ILPS: ON THE COUP D’ETAT IN HONDURAS

ON THE COUP D’ETAT IN HONDURAS
By Prof. Jose Maria Sison
Chairperson, International Coordinating Committee
International League of Peoples’ Struggle
08 July 2009

Honduras President Manuel Zelaya Rosales (UPI Photo/Monika Graff)

Riot police disperse supporters of ousted Honduras President Manuel Zelaya near the presidential residency in Tegucigalpa (Esteban Felix / Associated Press)

Before the dawn of June 28 in Honduras, some 200 heavily armed soldiers of
the Honduran army stormed the residence of elected President Jose Manuel
Zelaya, took him at gunpoint and drove him to an airplane that flew him to
Costa Rica. A few hours later, the National Congress comprised of the
country’s oligarchs quickly installed erstwhile Speaker of the House Don
Roberto Micheletti Bain as “interim president” who read a bogus letter of
resignation allegedly signed by Zelaya himself.  Later in the day, the
military arrested members of Zelaya’s cabinet, detained the ambassadors of
Venezuela and Cuba, began hunting down leaders of progressive mass
organizations and imposed a nationwide curfew.

This brazen takeover by the top brass of the Honduran Armed Forces and the
country’s traditional oligarchs has outraged the Honduran people who have
now taken to the streets to reject the putschists. Unions, students, women
and other social sectors have launched a general strike, setting up
barricades and defying the curfew imposed by the Micheletti government. The
army, headed by US-trained General Romeo Vasquez, has responded with
increasing violence which has so far resulted in at least two deaths, over a
hundred injured and hundreds more imprisoned.

The international community has roundly condemned the coup d’état and the
escalating violence of the army in Honduras. The General Assembly of the
United Nations has unanimously denounced the military takeover and demands
the restoration of Zelaya to the Honduran Presidency.  But the de facto
Micheletti government, with the support of the Army, the National Congress,
the Supreme Court and local mass media, continues to defy the Honduran
people and international opinion.

The coup d’état in Honduras is a desperate attempt by ultra-rightist forces
within the traditional pro-US Honduran elite to stem the rising tide of
change swelling from below.

ACTION ALERT: Help End Torture, Cut US Aid to the Philippines!

(From our good friends at New York Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines)

**** URGENT ACTION ALERT ****

SIGN THE EMERGENCY ONLINE PETITION<<<<<<<<<<<

* STAND AGAINST TORTURE ON JUNE 26, THE UN INTERNATIONAL DAY IN SUPPORT OF VICTIMS OF TORTURE

*ASK THE US APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE TO CUT US MILITARY AID TO THE PHILIPPINES AND TO REQUIRE THE PHILIPPINE GOVERNMENT TO FULLY COMPLY WITH INVESTIGATIONS INTO THE CASE OF MELISSA ROXAS!

***********************************

June 26 is the United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, a particularly significant day for those of us concerned about the continued use of this criminal act worldwide. Most recently, a US citizen of Filipino descent has fallen victim to this cruel and degrading act in the Philippines.

Her case is one of thousands of documented cases of torture, assassinations, kidnappings, and other forms of human rights violations that have gone uninvestigated and unresolved in the Philippines. Just last month the United Nations Committee Against Torture (UNCAT) expressed grave concern at the routine, widespread, and unpunished use of torture by military, police, and other state officials in their country report on the Philippines. As reported by United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Killings Philip Alston, in his 2007 report, although credible evidence points to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) as the main culprits behind these human rights violations, they are protected by the Philippine government’s culture of impunity which allows them to roam free. The Philippine government denies any responsibility for and frequently attempts to cover up these human rights violations, as they are also attempting to do in the case of Melissa Roxas despite her sworn testimony about her experience.

The Philippines is one of the largest recipients of US military aid in Southeast Asia. This means US tax dollars are being used as resources by the AFP to continue to perpetrate these human rights violations against innocent civilians. As US taxpayers, we need to tell our government that we DO NOT want the blood of the Filipino people on our hands.

At present, the US Senate Appropriations Committee is in the process of shaping the next US military aid package to the Philippines, and could come out with a decision as early as mid-July. Our Senators and Representatives have an influence on how our tax dollars are spent abroad. They have a responsibility to represent our concerns about how US military aid is being used to commit—and cover up—human rights atrocities in the Philippines, and to express our desire that NOT 1 CENT of our tax dollars support human rights violations in the Philippines.

In addition, a request has been made of the Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee Patrick Leahy to introduce language into this year’s Appropriations bill that would require the Philippine military to full comply with the Writ of Amparo proceedings and any investigation into the case of Melissa Roxas. Please call your Senator/Representative to express your support for a thorough and impartial investigation into Melissa Roxas’ case.

SIGN THE EMERGENCY ONLINE PETITION

Because the Power of the Youth Don’t Stop!!!

There have been numerous articles and statements written about the extra-judicial killings that have occurred in the Philippines since 2001 under the regime of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. The Philippine-based human rights organization, Karapatan, has been at the forefront of documenting these crimes. But the investigations don’t come without roadblocks, especially from those who are the perpetrators of the abuses. The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) are supposed to protect the people from threats foreign and domestic, but several organizations have stated that they do the exact opposite. Human Rights Watch has issued reports (“Scared Silent” & “Universal Periodic Review of the Philippines” to name a couple) on the human rights situation and directs blame towards elements of the AFP. The PNP allows these acts to continue because of their lack of action and prosecution of the killers. UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings Philip Alston stated in his report that: “The AFP remains in a state of almost total denial”.

With all that said, it is important to remember those who came before us. During these past eight years, three members of LFS in the Philippines have been killed and one more kidnapped and still missing. We seek to remember them and their work. Though we are the only LFS chapter in the U.S., there is a special bond we have with the LFS chapters in the Philippines. Our conditions are different, but the reasons why we joined are similar. We struggle with being a student and organizer, balancing the work with our daily lives, connecting with our peers who seem to have the big picture no where within their vision. While we are thousands of miles apart, we are all members of the LFS, all youth and students, all apart of the National Democratic movement, all fighting for true liberation for all oppressed people around the world. We will continue to fight for peoples’ basic right to change their oppressive conditions.

L-F-L-F-S TUNAY PALABAN MAKABAYAN!

Cris Hugo

-20 years old
-A native of San Julian, Irosin, Sorsogon, Philippines
-Regional Coordinator & National Council member of LFS (Bicol University, College of Arts & Letters)
-4th year Journalism student
-Newly elected Grand Chancellor of the Alpha Phi Omega Chapter at BU
-Killed on March 19, 2006 from multiple gunshots by masked gunmen on motorcycles while walking with a professor from BU

Resources:

“A Small Guy with a Big Conviction”
“LFS-SFSU: Mabuhay si Cris Hugo at ang Kilusang Kabataan”
“Youth Leader Killed in Albay”

Alston’s New Report Gives Fil-Ams Justification to Ramp Up Pressure on Philippine Government

For Immediate Release

May 8, 2009

Reference: Katrina Abarcar, Katarungan: Center for Peace, Justice, and Human Rights in the Philippines katarungan@comcast.net

Professor Philip Alston

Justice for Rebelyn Pitao!

Alston’s Upcoming Report Gives Filipino-American Human Rights Advocates Justification to Ramp Up Pressure on Philippine Government

Washington, DC – Recent news that Philip Alston, UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions, believes the Philippine Government has failed to institute the substantive reforms he recommended to address extrajudicial killings and other human rights abuses in the country is the evidence that US Congress needs to strengthen the past conditions it placed military aid to the Philippines.

According to Katrina Abarcar, Coordinator of Katarungan: Center for Peace, Justice, and Human Rights in the Philippines. “In fact, we have basis to demand all US military aid and training to the Philippines be cut until the widespread problems extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, illegal arrests and politically motivated prosecutions of activists is indisputably solved.”

On Tax Day: Cancel the $400 Million Payment of U.S. Tax Dollars for Human Rights Violations

**Please forward widely**

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 15, 2009

Reference: Rhonda Ramiro, Secretary General, secgen@bayanusa.org

On Tax Day: Cancel the $400 Million Payment of U.S. Tax Dollars for Human Rights Violations

Filipino Alliance in the U.S. Calls for End to Costly Balikatan War Exercises in the Philippines

Today, 138 million people in the U.S. will file their income taxes and pay a third or more of their income to the U.S. government. Today, 8,000 miles away in the Philippines, the U.S. will launch military exercises and begin its spending spree of $400 million taxpayer dollars over the next 10 years to pay for military war games, training, and materiel that fuel violence, rape, killings, abductions, and other human rights violations against innocent civilians.

BAYAN-USA condemns the continuation of the joint military exercises between Philippine and U.S. troops in the Bicol region of the Philippines, which begins today and runs through April 28. The resumption of the so-called Balikatan (Shoulder-to-Shoulder) exercises clearly indicates that President Barack Obama has not fundamentally revised the foreign policy of his predecessor. The Balikatan exercises show that the U.S. continues to use its military power to enhance its geopolitical interests in the world, at the cost of innocent lives in countries like the Philippines and hundreds of millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars that are desperately needed for education, health care, affordable housing, and other domestic services.

ILPS Chairperson Statement on the Anniversary of the Iraq Occupation

 

Jose Maria Sison - ILPS chairperson

OPPOSE THE US INVASION AND OCCUPATION OF IRAQ,
DEMAND TOTAL, IMMEDIATE AND UNCONDITIONAL WITHDRAWAL
OF US AND OTHER FOREIGN FORCES OF AGGRESSION

By Prof. Jose Maria Sison
Chairperson
International Coordinating Committee
International League of Peoples’ Struggle
20 March 2009

After six years of brutal occupation following the widely condemned
US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003, the US government has found itself
more isolated than ever before. The people of the world are outraged that
at a horrendous cost the US has committed the worst form of terrorism,
the crime of aggression, in order reduce Iraq to a puppet state, take
control over its oil resources and establish permanent US military bases
on Iraqi territory.

More than one million Iraqis have been killed, including hundreds of
thousands civilians, by US bombs, missiles and shells deliberately rained
on non-military targets including neighborhoods, hotels and hospitals.
Five million Iraqis have been displaced from their homes, seeking shelter
in refugee centers within Iraq and in neighboring countries. The Iraqi
infrastructure is in shambles despite billions in reconstruction
contracts cornered by US firms (including Halliburton, which US Vice
President Cheney has favored and continued to receive compensation from.)

At least 4,200 US soldiers have been killed and more than 45,000 wounded
in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion. In Afghanistan, more than 620 US
soldiers have been killed and more than 2,300 wounded since the October
2002 invasion of Afghanistan.

The US has spent more than USD 600 billion on the war in Iraq, and more
than USD 200 billion in Afghanistan. The US Congressional Budget Office
estimates that the Iraq and Afghanistan wars would cost US taxpayers up
to USD 2.4 trillion projected up to 2017, including interest payments for
debts incurred to finance the wars. Other more comprehensive estimates
show that the financial cost will run up to far more than USD 3 trillion.