Honduras : Urgent Call
Solidarity with the Honduran Members of La Vía Campesina and with the People of Honduras
Media Contacts below
For the past few months the grassroots organizations of Honduras, together with president Manuel Zelaya Rosales, have been promoting and preparing for a national consultation of public opinion on possible constitutional reforms, to be carried out on June 28, 2009.
At 5 am this morning the armed forces of Honduras executed a surprise Coup d’Etat against President Zelaya, thus abruptly interrupting the democratic aspirations of the Honduran people, who were preparing to carry out the popular consultation/opinion poll.
Upon hearing the news, the grassroots organizations of Honduras, including those belonging to La Vía Campesina, have taken to the streets to repudiate the Coup and to demand the return of the democratically-elected President to his office and to all the powers that the law invests him with.
The government of President Zelaya has defended the rights of working people and peasant farmers, has joined the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), and in general has implemented policies that have been positive for Honduran peasant and family farmers.
The events of the past hours are the desperate acts of the wealthy oligarchy and the retrograde Right-wing to preserve their interests and those of international and national capital, and in particular they serve the interests of giant transnational corporations. To these ends they are making use of the armed forces and other public institutions, including the parliament, state ministries, the Neoliberal news media, and others.
Faced with these reprehensible acts, La Via Campesina International demands:
1. The immediate reestablishment of Constitutional order, without bloodshed.
2. We call on the armed forces to refrain from repressing the people of Honduras, who are demanding a return to democracy.
3. That the physical integrity of social leaders be respected, including that of Rafael Alegria, leader of La Via Campesina International.
4. We demand the immediate return of President Zelaya to his functions as President.
5. That the authorities guarantee the right of the population to the full exercise of democracy through the popular consultation, and through any other form of free expression.
In the La Via Campesina we will be closely monitoring the safety of our member organizations and leaders in Honduras, and that of the people of Honduras, during these difficult moments. We call on all peasant and family farm organizations, and other social movements, to protest and to present public letters of repudiation against the Coup at the Embassies of Honduras in every country.
We stand in solidarity with our sister peasant organizations in Honduras.
Globalize the Struggle!! Globalize Hope!!
International Coordination Committee of La Via Campesina
Mali, Africa, June 28, 2009
Media Contacts
Edgardo García – Coordinator ATC/Nicaragua + 50588872973 (mobile phone) – + 50522784575 (office)
Yolanda Areas – Member of the International Coordination Committee of Vía Campesina / Nicaragua: + 50586549300 (mobile phone)