Several people have emailed commenting on the fact that since Michael Jackson died there is very little in the media in the US about the crisis this country is facing. I myself was a bit disappointed that I haven’t been able to find articles on the happenings down here for several days on cnn.com. The King of Pop dies, and we forget that this country could be at the brink of a civil war. Is there something wrong with that?
So knowing that some of you might have little access to news about what’s happening here, I’ll do my best to keep you informed. It is a sad day when I turn into a news source…
Today from 1pm – 4pm there was a blockade on the border of El Salvador not allowing semis carrying goods to cross in either direction. The blockade ended up causing so much congestion at the border that even private vehicles and tour buses were also held up for hours. Those responsible for the blockade are from the FMLN party, the political party that recently came to power in the country. The party is more leftist and claims to work for the people. They are in support of the return of Zelaya to power.
Yesterday afternoon highways leading out of the capital city were blocked by Mel supporters (or maybe it is more accurate to say “those who are anti-Micheletti”). There are also reports of there being a blockade on the border of Nicaragua – Las Manos – by Nicaraguans supporting the reinstatement of Mel to presidency.
El Heraldo, one of the local newspapers, published today that one of their sources informed them that “Plan Caracas” – the plan of Hugo Chavez to initiate an “attack” on Honduras, is indeed true. This plan includes the destruction of means of communication, the burning of vehicles…bombs. A “massacre” has been mentioned more than once in the news – that a massacre will happen at a demonstrations. The plan also includes the closing of Toncontin Airport, the blockage of the main highways, as well as the unannounced return of Mel Zelaya in one of the inhospitable zones of the country, known for drug trafficking.
According to El Heraldo, when the armed forces was asked if they were ready for this possible threat on their country, their response was “the Armed Forces are the first to be prepared and they are at the side of the people to defend them…when the people need them, the Armed Forces will be there and are always be prepared to defend the people and democracy”.
The interim government has put the curfew back into place, claiming to be doing so to prevent violent manifestations by Zelaya supports. I’m not sure how effective a 12:30am – 4:30am curfew is. Seems like more demonstrations tend to happen during the day…but may the government do as they wish.
Chavez is saying that he expects this crisis to turn into another Central American civil war. He also reports that Zelaya has expressed his certain plan to return to the country, and is prepared to die upon entering if that is what it takes. In the newspaper there was a quote by Zelaya – “I will return, and when I do I will arrive with my international supporters, and you will arrive with your guns. This time when you decide to shoot somebody, don’t shoot the child as you did last time (meaning the 19-year-old that was shot at Toncontin Airport when Zelaya attempted to make his dramatic return to the country), but shoot me instead. I am ready to take your bullets.”
From my point of view by the way Zelaya is egging on the entire country by saying such things is only making matters worse. It seems now that this is no longer an issue of him returning to power because that is the democratic thing to do, but because of him wanting the power…wanting to be the hero and wanting to divide the country even more than it already has been divided. He has been quite dramatic about it since the beginning if you ask me.
Micheletti has apparently agreed to give up the presidency under the circumstances that Zelaya is never put back into power. The interim government has called for the arrest of Zelaya to put him before a judge for the crimes that he has committed (violating the constitution and accusations of being involved with drug trafficking in the northern territories of Honduras).
It saddens me and the people of Honduras that the peace talks that were held in Costa Rica last week were anything but fruitful. It is hilarious to me that the two men who are supposedly running this country couldn’t even bring themselves to see each other face to face. What is that?
Some interesting things I’ve heard about what’s happening…
1. People present at the pro-Micheletti (or anti-Zelaya – however you want to look at it) demonstrations are all paid 300 lempiras (about $15 USD) to be there. Their employers pay them this money to show their support, so the crowds are larger in hopes of gathering more supporters. Since Zelaya has shown more support for the poor of the country than for the upper class – for example by greatly raising the minimum wage – large companies are in favor of Micheletti.
2. The vote by Congress as to whether or not they should strip Zelaya of his powers supposedly was not unanimous. I was told that something like 20 members of Congress voted against it. They apparently were then thrown out of Congress, leaving only those in favor of Micheletti taking over power.
3. Supposedly in this “survey” that Zelaya was going to perform on June 28th (the day he was flown out of the country) he not only wanted to ask the people their opinion on the presidential term – if a president should be able to serve more than just four years – but he also wanted to ask the people their opinion on putting a limit on terms in Congress. If this indeed is true, it makes sense why the Congressmen would be upset, no?
4. I’ve mentioned before that for days after the removal of Zelaya, means of communication were cut – phones, as well as news channels. The only news stations that were left functioning were those pro-Micheletti. The other stations that would normally broadcast news in favor of Zelaya were showing cartoons instead. Interesting how that could happen. What was it that the interim government was trying to hide?
5. When Micheletti was asked in an interview what he plans on doing now that so much financial aid has been cut off to Honduras, his response was “Honduras will be fine until November when elections are held. We have funds saved up that will get us through.” Interesting, because I was always under the impression that this country didn’t have enough funds to really be able to save. Seeing the poverty in this country I’m wondering where this money is coming from???
Now, I cannot promise you that all of this is 100% true (well, #4 is fact). I have only heard it from a couple of people. Like I’ve mentioned before, it’s really hard to know what’s true and what’s just been completely made up. I just mention it here so you can all read what people down here are reporting.
I spent a couple days last week in Tegucigalpa because I needed to take care of some things for work, and the city seemed to be functioning as usual. I’ve heard that the international press has been showing images that don’t exactly give the most accurate picture as to what’s really happening. Of course, the most dramatic shots are shown, which isn’t a good representation of the reality here. Like I have said, the demonstrations for the most part are non-violent.
I hear there was a plan of “meeting” in Costa Rica again with Arias on Saturday, in the hopes of coming to some sort of reconciliation between Micheletti and Zelaya. It would be nice if they at least met face-to-face this time, however I am unfortunately not too hopeful that will happen.
More to come I’m sure…continue to pray for peace.
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