Primary links
On June 28, 2009, the democratically-elected President of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, was kidnapped, put on a plane, and exiled by the Honduran military. Later that day Roberto Micheletti, the Speaker of Parliament, took power with the support of the National Congress. Besides Zelaya, several dozen other officials including the Foreign Minister and the Mayor of San Pedro Sula were detained; civil liberties have been suspended, journalists expelled, and critics of the coup have been detained and violently suppressed.
The governments of countries throughout the Americas, the Organization of American States, including the US government, the United Nations General Assembly and the European Union have all called for the restoration of democracy in Honduras and the reinstallation of the democratically-elected President Manuel Zelaya.
Popular movements, women's groups, trade unions, human rights organizations and other NGOs both within Honduras and worldwide have joined the call for the return of democracy, the reinstatement of the ousted President, and respect for civil liberties and the rule of law.
In Honduras, civil society groups have been organizing to restore democracy and reinstate President Zelaya since the onset of the coup, and have been met with repression by the de facto government. The Frente Nacional Contra el Golpe de Estado (or the National Front Against the Coup D'état) - an umbrella group comprised of different civil society organizations and groupings opposed to the coup and includes the Unificación Democrática, the only political party which has openly opposed the coup - was formed to keep the Honduran population informed and to organize the popular resistance against the coup and in support of democracy.
On August 5th, civil society groups from all over Honduras - including the three major union centrals - began a week long National March from various centers to Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula. The purpose of the march is to demonstrate the widespread opposition to the coup among the Honduran people which culminated in a “Global Day of Action for Honduras” on August 11th, where Honduran groups called for actions of solidarity from the international community.
Human Rights Groups raise concerns
Regarding the human rights situation, the Committee of Families for the Disappeared and Detained in Honduras (COFADEH) have released a preliminary report of the human rights violations committed since the military coup on June 28th. The report documents 1,155 violations to date including 1,046 illegal detentions, 3 murders, 6 serious injuries, 27 freedom of expression violations and 16 threats. Those killed include Isis Obed Murillo, a 19 year old boy killed during the protest at the airport, journalist Gabriel Fino Noriega, and activist Ramon Garcia, both shot on separate occasions by gunmen. A fourth dead, union leader Roger Ivan Bados, was also killed by masked gunmen on July 12th, however, this death is not documented in the report.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has granted precautionary measures to safeguard the life and personal integrity of 50 people - including journalists, political activists and human rights defenders - it considers to be at risk:
The IACHR also conducted an on-site visit to Honduras from August 17 to 21, 2009, travelling to different regions of the country to gather information and receive petitions about human rights violations committed since the coup.
On July 23, an international observation mission made up of representatives from fifteen human rights organizations - mostly from Latin America and Europe - issued a preliminary report of their findings. The report concludes that since the onset of the coup, grave and systemic violations have occurred in Honduras, including reports of at least 6 assassinations and two disappearances
In a letter to the Canadian government, Amnesty International has called for Zelaya's "prompt and safe return to Honduras without conditions, as is his right."
Unfortunately, businesses and business associations - including the textile and apparel industries, which account for the majority of Honduras' exports - have publicly supported the coup, lobbied against trade sanctions, or remained silent and carried on business as usual under the military-imposed regime.
The Honduran National Business Council (COHEP) - whose members include the apparel industry trade group Asociación Hondureña de Maquiladores (whose members in turn include U.S. companies Dickies, Cintas, Russell, and Hanesbrands) - has come out publicly in favour of the de facto government.
Seven trade groups, including the American Apparel & Footwear Association, the Emergency Committee for American Trade, the National Council of Textile Organizations, the National Retail Federation, the Retail Industry Leaders Association, the Association of Importers of Textiles and Apparel and the US Chamber of Commerce, wrote to President Obama on July 11 calling for business as usual with Honduras, despite the coup. These associations include as their members major apparel and footwear brands and manufacturers, who for the most part have remained silent on the coup as well as the pro-coup support of the Honduran maquila business sector that produces their products.
However four major apparel and footwear brands including adidas Group, Nike Inc. and Gap Inc., released a joint letter July 28 sent to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton "calling for the restoration of democracy in Honduras". The brands urged "an immediate resolution to the crisis" and asked that "civil liberties, including freedom of the press, freedom of speech, freedom of movement, freedom of assembly, and freedom of association be fully respected."
MSN has been calling on major US, European and Canadian apparel brands that source from or invest in manufacturing facilities in Honduras to differentiate themselves from the position of these industry associations by publically declaring their support for a return to democracy and rule of law and respect for civil liberties in Honduras.
More news and information on MSN's links page (updated regularly)
View photos from popular pro-democracy demonstrations in Honduras (photos on this page are all courtesy of MiMundo.org)
The Foro de Mujeres - Zona Norte have put together a power point presentation illustrating the civil society resistance to the coup.
The face of Honduras' president may have changed, but the impunity and repressive policies of the old coup government continue. Porfirio Lobo took office on January 27 after winning a deeply flawed election. Since then he has shown little interest in reconciling with ousted president Manuel Zelaya or the National Resistance that had mobilized opposition to the coup government.
Mounting evidence suggests that fraud was committed in the November 29 Honduran national elections, but the fraud wasn't against the minority who voted; it was against the majority who abstained. Though we may never know the truth about how many Hondurans stayed home on November 29 to protest the coup, what we do know is that fewer than 50% of the population voted.
Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, who was forced into exile following a military coup in the country on June 28, defied the coup regime's efforts to keep him out of the country by staging a return to Honduras on September 21. The coup regime is responding with a brutal crackdown on the Honduran democracy movement. In the face of this escalation of violence, Canada is one of the only countries that has failed to act effectively to isolate the coup regime. We need to speak out now and demand action from the Canadian government, before it's too late.
Apparel brands with production in Honduras, including adidas Group, Nike Inc. and Gap Inc., released a joint letter sent to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton "calling for the restoration of democracy in Honduras" following the June 28th military coup. The brands urged "an immediate resolution to the crisis" and asked that "civil liberties, including freedom of the press, freedom of speech, freedom of movement, freedom of assembly, and freedom of association be fully respected."
The Central American Women’s Network (CAWN) is bringing attention to the plight of women after the June 28 military coup in Honduras. In a July 10 press release CAWN provides a detailed account of the violent impact of the military coup on women, stating “We are seriously concerned that the political participation of women and women’s organisations is being threatened and their protests have been suppressed. This is putting their lives at risk.”
Honduran troops block protesters
World governments have called for the restoration of democracy in Honduras following the military coup which ousted the democratically-elected President Manuel Zelaya on June 28th. The response from the Canadian government, however, has been tepid at best.
As a result Common Frontiers and other social justice organizations (including MSN), has published an open letter to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper urging him to break relations with the military-backed government and call for the unconditional reinstatement of democratically-elected Zelaya.
Unless otherwise noted, all work on this website is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 Canada License.