In reporting this story I was swarmed by a mob of Sandinista youth getting out of my taxi. They grabbed at my arms and my clothes, surrounded me and wouldn't let me walk, and launched a verbal tirade full of friendly phrases like "FUERA YANQUI!" (Get out Yankee!) as others in the crowd fired mortars at the U.S. embassy. When they wouldn't let me through I just engaged them and started trying to interview them, but none of them had the balls to talk on the record and the crowd around me dispersed one by one when I held out my arms with notebook in hand and said "Anyone here want to give me their name?" They just hung their heads. The rest of my time there the protesters sort of stared at me with this confusion as to why this gringo actually wanted to know what they thought and why they hadn't yet beaten me into the ground with their bats and sticks. I got out unscathed, and maybe an hour later the riot police showed up and tear-gassed the whole show.
By Mike Faulk and Tim Rogers
Nica Times Staff
MANAGUA – The streets of Nicaragua's capital once again became an unruly mob scene Thursday as roving bands of masked Sandinista youth, party fanatics and state workers took to the streets to protest what they claim is “U.S. interventionism” in their country's internal political affairs.
A group of several hundred Sandinistas protested aggressively outside the U.S. Embassy, launching mortars at the embassy building and spray painting anti-U.S. and pro-Sandinista graffiti on embassy property. Vandals, many of whom were bussed in for the protest, broke embassy security cameras, exterior lighting and attempted to destroy the signage for U.S. Consular Services.
Nicaraguan police assigned to protect the embassy stood by watching and didn't intervene, even when protesters spray painted the embassy walls next to where they were leaning.
In other parts of the capital, streets were blocked by similar protesters in several points in the city, prompting the United Nations to issue a warning to its employees to avoid affected areas.
“Death to the yanquis! Death to the empire!” screamed one Sandinista Youth leader into a microphone outside the U.S. Embassy. Others yelled revolutionary slogans once used against the Somoza dictatorship in the 1970s.
Protesters –many of whom were masked and some wielding sticks, bats or rocks – demanded the ouster of U.S. Ambassador Robert Callahan in response to a speech he gave Oct. 28 to the Nicaraguan-American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM), in which he reiterated the U.S. government's concerns over the state of democracy in Nicaragua.
In his speech to the business chamber Wednesday afternoon, Callahan questioned the controversial ruling by Sandinista magistrates in the Supreme Court to overturn a constitutional ban on consecutive reelection and clear the way for President Daniel Ortega to run again in 2011 (NT, Oct. 30).
“From our point of view, the Supreme Court acted improperly and with unusual speed, in secret, with the participation judges from only one political movement and without any public debate or discussion,” Callahan said. “We think that an issue of such importance and concern for the future of Nicaragua's democracy deserves due deliberation and analysis.”
The Sandinistas responded furiously.
“That gringo can't tell us what to do,” said Andres Castillo, one of the Sandinista protesters outside the embassy Thursday afternoon.
“Let Nicaragua resolve Nicaragua's problems,” said another protester, Silvia Reyes. “This is the restitution of the rights of the people,” she said of Ortega's re-election, repeating the party line verbatim.
A U.S. Embassy spokesman declined to comment on the violence. But AMCHAM president Roger Arteaga told The Nica Times that the ambassador had called him to tell him what had happened and warn him that AMCHAM might also be targeted for similar vandalism.
AMCHAM responded by sending its staff home for the day and talking with police.
Arteaga, meanwhile, lamented the violence and the increasingly instability of Nicaragua.
“Attacking the U.S. Embassy is not going to resolve the problems of Nicaragua,” he said. “When ideas run out, the only thing left is force. And this government has run out of ideas.”
Thursday, October 29, 2009
At Night in Granada
GRANADA, Nicaragua – Monday I sat sweaty and exhausted in the back of a rickety old school bus two and a half months after boarding a Greyhound in Mobile, the sun setting behind me, its rays pouring in through open windows making the entire bus an explosive shade of orange. I closed my eyes, my memories played out the same way those mountains and all the ones before them scrolled past, bumping my way into the Granada city limits, a hundred faces, moments and emotions all behind me as quickly as I encountered them.
Then my feet were on the ground in Granada. That trip ended, another one began.
So this is my third night here, I’ve written one short article (about Honduras, naturally) and in the morning I’m headed to Managua to cover a student protest over budget cuts that will affect education funding. My first two days have been tranquilo, just wandering the city, running errands, getting adjusted. I really like the house I’m staying in here with Blake, which you can see pictures of and other spots I stopped at in Nicaragua over the weekend on my way down from Tegucigalpa here.
How do I properly reflect on the journey here? First of all, it doesn’t feel like one single trip. It’s been two and a half months, seems more like a year and yet feels like it only took a week to blow by. Every new town had new faces, I was hearing new stories and telling my story all over again. I’m not entirely the same person I was when I left, nor am I entirely the same person I was in Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras. I’m not trying to quantify this growth in terms of political boundaries, a rose by any other name and all that. Maybe Simon & Garfunkel put it best when they said
I was twenty-one years when I wrote this song
I’m twenty-three now but I won’t be for long
Time hurries on
And the leaves that are green turn to brown
Tonight I’m just caught between beginnings and endings and Spanish tiles. Sometimes it feels like the world only gets less certain the more I familiarize myself with it. The inevitable doesn’t come out from under its shroud at my convenience. Enjoying life is all about detachment from that reality and exercising precision with every other cognition.
Then my feet were on the ground in Granada. That trip ended, another one began.
So this is my third night here, I’ve written one short article (about Honduras, naturally) and in the morning I’m headed to Managua to cover a student protest over budget cuts that will affect education funding. My first two days have been tranquilo, just wandering the city, running errands, getting adjusted. I really like the house I’m staying in here with Blake, which you can see pictures of and other spots I stopped at in Nicaragua over the weekend on my way down from Tegucigalpa here.
How do I properly reflect on the journey here? First of all, it doesn’t feel like one single trip. It’s been two and a half months, seems more like a year and yet feels like it only took a week to blow by. Every new town had new faces, I was hearing new stories and telling my story all over again. I’m not entirely the same person I was when I left, nor am I entirely the same person I was in Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras. I’m not trying to quantify this growth in terms of political boundaries, a rose by any other name and all that. Maybe Simon & Garfunkel put it best when they said
I was twenty-one years when I wrote this song
I’m twenty-three now but I won’t be for long
Time hurries on
And the leaves that are green turn to brown
Tonight I’m just caught between beginnings and endings and Spanish tiles. Sometimes it feels like the world only gets less certain the more I familiarize myself with it. The inevitable doesn’t come out from under its shroud at my convenience. Enjoying life is all about detachment from that reality and exercising precision with every other cognition.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Standoff over Zelaya's return continues as negotiations stall
This article appears in the Oct. 21 daily online edition of The Tico Times.
By Mike Faulk
Nica Times Staff
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras – Another day, another proposal rejected in the negotiations between representatives of ousted President Manuel Zelaya and interim President Roberto Micheletti.
The renewed talks all but broke down Monday.
In responding to a bid last week from the Zelaya camp for Congress to decide whether the deposed leader will finish his term of office, Micheletti's negotiators proposed that they decide Zelaya's fate after seeking official opinions from Congress and the Supreme Court. Zelaya's negotiators soundly rejected that offer in fewer than two hours.
“That proposal is insulting,” said Víctor Meza, Zelaya's top negotiator.
Meza said Zelaya's team had no counterproposal and instead demanded the interim government make a better offer than the previous two. Micheletti negotiators had previously offered to let the same Supreme Court that ordered Zelaya's arrest on June 28 decide whether he should return to power.
Meza said both proposals were “offensive.”
“The dialogue isn't broken, but it's being obstructed,” he said.
Before Meza issued his response, Micheletti negotiator Vilma Morales stressed the need to take all the time that's needed in negotiations to reach a solution. She said she opposed Zelaya's attempts to exert pressure and set deadlines for negotiations.
Zelaya temporarily suspended talks in reaction to Micheletti's first proposal before they resumed Monday. On numerous occasions he has set and subsequently pushed back deadlines for an agreement to be reached before his team will pull out of talks.
“Deadlines don't work with dialogue,” Morales said.
Armando Aguilar, another Micheletti negotiator, said Monday's offer is the best compromise between the two original proposals.
“They didn't accept our proposal, we didn't accept theirs,” Aguilar said. “So the third option is to put the decision back under the control of this commission.”
Meza accused Micheletti of using the negotiations as a political instrument to win time as the countdown to the Nov. 29 presidential election continues.
Both commissions say they're in agreement on every issue between them except Zelaya's return to power. Zelaya already said he will give up his campaign for a constitutional assembly to rewrite the 1982 constitution, which critics saw as an attempt to abolish presidential term limits.
“Mr. Zelaya conceded all he could to help dialogue,” Meza said.
By Mike Faulk
Nica Times Staff
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras – Another day, another proposal rejected in the negotiations between representatives of ousted President Manuel Zelaya and interim President Roberto Micheletti.
The renewed talks all but broke down Monday.
In responding to a bid last week from the Zelaya camp for Congress to decide whether the deposed leader will finish his term of office, Micheletti's negotiators proposed that they decide Zelaya's fate after seeking official opinions from Congress and the Supreme Court. Zelaya's negotiators soundly rejected that offer in fewer than two hours.
“That proposal is insulting,” said Víctor Meza, Zelaya's top negotiator.
Meza said Zelaya's team had no counterproposal and instead demanded the interim government make a better offer than the previous two. Micheletti negotiators had previously offered to let the same Supreme Court that ordered Zelaya's arrest on June 28 decide whether he should return to power.
Meza said both proposals were “offensive.”
“The dialogue isn't broken, but it's being obstructed,” he said.
Before Meza issued his response, Micheletti negotiator Vilma Morales stressed the need to take all the time that's needed in negotiations to reach a solution. She said she opposed Zelaya's attempts to exert pressure and set deadlines for negotiations.
Zelaya temporarily suspended talks in reaction to Micheletti's first proposal before they resumed Monday. On numerous occasions he has set and subsequently pushed back deadlines for an agreement to be reached before his team will pull out of talks.
“Deadlines don't work with dialogue,” Morales said.
Armando Aguilar, another Micheletti negotiator, said Monday's offer is the best compromise between the two original proposals.
“They didn't accept our proposal, we didn't accept theirs,” Aguilar said. “So the third option is to put the decision back under the control of this commission.”
Meza accused Micheletti of using the negotiations as a political instrument to win time as the countdown to the Nov. 29 presidential election continues.
Both commissions say they're in agreement on every issue between them except Zelaya's return to power. Zelaya already said he will give up his campaign for a constitutional assembly to rewrite the 1982 constitution, which critics saw as an attempt to abolish presidential term limits.
“Mr. Zelaya conceded all he could to help dialogue,” Meza said.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Of freelance and soccer
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras - Yep, I'm still here. Three and a half weeks and counting.
My internship has already started and I've been filing stories for both the Nica Times and Tico Times, the latter I interned for in 2007. It's been fun reporting from here, but sometimes aggravating because it's one of those experiences that reminds me just how young I am and how much more I have to learn in this profession.
I spent all day yesterday at the Clarion Hotel where negotiations are going on between the Zelaya and Micheletti camps. They agree on everything except Zelaya's return to power and the way that might happen. It's painfully obvious that Zelaya's return to the presidency is the last thing Micheletti's people want, and the offers they've made for who gets to decide Zelaya's return (either the Supreme Court that ordered his arrest or Micheletti himself) have only infuriated the former president's already testy delegation of negotiators.
I set up my laptop in the hotel bar and filed stories from there while waiting for negotiators to come down to the lobby. As it got later in the afternoon and into the evening some of the maybe 50 other journalists trickled into the bar as well and started getting beers, vodka tonics, rum and cokes, etc. Bars are like candy shops for journalists, even more so when they're on the clock. All of a sudden a line of four journalists at the bar sat up straight and turned their heads as nervously as meerkats toward the lobby, where the rest of our herd was out of their seats and running for the conference room where it was just announced Micheletti's people would be speaking in a few minutes. I wound up getting near the front because one of Micheletti's negotiators walked slowly on his cell phone while journalists piled on top of each other behind him to try and get an exclusive. I slipped past them all and got in line behind the row of TV cameras already set up, my digital recorder and notepad pressed together between my fingers while I used my right hand to take notes. When the negotiators began talking a lot of the Honduran journalists wouldn't shut up, shouting commands at the people speaking "like Look here! Turn the volume up!" until suddenly all the journalists were shouting at each other to shut up.
Living with the herd is a vastly different experience from being a reporter in Anniston, where the circus sideshow act they call amayor and city council will call a "press conference" even though they know the only reporter who will show up is the one who is forced to cover them. That would be Megan Nichols, god bless her, who ought to be working for The New York Times.
It's definitely an experience that toughens me up though. Normally a story hangs on my ability to get someone on the phone at the right time, now it's an honest to Buddha strength and endurance test. Two hours later Zelaya's people showed up to reject the new offer by Micheletti's people, and a similar "running of the journalists" went down.
Barring any big developments in the negotiations, which Zelaya's top guy says are in a state of "obstruction" until Micheletti makes an honest proposal, I should be in Granada by this weekend. I've made money on this freelance venture, but in all I think I'll barely break even, or be slightly in the red, when it comes to money spent vs. money earned in Honduras. But hey, I didn't plan on making any money in Nicaragua either. It's all about the experience.
I also got to be here for when Honduras' soccer team qualified for the World Cup. It's been more than 20 years since they've qualified for the World Cup, and Micheletti decided it was so huge that he made the following day a national holiday. That night, like when one dog howls and more jump in, the honks from cars and trucks and buses full of gleeful Hondurans rose and rose into the night air along with bottle rocket bursts and gun shots. The USA qualified for the World Cup a few days before that, and from what I read there's no evidence of a similar celebration.
I went down to the street and stood outside with Cesar, one of the desk clerks at the Hotel Granada who has become all too familiar with their resident gringo journalist of nearly four weeks, and soaked up the atmosphere. Huge waves of people with their flags up and shirts off came rolling down the street shouting and clapping for joy. Honduras qualified after beating El Salvador that night 1-0 and by the U.S. not losing to Costa Rica in a 2-2 tie the same night. One group of teenagers was running by me when one guy pointed and said "Hey! United States! Gracias! Usa! Usa!" (Usa [oo-sa] in case you didn't get it, is the Spanish pronunciation of U.S.A. when you combine the letters as a word.)
So that's my story. It's dinner time in Tegucigalpa, there's a cold front moving through so it actually feels like fall in the South right now, and I feel like going for a walk. Take care chavos.
My internship has already started and I've been filing stories for both the Nica Times and Tico Times, the latter I interned for in 2007. It's been fun reporting from here, but sometimes aggravating because it's one of those experiences that reminds me just how young I am and how much more I have to learn in this profession.
I spent all day yesterday at the Clarion Hotel where negotiations are going on between the Zelaya and Micheletti camps. They agree on everything except Zelaya's return to power and the way that might happen. It's painfully obvious that Zelaya's return to the presidency is the last thing Micheletti's people want, and the offers they've made for who gets to decide Zelaya's return (either the Supreme Court that ordered his arrest or Micheletti himself) have only infuriated the former president's already testy delegation of negotiators.
I set up my laptop in the hotel bar and filed stories from there while waiting for negotiators to come down to the lobby. As it got later in the afternoon and into the evening some of the maybe 50 other journalists trickled into the bar as well and started getting beers, vodka tonics, rum and cokes, etc. Bars are like candy shops for journalists, even more so when they're on the clock. All of a sudden a line of four journalists at the bar sat up straight and turned their heads as nervously as meerkats toward the lobby, where the rest of our herd was out of their seats and running for the conference room where it was just announced Micheletti's people would be speaking in a few minutes. I wound up getting near the front because one of Micheletti's negotiators walked slowly on his cell phone while journalists piled on top of each other behind him to try and get an exclusive. I slipped past them all and got in line behind the row of TV cameras already set up, my digital recorder and notepad pressed together between my fingers while I used my right hand to take notes. When the negotiators began talking a lot of the Honduran journalists wouldn't shut up, shouting commands at the people speaking "like Look here! Turn the volume up!" until suddenly all the journalists were shouting at each other to shut up.
Living with the herd is a vastly different experience from being a reporter in Anniston, where the circus sideshow act they call amayor and city council will call a "press conference" even though they know the only reporter who will show up is the one who is forced to cover them. That would be Megan Nichols, god bless her, who ought to be working for The New York Times.
It's definitely an experience that toughens me up though. Normally a story hangs on my ability to get someone on the phone at the right time, now it's an honest to Buddha strength and endurance test. Two hours later Zelaya's people showed up to reject the new offer by Micheletti's people, and a similar "running of the journalists" went down.
Barring any big developments in the negotiations, which Zelaya's top guy says are in a state of "obstruction" until Micheletti makes an honest proposal, I should be in Granada by this weekend. I've made money on this freelance venture, but in all I think I'll barely break even, or be slightly in the red, when it comes to money spent vs. money earned in Honduras. But hey, I didn't plan on making any money in Nicaragua either. It's all about the experience.
I also got to be here for when Honduras' soccer team qualified for the World Cup. It's been more than 20 years since they've qualified for the World Cup, and Micheletti decided it was so huge that he made the following day a national holiday. That night, like when one dog howls and more jump in, the honks from cars and trucks and buses full of gleeful Hondurans rose and rose into the night air along with bottle rocket bursts and gun shots. The USA qualified for the World Cup a few days before that, and from what I read there's no evidence of a similar celebration.
I went down to the street and stood outside with Cesar, one of the desk clerks at the Hotel Granada who has become all too familiar with their resident gringo journalist of nearly four weeks, and soaked up the atmosphere. Huge waves of people with their flags up and shirts off came rolling down the street shouting and clapping for joy. Honduras qualified after beating El Salvador that night 1-0 and by the U.S. not losing to Costa Rica in a 2-2 tie the same night. One group of teenagers was running by me when one guy pointed and said "Hey! United States! Gracias! Usa! Usa!" (Usa [oo-sa] in case you didn't get it, is the Spanish pronunciation of U.S.A. when you combine the letters as a word.)
So that's my story. It's dinner time in Tegucigalpa, there's a cold front moving through so it actually feels like fall in the South right now, and I feel like going for a walk. Take care chavos.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Tegucigalpa daze
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras - I'm not sure where the time has gone in the hodge podge of decaying Lego blocks that make up this town. I think I fell out of that traveler's mindset when I started working again, then quickly developed a daily routine that consisted of little excitement and a lot of work that led to stories people were already paying the Associated Press for. I’ve also been suffering from allergies and a small bout with the stomach flu.
Plus I've spent way too much time the last two days with my head buried in “The Shining” by Stephen King, which I just finished. Not recommended reading for someone trapped in a decrepit old hotel all alone. Come take your medicine, doc.
I’m not all alone, per say. There’s a few couples here, and up until yesterday a family of about 10 Somali Muslims traveling through Latin America was also here. There were three young guys in the group, whose names I regretfully don’t remember, who would occasionally come up to me on the second floor balcony where I steal Internet and talk a little in English about traveling. They finished every sentence with a big bright smile, then stood around awkwardly reading over my shoulder. Sometimes one would just walk up smiling, not saying anything, put his hand on my shoulder and read my laptop screen for a second. I would look up at him and he was still smiling. Then just walk away. It was too amusing and harmless for me to protest.
No, I didn’t tell them that a guy I went to high school with is currently helping terrorists fight their government.
I finished a story for The Miami Herald today, but I have no idea when it will be published. Blake, who left Tegucigalpa for Granada today, hooked me up with that contact.
I’m sad I didn’t get to do much outside of Tegucigalpa aside from one day trip to La Tigra National Park, but I’d say I’ve had an authentic experience. Barring any big developments with the drama surrounding the coup here, I’m heading to Granada on Friday. I’ll have arrived just a little more than two months after leaving Mobile.
After I finished “The Shining” I put it up and grabbed a new book out of my backpack, this one a historical study titled “Nicaragua: Living in the Shadow of the Eagle” by Thomas W. Walker, a professor at Ohio University. Here are the first two sentences:
“Located at the geographic center of Central America, with Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south, Nicaragua is the largest country in the region. Even so, its 57,143 square miles of surface and its population of 4.9 million make it only slightly larger, in both respects, than the U.S. state of Alabama (with 52,423 square miles and 4.5 million inhabitants.)”
Bamaragua.
Plus I've spent way too much time the last two days with my head buried in “The Shining” by Stephen King, which I just finished. Not recommended reading for someone trapped in a decrepit old hotel all alone. Come take your medicine, doc.
I’m not all alone, per say. There’s a few couples here, and up until yesterday a family of about 10 Somali Muslims traveling through Latin America was also here. There were three young guys in the group, whose names I regretfully don’t remember, who would occasionally come up to me on the second floor balcony where I steal Internet and talk a little in English about traveling. They finished every sentence with a big bright smile, then stood around awkwardly reading over my shoulder. Sometimes one would just walk up smiling, not saying anything, put his hand on my shoulder and read my laptop screen for a second. I would look up at him and he was still smiling. Then just walk away. It was too amusing and harmless for me to protest.
No, I didn’t tell them that a guy I went to high school with is currently helping terrorists fight their government.
I finished a story for The Miami Herald today, but I have no idea when it will be published. Blake, who left Tegucigalpa for Granada today, hooked me up with that contact.
I’m sad I didn’t get to do much outside of Tegucigalpa aside from one day trip to La Tigra National Park, but I’d say I’ve had an authentic experience. Barring any big developments with the drama surrounding the coup here, I’m heading to Granada on Friday. I’ll have arrived just a little more than two months after leaving Mobile.
After I finished “The Shining” I put it up and grabbed a new book out of my backpack, this one a historical study titled “Nicaragua: Living in the Shadow of the Eagle” by Thomas W. Walker, a professor at Ohio University. Here are the first two sentences:
“Located at the geographic center of Central America, with Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south, Nicaragua is the largest country in the region. Even so, its 57,143 square miles of surface and its population of 4.9 million make it only slightly larger, in both respects, than the U.S. state of Alabama (with 52,423 square miles and 4.5 million inhabitants.)”
Bamaragua.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Protestors mark 100 days since Zelaya’s ouster
By Mike Faulk
Nica Times Staff
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras – Oscar Flores needed no reminder that Monday marked 100 days since former President Manuel Zelaya was forced into exile at gunpoint. He’s kept a tally and hoisted it over his head at every protest every day since then.
“We’re tired of waiting,” said Flores, 52, during Monday’s protest in front of the U.S. embassy here. “It’s time to restore democracy.”
Monday also signified the 100th day in office for interim President Roberto Micheletti, who lifted his executive order that for one week gave broad powers to the national military and police in limiting freedom of speech, assembly and the press.
Zelaya’s supporters said they were protesting in front of the U.S. embassy to encourage the government there to take stronger steps toward ensuring Zelaya’s return to the presidency.
“We’re asking our North American brothers to support us in the face of this dictatorship,” said university student William Bardales.
The Organization of American States Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza announced over the weekend that he had spoken with Micheletti in recent days to promote dialogue between both sides in the conflict and help return constitutional order to Honduras.
Insulza and other OAS representatives will come to Honduras Wednesday to hold meetings with Zelaya and interim government officials, though at this point it’s unlikely the two sides in the conflict will hold official meetings between each other.
Nica Times Staff
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras – Oscar Flores needed no reminder that Monday marked 100 days since former President Manuel Zelaya was forced into exile at gunpoint. He’s kept a tally and hoisted it over his head at every protest every day since then.
“We’re tired of waiting,” said Flores, 52, during Monday’s protest in front of the U.S. embassy here. “It’s time to restore democracy.”
Monday also signified the 100th day in office for interim President Roberto Micheletti, who lifted his executive order that for one week gave broad powers to the national military and police in limiting freedom of speech, assembly and the press.
Zelaya’s supporters said they were protesting in front of the U.S. embassy to encourage the government there to take stronger steps toward ensuring Zelaya’s return to the presidency.
“We’re asking our North American brothers to support us in the face of this dictatorship,” said university student William Bardales.
The Organization of American States Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza announced over the weekend that he had spoken with Micheletti in recent days to promote dialogue between both sides in the conflict and help return constitutional order to Honduras.
Insulza and other OAS representatives will come to Honduras Wednesday to hold meetings with Zelaya and interim government officials, though at this point it’s unlikely the two sides in the conflict will hold official meetings between each other.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Protests face intimidation, lower turnout following executive limits on free speech
From the Oct. 2 edition of The Tico Times. For clarification, I am interning for The Nica Times, in Nicaragua, which is owned by the same company that runs The Tico Times, in Costa Rica, which I interned for two years ago.
By Mike Faulk
The Nica Times
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras – As many as 1,000 protestors showed up at the Radio Globo station Wednesday morning only to run for cover around 11 a.m. after military officers chased them up the street, threw tear gas at them, beat them with batons and arrested at least 30 people, according to witnesses.
The protest was the biggest yet following Monday’s executive order limiting freedom of speech, assembly and the press by interim President Roberto Micheletti. The turnout at protests by sympathizers of ousted Honduran president Manuel Zelaya has shrunk drastically this week from thousands of people to 500 at most following the decree.
Protestors had blocked one lane of traffic outside Radio Globo but said they weren’t disturbing the peace when military officers moved in.
David Romero, the director of Radio Globo, which officials took off the air Monday following an interview with Zelaya when he asked sympathizers to flock to Tegucigalpa for “one final struggle,” said the military herded the protestors like sheep, surrounded them, then began their assault.
“They attacked without warning,” Romero said. “The protestors didn’t want to fight.”
Cesar Caceres, spokesman for interim President Roberto Micheletti, would only say he didn’t know enough about the incident to confirm what happened. Caceres said the protest had not been given previous approval by the national police.
Under the executive order limiting freedom of assembly, protests of 20 or more participants must be given previous approval by the national police. Caceres said protestors at Radio Globo had not notified police about the rally.
Volunteers for the Resistance Front said more people stayed home this week because they fear retribution from the de facto government, which took power June 28 after Zelaya was arrested by military officials at his home and forced into exile in Costa Rica.
Protests Monday and Tuesday saw only several hundred demonstrators, many of which seemed more pensive than excitable as they stood between two rows of riot police enclosing the street in front of Francisco Morazon Pedagogic University.
Zelaya sympathizer Jose Luis Calix said resistance supporters are staying home for fear of being arrested or beaten, but others aren’t showing up because the government’s closure of pro-Zelaya media has made it harder for them to know where to go.
“We no longer have the right to stay informed,” Calix said. “They’ve done everything they can to keep us in our houses.”
But Caceres says the executive order was imposed to curb violence and prevent further damage to private property as the result of protests the resistance allowed to get out of control.
“Of all the protests leading up to this decree, not one of them was peaceful,” Caceres said Tuesday. “[The Resistance Front] tried to create a sense of terror among the population.”
The National Congress expressed dissatisfaction with the decree Monday, and Micheletti responded in a press conference saying he would take the issue to the Supreme Court and Supreme Elections Tribunal for their opinions on possibly repealing it.
Various international human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have also condemned Micheletti’s executive order.
National police and military officials continued to use their new broad powers to repress freedom of assembly Wednesday. Tensions were running high among the few who remained outside the radio station following the attack.
“If we were armed, they wouldn’t attack us,” said Oscar Tabora, one of the organizers of the Radio Globo protests. “We’ve almost had enough. The people, we have our own ways of defending ourselves.”
Resistance protestor Maera Medina’s eyes were still watering from the effects of the tear gas. She said police went after protestors indiscriminately.
“They were beating people like they were animals,” Medina said.
Military officers hung around a block away from Radio Globo for about an hour following the attack. The remaining protestors shouted obscenities at them as they boarded government trucks and flew by in a caravan.
The soldiers just smiled and waved.
Caceres said Micheletti is continuing to meet with officials from other branches of the government to decide when he will lift the executive order.
Cesar Murcia, another volunteer for the Resistance Front, said the attack was an abuse of power by the interim government. Murcia said these attempts to discourage protestors aren’t working, despite the fact that very few protestors remained outside Radio Globo.
“We still have conviction and we still have an objective,” Murcia said.
Caceras said Micheletti’s ultimate goal is to keep the country’s political atmosphere stable as the presidential election in November draws near.
Caceres said accusations of Micheletti acting dictatorial are ludicrous.
“He will stay in office until Jan. 27, the end of his term,” Caceres said. “Not one day longer, not one day less. It’s that simple.”
By Mike Faulk
The Nica Times
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras – As many as 1,000 protestors showed up at the Radio Globo station Wednesday morning only to run for cover around 11 a.m. after military officers chased them up the street, threw tear gas at them, beat them with batons and arrested at least 30 people, according to witnesses.
The protest was the biggest yet following Monday’s executive order limiting freedom of speech, assembly and the press by interim President Roberto Micheletti. The turnout at protests by sympathizers of ousted Honduran president Manuel Zelaya has shrunk drastically this week from thousands of people to 500 at most following the decree.
Protestors had blocked one lane of traffic outside Radio Globo but said they weren’t disturbing the peace when military officers moved in.
David Romero, the director of Radio Globo, which officials took off the air Monday following an interview with Zelaya when he asked sympathizers to flock to Tegucigalpa for “one final struggle,” said the military herded the protestors like sheep, surrounded them, then began their assault.
“They attacked without warning,” Romero said. “The protestors didn’t want to fight.”
Cesar Caceres, spokesman for interim President Roberto Micheletti, would only say he didn’t know enough about the incident to confirm what happened. Caceres said the protest had not been given previous approval by the national police.
Under the executive order limiting freedom of assembly, protests of 20 or more participants must be given previous approval by the national police. Caceres said protestors at Radio Globo had not notified police about the rally.
Volunteers for the Resistance Front said more people stayed home this week because they fear retribution from the de facto government, which took power June 28 after Zelaya was arrested by military officials at his home and forced into exile in Costa Rica.
Protests Monday and Tuesday saw only several hundred demonstrators, many of which seemed more pensive than excitable as they stood between two rows of riot police enclosing the street in front of Francisco Morazon Pedagogic University.
Zelaya sympathizer Jose Luis Calix said resistance supporters are staying home for fear of being arrested or beaten, but others aren’t showing up because the government’s closure of pro-Zelaya media has made it harder for them to know where to go.
“We no longer have the right to stay informed,” Calix said. “They’ve done everything they can to keep us in our houses.”
But Caceres says the executive order was imposed to curb violence and prevent further damage to private property as the result of protests the resistance allowed to get out of control.
“Of all the protests leading up to this decree, not one of them was peaceful,” Caceres said Tuesday. “[The Resistance Front] tried to create a sense of terror among the population.”
The National Congress expressed dissatisfaction with the decree Monday, and Micheletti responded in a press conference saying he would take the issue to the Supreme Court and Supreme Elections Tribunal for their opinions on possibly repealing it.
Various international human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have also condemned Micheletti’s executive order.
National police and military officials continued to use their new broad powers to repress freedom of assembly Wednesday. Tensions were running high among the few who remained outside the radio station following the attack.
“If we were armed, they wouldn’t attack us,” said Oscar Tabora, one of the organizers of the Radio Globo protests. “We’ve almost had enough. The people, we have our own ways of defending ourselves.”
Resistance protestor Maera Medina’s eyes were still watering from the effects of the tear gas. She said police went after protestors indiscriminately.
“They were beating people like they were animals,” Medina said.
Military officers hung around a block away from Radio Globo for about an hour following the attack. The remaining protestors shouted obscenities at them as they boarded government trucks and flew by in a caravan.
The soldiers just smiled and waved.
Caceres said Micheletti is continuing to meet with officials from other branches of the government to decide when he will lift the executive order.
Cesar Murcia, another volunteer for the Resistance Front, said the attack was an abuse of power by the interim government. Murcia said these attempts to discourage protestors aren’t working, despite the fact that very few protestors remained outside Radio Globo.
“We still have conviction and we still have an objective,” Murcia said.
Caceras said Micheletti’s ultimate goal is to keep the country’s political atmosphere stable as the presidential election in November draws near.
Caceres said accusations of Micheletti acting dictatorial are ludicrous.
“He will stay in office until Jan. 27, the end of his term,” Caceres said. “Not one day longer, not one day less. It’s that simple.”
Thursday, October 1, 2009
The Great Mind F***
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras – I don’t know what’s more amazing about this conflict: the fact that both sides are so hypocritical, or that it's hard to find anyone here who will admit it.
Hyperpartisanship seems to be a big part of the culture here in “Tegus.” One either supports the ousted president Manuel Zelaya or the interim president Roberto Micheletti, and being open to any criticism of the side one supports is taken on par with letting someone badmouth their mother. The attitude, especially on the side of Micheletti, is one mainly sparked by all the criticism that has rained down on the country from the international community. They see it as a violation of their sovereignty, as if the world is telling Honduras that it’s not smart enough to handle its own affairs.
And believe me, I know exactly how these people feel where it regards that angle. I am from the South, after all.
But the fact is that Mel Zelaya was a corrupt president known for rampant cronyism and violated direct orders from the Honduran Supreme Court to not move forward with his plan for a constitutional referendum. But instead of putting Zelaya on trial, the coup leaders removed him from office (when the Honduran constitution says a president cannot be removed from office) and then expatriated him and exiled him to Costa Rica (even though the constitution says no Honduran citizen may be expatriated.)
Despite all that Zelaya is at fault for, Micheletti’s interim government has made one mistake after another since taking power and is looking more and more like a dictatorship following his executive order this week severely limiting freedom of speech, the press and assembly. The order, which has been condemned by various human rights groups as well as the National Congress here, grants broad powers to the national police and military in controlling those sympathetic to Zelaya.
At least one radio station and one TV station sympathetic to Zelaya have been shut down this week following the decree. Radio Globo was shut down Monday following a call from Zelaya that all his sympathizers flock to Tegucigalpa for “one final struggle.” Even though he was clearly talking about more protests, the government took that as a call to insurrection and the military was sent in to shut the station down.
As for the news stations that have stayed open, their allegiances are also clear, and none more so than the official government-run TV station. The only commercials they air are a series of maybe five anti-Zelaya, pro-Micheletti that outline the various crimes committed by Zelaya during his tenure. There’s another one that features a prayer for the country and the president that the people can recite at home. Another one assures the Honduran people that the police and military are here to protect them.
Tell that to the protestors and journalists who were herded like sheep, tear-gassed and beaten without warning Wednesday during a protest in front of Radio Globo. I spoke with Micheletti spokesman Cesar Caceres who said the protest hadn’t been registered with the national police, and thus under the decree they had every right to disperse the crowd.
Military-enforced censorship, extreme nationalism and a countrywide call to prayer for the new government; are you noticing a creepy trend here?
Micheletti has gone to very dangerous lengths to suppress the resistance here, and the sad part is that his methods are working. Fewer people turn out to protest, their means of communication have all been shut down and Manuel Zelaya isn’t getting any closer to being reinstated despite demands from the U.N. and Organization of American States.
Micheletti is banking on the elections to save Honduras in the eye of the international community, but even now various countries are saying they won’t recognize the elections. It could become an issue of who gives first, or ultimately there could be a compromise where Zelaya is reinstated for a very small period of time after the elections and the coup leaders are granted immunity from any retribution he might seek. But those are just a few ideas from the endless list of possibilities facing this country caught up in Central America’s worst political crisis in decades. It’s all a waiting game.
As for me, it looks like I’ll be here at least until the middle of next week. I’ve come into a little money from my freelancing but it’s become clear I can’t afford to hang around here indefinitely, plus I have previous obligations coming up in Nicaragua, unless I call off the internship and rename the blog “Bamaduras” or "Tegucialabama." From now on I’ll be making a combination of blog entries and direct posts of the news stories I write from here. Pierre is still somewhere in El Salvador I believe, since he’s not much for politics, but I imagine you can expect to hear from him soon enough as well.
Hyperpartisanship seems to be a big part of the culture here in “Tegus.” One either supports the ousted president Manuel Zelaya or the interim president Roberto Micheletti, and being open to any criticism of the side one supports is taken on par with letting someone badmouth their mother. The attitude, especially on the side of Micheletti, is one mainly sparked by all the criticism that has rained down on the country from the international community. They see it as a violation of their sovereignty, as if the world is telling Honduras that it’s not smart enough to handle its own affairs.
And believe me, I know exactly how these people feel where it regards that angle. I am from the South, after all.
But the fact is that Mel Zelaya was a corrupt president known for rampant cronyism and violated direct orders from the Honduran Supreme Court to not move forward with his plan for a constitutional referendum. But instead of putting Zelaya on trial, the coup leaders removed him from office (when the Honduran constitution says a president cannot be removed from office) and then expatriated him and exiled him to Costa Rica (even though the constitution says no Honduran citizen may be expatriated.)
Despite all that Zelaya is at fault for, Micheletti’s interim government has made one mistake after another since taking power and is looking more and more like a dictatorship following his executive order this week severely limiting freedom of speech, the press and assembly. The order, which has been condemned by various human rights groups as well as the National Congress here, grants broad powers to the national police and military in controlling those sympathetic to Zelaya.
At least one radio station and one TV station sympathetic to Zelaya have been shut down this week following the decree. Radio Globo was shut down Monday following a call from Zelaya that all his sympathizers flock to Tegucigalpa for “one final struggle.” Even though he was clearly talking about more protests, the government took that as a call to insurrection and the military was sent in to shut the station down.
As for the news stations that have stayed open, their allegiances are also clear, and none more so than the official government-run TV station. The only commercials they air are a series of maybe five anti-Zelaya, pro-Micheletti that outline the various crimes committed by Zelaya during his tenure. There’s another one that features a prayer for the country and the president that the people can recite at home. Another one assures the Honduran people that the police and military are here to protect them.
Tell that to the protestors and journalists who were herded like sheep, tear-gassed and beaten without warning Wednesday during a protest in front of Radio Globo. I spoke with Micheletti spokesman Cesar Caceres who said the protest hadn’t been registered with the national police, and thus under the decree they had every right to disperse the crowd.
Military-enforced censorship, extreme nationalism and a countrywide call to prayer for the new government; are you noticing a creepy trend here?
Micheletti has gone to very dangerous lengths to suppress the resistance here, and the sad part is that his methods are working. Fewer people turn out to protest, their means of communication have all been shut down and Manuel Zelaya isn’t getting any closer to being reinstated despite demands from the U.N. and Organization of American States.
Micheletti is banking on the elections to save Honduras in the eye of the international community, but even now various countries are saying they won’t recognize the elections. It could become an issue of who gives first, or ultimately there could be a compromise where Zelaya is reinstated for a very small period of time after the elections and the coup leaders are granted immunity from any retribution he might seek. But those are just a few ideas from the endless list of possibilities facing this country caught up in Central America’s worst political crisis in decades. It’s all a waiting game.
As for me, it looks like I’ll be here at least until the middle of next week. I’ve come into a little money from my freelancing but it’s become clear I can’t afford to hang around here indefinitely, plus I have previous obligations coming up in Nicaragua, unless I call off the internship and rename the blog “Bamaduras” or "Tegucialabama." From now on I’ll be making a combination of blog entries and direct posts of the news stories I write from here. Pierre is still somewhere in El Salvador I believe, since he’s not much for politics, but I imagine you can expect to hear from him soon enough as well.
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