Honduras

Damage from storm Agatha to worsen Guatemala hunger

Posted June 6th, 2010 by Megan Rowling
in

Humanitarian news website Reuters AlertNet reports that the number of Guatemalans going hungry is set to rise as the Central American nation faces more food shortages after devastating floods washed away crops.

Agatha, the first named storm of this year's Pacific hurricane season, lashed Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador last weekend, killing at least 180 people - most of them Guatemalan - and leaving tens of thousands homeless.

Strong winds and torrential rains in Guatemala, which recorded the highest rainfall in over 60 years, triggered landslides and severe flooding, washing away fields of maize, banana, sugar cane and coffee.

"We are facing a very difficult situation. Without doubt the food crisis is going to get worse and we can expect to see more cases of malnutrition," Rubelci Alvarado, programme manager with Save the Children, told AlertNet by phone from Guatemala City.

UK govt says Honduras elections not 'valid'

Posted December 3rd, 2009 by Megan Rowling
in

A press release from the office of Colin Burgon MP welcomes comments by Foreign Office Minister Chris Bryant this week that the Honduran elections held on Sunday cannot be "valid" as they did not take place under elected President Manuel Zelaya. 

In a House of Commons debate on Tuesday December 1, Bryant said: “We made it clear before the elections that we believed that President Zelaya should not have been removed from power, and that if the elections were to be valid, they had to be engaged in under President Zelaya."

Bryant added: "Without his return before the end of his term, which is at the end of January, it will be impossible to believe that those were proper elections. However, we recognise and welcome the fact that the elections that did take place did so in a peaceful situation."

For the full text of the media statement, see below.

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Latin American leaders shun Honduras election results

Posted December 2nd, 2009 by Megan Rowling
in

Inter Press Service reports on how Brazil, Argentina and most other Latin American countries are refusing to accept the results of the November 29 presidential elections in Honduras, which were won by Porfirio Lobo, a conservative rancher and candidate of the de facto government. 

The condemnation of many leaders in the region clashes with US efforts to push for international recognition of the poll organised by the regime that has been in power since the June 28 coup.

For the full story: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49492

Factory employment rights under threat

Posted November 22nd, 2009 by paddaniels
in
Bosses have used the coup to squeeze workers, says Laia Blanch of anti-poverty organisation War on Want.
COLECTIVA DE MUJERES Hondureñas (Honduran Women’s Collective – CODEMUH) is a women-led rights organisation and long-term partner of War on Want that works to empower women workers in Honduras’ Export Processing Zones (EPZs). Over the last 20 years, the maquiladora industry has become an integral part of the Honduran economy. CODEMUH has monitored and documented violations of human and employment rights in its garment factories, especially among women workers.  

Women lead resistance

Posted November 22nd, 2009 by paddaniels
in
Katherine Ronderos, a women’s rights officer at the Central America Women’s Network (CAWN), visited Honduras during the recent turmoil and was an eyewitness when ousted President Zelaya slipped back into the country in September and took refuge in the Brazilian embassy. She talks to Cheryl Gallagher about the women who have been at the forefront of the resistance and the threat the coup poses to women’s rights.
KATHERINE RONDEROS already had a research trip to Honduras planned when Zelaya was dramatically ousted from office. The initial purpose of the visit had been to monitor a partnership programme funded by the National Lottery to tackle violence against women. However, Ronderos also found herself on a fact-finding mission to explore how the coup was affecting the women’s movement.

US right uses coup to undermine Obama

Posted November 22nd, 2009 by paddaniels
in
The Honduran crisis highlights the weakness of Washington’s policies on Latin America, writes Helen Yuill.
BARACK OBAMA’S ELECTION in November 2008 was cause for cautious optimism in Latin America for more respectful relations with the US. Speaking at a Summit of the Americas in April, Obama talked of a new alliance of the Americas based on equal partnerships and mutual respect. However, faced with other priorities and an increasingly ferocious attack from the domestic right, little has changed and Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega’s warning that “he [Obama] is president of an empire and that empire has rules that he can’t change” has proved soberingly accurate.

Honduras coup sends shock waves across region

Posted November 22nd, 2009 by paddaniels
in
The crisis in Honduras has had serious political, social and economic repercussions throughout Central America, a region still experiencing the the dark consequences of the wars of the 1980s and early 1990s. Toni Solo examines the impact on Nicaragua.
IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING the coup, Nicaragua’s FSLN-led coalition government gave refuge to President Manuel Zelaya and played a key diplomatic role in coordinating a regional response through the Central American Integration System (SICA). Meetings were also held at the highest level of the countries in the left-wing Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA). The measures agreed included a 48-hour trade embargo against Honduras.

Demonstration for reinstatement of Zelaya - Nov 4, London

Posted November 3rd, 2009 by Megan Rowling
in

The Emergency Committee Against the Coup in Honduras is organising a protest at the US Embassy in London on the evening of Nov 4 to demand that the recent power-sharing deal be implemented and President Zelaya returned to power.
 
PROTEST AT THE US EMBASSY!
Reinstate President Zelaya Now! Defend human rights in Honduras!
Wednesday November 4, 5.30-7.30pm

At the US Embassy, 24 Grosvenor Square, London, W1A 1A.

A deal was reached last week in Honduras that should see the return of President Zelaya to office. But so far this has not been implemented. There are already many reports that this will be delayed by those opposed to the return of Zelaya, including in the Supreme Court and Congress, which both have to approve the deal. President Manuel Zelaya has warned about a possible "manipulation" by the coup government after signing the agreement that could return him to power and end the crisis in his country.

Public meeting on restoring democracy in Honduras - Oct 14, London

Posted October 12th, 2009 by Megan Rowling
in

RESTORE DEMOCRACY IN HONDURAS
Public Meeting — Wednesday 14 October, 7.30pm

No more dictators in Latin America
End all US financial support to the coup
Speakers include:
Ken Livingstone
Katherine Ronderos (Central America Women’s Network) will give an eyewitness account of her recent visit  to Honduras. 
Tony Lloyd MP, Chair, Parliamentary Labour Party
Sally Hunt, TUC General Council International Spokesperson
Colin Burgon MP
Alvaro Sanchez, Counsellor, Venezuela Embassy
Steve Hart, Regional Secretary, Unite London and Eastern
Karen Mitchell, Thompsons Solicitors
Dr Francisco Dominguez, Head of Latin America Studies, Middlesex Uni
Bernard Regan, National Secretary Cuba Solidarity Campaign
Plus videos and messages from Honduras

UK-based groups mobilise on Honduras coup

Posted September 22nd, 2009 by Megan Rowling
in

Since the Honduran president was forced from office, UK-based solidarity organisations and trade unions have grouped together to lobby for the return of democracy in the Central American country.

The Emergency Committee Against the Coup in Honduras has a blog with regular posts in English on the latest events. There is also video - for example, showing violence unleashed against crowds who had gathered at the Brazilian embassy to support President Zelaya who's sheltering there after his surprise return to the Honduran capital: http://committeeagainsthondurascoup.blogspot.com/

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