Forwarded from THE ORGANIZER, San Francisco:

EL ORGANIZADOR
P.O. Box 40009, San Francisco, CA 94140.
Tel. (415) 641-8616; fax: (415) 626-1217.
Correo: elorganizador@earthlink.net
PLEASE EXCUSE DUPLICATE POSTINGS
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November 18, 2009

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

We learned yesterday through articles posted on the international wire services that the Congress of Honduras will convene and decide on the reinstatement of ousted President Manuel Zelaya on December 2 -- that is, three days after the presidential elections will be held.

This announcement was made on November 17 by National Congress President Jose Alfredo Saavedra immediately after the arrival in Tegucigalpa of Craig Kelly, U.S. Under Secretary of State for Latin American Affairs. Kelly returned to Honduras, he said, with the aim of "relaunching the Tegucigalpa/San Jose Agreement."

Saavedra said the Congress will decide on the reinstatement of Zelaya after seeking the opinion of the Honduran Supreme Court, the Public Prosecutor, the Attorney General's Office, and the National Commissioner for Human Rights -- all of which are institutions that supported the June 28 coup that deposed democratically elected President Zelaya and backed the coup government.

This would appear to be a joke -- but it is anything but a joke. It is a travesty of the most basic democratic principles -- and it is happening ONLY because of the continued backing by the U.S. government of the de-facto regime of Roberto Micheletti. Without this U.S. backing, the tin-pot Micheletti dictatorship -- which has close to no popular support in its own country -- would have crumbled over night.

Early on, President Obama characterized the June 28 kidnapping and transfer of President Zelaya to Costa Rica as a "coup d'etat" and pledged to support Zelaya's immediate and uncondition return to Honduras. This stand was applauded widely across the hemisphere.

But no sooner had Obama made this statement than Hillary Clinton and the State Department conditioned Zelaya's return with a series of demands that violated the Honduran people's right to self-determination. Clinton rejected Obama's view that a military coup d'etat had occurred on June 28. She then placed both the perpetrators of the coup and the legitimate president of Honduras on equal footing and demanded that they form a coalition government of "national unity." And she then demanded that Zelaya abandon the effort to convene a new Constituent Assembly that would rewrite the 1982 Constitution, which was drafted under the supervision of the Reagan administration with the aim of converting Honduras into a military base from which to maintain tight control over the entire region.

Zelaya, to the chagrin of many of his followers, accepted the unacceptable terms of this San Jose Agreement -- an accord that the U.S. press later revealed was written in Washington and then sent to Costa Rican President Oscar Arias for him to make public.

Therein began a game by the Honduran regime, with U.S. backing, of putting forward one stalling tactic after another. The ultimate aim was to make it to the November 29 elections without Zelaya's return to office -- and then have the United States recognize the legitimacy of the elections and of the new government resulting from these elections. That would close this five-month chapter of "political instability."

But there was one major hitch in the de-facto regime's game plan: The Honduran people did not go along with this charade -- and nor could they be beaten, or starved, into submission. The National Resistance Front Against the Coup demanded the immediate and unconditional return of Zelaya, opposing the San Jose Agreement. For five months, despite the repression and the lack of funds, the people took to the streets day after day, week after week, in mass struggle.

Most important, the people and their fighting leadership did not abandon their call to establish a National Constituent Assembly that would draft a new and genuinely democratic Constitution -- one that established the sovereignty of the Honduran people over their nation and their resources, one that ended Honduran subordination to the United States via the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) and the military pact that established a U.S. base at Soto Cano (Palmerola).

Then came the salt added to an already bitter wound. On October 30, U.S. State Department representative Thomas Shannon brokered a deal that was hailed around the world as a breakthrough in the political stalemate: Zelaya would be returned to the presidency by November 5, in exchange for which Zelaya would constitute a government of national reconciliation with Micheletti, the call for a National Constituent Assembly would be dropped, and the November 29 elections would go forward with the support of all parties in dispute.

But even this deal was not to be. Shannon let the cat out of the bag when he told CNN en Español that the U.S. government would recognize the November 29 elections even if Zelaya were not reinstated prior to the elections. That closed the circle. No more charade was necessary. The U.S. was firmly behind the coup and the coup government -- and behind the prepared electoral fraud of November 29.

Today, the Micheletti regime is threatening all union leaders and activists who oppose these elections with the full power of State repression. Every day the Honduran papers are filled with such threats from elected officials at all levels. Voting in Honduras is mandatory, and those who do not vote -- or who do not vote the right way -- are subject to heavy fines and jail sentences. The Honduran people are once again under attack as the regime prepares its second coup d'etat.

Working people and supporters of democratic rights across the United States and internationally must demand that the Obama administration reverse course in Honduras by rejecting the legitimacy of the coup government and that of the November 29 elections. Already the governments of Brazil and Argentina, among many others across the Americas, have announced that these coup-orchestrated elections are a farce and will not be recognized. This, too, must be the stance of the U.S. government.

The national leadership of the AFL-CIO trade union federation has taken the lead in this battle for democracy. In a November 13 letter addressed to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka writes the following:

"Our position on the crisis has been developed in consultation with the Honduran labor movement, which is unequivocally opposed to the June 28 coup, to the continuation of the de facto regime, as well as to any future elections conducted by the Micheletti regime. ... The current environment in Honduras, including an illegitimate government in power, makes free, fair and open elections impossible."

We call upon all labor and community organizations, and all defenders of democratic rights, to join with the AFL-CIO in demanding that the Obama administration publicly reject both the legitimacy of the November 29 elections in Honduras and the legitimacy of the government emanating from these fraudulent elections.

In solidarity,

Rodrigo Ibarra and Alan Benjamin
Co-Editors
El Organizador

PLEASE EXCUSE DUPLICATE POSTINGS

[Note: The draft resolution below will be presented to the upcoming delegates' meeting of the San Francisco Labor Council. Given the emergency situation in Honduras today, we are sending it out to unionists and labor activists across the country as a model resolution for possible submission to your unions and labor councils. It can also be adapted for endorsement by community organizations. Please send us copies of any resolution you may adopt so that we can forward it to the National Resistance Front in Honduras. Thanks, in advance for your support. In solidarity -- Alan Benjamin and Dave Welsh, Delegates to San Francisco Labor Council]

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Draft Emergency Resolution on the Current Crisis in Honduras

Whereas, following the June 28, 2009 military coup in Honduras, the AFL-CIO National Convention  passed a resolution in September demanding immediate reinstatement of President Manuel Zelaya, restoration of all labor and democratic rights, and an immediate halt to all U.S. aid to the coup government; and

Whereas, since that time President Zelaya is still taking refuge in the Brazilian Embassy; the Honduran people led by the National Resistance Front Against the Coup continue to mount massive daily demonstrations against the coup regime; and the coup government continues to deploy the U.S.-trained army and police in an attempt to suppress the popular will and prevent the exercise of democratic rights; and

Whereas, a U.S.-brokered deal [the Tegucigalpa/San Jose Accords] to reinstate President Zelaya by November 5th -- in preparation for the Nov. 29th elections -- has unraveled. Nov. 5th came and went and the coup regime refused to restore Zelaya to the Presidency. As a result President Zelaya, denouncing the "bad faith" of the U.S. government, said the Tegucigalpa/San Jose Accords were "a dead letter." The National Resistance Front confirmed it could not participate in nor recognize the legitimacy of the Nov. 29th elections under these conditions; and

Whereas, mass tear-gassing and beating of protesters has continued. There is a total lack of political space for opposition candidates to campaign and for the expression of any dissident political opinion. Under the current coup regime, conditions for free, fair and open elections are non-existent; and
Whereas, the National Resistance Front has denounced the Nov. 29th elections as a scheme by "the de facto regime that is repressing the people and violating the civil and human rights of its citizens, with the goal of validating the dictatorship of the oligarchy." It said that participating in such an electoral exercise "would give legitimacy to the coup regime or its successor." The Front also stressed that "our stance in opposition to the electoral farce will remain firm even if President Zelaya is reinstated between now and Nov. 29th, since 20 days or less is too short a time to dismantle an electoral fraud many months in the making," and since there is no time for opposition candidates to mount a campaign.

Therefore be it resolved, that the ___________  [name of your union, council or organization] stand in solidarity with the heroic people of Honduras as they resist the savage repression of a military dictatorship, and fight to win real democracy and sovereignty for their country; and

Be it further resolved, that the ____________ send official letters to Congressional representatives and President Obama demanding that the U.S. government take strong measures against the repressive coup government in Honduras -- and whatever government may succeed it as a result of the "electoral farce" scheduled for Nov. 29th. These measures should include: 1) Immediately break off all political and economic ties with the coup government and its successor; 2) Recall the U.S. ambassador; 3) Establish an economic embargo on all trade and aid to Honduras; 4) Freeze the U.S. bank accounts of the coup plotters and deny them visas for U.S. travel; 5) Shut down U.S. military bases in Honduras; and

Be it further resolved, that the __________ demand that the U.S. government denounce and refuse to recognize the results of Nov. 29th elections or any electoral process organized under the repressive coup regime; and

Finally be it resolved, that the __________ make common cause with other labor and community organizations, to develop a reliable support network for the National Resistance Front against the Coup, and for the labor unions that are at the center of the Resistance movement in Honduras.