After two decades, reactionary imperialist forces with the help of a bankrupt and corrupt military establishment once again conducted a coup d’etat against the will of the people of Latin-America. On June 28th, the democratically-elected President of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, was forced to leave his office by special army units. He was taken to Costa Rica and then Nicaragua. Honduran people were completely caught by surprise and shocked by the course of this brutality and suppression. The armed forces took over all the important institutions including the radio and television stations, and rapidly cut off all lines of communication in order to suppress the population and potential news leaks to outside of Honduras. People soon began to protest, and the illegal military junta found itself at odds with the resistance of the population against the coup. On July 5th, almost 200,000 people gathered at the airport outside of Tegucigalpa, the country’s capital, to welcome back their President who was unsuccessfully attempting to return to the country.

Zelaya was overthrown by military thugs because his line of progressive measures was helping people to improve their standard of living, and they were gaining confidence to fight for their rights - especially against imperialist domination. Since the military coup people have been resisting by strikes and all other forms of protest. Marches and rallies are happening every day all across Honduras, and fighting the coup d’etat regime has become the main agenda of hundreds of thousands of people. The coup d’etat will not succeed because the social movement for change in Honduras had already started before this coup. In fact, the military coup was the response of the oligarchy and pro-imperialist army to stop or at least to slow down this progressive movement.

The coup d’etat has provoked worldwide condemnation from Venezuela, Bolivia, Cuba and other Latin American countries, as well as the European Union. The Organization of American States (OAS) has condemned this illegal action and called for the reinstatement of President Zelaya. The coup d’etat regime has been completely isolated and has no choice but to step down.

We strongly condemn this coup d’etat, as well as the brutal kidnapping and beating of the Cuban, Venezuelan and Nicaraguan ambassadors to Honduras. We demand the immediate release of Patricia Rodas, the Foreign Minister of Honduras.

We invite all peace loving people in Vancouver and Canada to join millions of protesters around the globe to condemn this coup and demand that President Zelaya be returned to office immediately.

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