Violent protests hit Honduras

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Agence France-Presse

Violent protests hit Honduras
Last Updated : 2009-08-13 2:36 AM
The Himalayan Times -

TEGUCIGALPA : Honduran police fired tear gas to disperse thousands of angry demonstrators, as ousted President Manuel Zelaya called on the United States to do more to resolve the crisis. Zelaya supporters clashed with riot police, who used tear gas and batons to beat back those marching on the national parliament building in the capital Tegucigalpa.

Protesters threw stones and broke the windows of several nearby businesses, ignoring police warnings of a crackdown. An angry mob attacked a lawmaker known to back the June 28 coup against Zelaya, before police mounted a successful rescue. Around 50 demonstrators were detained during the clashes, which came a day after rioters torched the local branch of a fast food chain.

In a separate incident in the economic capital San Pedro Sula, stick-wielding protesters formed makeshift road blocks near the hotel of Costa Rica's visiting football squad. Police responded by firing tear gas and rubber bullets. As the violent repercussions of the coup was felt on the streets, the diplomatic fallout continued in Latin America's capitals.

Honduras's international isolation deepened as the small Central American country was told it could not attend an upcoming meeting of top regional military brass. Argentine organizers said the Honduran military would no longer be welcome at the gathering because of its role in the coup that threw Zelaya out of office.



Read more: http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=Violent+protests+hit+Honduras&id=MjYwMzc=

[EFerrari]

1. The longer this goes on, the more people will be hurt.

:(

[flamingdem]

2. Not a thing on tv about this, hmm nt

[Downwinder]

3. From what I could gather, all of the property damaged

belonged to Rafael Ferrari. Coincidence?

[Judi Lynn]

4. After seeing your post, I did a short search for Rafael Ferrari, found this:

HONDURAS: Governed by Vested Interests
By Thelma Mejía

TEGUCIGALPA, Dec 15 (IPS) - Traditionally powerful families and drug traffickers have enormous political influence in Honduras today, according to analysts.

The elite families, which have gradually taken over party structures and decision-making posts in government, "are the groups that have what we could call ‘legal' power," political scientist Ernesto Paz at the public National Autonomous University of Honduras (UNAH) told IPS.

"But then there are the others, who work behind the scenes and have links to organised crime, especially drug trafficking, which has a strong presence in this country," he added.

"These groups, which not only paralyse, but influence political reforms needed in this country, are generating a crisis of governability and weakening the party system," he said.

Paz and other analysts who talked to IPS said the families that exercise the greatest power in Honduras are Jewish or of Arab descent, and are involved in economic sectors like the "maquiladoras" (export assembly plants), energy, telecoms, tourism, banking and finance, the media, the cement industry and trade and commerce.

The study "Real Integration and Groups of Power in Central America" by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation of Germany says these vested interests have taken over the spectrum occupied by political parties in the region.

The study differentiates between "business governments," like that of El Salvador, and "pro-business governments" like the ones that have ruled Honduras and the rest of the countries in Central America, in which the link between government structures and the private sector have been less direct than in El Salvador.

Investor Miguel Facussé Barjum, his son-in-law Fredy Nasser, energy magnate Schucry Kafie, and banker and industrialist Jaime Rosenthal are the most powerful men in Honduras. Another influential businessman is the Cuban-born José Lamas.

Nasser and Kafie control the country's thermal energy industry, and Nasser's business interests include concessions to operate the country's main airports, as well as shares in telephone companies in Guatemala.

Influential businessmen in the media, whose influence has grown since the 1990s, are Rafael Ferrari; Carlos Flores Facussé, a former president (1998-2002) and the nephew of Miguel Facussé; and Jorge Canahuati Larach.

Jesuit priest Ismael Moreno said these groups "are so interrelated and closely linked to the Honduran political system, where their meddling is very strong, that it can be stated that they handpick presidents and other authorities, dictate the news agenda in the media, and are the main contributors to political campaigns."

More:
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=35869

I'm starting to get the idea!

[Downwinder]

5. Rafael Ferrari's picture is at the top of the golpistas list on

http://hondurasoye.wordpress.com/the-golpistas/

He owns a bunch of chain fast foods, tv and radio. (From the ten family list on the LA forum)

Both Popeye's and Dunking Donuts were his, and possibly the bus.

[Judi Lynn]

7. I saw that list, but didn't have enough time to digest it yet. Here's a cluster of photos:

Rafael Ferrari está triste por la derrota de Honduras ante los ticos.
http://www.diez.hn/Selecci%C3%B3n%20Nacional/Ediciones/2009/02/13/Noticias/Rambo-comienza-a-sonar-en-la-Bicolor2

http://www.iffhs-media.de.nyud.net:8090/9-Wtor/9-WTorj2005-33B.jpg

Wilmer Raynel Neal Velásquez, Rafael Ferrari (Presidente del CD Olimpia Tegucigalpa), Alfredo Hawit (Secretario de la Federación Nacional Autónoma de Fútbol de Honduras), Walter Urbina Vallejo.
Foto: FNAFH

http://www.iffhs.de/?d847e4a95e99a54384d85fe8f55005fdcdc3bfcdc0aec70aeecf8a3f19

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

http://www.elheraldo.hn.nyud.net:8090/var/elheraldo_site/storage/images/otras-secciones/especial-fin-de-ano-2008/encuestas/el-personaje-del-ano/jose-rafael-ferrari/516318-1-esl-HN/Jose-Rafael-Ferrari_logo_impreso.jpg
Translation of the text from El Heraldo, by google translation:

Jose Rafael Ferrari, entrepreneur

Not only is a well-known telecommunications entrepreneur, philanthropist, but is par excellence, who has his football passion and love of neighbor sensitivity. Chairman of the group corportativo Televicentro, president of the club's most popular sport in the country, Olympia, and president of the Telethon Foundation, Mr Ferrari leads with good success also chairman of the Selection Committee. This year, the president of Televicentro group sponsored the gathering of young leaders of the country and took them to San Salvador, El Salvador.

His parents, Mr Rafael García Ferrari and Mrs. Rosario Sagastume Ferrari. He is married to Rosina Guevara, who has two children procreated.

Their secondary studies were conducted at the Central Vicente Caceres in the Honduran capital. He earned his bachelor's degree in Business Administration from the University of Southern California, in United States of America.

Rafael Ferrari is currently the president of Televicentro Corporation and vice president of United Stations, the group of television and radio in the country. Is president, director and advisor to several companies in the country.

Within their current work can be listed:

President of the Association of Media Honduras.

President of the Association of Central America and Panama televisions.

President and Founder of the Telethon Foundation-Honduras.

President of Club Deportivo Olimpia.

Member of CEAL (Council of Entrepreneurs in Latin America)

Chairman of the Selection Committee.

Ferrari Sagastume was ambassador to Honduras and representative to the FAO, IFAD (International Fund for Agricultural Development). PREVIEW president and chief sponsor of the radio program in 1988 The family of numbers, aimed at improving primary education in rural areas.

He was director of the Advisory Committee of the Florida International University and a member of the Supervisory Board of the Honduran Council of Private Enterprise.

Founding Member of the Friends of Children Society, SOS Villages today.

Has earned several awards, including:

Declared Man of the Year in 1987 by various means of written communication, spoken and televised by raising successful in telethon simultaneously 3 to build rehabilitation centers for disabled persons in different cities.

Order of Morazan in grade of Grand Cross, the Silver Plaque, the highest decoration awarded by the Government to a citizen of Honduras (June 1991)

Grade Gold Grand Knight Sheet Liquidambar, which gives maximum presea mayor of Tegucigalpa (1992).

Gran Cruz Placa de Oro award granted by Congress, in recognition of their social action to benefit the country (2000)

http://www.elheraldo.hn/Otras-Secciones/Especial-Fin-de-Ano-2008/Encuestas/El-personaje-del-ano/Jose-Rafael-Ferrari

~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sheer acquisitiveness, and avarice! Heck, the guy's greedy.

He's a "philathropist," but he's part of the oligarchy which has ruled Honduras with a ham handed fist, keeping a rigid barrier between the wildly wealthy few, and the desperately poor majority.

[Downwinder]

8. If it were narco related or something else a protest march

would be good cover.

[Judi Lynn]

9. Thanks for pointing out those photos. I was in such a rush I had totally not seen them.

That link is clearly one to file away for future reference.

Thanks.

[Judi Lynn]

16. More evidence leading in the same direction!

Honduran police seize university after 2nd day of violence
By Tyler Bridges, Mcclatchy Newspapers – Wed Aug 12, 8:37 pm ET


TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Thousands of protesters calling for the return of deposed President Manuel Zelaya clashed with police Wednesday for the second day in a row, but Honduras' de facto government showed no willingness to allow Zelaya to return.

Youths with bandannas covering their faces threw rocks at police outside Honduras' congressional building. The police, protecting themselves with riot shields, periodically launched tear gas to disperse them but not before the protesters sacked a home stereo store said to be owned by a former Honduran president who supported Zelaya's ouster.

The police occupied the teachers' university that has been the demonstrators' base of operations and securely locked the gates to keep them from returning.

More:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20090813/wl_mcclatchy/3290761

Property owned by another politician/coup leader.

[Peace Patriot]

6. The protests were NOT violent. They were overwhelmingly peaceful.

As usual, a few incidents--either agents provocateur, or a couple of youths gone wild--far from the massive, peaceful marches, and not in the least characteristic of the behavior of the thousands of people marching, have been used, by the corpo/fascist press, to slander the peaceful and to justify brutal repression.

"Violent Protests Hit Honduras." Yet another goddamned lie.

Al Giordano, on the ground in Honduras, describes what really happened, and the outrageous lies and distortions of corpo toady press.

http://narcosphere.narconews.com/thefield/toppling-coup-part-iv-lost-sheep-and-flock

[Judi Lynn]

10. It's almost impossible to find much material in English on Honduras during the government seizure.

The Agence France-Presse was caught last week in a clear fabrication in its Honduras reporting. I can't remember what it was at the moment, will post it if it somehow comes back. (Too much information too fast to process properly!)

The fact that there are stories, however mangled, mutilated, or completely misleading they are, which inform USAmericans that Honduras is still refusing to accept the coup, is the part I care about the most. We're getting absolute stone silence from our corporate liars on this, as if nothing has happened at all.

Occassionally some fool will publish one of the right-wing radical idealogues' opinion piece on Honduras. That's about the only coverage we're getting, which is nowhere near journalism.

[Downwinder]

11. WSJ, NYT, LAT, Washington Post and Miami: all slanted. n/t

[Judi Lynn]

12. It's not clean any more at those places, and what a shame.

They all promoted the war, and totally downplayed the resistance to the Iraq war, as if there really weren't any at all.

They flat out lied about Jessica Lynch, and so much more you hardly dare open the door to it, as you'd be typing for ages trying to cover their deception.

[Downwinder]

13. Hasn't been in my lifetime, nothing new, just more blatant.

[Judi Lynn]

14. Probably right. All that has probably changed is that more people are able to see through them now.

It's possible the pace and reach of the internet has made it easier for people to do the research they need, the comparisons they need to make to start putting all the pieces together far faster than they could in the past.

If that's the case, there will be even greater efforts to control what's available to us on the internetS to get us back in the dark, and easier to fool.

[Downwinder]

15. Personally, I think the indigenous way of Latin America is

the way of the future. Nothing else I have seen is sustainable.

[formercia]

18. But it's not profitable.

It doesn't fit the corporate way of doing things.

[formercia]

17. The Police and Military turned them violent.

The protests were peaceful until the protesters were fired upon with tear gas and rubber bullets.

The Media is controlled by the Golpistas.

[Peace Patriot]

20. Same thing happened in Seattle. I was there. I saw it. Total police riot.

The 'news' coverage was eye-opening. Not one finger was raised against anybody's property until after about 8 hours of head-bashing, cs gassing of seated, peaceful, non-resisting protesters, and other violence by the police. Then some agents provocateur or angry youths (none of whom were arrested--only the peaceful were arrested) kicked in some windows and burned trash cans. Still, the only injuries to people were entirely the doing of the police. But everything was then entirely twisted around, into its opposite, by our corpo/fascist press.

Seattle was the most awesome, peaceful civil disobedience action I have ever seen or heard of. Ten thousand people peacefully sat down in the intersections of Seattle to successfully block the WTO meeting. Some 50,000 had marched together the previous day, without a single injury, or incident of any kind, in complete safety, due to the spirit of the protestors and fabulous organization. But the sit-down was the main show. What a scene! It was amazing. The global corporate predators had to not just stop such citizen organization, they had to completely slander it, because it was so powerful. And they did.

Taught me a lesson I will never forget. Don't believe anything our corpo/fascist press says about leftist protesters! They lie in a million different ways--from outright fabrications, to selective quotes and photos--to serve their corporate masters.

The truth came out, in Seattle city hearings, some months later, and the police chief was fired . There was a near total blackout on that news in the corpo/fascist press.

[yellowcanine]

29. Old Civil Rights Protest ploy, "I arrest you for becoming disorderly when my firehose knocked you

down on the ground. And not getting back up and running away fast enough."

[bemildred]

19. Honduras protesters mob legislator

Supporters of Manuel Zelaya, the ousted Honduran president, have mobbed a legislator known to back the coup that pushed the president from power.

Police quickly mounted a successful rescue of Ramon Velazquez, the vice-president of congress, after he was attacked leaving his office on Wednesday.

Security forces used tear gas to disperse thousands of protesters, some of whom threw stones and broke the windows of several nearby businesses.

The demonstration had calmed down by the afternoon, reports said.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2009/08/200981383655121590.html

[Peace Patriot]

21. I wonder what really happened. I don't trust the sequence in this article.

Did they throw stones before or after they were brutalized by the police? (Did they even really throw stones? ) Was Velazquez truly threatened, or did he just not want to explain himself to the people of Honduras? Were they seeking dialogue? Were they merely expressing themselves--talking, chanting, singing? Were they presenting a petition? Were they doing a sit-in? Did he provoke the incident? Did he deliberately put himself in their way, then call the police on them?

There is no photo of this incident with the article. Whose word was the reporter relying on? Was the reporter there?

I don't generally categorize Al Jazeera as corpo/fascist, but even they can be fooled. They try to be even-handed. For instance,

"The recent unrest has been some of the few times the near daily rallies against the coup have turned violent."


Here's what they say about Micheletti (and how they frame it)...

'Foreign agitators'

Protests by pro-Zelaya activists on Tuesday also left broken windows at shops and fast-food restaurants.

The recent unrest has been some of the few times the near daily rallies against the coup have turned violent.

Roberto Micheletti, Honduras's de facto leader following Zelaya's overthrow, claimed in a televised speech that the clashes were being spurred by "foreign agitators".

He also promised to respect the rights of those detained at the protests.

"We have to stop with firmness any criminal acts to avoid property damage to small and medium-sized businesses, which is putting many Hondurans out of work," Micheletti said.

---------------------------

Foreign agitators? Like Barack Obama, for instance, saying Zelaya is the only president of Honduras?

This is a key phrase--"foreign agitators"--a clanging alarm bell that the violence was phony, instigated by the government, with paid agitators.

[David__77]

24. If the people attacked him, they are right to do so.

Ideally, they would use their human right to arrest and try him and carry out a sentence.

[bemildred]

26. He appears to be alive.

If "the mob" wanted him dead, he would be dead. But i don't expect to hear that in the News.

[Enrique]

22. here's a photo of one of the "angry mobs" from yesterday

Supporters of ousted Honduras President Manuel Zelaya attend an anti-coup rally in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Tuesday. (Arnulfo Franco/Associated Press)

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

23. Well, clearly that fist at the bottom of the photo

indicates their violent intentions. :sarcasm:

[yellowcanine]

28. I am sure they are all hiding sticks and stones under that flag.

[David__77]

25. The more combativity, the better.

The actions are aimed at fascist property, and fascist politicians. Nothing wrong with that. As Zelaya pointed out, this is the right of the Honduran people.

[yellowcanine]

27. Tear gas, batons, rubber bullets against sticks. Sounds like a fair fight to me.

[bemildred]

30. How about: "Political repression escalates in Honduras as diplomatic isolation grows"? nt