Honduran President's NOV 6 Declaration

From The Alliance for Global Justice and the School of the Americas Watch:


We are extremely concerned about the situation in Honduras, where SOA graduates overthrew the democratically elected government on June 28, 2009. An agreement that was brokered last week between representatives of President Zelaya and the coup regime was supposed to “return the holder of executive power to its pre-June 28 state” but it turns out it was just another stalling tactic by the coup regime.

[Nicaragua Network note: U.S. Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) said that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Assistant Secretary Thomas Shannon had assured him that the US would recognize the outcome of the Honduran elections regardless of whether Manuel Zelaya was reinstated. This is unacceptable.] 

Read a statement from Honduran President Manuel Zelaya below.


SOA Watch supports the three key demands that the National Front of Resistance Against the Coup in Honduras has put forward:

• the return to constitutional order with the reinstatement of the legitimate president, Manuel Zelaya Rosales

• respect for the sovereign right of the Honduran people to establish a National Constituent Assembly for the purpose of refounding their nation

• punishment for those who have violated human rights.

Join us in calling the White House and leave a message for President Barack Obama and Dan Restrepo (Special Assistant to the President and National Security Council Senior Director for Western Hemisphere Affairs) at 202-456-1111 or 202-456- 1414 and the State Department and leave a message for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Assistant Secretary Thomas Shannon (202-647-4000) telling them to not recognize the coup regime’s elections that are scheduled for November 29. President Zelaya must be reinstated!

Statement by Honduran President Manuel Zelaya:
PRESIDENCY OF THE REPUBLIC
From the Desk of the President
Tegucigalpa November 6, 2009
[Translation by Patricia Adams, The Quixote Center. Original Spanish version below.]
DECLARATION 

Our weapons are ideas, our struggle is peaceful. Agreement Failed because of Micheletti’s Failure to Comply.

In the face of the mockery that Mr. Micheletti has made of the Honduran People and the International Community: boycotting the Tegucigalpa/San Jose Agreement; letting the deadline for the creation of the Government of Unity pass without convening the National Congress, as is within his power and responsibility to do per the written agreement; the lack of a will to fulfill the Agreement in both letter and spirit is clear; ignoring the Plan Arias proposal, as well as the OAS and the UN resolutions; we declare that the Agreement has been a failure, because of the failure of the de facto regime to comply with the commitment to organize and install a government of unity and national reconciliation by this date; a government which should by law be presided over by the President elected by the People, José Manuel Zelaya Rosales.

1. We are not willing to give up the rights of the people by legitimating this Coup d’Etat.

2. We do not accept the militarization of society nor that the President of Honduras be named by the elite of the Armed Forces.

3. Democracy is the highest good of society and is the only path for confronting the problems of the third poorest economy in Latin America, and therefore we are not willing to be cheated nor that our Democracy be robbed from us.

4. The permanent violations of Human Rights, the cancellation of public freedoms, the confiscation of communication media, as well as the status of the President elected by the people who is surrounded by the military inside the Brazilian Embassy and the political witch hunting, is all proof of the preparation of an enormous Political-Electoral fraud on November 29th.

5. We announce that we will completely ignore this electoral process and the results of the aforementioned evils, elections under a dictatorship are a fraud for the people.

6. We invite the Ministers of the OAS to make immediate pronouncements about the actions of the government legitimately elected by the people of Honduras, and to continue to condemn and ignore this de facto regime.

7. On behalf of the people, we thank the International Community, the OAS, Secretary Insulza, the ex- President of Chile Mr Ricardo Lagos Escobar, and the US Labor Secretary Mrs Hilda Solís.

Weekend of Witness: "Love begins where violence ends."

SOUTHWEST WEEKEND OF WITNESS TO END TORTURE, NOVEMBER 14-15, 2009

 

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

 

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 14

 

1 ­ 4 p.m.       Workshop/Teach-in on Human Rights

Teach-in will be led by Prof. Randall Amster from Prescott College and Russell Crawford with NAU Peace and Justice

 

Held at Southside Presbyterian Church, 317 E. 23rd St., Tucson, AZ -One block south of 10th Ave and 22nd St. in Tucson, AZ

 

4-6:30 p.m.             Sign-making and Community-building Event

Simple supper served for donation

Also held at Southside Presbyterian Church, 317 E. 23rd St., Tucson, AZ

 

7 ­ 8 p.m.                  Healing Ritual and Music

Music provided by Ted Warmbrand and Francisco Herrera

Held at Southside Presbyterian Church, 317 E. 23rd St., Tucson, AZ

 

 

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 15

Note:  For those who wish, carpooling has been organized to leave from Borderlinks (620 S. 6th Ave, Tucson) at 10:15 to allow at least 90 minutes for the trip to Sierra Vista, which is 72 miles southeast of Tucson (east on I-10, then south on Hwy. 90, then east on Fry Blvd.  Hwy. 90 is also called Buffalo Soldier Trail.)

 

Noon - 3 p.m.  No to Torture Rally, followed by a Procession and Presence at the Ft. Huachuca Main Gate

Rally is at Len Roberts Park at E. Theater Dr. and N. Carmichael Ave. in Sierra Vista, AZ (from the main gate of Ft. Huachuca take Fry Blvd east to N. Canyon Dr and go north to Theater Dr.)

 

Speakers, musicians

 

Bring brown bag or picnic lunch, beverages, hat, sunscreen, folding chair, appropriate signs, and walking shoes if you will be in the procession.

 

The park has restrooms and some parking but carpooling is encouraged. There are fast food and cafe options all along Fry Blvd.

 

No to Torture Procession Note: A Vigil of Presence across from Ft. Huachuca's main gate on the east side of Buffalo Soldiers Trail and Fry Blvd. follows the park Rally. We will also have a presence at one of the private contractor's office nearby.  (Please note that we are no longer allowed to be in the empty lot where vigils have taken place in past years.  We will need to vigil in the sidewalk area.)

 

The gate is a little less than a mile from Len Roberts Park. Counter-demonstrators are expected and peacekeepers will be aiding us in our procession. We will allow a half-hour for the transition from the park to the gate. Those not walking may drive near the gate and park in the neighborhood east of the gate.

 

All these events are sponsored by Southwest Witness, Tucson SOA Watch, and Torture on Trial in solidarity with SOA Watch and their annual Vigil & Action at Ft. Benning, Georgia on November 20-22 (see http://soaw.org/)

More information: http://southwestwitness.org/ and http://tortureontrial.org/ or 520. 820-7784

WHY WE PROTEST AT FT. HUACHUCA

A Statement of Southwest Witness Against Torture - www.southwestwitness.org

October 2009

Gandhi teaches us that nonviolence needs to be practiced in places of institutionalized violence.

We practice nonviolence at Ft. Huachuca--headquarters of U.S. Army military intelligence training--to protest the policy of cruelty our country has carried out against  captives in the so-called ³War on Terror.²

We practice nonviolence at Ft. Huachuca to open dialogue with soldiers and commanders about their rights and obligations to report cases of torture and cruel treatment. We call on enlisted personnel to speak publicly about their training and any abuses they have observed.

We practice nonviolence at Ft. Huachuca to protest our government¹s increasing use of private contractors--with little to no oversight or accountability--both as instructors and as part of interrogation teams in the field.

We practice nonviolence at Ft. Huachuca to call for civilian, human-rights centered oversight of all interrogation training and practice, which must include absolute prohibition of cruel treatment and command responsibility for any violation of this prohibition.

Our nonviolent presence joins growing, deepening movements throughout the world calling for an end to war and torture everywhere. We act in solidarity with the campaign to close the School of the Americas/Western Hemispheric Institute for Security Cooperation at Ft. Benning, Georgia, where the testimony of torture survivors has informed our outrage and moved us to action. We know that torture diminishes the humanity of both perpetrator and those who are tortured. It damages the very soul of our country.

We are told that basic training in military interrogation at Ft. Huachuca respects the Geneva Conventions and follows the U.S. Army Field Manual. Yet, despite the efforts of many honorable soldiers and commanders who respect human rights, this training has been inadequate to prevent abuses of prisoners in U.S. custody at Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib and other military prisons and secret detention centers around the world.

What is being taught in the field and in advanced courses about interrogation? What is happening in this dark space between training and the field? Has the policy of cruelty practiced by some U.S. military, CIA, FBI, and private agencies been integrated into military doctrine and advanced training?  Does such activity take place at Ft. Huachuca?

We understand that secrecy and deception are part of the nature of military intelligence. We challenge this institutionalized silence, because torture and cruelty betray not only the Constitution of the United States, but who we are as a people. In a democratic society, such silence must not prevail.
 
To break this silence, interrogators and all other personnel (including private contractors) must be taught when and how to resist illegal orders that violate the laws of war, the Geneva Conventions and the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. They must be taught their obligation to speak out against such orders, and to report abuses to their superiors. And they must receive guarantees that speaking out will not lead to retaliation or punishment.

Ft. Huachuca¹s role in past military involvement in torture training must also be brought to light. Such involvement includes the creation of notorious manuals used at the School of the Americas to teach Latin American military personnel how to torture. Undoubtedly, records about past and contemporary use of torture exist at Ft. Huachuca. We call for the release of all such information, both past and present.

It is time for a light to shine on the darkness that has been hidden behind the walls of Ft. Huachuca.  

Monsignor Oscar Romero of El Salvador said, "Love begins where violence ends."  To end the violence of torture and war we will stand at the gates of Ft. Huachuca.   Together let¹s build a world without torture.

From SOA Watch on the Coup in Honduras

this comes from SOA Watch via CODE Pink Phoenix,s list-serve:


Since June 28th, you have joined with our friends in Honduras to help return democracy to their country. As a result, your actions are now bearing fruit.

Earlier this week, the SOA graduate-backed Honduran military coup regime refused all diplomatic options to return democracy. The U.S. State Department responded by asserting that visas to Hondurans would no longer be granted under the coup. Late yesterday State Department officials made it clear that they are considering legally defining the situation as a "military coup." This would create an automatic cut-off of all remaining aid to Honduras.

The coup regime immediately responded by saying that they would allow the rightful President Zelaya to return with amnesty, but not as president. Clearly the coup leaders are caving to the pressure. We need you to act now to return democracy to Honduras. Please make two very important phone calls this morning!

1.) Call the State Department at 202-647-5171 or  1-800-877-8339 and ask for Secretary Clinton. Deliver the following message: "Legally define the de facto regime in Honduras as a military coup and cut off all aid to Honduras until President Zelaya is unconditionally reinstated."

2.) Call the White House at 202-456-1111 and repeat the same message "Legally define the de facto regime in Honduras as a military coup and cut off all aid to Honduras until President Zelaya is unconditionally reinstated."

Thanks,

Liz, Luciana, Mike, Roy, Pam, Eric, Jake, Pablo, Lisa and Hendrik

SOA Watch

Save the date: November 20-22, 2009 - Vigil and Nonviolent Direct Action to Close the SOA. Fore more information, visit www.SOAW.org/november

School of the Americas Annual Vigil

The annual vigil to close down the SOA/WHINSEC will take place from November 20-22, 2009 in Columbus, Georgia, home to the School of the Americas. Thousands of people from all over the Americas will converge at the gates of Fort Benning to keep the pressure on Congress and the Obama administration. Come to Columbus to participate in the educational (and fun!) workshops and the deeply moving vigil.


Last year’s vigil closely followed President Obama’s election, and excitement was in the air. However, the struggle to close down the SOA/WHINSEC continues with the new administration. Join social movement leaders, civil rights activists, anti-war veterans, union organizers, students, and religious leaders, as we gather once again to take a stand against the broken foreign policy represented by the SOA/WHINSEC.