11 August 2009 | News | Human rights
Paving the way
Massive marches to reject the coup reach the main Honduran cities
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The mass media in Honduras said nothing about these demonstrations, while they insist to call the coup d’etat staged on June 28th, a constitutional succession. The newspaper headlines made reference to the game the Honduran national team will soon play in South Africa, or they quoted the words of the US President Barack Obama in a speech he gave this week saying he supported the reinstatement of the ousted President Manuel Zelaya while he announced he would not intervene in the Honduran crisis.
But despite being ignored by the mass media, the demonstrations did not go unnoticed for the Honduran population. Thousands of people participated in the different marches, while the other people would provide them water, food and accommodation.
Since August 5th, peasants, unionized workers, indigenous and members of organizations that make up the National Front Against the Coup D’etát have marched along tens of kilometers to Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula, to demand the reinstatement of President Zelaya and to put an end to the de facto regime led by Roberto Micheletti, 45 days after the coup.
“We come holding our heads up high, hoping we will achieve our goal: the re-establishment of the institutional order by reinstating President Manuel Zelaya in power”, priest and environmental activist Andres Tamayo told AFP news agency. Tamayo led one of the marches, where 3,000 people participated.
Slowly, as the cities were crowded with people who peacefully demanded the return to democracy, the country’s mass media were forced to reproduce part of what was happening. Although they did so by warning the drivers to be careful when going through Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula, as they could be caught in heavy traffic as a result of the streets being crowded with demonstrators.
Photo: AP
