During the protests yesterday against the coup regime in Honduras, a curfew was imposed at noon that remains in place throughout the day and night today, Saturday. A large group of hundreds of protesters was detained in the El Paraiso region by armed forces under orders of the coup regime and prevented from reaching the border with Nicaragua, where President Manuel Zelaya was attempting his second entry into the country since his ouster one month ago.
The police and army repressing the people in El Paraiso fired tear gas, bullets and detained dozens of protesters. Violence erupted during the protests in reaction to the brutal force imposed by the coup regime. There are reports from the protesters in El Paraíso that the coup forces are preparing a nearby stadium to use for large-scale detentions. This would be reminiscent of the dictatorships in Chile, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay in the 1970s that used stadiums to detain, disappear, torture and execute tens of thousands of leftists.
Throughout the repression, several protesters disappeared. One was found this morning around 6 AM, dead, with clear signs of torture and execution. Pedro Muños, 23 years old, was identified by a resident of El Paraíso, who also claimed he had been detained by the police and army forces on Friday afternoon. His body was found this morning thrown by a roadside near the Nicaraguan border. There were signs of torture on his hands and body. Story in Spanish here.
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Honduras imposes State of Siege in South
Thousands of Zelaya supporters stranded en route to meet the president
By Marcy Rein as reported by Clifton Ross from the Nicaraguan/Honduran Border
July 25, 2009 8:30 a.m.
Honduran national police have clamped a state of siege on the southern department of El Paraiso and blocked roads from Tegucigalpa to the Nicaraguan border. Thousands of Hondurans who caravanned from the capital to the border yesterday to support the return of President Manuel Zelaya are stranded in trucks, cars and buses along the road.
“People could be arrested, imprisoned or shot for being out of their houses, but we have no houses here to return to,” said California-based journalist Clifton Ross, who accompanied the caravan and is stranded in El Paraiso. Honduran coup leader Roberto Micheletti imposed the state of siege on the evening of July 24. It is in effect round the clock in the department of El Paraiso, closest to the border. The rest of the country is under curfew from midnight to 4:00 a.m.
Police shot three Zelaya supporters, ran over three more and tear-gassed the crowd several times yesterday, Ross said. They captured, torutured and murdered a 28-year-old from Tegucigalpa. (The demosnstrator's name was Pedro Ezequiel according to Telesur. see link below.--Ed.) Thousands of supporters had reached the border before the government set up roadblocks, detaining busloads of others who wanted to meet Zelaya.
Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya (C) holds up the chain which mark the border between Honduras and Nicaragua with his supporters at the border point of Las Manos in Honduras, on July 24, 2009. Zelaya returned Friday to Nicaragua after staying two hours in Honduras at the border point of Las Manos. (Xinhua/David De La Paz)President Zelaya crossed the border yesterday unarmed and negotiated for a half-hour with an Honduran army colonel. Zelaya was denied entrance, the colonel was arrested for talking to him, and the coup government called the state of siege.
“Nothing can get in or out of El Paraiso at this point,” Ross said. Zelaya supporters slept in their cars, under trucks or on neighbors’ porches as heavy rain fell on and off through the night.
“People here have been fighting for Zelaya’s return for a month now. They are incredibly committed and won’t back down,” he said. He urged people to call Congress and the White House and demand that the U.S. government pressure Micheletti to lift the siege.
White House comment line: 202-456-1111
Congressional switchboard: 202-224-3121
Send an email to Barack Obama using the Latin America Solidarity Coalition/School of the Americas Watch site http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/727/t/3823/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=27531
Telesur report on tortured and murdered detainee.
http://telesurtv.net/noticias/secciones/nota/54688-NN/torturan-y-asesinan-a-seguidor-de-zelaya-luego-de-ser-detenido-por-autoridades-de-facto/
La Jornada Report
http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2009/07/25/index.php?section=mundo&article=017n1mun
INACURATE LA Times story:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-honduras25-2009jul25,0,1351145.story
For more information: Clifton Ross can be contacted at [email protected], Marcy Rein can be reached at [email protected]
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