Honduran Protest

by Rev. Don Coleman

SOAW/Honduras

Approximately 75 people gathered in front of the Honduran Consulate in Chicago on Sunday, November 26. The group was protesting the rigged Honduran elections taking place that very day.

On June 28 a military coup d’etat took place in Honduras with the military arresting President Jose Manuel Zelaya Rosales. Leaders of the coup were trained at Fort Benning (Columbus, Georgia) by the School of the Americas (SOA).

U.S. human rights delegations to Honduras have verified systematic abuse of human rights since the coup.  They saw evidence of raids, detention, physical abuse, and intimidation on the part of the Honduran state security agents.

The demonstration in Chicago was an act of solidarity with the people of Honduras.  Rev. Dan Dale, pastor of Wellington Avenue United Church of Christ, led the gathering in prayer and read aloud the names of the 25 martyrs killed since the coup.  In typical SOAW style, as names were called out, people responded: PRESENTE.  Martyrs sacrificed continue to be a living presence.  

The photo to the right is of Hondurans in civil resistance surrounding the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa to greet President Zelaya, ousted by the coup.  That morning, coup regime troops attacked them violently, sending 24 to the hospital.