Document of the First ALBA Political Council Meeting, Quito, Ecuador, 9 August 2009
1. We reiterate the terms of the ALBA Extraordinary Presidential Council Proclamation, of June 29, 2009, issued in Managua, Nicaragua, in which the Heads of State demand the safe, immediate, and unconditional return, to his constitutional functions, of the legitimate and constitutional president of Honduras, José Manuel Zelaya.
2. We energetically condemn repeated violations of the human rights of the heroic Honduran people by the military coup Regime, and we reiterate our support for the right to resistance and insurrection against the oppression of an illegitimate regime, rights consecrated in the Honduran National Constitution. We reiterate that we will accompany the process of resistance until its final victory.
3. We reiterate our commitment to maintain all current programs of cooperation with Honduras, a full member of ALBA, to be carried out by President Zelaya and moreover to include funding of some priority activities of the legitimate government of Honduras and the funding of activities of the Embassy of Honduras in each of our countries,.
4. To ask the OAS Secretary General not to submit to the intransigent “conditions” of the military coup regime (changing dates and vetoing the composition of the [OAS] Commission of Foreign Ministers) and to ask him to urgently convene an Assembly of OAS Foreign Ministers to discuss the actions to be taken for the return of the constitutional order in Honduras.
5. We request that a meeting of Rio Group Foreign Ministers be convened.
6. We agree not to recognize any Government that emerges from an electoral process set up by the de facto government, which, emerging from a constitutional rupture, would be equally illegitimate.
7. We agree to consult with social sectors in each country regarding the possibility of holding a social forum of ALBA countries to support the restoration of democracy in Honduras, on the date and at the location to be determined.
8. To mandate the Executive Secretariat for Constant Coordination to assure daily follow-up regarding the current situation in Honduras and to carry out what is set forth in this Declaration.
The original Spanish text of the “Declaración del Consejo Político del ALBA sobre Honduras” may be read at <www.mre.gov.ve/Noticias/A2009/08-UNASUR/noticias/1dec_politico_alba_honduras.pdf>. Translation by Felipe Stuart Cournoyer.