Strengthen the popular mobilisation to defeat the coup-making administration
Last Monday, September 21st, the deposed president, Manuel “Mel” Zelaya, returned clandestinely to Honduras and is now in hiding in the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa.
Zelaya’s return was regarded as a triumph of Honduran people, headway to the achievement of one of the main demands of their struggle: his return to presidency. At the same time it is regarded as a defeat for the Micheletti administration, which unlike on previous occasions this time could not prevent it.
That is why this piece of news was greeted joyfully by Honduran people and this joy may be a factor to help to produce the leap necessary leap in the struggle against the coup. So far, the resistance reached high peaks of massive participation (like the case of the mobilisation to the airport during Zelaya’s first attempt at return and the general strike on 22 July) and displayed a high level of heroism. It has been this struggle what prevented the Micheletti administration from definitely consolidating their coup-spawned power.
But this was not enough to defeat them and topple them. From this point of view, for all its spectacular character and the way it was reflected in international media, Zelaya’s homecoming did not modify the fact that, almost three months after the coup, even if not consolidated, the Micheletti administration is still in the office and has viciously repressed the thousands of demonstrators surrounding the embassy. According to reports from the resistance, there have been many arrestees, wounded and at least one mortal casualty to say nothing of the raids on homes of leaders and activists of the resistance.
What has Zelaya come back for?
By means of diverse materials, the IWL-FI has pointed out that from the beginning, Zelaya, Latin American “friendly” administrations such as Lula, and Barack Obama sought a negotiated solution with the coup-makers, so that the structure of economic and political power in Honduras as well as all the institutions that supported the coup (Congress, Supreme Court, armed forces, the Church, etc) should remain unhurt. This policy was expressed in the so-called Arias Plan which, for different reasons was not accepted by the coup makers.
At an interview held shortly after his arrival, Zelaya declared that he now rejects the terms of the San José Agreement (Arias Plan) for, “it is impossible to sign it the way it is now. It is behind the times, conditions have changed.” (Statement by Zelaya’s Foreign Secretary, Beatriz Valle, published in http://www.publico.es/
One might think, that Zelaya’s homecoming meant that he gave up his policy of calling for negotiation with the coup makers and at long last wiliness to lead a serious struggle against the Micheletti administration. This is not so.
Zelaya’s return has not been a step to strengthen the struggle of the toiling masses against the coup makers but an action of the Obama administration as well as that of Lula and even Zelaya himself in order to increase pressure on the former and so force them to negotiate. That is why, under this name or any other, the Arias Plan and its contents (negotiate a “peaceful solution” with the coup makers) is fully valid and underway as a manner for preventing the struggle of the toiling masses from crushing the Honduran regime. And as far as this policy goes, Obama, Lula and Zelaya are acting in full coordination.
By doing Obama this service, Lula has once again shown why the former regards the latter as “his man” in Latin America. That is what he did in Haiti, where the Brazilian army commands the UN occupation troops (the Minustah). Today, in different conditions and tasks, he is acting again in Honduras, That means, he is the key tool to carry out the current imperialist policy for the continent.
In the service of negotiations with coup-makers
On the other hand, even in the very statements of the protagonists highlight the targets of Zelaya’s return very clearly. With State Secretary in the Obama administration, Hilary Clinton, in the very first place. Next comes Celso Amorim, Brazilian Foreign Affairs minister and key figure in Zelaya’s homecoming who (acting, according to the press, in “fine harmony” with the USA government) said in New York, “I believe this will facilitate the dialogue if there is effective predisposition for it, and for a rapid solution to be found.” And he added, “In Brazil and in the USA a moderate and peaceful solution is being sought for the crisis in Honduras,” (http://oglobo.globo.com.mundo
But essentially it is Zelaya himself who says so, “We shall start a process of approximation, of communication and then different postures which will be important to solve the problem. I believe we must outdo ourselves at the diplomatic effort.” He added that he was willing to meet Micheletti, “I am willing to seek a solution to this problem and if the solution requires that this should be done, I am willing to do it.” To end the above, he repeated his call for “peaceful struggle”. “I call for peace, not for violence. It is the best way of solving problems”. Interviewing Manuel Zelaya, published in the BBC site Latin America).
Only the mobilisation of the toiling masses will defeat the coup makers
At the IWL-FI we believe that it is absolutely necessary for organisations of the resistance, especially for the Front Against the Coup to overcome the limitations of the policies that Zelaya’s has imposed on the struggle against the coup. The first is to reject and expose clearly any kind of negotiation with the coup makers concocted to save the conspirers aimed at saving them and so to save the institutions of the regime (such as the Congress and the Supreme Court) which encouraged and supported the coup. What the Honduran people are looking for will not come hand in hand with organisms of imperialism (UN or OAS) of the action of the “friendly” governments or as the outcome of negotiation; it can only come as the result of their own struggle
Secondly, it is necessary to hoist the banners that Zelaya abandoned when he decided to negotiate, such as the proposal of a summons to a sovereign Constituent Assembly at which the Honduran people can discuss the replacement of the 1982 antidemocratic constitution and the destruction of reactionary institutions. Or those he never posed, such as the expropriation of the landed oligarchy, the non-payment of the foreign debt, the closure of the American base at Soto Cano and other necessary measures to get rid of imperialism and to start solving the grave social-economic problems. Further more, coup makers who expect to get away with their repressive activities. .
It is also necessary to make the best of the popular joy spawned by Zelaya’s return in order to deepen and radicalize the struggle against the coup makers. From this point of view it is extremely important to take up the method of the struggle of workers, preparing a general strike from the very grassroots that may repeat and broaden the successful experience of 22nd July and so drown the coup making government and its and the employers who support it.
Finally, we must draw conclusions from both: these months of struggle when disarmed mobilisations challenged the army and special forces. Coup makers cannot be defeated by “peaceful means”: it is like trying to fight with one hand tied to your back and defeat somebody who is wielding a knife and a gun. The contrary is true: apart from heroism, which Honduran masses have proved to have plenty of, it is necessary to prepare self-defence of the mobilisations and strikes and an action to divide and weaken the “military front” of the coup makers, urging the soldiers and the policemen to disobey the repressive orders of the Micheletti administration.
Together with these conclusion drawn from months of struggle, the IWL-FI call to intensify the international mobilisation against the coup. It is indispensable to demand the breach of relations with the de facto government of all the countries that have not yet done so; and especially the demand of economic boycott, mainly from the USA, main buyer of Honduran products and from the Central American countries that are neighbouring with Honduras, such as Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua.
International Secretariat of the IWL-FI
Sao Paulo, 23/09)2009
