Honduras: Dawn of General Strike

Honduras: Dawn of General Strike
by Gabriela Gurvich
There was a curfew until 6 AM. The city is militarized. Hondurans remain in the streets, demanding the return of their president, Manuel Zelaya, keeping a vigil all night.

This Monday morning began in Honduras with people demanding the return of democracy, ready for struggle. There was a curfew until 6 AM. The city is militarized, but Hondurans remain in the streets, demanding the return of their president, Manuel Zelaya.


People held an all-night vigil at the gates of the presidential palace, which is occupied by soldiers. Zelaya supporters are trying to talk to soldiers, pleading them not to betray their country. Adriana Sívori, a TeleSur correspondent, said that soldiers have been deployed and that they have fenced the area with cars and tanks.

The protesters vow that if the de facto president, Roberto Micheletti, tries to enter the presidential palace, they will not allow it, because it is the home of their legitimate president.

A bonfire is burning about 500 meters from the government palace, and both the youth of the Democratic Unification Party and other organizations opposed to the coup have set up barricades on the main access roads to the zone of protests.

"We Want Mel" and "No to the Coup d'État" are some of the slogans chanted by the speakers, audible all the way up to the government palace, occupied by the perpetrators of the coup.

On Sunday, political and social organizations formed the Popular Resistance Front, which called on the public to go on a general strike of citizens, and trade unions, peasant organizations, and student groups will be participating, beginning this Monday.

Marches and rallies across the country to be held on Monday have been announced as well.

The presidential palace remains surrounded by military tanks, while people hang in there to protest.

Sívori reported that at the international airport foreigners and visitors are trying to leave the country before militarization.
The original article "Honduras amaneció de paro general" was published by YVKE Mundial on 29 June 2009, at 8:51 AM. Translation by Yoshie Furuhashi and published at Monthly Review Zine.