May to December 2021 Honduras coup update: The impending exit of JOH dictatorship (tags)
This second half of 2021 in Honduras saw continued attacks against peasants, indigenous communities, human rights defenders, unionists, students, political prisioners, community journalist, and also, many killings against politicians – in the context of the November election in which the Nationalist JOH regime saw that at the presidential level, it couldn’t pull off another fraud, although it can at the parliamentary and municipal levels. In addition, inroads were made into beginning several model cities (ZEDES), to add to the long list of dictatorship footprints so that it leaves a nightmare to be unravelled, as FUERA JOH – get out JOH’ becomes a reality, twelve and a half years after the military coup against the Honduran people.
May 2020 Honduras Coup and Pandemic Update (tags)
In May 2020, a lot have happened in Honduras under the pandemic and dictatorship. Confirmed cases upsurged a lot this month. Workers continue to struggle a lot. There had been a lot of state repression against people just for being out on the streets, trying to earn a living or get something done. The prison began known COVID-19 outbreaks with two prisoners dying of COVID-19 under custody. Political prisoners continue at risk, in terrible conditions, locked up. There had been also attacks from angry police and the criminal rich, against people on the community who either self organised or were obligated, to watch the entrances and exits of their communities in attempt to keep their communities safe from COVID-19. One such community protector, who is black Garífuna, was murdered. Another Garífuna man was murdered inside a thermoelectricity plant. News about all this and more, see the update https://sydneywithhonduras.wordpress.com/2020/06/25/may-2020-honduras-coup-and-covid-19-update/
April 2020 Honduras coup and pandemic update (tags)
https://sydneywithhonduras.wordpress.com/2020/05/23/april-2020-honduras-coup-and-pandemic-update/
August 2018 Honduras Coup update (tags)
In August 2018, it was the students in primary school, high school and university who carried on the struggle against the increase in transport costs, since they and their families are hit hard by these. Students protested demanding the return of student transport allowances and the lowering of transport fees in general. There had been at least 12 days of road blocks throughout this month by the students and as many ruthlessly brutal evictions, and at the end of August, two high school students were removed by state investigative agents from one of their homes and their bodies found on the streets near their school afterwards. At the same time, there have been lots of attacks by the state against journalists who tell news of struggle and repression and corruption, while more HCH journalists who tell news that speak of police as the good guys and protesters as inconvenient and irrational complained of being abused by protesters in different contexts of struggle and confrontation. Campesinos, environmentalist and community struggles also continue as does the repression against these. https://sydneywithhonduras.wordpress.com/2018/09/06/august-2018-honduras-coup-update/
July 2018 Honduras Coup update (tags)
July 2018: Hondurans retake streets and highways as massive protests were organised by the transport sector blocking highways around the country, supported by student and just about everyone. Repression is rife including killings by likely government death squads/hitmen, of drivers/bus company owner, and against en environment defender. Many attacks in general. https://sydneywithhonduras.wordpress.com/2018/08/10/honduras-coup-update-july-2018/
June 2016 Honduras coup update (tags)
In this month's update: story of an ex soldier who tells of the hitlists the army received on which appeared Berta Caceres and many other social and enviro activists, and other news - another lgbti leader assassinated, massive repression against uni students protesting privatisation, and massive repression against protesters roadblocking against the installation of tollbooths, plus a few other news
May 2016 Honduras coup update (tags)
Its been a heavy month in Honduras. A resistance activist Tomás was murdered on May day in Tegucigalpa. There have been lots of attacks against people who are part of Copinh or who accompany copinh, whether as a member and activist, journalist, or international observers. There were definitely no shortage of gunshots this month courtesy of the state (mostly in evictions against farmers) and of companies and the state who paid hitpeople. Activists in Zacate Grande were imprisoned for being poor and breaching expensive bail conditions. High school students who opposed policy imposition faced 6 killings in 3 months, which the state is likely to dress up as gangs killing gangs.
Honduras: State-Sponsored Death Squad Terror (tags)
police state
NDF-MINDANAO CALLS ON ALL REVOLUTIONARY FORCES TO FRUSTRATE OBL COMPLETELY (tags)
The PESANTE BULETIN gathered today that NDF -Mindanao spokeman Jorge madlos said that "the extension of the Arroyo regime’s brutal nine-year anti-insurgency campaign Oplan Bantay Laya exposes Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III’s real “peace” plan. Aquino's plan the NDF says is to step up military offensives against the New People’s Army (NPA) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) - daydreaming of inducing revolutionary forces to capitulate and to impose its demands on the peace talks consistent with the US Counter Insurgency (COIN) strategy." The NDF also said that He (Aquino III) appears to be in a hurry to please his US imperialist masters, especially in laying the ground for the entry and the increase in profitability of mining companies and foreign-owned plantations such as Xtrata in South Cotabato and Dole Phils. in Surigao del Sur and Compostela Valley, and a host of other foreign monopoly capitalist investments. The NDF Mindanao also said that AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Ricardo David Jr., in his declaration of a new counter-insurgency plan by Jan 1, 2011, bragged that the new strategy would focus on the respect for human rights, admitting in effect that nine years of OBL were replete with human rights violations.
Philippine Army chief sees ‘meltdown’ NPA by June (tags)
The EPCC NEWS today learned that the military on Monday said it has been well on track to defeating the communist insurgency within 2010, with the string of successes against the New People's Army across the country, causing the "meltdown" of rebel forces. According to the EPCC, in a speech to the army camp in Davao province in Mindanao, Army Lt. General Delfin Bangit, Philippine Army chief, said the military has been able to deal significant blows against the NPA, trimming down Asia's longest-running Maoist insurgency "into smaller formations." Bangit was in Davao del Norte Monday to personally thank and reward soldiers for "back-to-back victories" against the NPA in Compostela Valley and Davao Oriental provinces in a week.
Another Protester of Pacific Rim Mining Corporation’s El Dorado (tags)
On December 26, Dora “Alicia” Recinos Sorto, age 32, was assassinated, the second anti-mining activist killed this week in the small community of Nueva Trinidad in the department of Cabañas. Recinos Sorto was eight months pregnant and carrying her two-year old child when she was shot on her way back from doing laundry at a nearby river. She and her husband, José Santos Rodriguez, were outspoken opponents of the non-operational El Dorado mine which Pacific Rim, a Vancouver-based mining company is desperate to reopen despite widespread community opposition.
Reform: The Making of a Philippine Presidential Campaign (tags)
There is real possibility for a significant leap in the reform process in the Philippines after the 2010 elections. If, as seems likely at this time, Noynoy Aquino wins the presidency, a number of converging developments could produce the conditions necessary for change. The first is Noynoy himself, who has successfully embodied the political legacy of his mother Cory, and his father Ninoy. This, in turn, has introduced a new dimension of enthusiastic voluntarism to the election campaign. Finally, the people running Noynoy’s campaign constitute the leading core of an enlarged reform constituency.
Pagpatay kay Rebelyn Pitao-bagong utang na dugo ng mga Pasistang Kriminal (tags)
buong lakas na kinokondena ng AJLPP ang pasistang kriminal na rehimng US-Arroyo at ang Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) at ang paniktik nito sa pangghasa, pandarahas at walang awing pagpatay kay Rebelyn Pitao, anak na babae ni NPA Kumander Leoncio Pitao- Kumnader Parago ng NPA sa Mindanao. Si Rebelyn Pitao ay dinukot at walang –awang pinatay matapos gahasain noong 6:30 ng gabi ng Miyerkoles habang pauwi sa kanilang bahay sa Bago Gallera. Ang kanyang bangkay ay natagpuang lumulutang sa ilog ng Carmen, Davao Del Sur may mahigit na 24 oras matapos siyang dukutin ng militar.
Karahasang Militar Lumalala: Lider ng KMP, inaresto; pastor, pinatay ng militar (tags)
Kabilang sa mga karumal-dumal na krimen ng rehimeng Arroyo nitong nakaraang mga linggo ang pagpaslang sa isang pastor ng UCCP sa Leyte at pagpatay sa isang aktibista sa Bohol. Sa kanayunan ng Tagum, nagpapatuloy ang sapilitang paglikas ng mga residente dahil sa matitinding operasyong sa kanilang mga lugar. Sa Maynila, mahigit 80,000 residente ang mawawalan ng tirahan dahil sa proyektong riles. Sa Negros, inaresto ang isang lider ng KMP, at sa Palawan, dalawang pinaghihinalaang myembro ng Bagong Hukbong Bayan (BHB) ang dinukot ng militar. Isa ring lider-masa sa Cebu ang dinukotat dalawang araw na itinago ng militar bago siya makatakas.
3,000 lumikas sa Surigao (tags)
Napagalaman ngayon ng AJLPP na lumulubha ang mga paglabag sa karapatang pantao sa Mindanao lalong lalo na sa mga probnsya ng Surigao at Davao. Umaabot na sa halos 3,000 magsasaka an lumikas mula sa 12 komunidad ng Surigao de Sur habang nagpapatuloy ang mga operasyon militar ng mga pwersa ng Eastern Mindanao Comman laban sa Bagong Hukbong Bayan Ayon sa Karapatan-Surigao del Sur Chapter, aabutan na ng Pasko ang mga bakwit sa mga sentro ng ebakwasyon dahil sa mga operasyong militar sa mga bayan ng Lianga, San Agustin, San Miguel, Cagwait at Tago na nagsimula noon pang huling bahagi ng Oktubre.
A Story from an ICE Detention Facility (tags)
Read below:
ANAKPAWIS LEADER KILLED IN DAVAO (tags)
ANAKPAWIS, a militant group representing the urban and rural poor, will be spearheading an indignation rally in Mawab, Compostela Valley Wednesday to condemn the murder of their municipal coordinator, Ranbert "Alvin" Placencia. Placencia, the militants say, is the 750th victim of extra-judicial killings since 2001.
2 ACTIVISTS KIDNAPPED BY GOV'T AGENTS; DETAINED INCOMMUNICADO (tags)
We are gravely concerned on the safety of two political activists who were snatched by suspected government agents on September 1, 2006, and remain missing for two days to date. The victims are: 1. Gerard Lavadia, 32, male, resident of Labangon, Cebu City; spokesperson of the defunct Estrada Resign Movement; a graphics artist; former Don Bosco seminarian; and, 2. Sharon Abangan, 33, male, fish vendor, native of Brgy. San Isidro, Talisay City, Cebu; member of Salvador Bantay Dagat Association; and campaigner of AnakPawis Party-List in Talisay
Protest caravan from Southern Tagalog (tags)
Protests from the urban poor in Southern Tagalog geared towards Monday's State of the Nation Address (SONA) began as early as Wednesday and are now on the third day of a six-day caravan dubbed "Lakbay-Riles ng Maralita laban sa kagutuman, dislokasyon at karahasan ." The caravan took-off from Gumaca, Quezon around 8AM today and is set to reach San Pablo City at around 3PM, but protesters fear that they may be blocked again amid NCRPO chief Vidal Querol's statement that a special operations group of the New People's Army from Mindoro would try to sneak into the capital.
Filipinos All Over the United States Joined the May 1 Great American Boycott and Immigrant (tags)
From Los Angeles and Seattle in the West to Chicago in the Midwest to Houston in the South and Miami, Florida in the Southeast up to New York, Manhattan in the Northeast, hundreds of Filipinos joined their fellow immigrants in the millions to demand full immigrant rights and amnesty. Thousands of them joined the boycott or just watched and wildly cheered from the sidelines flying the American flags as the Filipino contingents marched by.