Vigil in LA to end Military Coups

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International Action Center
Wed., October 14th at 7PM Sharp
5274 W. Pico Blvd. Rm 205 Los Angeles
(7 blocks west of La Brea)

Vigil: End to Military Coups and Occupations in Honduras and Haiti

Thursday October 15th, 12-1

Downtown Federal Bldg (300 N. Los Angeles St.)


THE PEOPLE OF HONDURAS ARE CALLING ON US!

PROTEST TO THE STATE DEPARTMENT NOW!



Following the military coup in Honduras, the repression has escalated. We have received testimonies from women’s and community organizations that military and police have killed a number of people, arrested and tortured hundreds, including women. Scaffolds with sharp shooters have been set up outside the Brazilian embassy where elected President Zelaya and hundreds of supporters have taken refuge; military convoys surround all embassy exits. AP reports that Colombian paramilitaries have arrived. Radio and TV outlets have been threatened with closure if they report what’s happening. Channel 36 and Radio Globo are still off the air, their equipment was taken and has not been returned. All this despite a supposed lift of restriction on civil liberties. But Hondurans are not giving up. They are determined to defeat this return to military takeovers in Latin America. They have called on those of us in the US to pressure the State Department as well as President Obama to end all aid to Honduras so that coup government is forced to step down. We must act NOW!
Snipers on platform outside Brazilian Embassy in Honduras
Democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya was forced out of the country by a military coup in June 2009. He secretly returned to Honduras on September 21st and has been in the Brazilian Embassy ever since. The coup government headed by Roberto Micheletti has threatened him with arrest and thus far has refused calls from governments around the world to allow President Zelaya to finish his term in office, which would have ended in January. Despite propaganda to the contrary, President Zelaya could not have run for a second term. But he was tackling poverty, had raised the minimum wage and invested more in food security, health and education.

Governments in the region and around the world have condemned the coup. President Obama initially said that the coup was illegal and that the US did not recognize the Michelleti government. However, the US Department of State, headed by Hillary Clinton has been ambiguous in its statements – at least two former Clinton advisors (one from her recent Presidential campaign) have been speaking for the coup government. On the one hand, the US has said it supports talks to negotiate an end to the “crisis”, suspended some aid to Honduras, frozen bank accounts of coup leaders and revoked their visas. On the other hand, the US military based in Honduras seems to have been involved in the coup and most aid continues to flow to Honduras, enabling the coup to carry on.

According to a Honduran establishment pollster, the vast majority of Hondurans want the coup to end and a return of their democratically elected President. To get a further update on the urgent situation in Honduras , listen to the Sojourner Truth show for 10/13/09 - go to KPFK.org, click on Archives and click on Sojourner Truth.
TODAY: What you can do to demand an end to the coup in Honduras:
Starting today Call:

Honduras Desk, U.S. State Department 202-647-3482
State Department Main Switchboard 202-647-4000
White House 202-456-1111
OAS Washington Office 202-458-3000

Add your voice demanding that the US immediately end all aid to the coup government, that civil liberties be restored and that President Zelaya be reinstated.
THURSDAY: Join our Vigil to demand an
End to Military Coups and Occupations in Honduras & Haiti


On October 15th, take part in a Noontime Vigil at the downtown Federal Bldg (300 N. Los Angeles St) calling for an end to coups and occupations in Honduras and Haiti


United in our condemnation of the 2009 military coup in Honduras, we also condemn the 2004 US coup in Haiti and the UN occupation which carries on to this day. Haiti and Honduras have the lowest minimum wages, setting the standard for slave wages in the region – from sweatshops to banana production. President Aristide of Haiti and President Zelaya of Honduras enraged mulitnationals by raising the minimum wage and increasing spending on health and education. As the UN mandate in Haiti expires on October 14th 2009, we also join with the Haitian people in calling for an end to the occupation of Haiti, and for resources to go instead to rebuild Haiti’s infrastructure, community based food centers, indigenous based agriculture, hospitals and schools.


Haitians protest UN occupation

While governments in the region have actively stood against the coup in Honduras and are actively working for reinstatement of the democratically elected President Zelaya, most Latin American governments have collaborated with the coup in Haiti. The UN troops in Haiti are headed by Brazil with participants from Argentina, Bolivia, Canada, Chile, Croatia, Ecuador, France, Guatemala, Jordan, Nepal, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Sri Lanka, the US and Uruguay. Only Venezuela, Cuba and CARICOM which represents the English speaking Caribbean, have refused. We are calling for governments in Latin America to withdraw their troops from Haiti. We all owe a great debt to Haiti, the world’s first Black Republic, whose revolution made the way for ending slavery in the Americas. Haiti twice offered refuge to Simon Bolivar, the liberator of Latin America, and sent troops with Bolivar to fight for the liberation of the whole continent.

For info 323-276-9833, [e-mail], www.globalwomenstrike.net <http://www.globalwomenstrike.net/>
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