June 28 DC Vigil, Remember Honduras Coup

Por la Defensa de la Democracia Dignidad en Resistencia!

June 28, 2012 marks 3 years since the military Coup in Honduras where four of the 6 military chiefs were trained at the notorious School of the Americas. Over 460 politically-motivated killings occurred, including 19 journalists and LGBT groups and campesino land-rights movements were particularly targeted. The Obama administration, while at first condemning the coup, reversed its decision, and supported elections in November 2009, paving the way for continued impunity for the top generals and business elite involved in the coup.

SOA Watch encourages you to join us Thursday, June 28 in Washington, DC on the 3rd Anniversary of the US- supported military coup in Honduras. The vigil will be at the Capitoal South Metro Station to call for an end to US training and aid to the repressive Honduran forces from 7:45am- 9am. And make sure to celebrate the resistence with music, photos and food later at 6:00pm (1525 Newton Street NW, DC)!

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Thursday, June 28, 6:30 pm - 9 p.m.

St. Stephen's Church
1525 Newton St. NW
Washington, D.C. 20010

On June 28, 2009, the democratically elected president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, was forcibly removed from office by the military after organizing a national opinion poll on creating a popular constituent assembly. Since then, the people of Honduras have been organizing in resistance against the coup and the institutionalized violence of its illegitimate successor government, headed by Porfirio Lobo. Credible estimates by rights groups have put the number of Honduran civilians killed by state security forces in the hundreds; in addition, over 70 LGBT members, 45 peasant activists and 20 journalists have been murdered since the coup. Despite this, the United States has provided tens of millions of dollars in military and police aid and training to the Lobo regime.

Join us to learn about the ongoing human rights catastrophe in Honduras, parallels between the 2009 overthrow and last week's coup d'etat in Paraguay, and how to act to curtail this dangerous trend in Latin America. We will be joined by special guest speaker Miriam Miranda, general coordinator of the National Fraternal Black Organization of Honduras (OFRANEH). As an afro-indigenous leader opposing the Lobo regime, she has survived both imprisonment and torture at the hands of the government. Other speakers will include Latin America specialist and macroeconomist Mark Weisbrot of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, and author and Honduras expert Adrienne Pine, professor of anthropology at American University. There will also be live music and food.

This event is co-sponsored by School Of the Americas Watch and Rights Action.