Statement by the International Liaison Committee of Workers and Peoples (ILC)

Down With the Military Coup!
Solidarity with the workers and the people of Honduras!

The International Liaison Committee of Workers and Peoples (ILC) has received the appeal launched by the working class and popular organizations of Honduras calling on workers and peoples worldwide to express solidarity with the Honduran people against the coup staged by the Honduran oligarchy with the support of the army in order to prevent the convening of a Constituent Assembly.

The International Liaison Committee of Workers and Peoples calls on all its member organizations and activists to launch in each country and at the international level the broadest possible campaign in support of the working people of Honduras and their organizations in order to put an end to the coup and demand the reinstatement of all democratic freedoms

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As the President of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya was about to organize a popular referendum convening a Constituent Assembly, the general staff mounted a coup and expelled him form the country.

Dozens of thousands of workers and youths immediately took to the streets and demonstrated against the military coup, demanding the return of the elected president. More than 100,000 demonstrators gathered last Sunday to welcome Mr. Zelaya back to his country. But his plane could not land as tanks were blocking the runway of Tegucigalpa airport in the capital city. The army opened fire. Several people were killed, dozens were wounded.

Demonstrations are going on in spite of the crackdown and the attempts to broker a so-called "conciliation deal" with the coup leaders. What the workers, the youth and the people of Honduras demand is the end of the coup and the reinstatement of the elected president, the restoration of all democratic freedoms, the convening of the Constituent Assembly, which the coup intended to prevent.

The three trade union federations of Honduras, the "Bloque Sindical Popular" (Popular Trade Union Bloc), and the peasant unions have called for a general strike. They demand that the armed forces put an end to repression and persecution. In a public statement the COPINH (Civic Council of Indigenous and Popular Organizations of Honduras) condemned the presence of tanks and helicopters in front of the presidential residence and in the streets of Tegucigalpa.

The Coordinating Committee of Peasant organizations has described the coup as " the desperate acts of the national oligarchy and the hard-core right wing to preserve the interests of capital, and in particular, of the large transnational corporations".

On the whole continent, the CUT in Brazil, the CGTP in Peru, the PIT-CNT in Uruguay, the CUT in Chile … as well as all the working class and popular organizations of Latin America have condemned the coup and organized protest demonstrations. In La Paz the plenary national meeting of the COB (the Bolivian Workers Confederation) expressed solidarity with the workers and the people of Honduras. It called for a national march "in defence of democracy" and against "the imperialist- backed fascist coup".

Furthermore all the governments of Latin America have condemned the coup.

President Barack Obama made it known through Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that "the United States recognized no president other than Zelaya." However it was revealed by the press that the US ambassador had been having talks with Honduran military officials three days before the coup.

The International Liaison Committee of Workers and Peoples was founded in Barcelona in 1991 on the basis of a Manifesto against war and exploitation. It brings together activists, groups and organizations of various horizons from all over the world, fighting to defend independent working class organizations, workers' conquests and democratic gains, the sovereignty of people and democracy: the fight waged by the Honduran people in defence of democracy and national sovereignty is similar to the struggle of the peoples who on the American continent are fighting for their own sovereignty, to preserve or renationalize their natural resources, their oilfields and their mines, to win land reforms, to conquer social and democratic advances.

The International Liaison Committee of Workers and Peoples calls for the building of the broadest possible unity against the military coup, to support the reinstatement of democracy and the inalienable right of the Honduran people to self-determination.

Down with the military coup!
Solidarity with the workers and the people of Honduras!

Paris -- July 7, 2009

Daniel Gluckstein
Coordinator of the International Liaison Committee of Workers and Peoples

For more information:
ilcinfo (at) earthlink.net