Zelaya Supporter Protests the State of Exception Decree

Presidential candidate Porfirio “Pepe” Lobo, of the National Party, has said today that the elections will go forward, but that his party does not support any measure that threatens the freedom of citizens.

“No estoy de acuerdo con algo que restrinja la libertad de expresión, porque pone en precario todo, incluso las elecciones. Ese decreto deja mal parado a Honduras.” … “Estamos en la disposición de apoyar Honduras, pero sin atentar contra las garantías individuales”

“I don’t agree with something that restricts freedom of expression, because it makes everything precarious, even the elections. This decree gives Honduras poor standing.” … “We are disposed to support Honduras, but without threatening individual freedoms.”

In the meantime, the interim government has detained the ambassadors that Manuel Zelaya and OAS president Jose Miguel Insulza had asked to return to Honduras. After being in the country for six hours, they were firmly but politely asked to leave, to which they complied without resistance.

Costa Rican President Oscar Arias has called the decision to create the state of exception “lamentable,” and warned that this would mean the November elections would not be able to be held in “normal circumstances.” He renewed his call to both parties to sign the San Jose accord, whose first point is the restitution of Manuel Zelaya to carry out his remaining term in office.

The United States did not comment about the decree yet, but chastised Zelaya as “irresponsible” before the delegates of the emergency OAS meeting being held at this moment. Lewis Anselem, the US representative to the OAS said that his return “does not serve the interests of his people nor those of who would seek the peaceful reestablishment of democratic order in Honduras.” … “Those who facilitated the return of President Zelaya have a special responsibility to prevent violence and the well-being of the Honduran people”. He also called Micheletti’s rejection of the OAS ambassadors a “deplorable act.”

According to a post in the El Heraldo twitter feed, Micheletti is government is considering annulling the decree in the next few days, at the request of the National party congressional deputees. The purpose of the decree, I suppose, was to counter the threat of the “final offensive” that Zelaya and his supporters announced yesterday, and confirmed today. Zelaya’s words: “I call on you to mobilize throughout Honduras, and that everyone who can come to Tegucigalpa to fight in the final offensive.”

Supporters of Manuel Zelaya have appealed…to the Supreme Court of Honduras to declare the “state of exception” illegal. This is perhaps the strangest act in this circus so far. It was this very same court that declared the referendum that Zelaya proposed inconstitutional. It was this very court that ordered Zelaya’s arrest. It was this same court that has presented 18 different charges against Zelaya. Fredin Funez, an attorney, presented the appeal this afternoon.

Why are Zelaya’s supporters appealing to the Supreme Court? Is there misreporting here? Will someone help me understand?

Elvin Santos and his wife, in a rally in Talanga

Elvin Santos, the Honduran Liberal party’s presidential candidate, sent me an email today in defense of the electoral process. The Liberal party is Manuel Zelaya and Roberto Micheletti’s party. The email is very clearly a mass email, but still I wonder how he got my address, since I am not registered with his party, but with his opponents, the National party (Pepe Lobo).

Mr. Santos’s chances of winning the election are severely damaged by the current situation. Although I don’t publicly endorse any of the candidates, I’ll take the liberty of translating his message.

“The main starting point for the solution of the political conflict in Honduras is the defense of the electoral process convened for November. The most important thing for us today is to defend the elections; this is the center of the solution of this conflict. What matters is that we have elections so that the world respects the identity and dignity of our fatherland. Today we are immediately required to contemplate that the elections are the way out of this problem, that under no circumstance can we threaten them, that no other alternate routes can be sought, as in other times we have been suggested.

That is why I urge the international community to immediately dedicate time to Honduras, to tell the Secretary of State of the United States, Hillary Clinton, that in Honduras, democracy is at stake, that the peoples hopes to obtain a future are at stake. If time is given to the problem of this Central American country, the international community’s policy toward Honduras must be restructured, and immediately seek another line of action: to listen to the parties; not to impose, but propose way out of our problems.

This is a call to the international community for them to regroup their thoughts and understand once and for all that what we are truly discussing is not the distorted version of distributing a pamphlet or a document between the main presidents with a biased truth. It’s about sitting down and listening to the clamor of the Honduran people, to respect democracy, and transparent and honest elections. We want elections and not the pressure that they are applying to our poor country as they are doing now.”

Image by Elvin Santos‘ campaign

Archive foto of Zelaya Supporters (July 5, 2009)

The government of Honduras has established a 45-day suspension of basic constitutional rights. Citing intelligence of a mass uprising being orchestrated by Manuel Zelaya and his followers, the “state of exception” includes the following:

1. Constitutional rights guaranteed in articles 69, 72,78, 81 and 84 of the Honduran Constitution are suspended.
   Article 69 is habeas corpus, freedom of the press is 72, freedom of association is 78, freedom of circulation is 81, and 84 is freedom from unwarranted search and arrest.
2. The armed forces will support separately or jointly, when the situation requires it, the National Police, putting in action the plans necessary to maintain the order and safety of the Republic.
3. Free circulation is restricted to what the President announces on the media and press releases, for the entire nation, and during curfew, with the exception of cargo transport, ambulances, urban circulation in cities not under curfew, and medical personnel, who are free to move even in cities under curfew.
4. All publication by any media, written, spoken or televised that offends human dignity, public servants, the law or government resolutions, or in any way harm peace or public order, will authorize Conatel, through National Police and the Armed Forces to suspend that medium.
5. All people who are circulating outside of curfew, or are presumed to be acting in a suspicious manner, or causes damage to people or goods, and those who associate with the object of committing unlawful acts or places their own lives in danger will be arrested. The accused will be read their rights, and a registry will be logged of the person, motive, hour of detention, incarceration, and release, examining the physical state of the detained, to avoid future accusation of supposed torture.
   Any public place where a manifestation is taking place will be cleared.

According to the above, were I in Honduras I might not be authorized to say the following. I think this is a great mistake by the Micheletti government. This will probably kill the elections. Two media have already been taken off the air, Channel 36, and Radio Globo.

Not even Hugo Chávez has been so sudden in doing this, nor so draconian. He accomplished the closing down of the opposition media after haranguing them for years, to the point of nausea of the people. In they end, they protested much less than they would if they had those media removed with one blow, as the Micheletti administration has now done. “A soft tongue can break a bone.”

Now all the leftist media are validated in what they have been claiming all along, and very few outside Honduras will believe the Micheletti administration when they say they are preserving democracy. I expect them to froth at the mouth after this. I wonder what the people in Honduras are saying. I will contact my family. I fear, that by doing this, many of those who supported Micheletti will now begin to doubt.

As for me, I will continue to work and pray for peace, even though I will probably be scorned and ridiculed by some. I am not in Micheletti or Zelaya’s side. I am for Honduras. I still believe, though, that Zelaya’s restitution is the wrong answer, what we need is free elections. With this resolution by the government, their freedom is now in question, but we need them more than ever.

Image by Roberto Brevé, used with a Creative Commons license