Honduran military dictatorship arms itself with weapons and munitions of death and declares war on the National Front of Non-Violent Resistance

COFADEH Alert: Tuesday, November 24, 2009 *Military Dictatorship arms itself with weapons and munitions of death and declares war on the National Front of Non-Violent Resistance.*

The military-political-corporate dictatorship, by means of Roberto Micheletti, has moved its shadowy web to arm itself to the teeth, coming into possession in recent days of equipment and munitions of war, to turn the electoral process into a battlefield and confront the imaginary enemy represented by the National Front of Resistance against the Coup D’Etat.

The Committee of the Families of Detained and Disappeared in Honduras (COFADEH) has confirmed information that demonstrates these facts:

In a communication circulated November 9, 2009, by the Secretary of Finance of the de facto regime to the authorities of the Customs in the Port of Cortes, there was ordered the tax- free importation of an armored truck for control of street disturbances, based on the Ford truck model F750, with a Cummins diesel motor with six speed transmission, with all the accessories, at a cost of $11,990,000.00 USD ($11 million 990 thousand dollars), coming from the United States, through intermediary of the representative company, Commercio e Inversiones S. de R.L. of C.V. and co-signed by the Secretary of Security.

This death machine is equipped with a mounted water canon with 300 pounds of pressure and 150 gallons per minute capacity, 4 armored cameras with 360 degree vision, operated from video recording stations within the truck.

In addition, the heavy machine is equipped with doors for the placement of weapons, a barricade remover in front, rotation devices in all the tires in the case of flats, sirens, police lights, LCD monitors on console and rear station platform, protected by armor on the floor, in the windows, motor, radiator, fuel tank and battery.

The scandalous cost invested in leathal weapons registered in purchase Order SDES-0584-2009 is signed by the Secretary of Security, Jorge Rodas Gamero, who switched taking instructions from his commander Manuel Zelaya Rosales and now fulfills the whims of Roberto Micheletti.

Elsewhere the General Secretary of Finance, Rafael Antonio Trejo sent a note to the customs authorities in the La Mesa in San Pedro Sula to authorize the entry at official expense of 10,000 tear gas hand grenades valued at 12,800,000 lempiras and 5,000 tear gas projectiles of 37 mm each valued at 4,950,000 lempiras for a total value of 17,750,000 lempiras, detailed in request number 003534.

The squandering of millions utilized in the purchase of munitions and urban combat units, added to the communications circulated to the mayors asking them to identify members of the Resistance against the Coup d’ Etat, in addition to the order to vacate the rooms in the hospital centers of the country, reaffirms the conclusion that we are facing terrible signs on the eve of the implementation of the spurious act that will take place on November 29.

Bertha Oliva at the School of the Amercias ProtestCOFADEH has denounced the fact that the public school teachers are being considered as military and police targets, many of whose members have been assassinated for condemning the coup d’etat and demanding the return of the constitutional order, and hundreds of teachers have been victims of brutal repression.

In maneuvers never before seen, the cities of Nacaome and San Lorenzo in the department of Valle are militarized for pursuit of the resistance in these places.

Yesterday November 23, we learned of the kidnapping by paramilitaries of Professor Luis Gradis Espinal (56 years of age), Coordinator of the Resistance in the southern zone, and today his lifeless body was found feet and hands tied on a dirt road in the hamlet Las Casitas, southwest of the capital, near an area where various military units are located.

Professor Gradis Espinal left his house last Sunday, November 22 for the capital with the objective of meeting with one of his sons. Confirmed versions have it that Gradis Espinal was driving his vehicle when he was intercepted by a motorized patrol in the periphery loop road of the capital. The teacher was captured and taken to an unknown place.

The teachers are being persecuted; some of them have been obliged to leave the country temporarily.

In the same way our concern is needed in the case of professor Marco Tulio Valdez, leader of the Resistance in San Lorenzo, Valle, since he is being strongly threatened by the military authorities who have taken absolute control of the department; from this moment we hold responsible this body, especially Commander Mendoza, for any attempts on the life of Valdez.

COFADEH energetically condemns the assassination of Luis Gradis Espinal, whose death is added to that of Roger Vallejo, Mario Contreras and Felix Murillo.Bertha Oliva

We exhort the national and international community to condemn these attacks to which the Honduran people are falling victim by the military dictatorship and once again we reiterate that the public act that will take place on November 29 is a military, police and paramilitary action.

*For the crimes and the perpetrators*

*We will not forget nor forgive*

*COFADEH* Tuesday, November 24, 2009  

Translation: Steven Bartlett, Ag. Missions