The former president of Honduras and current coordinator of the Resistance Front (FNRP), Manuel Zelaya, celebrated having reached over one million signatures for a Constituent Assembly.

In a message to the Hondurans, said the people, only sovereign, celebrate “his decision to convene for a National Constituent Assembly and demand the return of their president with guarantees”.

He said that 28 June, 2009, the day of the coup that overthrew him, they had been gathering half a million signatures which were discredited and denounced for being forged.

Therefore, he remarked that one year after the coup “in spite of persecution, harassment and violence, they have increased to one million people convinced of the need for change”.

On the other hand, the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organisations (COPINH) proposed that once collected, all the signatures would be delivered by Zelaya to the High-Level Committee of the United Nations (UN) of Human Rights.

In addition, signatures should be submitted to the Bolivian Alternative for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA), the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) and the Central American Integration System (SICA).

The proposal seeks to reclaim at the international level “the legitimate right of the people to self-convene a Constituent Assembly”.

They consider that delivering the signatures at the request of Porfirio Lobo’s government “would be to admit it”.

The Front is aiming to reach 1,250,000 signatures for 15 September, the day that celebrates the independence of the country.

Story courtesy of Agencia Pulsar, a news agency run by AMARC-ALC network of community radios

The former president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya Rosales, accepted the position of coordinator of the Executive Committee of the National Resistance Front (FNRP).

The First National Assembly of the Front, celebrated in Tocoa, department of Colón, decided to name Zalaya for the position.

For its part, the former president accepted the position through a letter in which he promised to fight to end impunity for crimes committed by those responsible for the coup that ousted him.

Zelaya said that he accepts the proposed position “without reservations of any nature.”

In addition, he said that the committee will be able to form the National Constitutional Assembly and construct a new Constitution of Honduras.

The call for a Constitutional Assembly is a focal demand of the Resistance.

In fact, the Front conducted a campaign of collecting signatures to be able to organize it. They have gathered more than 600,000 signatures.

Finally, the former president sustained that he would rather “die a thousand times defending the people” than to allow the punishment of the coup supporters’ crimes and murders to continue.

Manuel Zalaya Rosales was deposed of his position through a coup d’état on 28^th June 2009. That same day he formed the Resistance Front (FR).

Currently, the former head of state is living in exile in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

Story courtesy of Agencia Pulsar, a news agency run by AMARC-ALC network of community radios.

US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton announced on Thursday that the United States would be restoring financial aid to Honduras, which was suspended after the former president Manuel Zalaya was toppled by a military coup on 28th June 2009. Under the program, Honduras is set to receive over $30m.

Speaking during her visit to Costa Rica, one of the final stops in her tour of Latin America, Clinton told the press “We think that Honduras has taken important and necessary steps that deserve the recognition and the normalisation of relations.”

The steps that Clinton referred to were the election of Honduras’s current president, Porfirio Lobo Sosa, who took power in January this year. After a period of turmoil following last year’s coup, Lobo was elected in polls presided over by an interim government installed by the military. Several countries have refused to recognise the results, as the elections took place without the restitution of the ex President Zelaya, and were boycotted by several members of the opposition.

Clinton has pressed other American countries to recognise Lobo, saying that while it was “their right to wait” to resume relations with Honduras, she didn’t “know what they’re waiting for”.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) followed suit with Clinton, as just one day after her statement it released $160m for Honduras, from accounts that had formerly been frozen.

However, several countries in the region including Argentina, Brazil and Venezuela have refused to resume ties with Honduras, maintaining that Lobo was elected in an environment that was unconstitutional. Appearing in a meeting with Clinton on Wednesday, Brazil’s foreign minister Celso Amorim stated that, while he believed that some of Lobo’s actions since taking office had been positive, a military coup is “not the kind of thing that can be easily absorbed.”

As well as the misgivings of Latin American leaders, Clinton has received a letter from the United States Congress, condemning human rights abuses in Honduras against opponents of the current government. Members of congress wrote that they “denounced the continuation of assassination, persecution and abuse against leaders of the resistance opposed to the coup of the 28th June”.

Honduras’ top military chiefs have been ordered not to leave the country as they await trial for the deposition of President Manuel Zelaya which took place last June. The proceedings will begin on Thursday 21st January, when the six commanders have been demanded to appear in court by the head of the Supreme Court.

They have been charged with abuse of authority after orchestrating Zelaya’s removal and forced exile in which he was seized by soldiers at his home and put on a flight to Costa Rica. The deposed President had clashed with the Congress, the military and the courts over a rewriting of the constitution in which he planned to extend his term in office.

Earlier this month, prosecutors charged the six men with abuse of power for sending Mr Zelaya out of the country. Under the Honduran constitution, it is illegal to forcibly remove Honduran citizens from the country.

“We will concentrate on showing the facts and they want to face this process to prove the charges are baseless,” defence lawyer Juan Carlos Sanchez told the Associated Press.

Members of the military high command, including armed forces chief of staff General Romeo Vasquez,
appeared on Thursday 14th January to hear the charges against them. They have been ordered by the court’s president, Jorge Rivera, to stay in the country, report regularly to the court authorities and be present to testify when the initial proceedings begin next week.