The new self-titled humanist president has been a key supporter of the regime through five months of massive human rights violations.
“They’ve imposed a coup regime on us. They’ve assassinated at least 34 of our companions since the coup that removed the legitimate president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya Rosales. Nationwide, they’ve detained more than 5,000 of our companions. They’ve tortured, beaten, and massacred. This coup regime can’t say it’s hosting clean and transparent elections, because the electoral process is being run by the same assassins of our people.”
As the election approached, the regime threatened anyone advocating against voting with four to six years in prison. . . .
“You can’t say the Honduran people are satisfied with this fake democracy, a democracy with no support, a democracy that has no base. The support for this democracy comes from above and not from below. Therefore it’s unsustainable and sooner or later it will fall. If the United States validates this process, as they are effectively doing — which is what the oligarchy needs because they sell US imports here and the tiny bit they export also goes to the US — if they approve this coup, the only thing they are doing is scheduling a civil war here in Honduras. If they continue repressing the social movements instead of complying with the movements’ demands, there will be a civil war, a bloodbath, just like there has been in other parts of the world, because poverty is reaching exorbitant levels, levels never before seen. In Honduras today, 90% of the population lives below the poverty line, and 65% of them live below the misery line, meaning less than one dollar a day. This is an insult to the country with so many resources. . . . Room must be made for the people and their organizations. We have to make a new social pact, a new constitution, that guarantees the human rights of all human beings in Honduras, not just the rights of one tiny group while marginalizing the majority. This is what the Honduran people want. This isn’t a fight between Zelaya and Micheletti, it’s between rich and poor.”
This video was released by The Real News on 2 December 2009. The text above is a partial transcript of the video.
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