Sunday, July 5, 2009

DAY 8 UPDATE, 6PM: COUP MILITARY FORCES REPRESSING ZELAYA'S SUPPORTERS AWAITING HIS ARRIVAL AT THE AIRPORT IN TEGUCIGALPA

The Honduran military and police under the orders of the coup government installed by force last week are repressing the hundreds of thousands of people that have marched from all around the country to await the return of their ousted president, Manuel Zelaya.

President Zelaya is speaking live right now via satellite telephone from the airplane, which is now almost arriving in the Honduran capital. There are reports of several dead and dozens wounded outside the airport, after the Honduran military began firing shots to push back the crowds.

There is a helicopter waiting to capture President Zelaya upon his arrival and there are hundreds of armed forces inside and around the airport. The coup government, led by Roberto Micheletti, gave a bizarre press conference earlier today, stating their legality and even referring to the dictator Micheletti as the "elected president". They later clarified that Micheletti was elected by the Honduran congress, which, in turn was elected by the people....so.....

Nevertheless, the REAL elected president, Manuel Zelaya, is about to arrive in the middle of the madness. The military forces are firing tear gas at the Zelaya supporters, who are holding firm in their support for their constitutional president and their resistance to the coup, which since its execution last Sunday has gotten increasingly and dangerously more repressive and strange.

9 comments:

Nicolas Cohen said...

What are Zelaya's options if he gets to land on Tegucigapa?

Eva Golinger said...

We don't know what is going to happen. He is traveling with a delegation of international journalists and the Secretary General of the United Nations General Assembly, Miguel D'Escoto. But since the coup government has denied the arrival of the airplane, if the plane pushes through it could get shot down. Or, in the alternative, if it arrives, the military will detain President Zelaya. Then we will see what happens.

Nicolas Cohen said...

Are there Zelaya allies in any Honduras government institution or have they all flown outside of the country? From what i can see there isn't any support for Zelaya in Honduras press, executive, legislative, justice or religious powers, i haven't seen posts from people in Honduras in any blog or twitter or facebook. Is there any idea on the amount of Zelaya's supporters?

Eva Golinger said...

70% of the country is poor and doesn't have access to twitter, facebook or even internet. Hundreds of thousands of Zelaya supporters have marched from across the country to demand his reinstatement. Dozens of buses carrying people to the capital were detained by the military who shot their tires out, making it difficult for them to continue to the capital. But Zelaya has support, lots of it, mainly from the poor, the farmers, the working class, which is the majority. The coup government represents business interests, and middle, upper classes.

Nicolas Cohen said...

Understand. Seems hard for this to turn around then, right? No support from middle or high class, No form of communication for poor people. Whas it the same scenario for Chavez in 2002 or he had some support from any media or middle class or government officers?

Eva Golinger said...

Chávez had the loyal armed forces on his side that together with the people defeated the oligarch's coup...Zelaya doesn't have the military on his side, that's the huge difference.

Nicolas Cohen said...

Do you think this is caused by differences in the demographics of Venezuela and Honduras military forces? Are there other differences between both military forces that could explain this? (sorry i'm making so many questions, i'm trying to understand why there is so little inside opposition to the coup)

Eva Golinger said...

There is mass opposition from the people in Honduras to the coup. The military is trained, funded and commanded by the US Dept of Defense since the 1950s. US maintains a major military base in Honduras that was used in the 1980s to neutralize leftist movements in Central America....the Honduran military still has a cold war mentality.

Nicolas Cohen said...

Understood, thanks for all the answers : )