Honduras deploys soldiers on anti-crime patrols

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Honduras deploys soldiers on anti-crime patrols
– 1 hr 50 mins ago

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras – The Honduran government has deployed soldiers to perform anti-crime patrols in some of the Central American country's most violent cities, following the massacre of 18 people in a shoe factory this week.

Security Minister Oscar Alvarez says police have identified two suspects among the five attackers in the factory shooting, which authorities believe resulted from rivalry between street gangs.

Alvarez said Thursday the suspects are in hiding and have not been apprehended.

Alvarez did not specify the number of soldiers assigned to anti-crime duties, but said they will help police patrol and search for weapons and drugs.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100910/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_honduras_violence

[Judi Lynn]

1. Honduran Repression Continues Unabated

Honduran Repression Continues Unabated
Honduras is one of the most dangerous countries anywhere for those speaking openly about government corruption, human rights abuses, and despotism.
by Stephen Lendman
Monday, 6 September 2010

http://baltimorechronicle.com.nyud.net:8090/2010/images/Hondurans-protest-coup.jpg

Honduras' class struggle persists in the hemisphere's second poorest
country after Haiti, committed to end decades of repression,
injustice and poverty. A growing problem throughout most of the
world of dark interests wanting more wealth and power at the expense
of easily exploitable people.

For Hondurans, the event marked a new beginning, not an end to their dark history. Widespread killings and human rights abuses followed and a sham November election, installing Porfirio (Pepe) Lobo Sosa president, a US-friendly stooge heading a fascist regime. The nation's military is firmly in control against popular resistance, street violence and death squad terror its repressive tools. The Obama administrative stands firmly supportive. It blessed the coup, the new government and provides aid, all for hardline rule, none for popular needs.

Activists and journalists are especially threatened. Honduras is one of the most dangerous countries anywhere for those speaking openly about government corruption, human rights abuses, and despotism, the latest casualty - Radio Internacional reporter Zelaya Diaz, shot dead on August 24 along a rural San Pedro Sula road. According to press reports, he died from two bullet wounds to the head, another in his chest. Like similar past incidents, an investigation, if it occurs, will be whitewashed. No one will be held accountable.

Though not openly threatened, an earlier suspicious fire damaged Diaz's home, a message perhaps demanding he stop reporting on politics and crime. Since March alone, eight journalists have been killed, a disturbing pattern against others stepping too close to honest reporting about what Hondurans most need to know - the truth about their corrupted, brutal regime.

Despite the UN General Assembly's June 30, 2009 condemnation of the coup "by acclimation," 90 nations have now restored diplomatic ties, normalizing relations after the October 30 Tegucigalpa-Jose Accord (the unfulfilled agreement to form a National Unity/ Reconciliation Government) and Lobo's election - business as usual triumphing over the rule of law and democratic freedoms, Washington always in the lead, pressuring others to go along.

More:
http://baltimorechronicle.com/2010/090610Lendman.shtml

[Downwinder]

2. They have the Marines in the area to help them. n/t

[Judi Lynn]

3. And those Marines have instant access to 46 warships and 200 helicopters!

That'll help the illegitimate Honduran government ride herd on the Honduran resistance to that dirty coup.

[Judi Lynn]

4. Honduran man dies after pro-Zelaya rally

Honduran man dies after pro-Zelaya rally
Friday 17 September 2010by Tom Mellen

A senior citizen died on Thursday after Honduran riot police fired tear gas canisters at thousands of working people as they marched for the convening of a constituent assembly and the return of ousted former president Manuel Zelaya. Agricultural workers and teachers formed the core of Wednesday's rally in Tegucigalpa, which was called by the National Popular Resistance Front to mark the 189th anniversary of Honduran independence from the Spanish crown.

Scores of riot police waded in, beating participants and firing volleys of tear gas canisters at the crowd.

Efrain Hernandez, 66, who sold lottery tickets in the area, apparently suffered an asthma attack after inhaling the fumes. He died later in hospital. Three others were hurt, including one person who was struck in the face with a tear gas canister.

The Resistance Front, which unites trade unionists, democrats and leftwingers, has collected 1,269,000 signatures to demand guarantees for the return of Mr Zelaya and the convening of a national constituent assembly.

More:
http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/news/content/view/full/95398

[Judi Lynn]

5. One dead in Honduras protests

One dead in Honduras protests
Freddy Cuevas
September 17, 2010
AP

A street vendor died on Thursday after inhaling tear gas fired by police against hundreds of supporters of ousted President Manuel Zelaya. The police used tear gas and a water cannon to break up the demonstration on Wednesday in the northern city of San Pedro Sula. Police officers chased some of the protesters into an opposition radio station, whose employees were forced to evacuate because of the tear gas.

Efrain Hernandez, 66, died in hospital on Thursday, police said in a statement. Hernandez, who sold lottery tickets in the area, had asthma. Three others were hurt, including one person who was struck in the face with a tear gas canister.

Police spokesman Hector Mejia said the demonstrators were intimidating a group of students participating in a government-organised march to mark the 189th anniversary of Honduras' independence from Spain.

The protesters - some of whom were students themselves - denied that, saying police attacked them without provocation.

"Dozens of students were savagely beaten," said Orfilia Mejia, a former opposition congresswoman and mother of Aristides Mejia, the vice president under Zelaya.

More:
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/one-dead-in-honduras-protests-20100917-15fku.html

[Judi Lynn]

6. Critical Honduran reporter survives shooting attack

Critical Honduran reporter survives shooting attack

New York, September 16, 2010--Honduran authorities must fully investigate an attempted shooting on Tuesday of journalist Luis Galdámez Álvarez, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Unidentified gunmen in the capital, Tegucigalpa, shot at Galdámez outside his home, he told CPJ. Galdámez was uninjured.

Galdámez, a reporter for the national broadcaster Radio Globo and Globo TV, was going into his house in the neighborhood of Villa Centroamericana around 11:30 p.m. when unidentified gunmen hiding behind bushes fired at him at least eight times, the journalist told CPJ. Galdámez and his son fired back at the assailants, the press said. The reporter said he and his son purchased guns after unidentified men shot him in his car in 2005.

Local authorities have not yet identified any suspects or possible motives for the attack, the journalist said.

Galdámez said he has been receiving death threats since the Honduran military ousted President Manuel Zelaya in June 2009. He is widely known for his criticism of the coup and the government of President Porfirio Lobo, and regularly reports on government corruption and human rights abuses allegedly committed by law enforcement during his news program "Seeking the Truth" (Tras la Verdad), the news director of Radio Globo David Romero told CPJ.

More:
http://cpj.org/2010/09/critical-honduran-reporter-survives-shooting-attac.php