Civic Council of People’s and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH)
The Civic Council of People’s and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH) condemns before national and world public opinion the attempted coup launched during the night of June 24, 2009 against the constitutional government of Manuel Zelaya Rosales and the Honduran people and its most important aspirations. This action is a desperate response by right-wing forces and their allies to frustrate the people’s will to find a democratic path for national transformation.
The reactionary Right has been desperately trying to block a national referendum that will take place June 28 to ask Honduran society if it agrees to include in the November general elections a vote on the convocation of a national Constituent Assembly to draw up a new constitution.
This drive toward a coup was planned and carried out through collaboration between the fascist National Congress, the lords of the communication media, the Ministry of Public Safety, the country’s strongest businessmen, and the Armed Forces, who have acted in open defiance of government decisions. We therefore denounce the army for playing a role similar to that of the 1980s, when it was an agency for destabilization and repression. This campaign, which culminated in an outrageous act of aggression against the Honduran people, was won support from some sectors of the Evangelical and Catholic hierarchy, who have encouraged, justified, and acted as middlemen for the coup-like actions.
We also denounce the interference and involvement of the United States government and its ambassador to Honduras. Informed in advance of these actions, they quit the country, and called on the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, and other institutions under their influence to do the same. This clearly shows their complicity with the pro-coup forces.We call on the ranks of COPINH and the Honduran people as a whole, whether or not they are organized, to mobilize in their communities, villages, or cities, and especially in Tegucigalpa, to give expression to their defiance and indignation. We call on them not to be intimidated by the terrorist media campaign unleashed against the people’s expressed will, and against its right to imagine and desire a new country with justice and equity.
We call on the international community to speak out decisively against this attack on the Honduran people and to express its solidarity with the people and support for their human rights.
We call for intensification of the organized struggle to establish a Popular and Democratic National Constituent Assembly now, at this historic juncture for our homeland.
Finally, COPINH recognizes Manuel Zelaya Rosales as the only constitutional president of the republic and reject any “substitute” imposed by de-facto and imperialist power.
With the power of our ancestors, Iselaca, Lempira, and Etempica, we raise our voices for life, justice, dignity, liberty, and peace.Adopted in the city of La Esperanza, Intibucá, June 24, 2009, by the Civic Council of People’s and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH)
For Spanish text, see http://alainet.org/active/31224
Translated by John Riddel
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