Our meeting was chaired by the FNRP coordinator for the state of Morazan where the capitol Tegulcigalpa is located. Coincidentally, his name is also Porfirio, Porfirio Ponce. I was impressed by how many of the leaders were present, maybe 15, including the “grandmother” of the movement, 82 year old Yolanda Chevaria. Porfirio gave some background to the current state of the resistance. As we had heard, this is the first time in the long history of repressive governments of Honduras that there has been a national, organized, political movement against a state run by and in the service of the wealthy. However, they didn’t start from scratch.
Since 2000 there had been a nation-wide coalition called the “Bloque Popular” of social activist organizations, and it became stronger after the election in 2005 of President Manuel “Mel” Zelaya. When Zelaya began to confront strong right-wing opposition to his leadership, he sought the support of the Bloque and took some positions that favored the workers and poor, such as raising the minimum wage by 60% to $290 a month. (Later I will discuss other measures which won Zelaya the disfavor of the oligarchy and the CIA.) As a result, when he was overthrown by the military on June 28, 2009 - taken from his house in the middle of the night in his pajamas and flown to Costa Rica - the people streamed into the streets in a fury. The first few days of massive, spontaneous demonstrations were followed by months of intermitent, organized protests demanding that Zelaya be allowed to return.
Porfirio explained that at first the resistance was not coordinated. If they had been organized as they are today, they would have succeeded in reversing the coup. As it is, the FNRP had its first national assembly last February, electing 41 leaders and naming Zelaya as their General Coordinator. They set their tasks as organizing on the local level, training, and mobilizing. Their goal - to achieve a national constitutional assembly to rewrite the constitution to guarantee democratic participation and loosen the grip of the wealthy and the military on the country. Zelaya had proposed a national referendum to see if people wanted a Constituent Assembly, and this was used by his opponents as proof that he was trying to become a dictator.
The FNRP’s demands are l) Zelaya’s return, 2) a Constituent Assembly, 3) respect for human rights, an end to impunity, and dismantling of the military and political apparatus, and 4) recognition of the FNRP. As one member said, “We are a new people with a new conscience.”
One woman, the head of the Human Rights Division of the FNRP and also a nurse, told how she sees the results of government oppression arrive at the hospital every day in the form of corpses and malnourished children. “They violate the right to live!” she exclaimed. Later this same woman told me that they all know that within half an hour of leaving this building, any one of them could be shot dead by a sniper just for being active in the resistance. It is hard for me to imagine what that must feel like.
We asked the Hondurans what they want us to do. “Talk about the conditions here and ask why.” Several of them voiced the “why” as they see it: U.S. interference and government control of the media.
Some statistics from the Honduran newspaper, “La Tribuna” on May 8, 2011 help explain “the conditions” that fuel the popular resistance and give it the courage to face death rather than give in to fear and intimidation. The article was reporting on the Fourth United Nations Forum of Ministers of Development in Latin America. Honduras has 8 million inhabitants. 59.2% live below poverty. 36.2% live below extreme poverty, making this the 2nd or 3rd poorest country in the hemisphere. In rural areas unemployment is at 45.9%. Ten percent of the population receives 42.2% of the total income, while the poorest 10% receives 0.9% of the total income. Child mortality is 30% for children under 5 years old.
We got a glimpse of Honduran poverty when we visited Zacate Grande on the Pacific Coast. The purpose of our visit, manageable only by four-wheel drive pick-ups on a terrible road, was to lend support to a fledgling independent radio station located there. Zacate Grande is actually an island, but since its purchase by tycoon Facusse 35 years ago there is a paved causeway connecting it to the mainland. The island’s perimeter of 76 beaches has become the play land of the wealthy, while its interior agricultural land is claimed by Facusse in spite of the fact that it has been farmed for generations by the people who originated there. The schools in Zacate Grande have no books. There are three teachers for 63 children in grades 1-6. There is no clinic and no pharmacy. Four days a week someone comes from the mainland to provide health care. In contrast to the evident poverty, Facusee is claiming international carbon credits for having a forested mountain on the island, because trees produce oxygen.
The tiny radio station, a gift from Italian donors, is used not just to provide news and entertainment, but to mobilize the dispossessed and to educate those who work as maids and gardeners for the rich and want to protect their meager incomes. As it stands now about 60% of the residents are with the Popular Resistance and 30% are opposed to the resistance and to the radio station. As the station is a thorn in the side of Facusse and his cronies, its supporters are in danger. Three weeks before we arrived one of the leaders was shot in the leg by a Facusse guard, part of his private militia
Thanks to the radio, there was a successful protest after 40 campesinos were arrested out of their homes at 4 a.m.for “stealing” their land. Demanding release of their neighbors, people blocked the causeway, and 24 hours later the men were freed. But the situation remains volatile, as Facusee is putting up fences around the land that the campesinos are farming. Maybe it goes without saying, but a campesino without land, is a man without life - with nowhere to use his skills and no means to feed his family. I think this is why they stand up to Facusse and his thugs who operate with total impunity.
Porfiriio Ponce
Zacate Grande Radio Station
Broadcast Room
Living conditions
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