-term, low-interest basis, of which a portion can be repaid in goods and services.  For countries in the Caribbean, whose annual energy costs represent expenditures between 15 percent and 30 percent of their GDPs, the agreement is quite attractive.

Furthermore, and similar to what exists under PetroCaribe, infrastructure projects designed to facilitate or increase oil delivery, oil storage capacity, and oil refining capabilities have been undertaken, all of which have the explicit goal of reducing the overall cost of each barrel of oil these countries import.

Also within the ALBA Oil Agreement is a project that sees 25 percent of every oil receipt accumulate in what has come to be known as the ALBA fund, which is designed to be loaned to member states to pursue social development projects.

Bank of ALBA

In line with the objectives of the ALBA fund, and probably because of the example set by the fund, the Bank of ALBA was established in 2008 to offer member states access to capital to pursue social development projects.  Although the Bank has a total capitalization of only a small fraction of the value of other regional multilateral lending institutions, it offers a far more egalitarian governance structure, exampled by a rotating directorship among member states, and a decision-making structure where each member has an equally weighted vote.

Established in the shadow of the ongoing global food crisis, the Bank’s first projects have been the establishment of a food-distribution company tasked with creating an efficient distribution network between member states and a regional food-production fund meant to be allocated to member states to assist them with domestic agricultural initiatives.

Both projects have an explicit goal of creating some degree of regional food security.

ALBA Peoples’ Trade Agreement (ALBA-TCP)

Devised to coordinate the trading of goods and services within the bloc, ALBA-TCP outlines the specific obligations in the form of actions to be taken by each participating member state.

The actions stipulated in the agreement attempt to locate areas of need within each participating state and then to match these areas with goods and services available in partnering member states. The result is a series of bilateral agreements between participating member state.

To date, only Bolivia, Cuba, and Venezuela are active in ALBA-TCP.

ALBA Cultural and Sport Initiative

The ALBA Cultural and Sport Initiative takes the form of developing localized independent media outlets and cultivating cultural exchange through sport.  The most developed of these initiatives is the ALBA Games project, which has been held on a biannual basis since 2005 and is meant to facilitate competition and training among the hundreds of athletes from around the world who participate.

There are very good reasons to project that, left unmolested, ALBA has the potential to offer Caribbean states a space where self-sufficiency can be striven for.  An appealing quality of ALBA and its sister initiatives such as PetroCaribe is that they do not have political strings attached to them.

Countries are signing on because the regional arrangements primarily offer economic flexibility.  Countries are able to follow development paths of their choosing, which in the Caribbean still seem to be a Keynesian-inspired form of state-capitalism.  For most countries in the region, this means establishing a much greater degree of self-sufficiency, in the form of food security, social development, and economic growth.

In keeping with imperialism’s sordid history, the reactionary forces in Honduras have demonstrated the lengths to which they are prepared to go to obstruct any goal of self-sufficiency that excludes oligarchical domination.  The government of Zelaya was not revolutionary.  However, it was looking to better the lives of the people who elected it and saw that ALBA was one mechanism by which it could fulfill this objective.

This is precisely why the coup against the democratically elected government of Honduras is rightly being seen as a threat against the bloc, and it should also be seen as a threat against like-minded governments throughout the region, who are slowly edging towards ALBA.

Life expectancy estimates for the English-speaking Caribbean were taken from United Nations Human Development Reports.  Taken in the aggregate, life expectancies in the region have fallen by roughly 6 months over the past decade.  However, when the populations of these islands are assigned values based on their proportion to the entire population of the English-speaking Caribbean, we see that life expectancies have fallen by 4 years.

(Faiz Ahmed is a doctoral student in sociology and focuses on the study of islands and the political economy of capitalist-led sustainable development plans.  His master’s thesis titled “An Examination of the Development Path Taken by Small Island Developing States” can be downloaded at <www.islandvulnerability.org/m/ahmedm.pdf>.  A shorter version of this article was recently presented to the Coalición Venezuela Estamos Contigo / Venezuela We Are With You Coalition of Toronto.)

* * *

WHAT TO DO

TO DONATE TAX-DEDUCTIBLE FUNDS TO PRO-DEMOCRACY MOVEMENT IN HONDURAS, MAKE CHECK TO “RIGHTS ACTION” AND MAIL TO:

UNITED STATES:  Box 50887, Washington DC, 20091-0887
CANADA:  552-351 Queen St. E, Toronto ON, M5A-1T8
CREDIT-CARD DONATIONS: http://rightsaction.org/contributions.htm

For foundations and institutional donors, Rights Action can – upon request – provide a full proposal of which organizations and people we are channeling funds to and supporting.

AMERICANS AND CANADIANS SHOULD CONTACT YOUR OWN MEDIA, MEMBERS OF CONGRESS, SENATORS & MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT – EVERY DAY, DAY AFTER DAY – TO DEMAND:

• an end to police, army and para-military repression and respect for safety and human rights of all Hondurans
• unequivocal denunciation of the military coup
• no recognition of this military coup and the ‘de facto’ government of Roberto Micheletti
• no recognition of the November 2009 elections, that candidates are campaigning for, even as the country is militarized and repression is widespread
• unconditional return of the entire constitutional government of President Zelaya
• concrete and targeted economic, military and diplomatic sanctions against the coup plotters and perpetrators
• application of international and national justice against the coup plotters
• reparations for the illegal actions and rights violations committed during this illegal coup

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Karen Spring (Rights Action) in Honduras: [504]9507-3835, spring.kj@gmail.com
Grahame Russell (Rights Action), in USA: 1-860-352-2448, info@rightsaction.org
Sandra Cuffe (journalist & activist) in Honduras: [504]9525-6778, sandra.m.cuffe@gmail.com

See Rights Action’s previous Honduras Coup Alerts: www.rightsaction.org

Video de la OFRANEH: Garifunas presentes en la resistencia al golpe de Estado en Honduras

# # # # #

Misil Mediático del Wall Street Journal dirigido al Frente de Resistencia al Golpe de Estado en Honduras

El pasado 10 de agosto, el periódico estadounidense Wall Street Journal publicó un artículo de la Sra. Mary Anastasia O’Grady, intitulado los Amigos Hondureños de las FARC, en donde señala tener las “pruebas” de la conexión entre la Unificación Democrática (UD) – partido político vinculado a la resistencia al golpe de estado en Honduras -  y las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC).

Una vez más las famosas computadoras de Raúl Reyes, son fuente de señalamientos a las organizaciones sociales y partidos políticos que no se encuentran alienados  a favor de los intereses de los Estados Unidos en la región. Las computadoras sobrevivieron al bombardeo del campamento de Reyes localizado en el Ecuador.

La violación territorial del ecuador a manos del ejercito colombiano y la incursión aérea, que aparentemente partió de la Base militar de Manta (Ecuador), fue justificada por el régimen de Alvaro Uribe con la información extraída de las computadoras, la cual implica en actividades terroristas  a un sinnúmero de personas y organizaciones con una trayectoria de lucha social a lo largo del continente.

Este no es primer artículo que publica la columnista del Wall Street Journal referente al golpe. Dos días después redactó un libelo intitulado, “Honduras defiende su Democracia” (1), en el que se ensaña en contra del presidente Manual Zelaya y reduce los hechos a la influencia de Hugo Chávez en el proceso político del país. La  pobreza generalizada y la aberrante estructura feudal  imperante en el país, fueron omitidos en el artículo en aras de defender a los golpistas  y los intereses de los Estados Unidos.

En el caso de las acusaciones que presenta la Sra O’Grady en contra de la UD y por ende al Frente Nacional de Resistencia al Golpe de Estado, fueron inmediatamente utilizados por los medios locales de prensa  afines a los golpistas,  los que en los últimos meses vienen cocinando a fuego lento la supuesta conexión entre el narcotráfico y Venezuela, ademas de mantener una permanente campaña en contra de Manuel Zelaya y la intención de efectuar una Asamblea Constituyente.

Señala la Sra O’Grady que “Obama tendrá que explicar su apoyo a una facción política aliada al crimen organizado. De acuerdo a la evidencia recogida por la inteligencia colombiana que me llego indirectamente”. Por supuesto que la fuente de la información se destaca por su “parcialidad” y son famosos sus falsos positivos.

La satanización del movimiento popular en América Latina ha sido una de las faenas que han asumido los medios de comunicación afines a la Sociedad interamericana de Prensa, la cual le otorgó un premio a la Sra O’Grady en el año de 1997.

Los agentes de prensa de la SIP han aprendido la lección de sus maestros del norte en el “arte” del llamado en inglés spinnig the news , la cual se puede traducir como la capacidad de distorsión de los hechos y la repetición de algunas frases de cajón que maquillan las falacias convirtiéndolas en supuestas noticias. Como ejemplo clásico de lo anterior, se encuentran las famosas armas de destrucción masiva que poseía Hassan Husein, que sirvieron de pretexto para efectuar la invasión a Irak por parte de los Estados Unidos.

El Wall Street Journal (WSJ) es propiedad de Rupert Murdoch (2), el magnate de los medios de comunicación y  especialista global en distorsión. Murdoch adquirió el diario en mayo del 2007, como parte de sus joyas de prensa escrita en peligro de extinción, y al servicio de sus posiciones ideológicas de extrema derecha, las que no ha escatimado para atacar al mismo Barack Obama (3).

Como consecuencia del artículo de O’Grady en WSJ es de esperar una incontinencia en los ataques de parte de los inversionistas económicos e ideológicos en el golpe de estado,m además de  un repunte en las agresiones a las democracias latinoamericanas, en especial en contra de los vecinos a Honduras.

O”Grady comienza con el “spin” de la supuesta información de las computadoras de Reyes, casualmente cuando el Frente de Resistencia Nacional en Contra del Golpe de Estado, del cual forma parte la UD, reúne en las ciudades de Tegucigalpa y San Pedro Sula a miles de manifestantes que marchan en repudio a Micheletti y su turba de empresarios.

Mientras tanto la administración de Obama muestra cada día más la hipocresía reinante en Washington. Si bien entre dientes reconocen que se efectuó un golpe de estado, tras bambalinas persisten en apoyar a los militares hondureños y los empresarios promotores de la defenestración.

La ilegalidad de los hechos es totalmente irrebatible, no obstante los intereses económicos del imperio se imponen en detrimento del estado de ley. El historial de golpes en Latinoamérica demuestra la imposibilidad de efectuar una asonada sino se cuenta con el beneplácito de la embajada y la bendición de la iglesia.

Por supuesto que la CIA prosigue canalizando fondos  a través de la National Endowment for Democracy (NED) para darnos lecciones sobre la versión gringa de la demo_crak_cia y sus efectos en la libertad de mercado, que aparentemente es la piedra fundamental de la ideología neoliberal imperante, y la cual nos imaginamos es la excusa vital del séquito de abogados de la Secretaria de Estado Clinton.

Hipocresía es esconder que Tanto Lanny Davis como Bennett Ratcliff y Roger Noriega, parte del Lobby a favor de los golpistas, han venido utilizando el Capitolio en Washington como un escenario más del golpe. Mientras la  Resistencia  Nacional en Contra del Golpe demuestra su repudio en contra de la intervención en las calles de Honduras, en los pasillos del Congreso estadounidense los abogados de la Clinton no solamente justifican la irrupción del estado de ley, sino que al mismo tiempo en base a la distorsión de la realidad venden falacias  fabricadas por una supuesta periodista con fuentes “indirectas” como si fueran hechos verídicos.

(1) http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124623282038066363.html Honduras defiende su democracia
(2) http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2007/08/confirmed-murdo/
(3) http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=okoobs&s=4

Dado en La Ceiba a los 12 días de agosto de 2009
Organización Fraternal Negra Hondureña, OFRANEH

Organización Fraternal Negra Hondureña, OFRANEH
Teléfono (504) 4420618, (504) 4500058
Av 14 julio, calle 19, Contiguo Vivero Flor Tropical, Barrio Alvarado, La Ceiba, Honduras
email: garifuna@ofraneh.org, ofraneh@yahoo.com

(An Alert from MEDICC – Medical Cooperation with Cuba at www.medicc.org)

Umalali is a Belize-based group assembled by producer and musician Ivan Duran to help revive the Garifuna culture of Central America. Umalali, the band—which has been touring North America in recent months—grew from an extraordinary and deeply moving album of that name, a collection of Garifuna women’s songs. The 10-year project was helmed by musician Ivan Duran, who, with his close friend, the late singer Andy Palacio, has helped inject this neglected and dispersed people with new pride and strength. Duran has been a key figure in the revitalization of the African-Caribbean culture of the Garifuna, whose ancestors came from Africa to the Caribbean several hundred years ago, and settled along the coast of present-day Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica. In 2007, Duran teamed up with Palacio to produce the successful Watina album, and took more than 10 years to research women’s music in the region and put together the Garifuna Women’s Project.

Palacio and his group toured the U.S. in 2007, and even performed a live session at KEPX. Tragically, Palacio died the following January, and the 2008 tour of Umalali became a tribute to him and his work reviving the Garifuna music, language and culture. The touring version of Umalali includes three female singers, with five supporting musicians, led by the mother-daughter team of Sofia and Sylvia Blanco from Livingston, Guatemala, and Desere Diego from southern Belize. The two percussionists play the African-derived traditional drums of the Garifuna people, and other musicians supported the singers on electric guitars and bass.

One side of the Garifuna bloodline can be traced back to the Arawaks of South America’s northeastern coast, who had dispersed widely through the Caribbean region by the time of Columbus. On the island of St. Vincent, they bred with survivors from the 1635 wreck of two African slave ships. The “black Caribs”, as they were called by colonial authorities, were subdued at last in 1797 by the British, and some 4,000 were deported and marooned in the Gulf of Honduras. Many perished, but the remainder eventually settled along the mainland coast from present-day Belize to Honduras.

A Belizean of Latin origin, Duran stresses that Umalali is about much more than music. “It’s about really transmitting the Garifuna culture, and how these tremendously talented women have taken upon themselves to carry the songs up till today,” he says, reached in Belize City. “To me, that’s the backbone of the Garifuna story and its survival: the dances, the music, and also the language. Through the years, I’ve always noticed the women knew more of the songs.

“None of the singers touring with Umalali ever thought of having a professional music career,” Duran continues. “But these ladies have a tremendous talent. They can kick some ass on-stage, and that’s exactly what’s happened in every show. The impact their album is having is very, very positive, for Garifuna youth, in particular.”

Why was the album so long in gestation? “From very early on, I didn’t want it to be a traditional ethnomusicological journey through the Garifuna community,” Duran explains. “I really wanted something with a contemporary feel. That’s a hard task because a lot of these songs were a cappella, or sung only with drum, so there was no music attached. It had to be created, and it’s not like you can throw in any kind of arrangement. It had to feel right—that was the biggest challenge for me. There were many rewritings, rearrangements, rerecordings.”

On its release in 2007 Umalali was immediately hailed by roots-music critics in Europe. The band—Palacio’s old outfit the Garifuna Collective, plus singers Desere Diego, Sofia Blanco, and Chella Torres—came together to bring these remarkable songs to the world. The melodies are bluesy and, according to Duran, have a strong native-Caribbean feel. The rhythms have African and Latin origins. And the lyrics are deeply poignant—simple statements about life and death in the Garifuna communities.

“We’re now working on our next album, a tribute to Andy that will feature the Garifuna women,” says Duran. “In a way, Umalali is a culmination of all the work he and I did. We’re all of us on this train—and there’s no stopping anytime soon.”

Originally reported at http://www.straight.com/article-240222/umalalis-women-sing-songs-life-and-death

Centro Presente and the Honduran Project invite you to a Panel Discussion on current events in Honduras with representatives of Honduran Civil Society and Immigrant Leaders in the U.S.

The delegation of Honduran civil society representatives is sponsored by The National Alliance of Latin American and Caribbean Communities (NALACC)

Thursday, 6 August 2009, 10:00 am
206 Cabot Hall,The Fletcher School, Tufts University
160 Packard Avenue, Medford, MA

For more information contact:
Patricia Montes- Centro Presente, Boston, MA- (617) 959-3108
Tito Meza – Honduran Project, Chelsea, MA – (617) 610-3784
Isabel Lopez – Honduran Project, Chelsea, MA – (617) 306-1365

Panelists will include:
Dr. Juan Almendares is an internationally known Honduran medical doctor, human rights activist, environmental leader and alternative medicine practitioner.  He has received recognition for his outstanding and courageous work with victims of torture in Honduras. He is the
internationally chosen recipient of the 2001 Barbara Chester Award for his groundbreaking efforts with prisoners, victims of torture, the poor, and indigenous populations. A torture survivor himself, Dr. Almendares has been targeted by death squads on several occasions.

Oscar Chacón serves currently as Executive Director of the National
Alliance of Latin American & Caribbean Communities (NALACC). Until
December, 2006, Mr. Chacón served as director of Enlaces América, a
project of the Chicago-based Heartland Alliance for Human Needs and Human Rights. Mr. Chacón served for most of the 1990’s as executive director of Centro Presente, Inc, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Mr. Chacón served for many years as president of the Salvadoran American National Network (SANN). Mr. Chacón is a frequent lecturer in national and international conferences, as well as a media spokesperson on Latino immigrant issues in the U.S.

Abencio Fernández Pineda is the coordinator of the non-governmental organization Center for the Investigation and Defense of Human Rights in Honduras (CIPRODEH, by its Spanish initials) for the western region of Honduras.  Mr. Pineda was previously an attorney for the Committee for the Defense of Human Rights (CODEH) and the Committee of the Relatives of Disappeared Detainees of Honduras (COFADEH).

Maria Luisa Jimenez, a former police officer in Honduras, denounced the widespread corruption in the police force and is now an activist for
transparency in government and women’s rights.  She is currently a
candidate for Honduran Congress with the Democratic Union party (UD).

Dr. Luther Castillo.  Dr. Castillo is a young Garifuna medical doctor and
community organizer who directs the Luaga Hatuadi Waduheñu Foundation (“For the Health of our People” in Garifuna), dedicated to bringing vital health services to isolated indigenous coastal communities. After his 2005 graduation from the Latin American Medical School in Havana, Dr. Castillo returned to the Honduran coast, where he led the Foundation’s construction of Honduras’ first Garifuna Rural Hospital, now serving some 20,000 in the surrounding communities.  The hospital opened in December 2007, a few months after Dr. Castillo was named “Honduran Doctor of the Year” by Rotary International’s Tegucigalpa chapter.

Gerardo Torres is a young Honduran journalist who is part of the social organization Bloque Popular, in which he is part of the national coordination. Torres is part of the Politic Commission of the Organization Los Necios that works permanently in the political formation of workers, peasants, student federations, feminist organizations, and that have the responsibility of the coordination of the communication and propaganda matters of the Honduran Popular Movement. He is an active member of  the National Front Against the Coup de Etat in Honduras.

Patricia Montes
Executive Director
Centro Presente
17 Inner Belt Road
Somerville,MA 02143
617-629 47 31 Ext. 211

[Ninas en el Cayo Chachahuate con elementos de la fuerza naval en el fondo, durante la lucha de la comunidad Garifuna y la OFRANEH en contra de la militarizacion del cayo. Foto: Sandra Cuffe]

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XI cumbre de Tuxtla : El Proyecto Mesoamérica y el golpe de estado en Honduras

El día de hoy inicia en Guanacaste, Costa Rica, una cumbre más del fallido Plan Puebla Panamá, rebautizado como Proyecto Mesoamerica, ante el enorme descrédito creado por la falacia del desarrollo neoliberal y el incremento del abismo entre las clases sociales de del istmo centroamericano y México , producto de la estrategia económica exógena impuesta  desde el norte.

Los cinco corredores que pretende abarcar más de 13.000 kilómetros  y según los diseñadores del proyecto propiciarán la conectividad y competitividad de la región, ponen en peligro los hábitats de la mayoría de los pueblos indígenas de mesoamerica.

El fallido Plan Puebla Panamá despertó ilusiones entre los creyentes en el “desarrollo” basado en un modelo capitalista de la explotación irracional de los recursos y la exclusión social.

Uno de los mayores señuelos de la administración del expresidente Fox, fue la instalación de una refinería en Centroamérica, que nunca llegó a concretarse, ante el declive de producción de hidrocarburos en ese país, el que supuestamente supliría el petróleo necesario.

El Proyecto Mesoamérica es la zanahoria que viene acompañada de un garrote denominado la Iniciativa Mérida, versión local del Plan Colombia. Narcotráfico y maras se han convertido en el pretexto para la militarización paulatina del istmo, siendo que los dos problemas traen un rotulo visible que dice “made in usa”.

En la cumbre de Guanacaste el tema del golpe de Honduras será parte del menú obligatorio. El aberrante golpe de estado y la intervención de los Estados Unidos evidencia la pugna existente entre el Proyecto Mesoamericana  y la Alianza Bolivariana para las Américas (ALBA).

La adhesión de Colombia al Proyecto Mesoamérica  y su plan de implementación de proyectos de biocombustible, ponen de manifiesto una visión de destrucción de los remanentes de  bosque tropical y de los humedales, además del desplazamiento de las poblaciones locales, acompañadas por una política de “parademocracia” que tantas víctimas humanas a cobrado el régimen de Uribe.

En Guanacaste esperamos que saldrán a relucir no sólo las fallas e imprudencias del fallido y resucitado Plan Puebla Panamá, sino también la confrontación que vive nuestro continente en contra del neocolonialismo del siglo XXI y sus recetas represivas. Al  mismo tiempo los fervientes seguidores del neoliberalismo trataran de darle un maquillaje de institucionalización al Proyecto Mesoamérica, a través de la creación de marcos jurídicos que se obviaron con la iniciativa de Fox.

Para la OFRANEH y el pueblo garífuna, el Proyecto Mesoamérica no es más que una  intervención en nuestro territorio, y en la actualidad vemos como uno de sus proyectos, financiado por el Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo (BID), está finiquitando el humedal de Laguna de Micos en la Bahía de Tela, colocando en peligro a las comunidades circunvecinas con el relleno de 80 hectáreas del humedal; situación que exacerbada por el cambio climático traerá posibles inundaciones fatales para nuestras comunidades.

La ausencia de verdaderos procesos de consulta y la utilización de ONG’s prepago para maquillar el autoritarismo con que se han impuesto muchos de los proyectos del corredor caribe, demuestran la visión de exclusión de los pueblos indígenas en el ya de por sí fracasado Plan Puebla Panamá.

La Ceiba, Atlantida, a los 29 días del mes de julio de 2009

OFRANEH

Organización Fraternal Negra Hondureña, OFRANEH
Teléfono (504) 4420618, (504) 4500058
Av 14 julio, calle 19, Contiguo Vivero Flor Tropical, Barrio Alvarado, La Ceiba, Honduras
email:garifuna@ofraneh.org, ofraneh@yahoo.com

[Doctor Juan Almendares Bonilla in his clinic in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, July 16th, 2009. Photo: Sandra Cuffe.]

“My heart has a memory / of who the terrorists are. / They are not Muslims, Jews, / Christians, Hindus nor Buddhists. / They are the weapons vendors, / they are the fundamentalists of war, / they are those who sow torture and violence / and imprison the joy of planet earth.”

- Juan Almendares, from the poem ‘El amor sera la fuerza’

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HONDURAN CIVIL SOCIETY AND IMMIGRANT LEADERS TO VISIT WASHINGTON DC, NEW YORK, BOSTON, CHICAGO

One month after the interruption of constitutional order in Honduras through a military coup d’etat and in the wake of widespread reports of human rights violations harkening back to events of the 1980s, the National Alliance of Latin American and Caribbean Communities (NALACC) is bringing a delegation of civil society representatives from that country to the U.S. to participate in a speaking tour and to advocate for the restoration of constitutional order and respect for human rights.

The tour will start in Washington D.C. with visits to Congressional offices and will be followed by press and speaking events in various U.S. cities, including New York, Boston, and Chicago.

TOUR SCHEDULE:

Wednesday to Friday, July 29-31: Washington D.C.
Saturday to Tuesday, Aug.1-4: New York City, NY
Wednesday and Thursday, August 5-6: Boston, MA
Friday and Saturday, August 7-8: Chicago, IL

MEMBERS OF DELEGATION:

Dr. Juan Almendares is an internationally known Honduran medical doctor, human rights activist, environmental leader and alternative medicine practitioner.  He has received recognition for his outstanding and courageous work with victims of torture in Honduras. He is the internationally chosen recipient of the 2001 Barbara Chester Award for his groundbreaking efforts with prisoners, victims of torture, the poor, and indigenous populations. A torture survivor himself, Dr. Almendares has been targeted by death squads on several occasions.

Abencio Fernández Pineda is the coordinator of the non-governmental organization Center for the Investigation and Defense of Human Rights in Honduras (CIPRODEH, by its Spanish initials) for the western region of Honduras.  Mr. Pineda was previously an attorney for the Committee for the Defense of Human Rights (CODEH) and the Committee of the Relatives of Disappeared Detainees of Honduras (COFADEH).

Maria Luisa Jimenez, a former police officer in Honduras, denounced the widespread corruption in the police force and is now an activist for transparency in government and women’s rights.  She is currently a candidate for Honduran Congress with the Democratic Union party (UD).

Dr. Luther Castillo.  Dr. Castillo is a young Garifuna medical doctor and community organizer who directs the Luaga Hatuadi Waduheñu Foundation (“For the Health of our People” in Garifuna), dedicated to bringing vital health services to isolated indigenous coastal communities. After his 2005 graduation from the Latin American Medical School in Havana, Dr. Castillo returned to the Honduran coast, where he led the Foundation’s construction of Honduras’ first Garifuna Rural Hospital, now serving some 20,000 in the surrounding communities.  The hospital opened in December 2007, a few months after Dr. Castillo was named “Honduran Doctor of the Year” by Rotary International’s Tegucigalpa chapter.

Gerardo Torres is an independent journalist in Honduras who is also an active member of Los Necios, a grass-roots organization that seeks to change the dominant socio-economic dynamics of Honduras.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:

Oscar Chacon- Director NALACC- (773) 991-9760
Patricia Montes- Centro Presente, Boston, MA- (617) 959- 3108
Mirtha Colon- New York- (781) 991- 2233
Isabel Vinent-  Florida Immigrant Coalition- (786) 210-8287