“The situation in Honduras is even worsened by the fact that the coup has been legitimized at international spaces, supporting a reconciliation speech that is no more than lies and hypocrisy to hide the systemic violence suffered by the Honduran people every day” , reads the call to the event that was circulated on Saturday.

The Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH), the Honduran Black Fraternity Organization (OFRANEH), the Unified Peasant Movement of Aguan (MUCA) and the Commission of Families of the Disappeared in Honduras are some of organizations that signed the call.

According to the social movements, Honduras “has become a laboratory of occupation, militarization, criminalization and repression against the population, precisely the ones who struggle and oppose the coup”. This situation has even worsened with the “legitimation of the Coup d´Etat” perpetrated by Roberto Micheletti and the Armed Forces.

On May 28, former President Manuel Zelaya, who was ousted by the Coup, returned to the country after signing an agreement with de facto President, Porfirio Lobo, “for a national reconciliation and the consolidation of the democratic system of Honduras”, as the document is called. In general terms, this agreement set the basis for Zelaya´s safe return to the country, in addition to the other members of Zelaya´s administration and other people who had to leave the country due to the political crisis. It also establishes that Lobo´s regime should seek the respect of human rights.

The agreement was also signed by the facilitators and witnesses of the process, Colombian President, Juan Manuel Santos, and Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. This agreement opened the doors for Honduras to be readmitted at the Organization of American States (OAS) a few days later.

Zelaya is general coordinator at the National Front of Popular Resistance (FNRP) that gathered the people who opposed the dictatorship in Honduras and are now working to join efforts and run at the national elections in 2013.

The social movements that are organizing the Continental Day of Solidarity with Honduras demand the closure of foreign military bases in the country and denounce that US bases supported the Coup d´Etat “in order to perpetuate looting and domination”. They also propose the elimination of the national military system to end with militarization and repression against the Honduran people. The groups demand an end to criminalization of the social struggles and an end to the systemic human rights violations.

The groups that are organizing this event invite social movements and organizations from the continent to carry out actions outside the Honduran embassies and consulates in their countries, in addition to debates and cultural activities in the streets, among others. The goal is to give visibility to the serious situation of human rights violation in Honduras, including the murder of members of the resistance and the criminalization of social protests.

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