Wednesday’s Events in Tegucigalpa
We had breathed a collective sigh of relief that the mass mobilizations of Tuesday had passed without major incident. In the morning on Wednesday, part of our delegation went to join that day’s march which, after an extended assembly at the University headed off towards downtown Tegucigalpa. Three of us who have been coordinating spent the morning writing a framework for an ongoing presence of delegations.
Thank you for your calls to the US State Department and Ambassador Llorens to denounce the brutal repression unleashed on peaceful protestors yesterday in Honduras. Today, people are stunned , injured and reeling from the impact of yesterday’s attacks by Honduran police and military.
The fifth delegation of international human rights observers maintaining presence in Honduras since the coup of 28 June denounces the many and grave human rights violations perpetrated by the state security forces, including the national police, the Command of Special Operations COBRA, and the national army.
Attack on Peaceful Protestors Escalates
Please take action again to stop the repression!
Thank you for your calls to the U.S. State Department – please call again! The repression is escalating. Crackdowns are occurring in San Pedro Sula as well as Tegucigalpa.
Please call the State Dept immediately at 202-647-4000 and tell them U.S. citizens are in the midst of a peaceful march in Tegucigalpa, Honduras that is under attack by the Honduran military and to instruct the Honduran military not to fire on protesters.
Our plan for the day had been to divide our delegation into three groups, with each group joining marches from different directions. At the last minute we were advised that the marchers coming in from the North, from Siguatepeque and La Esperanza, were the smallest group and thus thought to be the most vulnerable. As it turned out, they were also the group that was the farthest away from the city.
The march in Tegucigalpa today was massive and spirited. It would be hard to get an accurate count of how many people participated, but it spread out for blocks and blocks. It left from the Pedagogic University and we walked for several miles to the headquarters of the United Nations. A letter asking for UN accompaniment had been prepared beforehand which was delivered to the representative.
Something unprecedented is occurring in Honduras. Since the military coup which occurred on June 28th, the people of Honduras have mounted 6 weeks of sustained, massive, non-violent resistance to the violent take-over of their country. Perhaps even more astounding, is that this resistance shows no signs of tapering off. On the contrary, the movement continues to build in momentum and numbers despite violent repression on the part of the military.
Last week, hundreds of thousands of people began walking 10-12 miles per day, from all parts of the country, to converge on the cities of Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula on Tuesday, August 11. The columns of people, filling two to three lanes of traffic, camp out in towns along the way at night, picking up more marchers at every stop. Reminiscent of Ghandi’s great salt marches, the people of Honduras are writing a new chapter in the history of non-violent struggle in Central America.
Saturday we went to a cultural event in the Central Park of Tegucigalpa, where poets and singers entertained an animated crowd. The event was titled “Youth armed with Culture against Barbarity”. It was a lively and uplifting time.
Part of our group then headed to Sabana Grande, one of the locations where people who are part of the 7-day march are walking into Tegucigalpa. By the time the delegates arrived, people were done walking for the day, and many were already in houses which had offered spaces to sleep. There were at least 2000 people on the walk by then, and about 200 of them were at a school, where they had a spirited encounter. For many on our delegation, this was their most memorable moment. The spirit of resistance bubbled from the crowd, many of whom have walked 10-15 miles a day for almost a week.
