Video: Honduran Rights Activist on Coup: 'We Want Actions, Not Only Declarations'

Posted by Amy Goodman, Democracy Now! at 9:12 AM on June 29, 2009.

AMY GOODMAN: In the first military coup in Central America in a quarter of a century, the Honduran military has ousted the democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya. Former Parliamentary speaker Roberto Micheletti, who was sworn in as Zelaya’s replacement Sunday, has imposed a two-day nationwide curfew. But hundreds of Zelaya supporters remain on the streets. Shots were fired at protesters near the presidential palace early Monday morning.

The ousted president was forced from the presidential palace by armed soldiers early Sunday morning and flown to Costa Rica after he tried to carry out a non-binding referendum to extend his term in office. Micheletti says Zelaya was not ousted through a coup but by a legal process. But speaking at a press conference in Costa Rica, Zelaya called it a kidnapping and vowed to return to his country as president. He explained a small group of elites and military officers were behind the coup.

PRESIDENT MANUEL ZELAYA: [translated] I think it is a group of military men, and it’s not the entire army or all the armed forces. There are good soldiers who are good and capable people who are not blinded with ambition or greed. There are some who have not been blinded by the voracity of a small elite, which, through politics and the economy, have provoked this terrible event.

AMY GOODMAN: The military coup in Honduras and the reported arrests of the Cuban, Venezuelan and Nicaraguan ambassadors to Honduras have been roundly condemned by the Organization of American States that held an emergency session Sunday. The Honduran representative compared the coup to what happened in Chile in 1973. The Venezuelan representative accused former Bush administration undersecretary of state Otto Reich of complicity in the coup. Earlier in the day, the Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez warned his armed forces were on alert.

President Obama, meanwhile, issued a declaration Sunday morning saying he was, quote, “deeply concerned” by reports from Honduras. In a statement later in the day, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the action against the ousted Honduran President should be, quote, “condemned by all.” The U.S. ambassador to Honduras reaffirmed the United States only recognizes Manuel Zelaya as the President of Honduras.

Well, for the latest from Honduras, we go there to Dr. Juan Almendares. He joins us on the line from the capital, Tegucigalpa. We’re also joined here in our firehouse studio by New York University professor of Latin American history, Greg Grandin.

We welcome you both to Democracy Now! Let’s begin with Dr. Almendares. Can you describe what is happening right now in Tegucigalpa?

DR. JUAN ALMENDARES: Well, what we are having here is a military coup d’etat who has been persecuting and repressive action against some member of the legitimate government of President Zelaya and also popular leaders. We have almost a national strike for workers, people, students and intellectuals, and they are organized in a popular resistance-run pacific movement against this violation of the democracy. So we want a democracy now. We want people from all over the world to [inaudible] service, make contacts, because what we are looking right now is a really -- hello? Hello? Hello?

AMY GOODMAN: Yes, we can hear you fine. We can hear you fine, Dr. Almendares.

DR. JUAN ALMENDARES: Oh, yes, alright, alright. So what we are looking now is, we are going back to repressive situation. Some of the advisers of the government have been perpetrators, torture perpetrators, of the 1980s. We have a very, very strong, conservative way of looking things. However, we are not only strong for -- not only for President Zelaya; we are also strong for the rights of the people, because in this movement is not only persons from one side of political sector. There are many sectors involved in this movement trying to restitute the constitutional rights, the human rights. We are really worried for the human rights.

Some of these people think like Pinochet, and they are comparing Zelaya with Salvador Allende. And we have here in Honduras a different situation. We have a government who were doing not a referendum; they were doing just a survey, a simple survey, to ask people whether they want to have a constitutional reform. But we have an alliance between the very powerful class in this country with the military.

And we want really actions from the Organization of States of America, from the European community, not only declarations. We want actions to contribute to the democratic beginning, because we don’t really have a true democracy in this country. We have just a beginning to have some democratic principles. That’s why the people are struggling. This is a very, very poor country. We are still occupied by the United States of America. We want really important solution. Of course, we want self-determinancy, sovereignty, but also we want to have respect of human rights of the people.

AMY GOODMAN: What kind of information are you getting, Dr. Almendares, from television? I understand TV channel 8 was shut down, radio stations closed, CNN and Telesur not allowed to air news on cable.

DR. JUAN ALMENDARES: That’s true. I mean, in the beginning, they were all -- cancel out all the TV channels, the radio information, who are against the video situation in Honduras. And we don’t have really freedom of press. We don’t have access to the people who are opposing to the video situation. So there is no -- not really access to information, no freedom of the press. And we are really having almost a terror situation for our popular leaders. We have people concentrating in front of the presidential house and [inaudible] --

AMY GOODMAN: What do you mean, “a terror situation,” Dr. Almendares, for popular leaders?

DR. JUAN ALMENDARES: Well, because they are -- they are calling -- they are having, all the time, militaries coming against people demonstration. And also, they are persecuting some leaders. They have to be out of the country. And also, they captured the minister of foreign relationship, Patricia Rodas. We don’t know what happened with her. So, we don’t have so much information, and also there is no freedom of communication. We have also a curfew, because after 9:00 you can be shot if you are on the streets. So we have a curfew from 9:00 to 6:00 a.m.

AMY GOODMAN: You can be shot, you said? You can be shot, you said?

DR. JUAN ALMENDARES: Well, I mean -- well, yes, because [inaudible] we have a -- I don’t know if you understand; maybe I don’t explain very well -- a curfew. So, if you go on the street after 9:00, I mean, they are not responsible if they shoot you, because they say this is for, they say, like prevention of any situation. So they are threatening. They’re threatening the human rights of the people. And human rights activists are really -- we consider that there is a new situation on respect of human rights in Honduras.

AMY GOODMAN: Dr. Juan Almendares, we have to break, but we’re going to come back. I want to ask you more about who you believe is behind this coup and also talk to Greg Grandin, professor of Latin American history, author of Empire’s Workshop.

This is Democracy Now! Then a national broadcast exclusive with the President of Ecuador. By the way, he’s in Nicaragua today, along with the President of Venezuela and, of course, Nicaragua, meeting with Zelaya, the ousted president of Honduras. Stay with us.

For the full transcript, go here.

Tagged as: coup, honduras, Manuel Zelaya, roberto micheletti, juan almendares