Mark Sullivan, a De Anza College environmental studies professor, traveled to Honduras in November 2012 to seek truth and raise awareness on Honduras’ political instability and U.S. military interference on Honduran civilian life, along with four election observers.
Sullivan spoke at a Feb. 6 seminar on “People’s Victory in Honduras” sponsored by the Environmental Studies Department.
Politically, Honduras is ethnically homogenous, with
90 percent of the population having European descent. Honduras has also established itself as the murder capital of the world targeting women, girls, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual and queer individuals as its primary victims, said Roger Harris, an election observer.
Diana Bohn, another observer said 5 million Hondurans live in poverty and a million are unemployed. More than 1,000 are malnourished and there
is a great divide between the rich and poor.
Speakers highlighted the successes in the National Popular Resistance Front’s unity of farm works, LGBTQ individuals, urban laborers, teachers, environmentalists, feminists, and militant youth against injustice in the Honduran government.
Social cleansing, a practice in Honduras where police officers murder youth associated with gangs because they are a threat to society, is also prevalent in Honduras, Sullivan said.
“The fact that Honduras is lacking basic infrastructure for youth is the big reason why,” he said. “Lack of housing, lack of education, lack of work opportunities, lack of recreation are the failures of the state.”
There are no laws protecting the people or the environment and any person suggesting a riot in the eyes of the government is “beaten, tortured, perhaps murdered,” said Sullivan. “It’s a dangerous place to be an environmentalist.”
Harris said 35 North American observers attended along with others from Japan, Hungary and Poland “were all invited there by the Resistance.” He said, “We got more hugs and kisses than you can believe. The Resistance people were so grateful of the international solidarity. They were also very hopeful that a better world is possible and the third thing they told us was that the United States government, not the United States people, was part of the problem.”
Harris said the landscape of Honduras is americanized and that the amount of military interference in civilian life is causing a problem. Joint Task Force-Bravo, the U.S. military force in Honduras situated in Soto Cano Air Base, is one such example of U.S. military interference, he said.
During the presentation, the election observers’ personal pictures of Honduras showed how many people protested through vandalism for the U.S. army to leave. “Every one of these guards [standing armed outside civilian areas] has their finger on the trigger,” said Harris.
The Liberty and Refoundation Party was formed to get as many seats for the people of Honduras as they could in Congress in order to put the government in the hands of the people, said observer Rick Sterling. “The LIBRE party began as a street resistance movement that followed the coup,” he said.
Bohn, another observer, said she met up with many political candidates such as Jari Dixon, who were working to fight the oligarchs in Honduras and ultimately to address the needs of the people.
“They were attacked, tear gassed, beaten, sexually assaulted, jailed and murdered.” Bohn said. “Since the coup, 25 teachers have been killed.”
GRAFFITI PROTEST – Honduran man stages a nonviolent protest. (photo courtesy of MARK SULLIVAN)
