It is perhaps fitting that my time in Honduras should end right where it began – facing a lineup of police in riot gear in front of the Brazilian embassy where the elected President of the country remains in exile. There is much that can be said about what Honduras was like under Zelaya – it certainly was no paradise for the millions of people who struggle to survive from day to day – but it was not a police state.

Honduras today is like an Orwellian nightmare. A façade of calm as soldiers patrol the streets with automatic weapons; a theatrical production of democracy in a state that no longer has a functioning code of law; a discourse of peace that so completely fails to convince, it almost seems like it is intended to mock its victims. Indeed, one placard yesterday read, “2 + 2 = 5? Do not insult us, golpistas.”

And Canada is already falling all over itself to recognize the ‘elections’ as fair, free and legitimate.

No doubt the United States will follow suit – it appears the North American strategy on Honduras is to have Canada jump in first and take whatever heat comes from it. We don’t care, evidently, that our already souring international reputation (as a result of the occupation of Afghanistan, our participation in the 2004 coup in Haiti, the brutality of our mining operations in Central America, etc) will be even further damaged by playing along with a lie that is painfully obvious to most of Latin America. Then when the road has been cleared, Prince Obama will give his blessing and everyone will go home and forget that any of this ever happened.

But Hondurans cannot go home – their home has been stolen. In a literal sense, their homes are not safe. Police raids on private residences are a daily occurrence; warrants rarely provided or obviously faked, protocols on human rights of people who have been proven guilty of nothing patently and brutally ignored, people involved in the peaceful resistance targeted and terrorized ruthlessly. It is the heliotype of a totalitarian state, everything we are led to believe our governments oppose and, indeed, everything we are said to be fighting against in Afghanistan and Iraq.

And in the larger sense, the country they call home has been taken from them. Even according to the official numbers, barely 10% of Hondurans voted for Porfirio Lobo (Pepe Robo - Pepe the Robber - as the walls call him) on Sunday. There are nearly 8 million Hondurans, and only 1.7 million voted. By a manipulation of how many people are considered ‘eligible’ to vote, the golpistas have claimed that there was a 60% turnout (Fox News in the United States, in a comical display of disregard for anything resembling truth, is reporting 70%. Not even the golpistas in Honduras have claimed anything so stupid.) Pepe is to be sworn into ‘office’ on January 27^th, but even the notion that he is being sworn into something is absurd – the coup on June 28^th marked the end of constitutional order and rule of law in this country.

But no matter how the golpistas and their North American allies spin this, Nov. 29^th was a small victory for the Resistencia, in that the massive rejection of the election spoke eloquently to the support behind the movement. I was back in the capital on Nov. 30^th, and I attended an assembly at the STIBYS union hall in Tegucigalpa, where members of the Frente gave a press conference responding to the pantomime elections, followed by a massive rally and a caravan through the city. After five months of almost-daily protest, people still found the energy to take to the streets; thousands of Hondurans cheering, singing, waving flags, honking horns and - in what may yet become the most poignant symbol of the movement – waving their un-inked pinky fingers high to show that they had not voted.

Manuel Zelaya spoke to the assembly as Juan Barona held a microphone up to his cell phone. But Zelaya is overshadowed by what he represents. Zelaya, himself a junior member of the oligarchy gone rogue, is only a figure who has opened the floodgates of popular resistance in Honduras. “Where are the people?” asks Rafeal Alegria. “The people are in the streets, demanding their freedom!” comes the reply. When it comes from thousands of enthusiastic people, in a crowded union hall, in direct defiance of the state, the sound is truly electrifying.

As we paraded through the streets of Tegucigalpa, it became clear that this was not, as the coup regime keeps saying, a movement of a few thousand Melistas. In nieghbourhood after neighbourhood, people streamed into the streets to greet the caravan, cheering and waving their un-inked fingers. Riding on the back of a falling apart pickup truck through the barrios and colinias, I felt like I was bringing home the Stanley Cup. In a way, I was; riding shotgun in our truck was Bertha Oliva, the founder and director of COFADEH, a human rights group that has been at the center of the struggle against oppression for the last 27 years.

When we finally arrive at our destination, the Brazilian embassy, the police line has already formed. Over the next couple of hours, thousands of Hondurans filled the spaces between the banks and the Burger King, while more and more police and soldiers arrive on the scene. The protest is peaceful, as usual. The police didn’t fire tear gas at this gathering, the way they did in San Pedro Sula the day before, but they made a point of loading up the cannons and aiming them at the crowd. Even with my ‘international observer’ badge displayed prominently, I found my video camera staring into the barrel of a water cannon that had been adjusted to set its sight on me, and felt my heart start racing at the idea that they might actually fire. And that was only a water cannon.

I didn’t get hammered with water, no one was hurt, the protest was slowly disbanded on its own initiative. But the scene was both intimidating and inspiring, and it made me wonder what would have happened if there hadn’t been such a huge presence of international press, with cameras and notebooks at the ready. That presence is leaving, to most people, the story is over. I worry about what will happen now, when the world turns its back on Honduras and the golpistas are given a free hand to terrorize their opponents – the people – as they see fit.

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“We will keep fighting for the constituyente,” announces Carlos H. Reyes, an independent candidate who has withdrawn from the elections in protest weeks earlier. “People keep saying the election in the solution to our crisis, that there is no alternative to move forward in Honduras. Of course there is an alternative, there has always been an alternative. We want the constituyente, like we’ve been saying for years. We want to write our own laws. We don’t want the golpe laws, we don’t want Facusse’s laws, we want the people’s laws.” The crowd erupts, un-inked fingers point to the sky, a ‘no vote’ chant builds up, and a small man in a crisp white shirt idles up beside me. “I’m Donzalo Rosales, I teach at the autonomous university. I see you are taking notes, so you must be a writer. I’m a writer too. Someday, I will write a book about our struggle, you see, it is not over. You see that, don’t you? I think you see that. This is only the beginning. I will write the book and it will have a great ending, where the people will finally have the power in our state. I hope you will read it when it is finished.”

Tyler Shipley

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3 comments

* I don’t know who the fuck you are, me?, I’m a Honduran very proud of what we have accomplished regaining our democracy back from the hands of another communist probably like yourself. You Canadians are far worst than your southern neighbours, at least they do not have more than one face like you do, and to think that i have a Canadian residence makes me want to vomit.

You comunists should all be dead, you and all your descendents, some day we are going to make you dissapear from the face of the earth.

I’d love to put my hands on you.

#1. Posted by Marco Murillo in Tegucialpa on December 9^th 2009 at 1:18pm

* Marco,

Thank you for illustrating, better than I ever could have, the attitude of the landed elite in Honduras. For people following these reports outside of Honduras, the level of violence being perpetrated might seem hard to believe. But your comments make it patently clear that the supporters of the coup are every bit as violent and chauvanistic as the Honduran resistance has told us.

You’re right to suggest that Canada’s policy towards Honduras is two-faced; on the one hand, we pretend we have a genuine interest in human rights and democracy, on the other hand we ignore the continuing reports of state terror and violence and fraudelent election results. Canada ought to take a strong stand against the coup, but instead we are pandering to the Canadian business owners in Honduras and their Honduran partners. Indeed, we are pandering to people like you, Marco, who want to label anyone struggling against poverty and injustice a “communist” and inflict violence on them for daring to demand something better.

I would appreciate if the site administrator could leave Marco’s post up, despite it’s obviously inappropriate nature, as an illustration of how the coup-supporters view things. Folks who do not support Marco’s vision of a free Honduras are encouraged to sign the petition at (http://petitiononline.com/helect) demanding non-recognition of the “elections” and immediate withdrawl of support for the coup.

Sincerely,
Tyler Shipley

#2. Posted by Tyler Shipley in Guatemala City on December 9^th 2009 at 1:41pm

* The comment will remain up, Tyler, despite its horrifying message.

To Marco, I say this: If you have a problem with people fighting for their own sovereignty, their own human rights and decency in the face of overwhelming odds then you have a problem with what many Canadians uphold and respect. The Canadian government’s position on Honduras is shameful in the face of clear evidence that elections were unfair. But many Canadians do not share the opinion of the Canadian or US government.

If being against the overthrow of a democratically elected leader and the installation of a right-wing military regime makes me a communist, then call me what you like. There are millions like me who are against Porfirio Lobo and his coup regime, and, despite your threats, we will win!

#3. Posted by Chris Webb in Winnipeg on December 9^th 2009 at 2:51pm

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