Visit to Honduras

As you may be aware (if you are reading this blog) President Zelaya was forced from power in June 2009 by a military-backed coup, prompting a political crisis and a severe deterioration in respect of human rights and the rule of law.
A group of 4 people from the UK travelled to Honduras during the March 2010 in order to visit organisations and individuals involved in the resistance to the coup. We are now safely back in Manchester after what turned out to be a trip packed with really powerful experiences.
The visit to COPINH was amazing. On the first day they took us to a "Cabildo Abierto" in San Francisco de Opalaca, a municipality about 2hrs drive from La Esperanza. The community is strongly Lenca (indigenous) in background. The Cabildo Abierto was an example of grass roots politics in action. It took the form of an open air meeting (very hot/dusty) with anybody being able to take the microphone. They also took votes by a show of hands. People had come in from a number of villages dotted around Opalaca. The main resolution passed on that day was to oppose the construction of Hydro-electric dam projects in their municipality.
We stayed (4 nights) in the Utopia Centre just outside La Esperanza. The Utopia centre is currently acting as a kind of refuge for people fleeing persecution by the golpistas, so it has a kind of nervous edginess to it. The place is also continuously being watched by the police or by other coup supporters who usually pass by in unmarked cars once or twice a day. The Utopia Centre also recently served to accommodate 1200 delegates to the meeting held by COPINH just before we arrived in Honduras which was an Encuentro por la refundacion de Honduras.
We got an interview with one of the guys staying at Utopia as well as another interview with Berta Caceres of COPINH. We also picked up one or two documents produced by COPINH over recent months.
After COPINH we moved on to the community of Triufo de la Cruz and were able to visit Radio Faluma Bimetu (Sweet Coconut). This radio station broadcasts news, views and music from the perspective of the Garifuna (Afro-Honduran) community. The radio station was attacked in the early morning hours of Wednesday 6th January. The unknown armed individuals proceeded to torch the community radio and to loot the station’s radio equipment. Since then the radio station has been rebuilt with the help of COMPPA (loosely translates as Communications for Popular Autonomy) and the Garifuna community themselves.

Gabcast! San Francisco Opalaca #0 - San Francisco Opalaca

Vamonos