Nov 30 2009
Honduran Elections Marred by Violence, Low Turnout
The presidential elections in Honduras went ahead yesterday despite being shunned by most of the international community, and many Hondurans critical of the June coup. With most of the votes counted, early results show a 52% win for conservative candidate Porfirio Lobo. Military and police presence in and around the capital Tegucigalpa was reportedly high. While the coup regime claimed they were security measures in case ousted President Manuel Zelaya’s supporters caused disruptions, human rights groups asserted that the forces were meant to intimidate Zelaya’s supporters from demonstrating. In fact the day before the election, one man was reportedly shot in the head at a military roadblock in Tegucigalpa as he drove past and is currently in critical condition in the hospital. Meanwhile in the Honduran city of San Pedro Sula, a peaceful protest of pro-democracy activists were reportedly tear-gassed, with several people being beaten and arrested. Amnesty International has denounced violence during the election, and called on the Honduran authorities to “reveal the identities, whereabouts and charges against all people detained on the eve and day of the presidential elections.”
GUEST: Tom Loudon, Co-Director of the Quixote Center.
For more information, visit www.quixote.org.
7 Responses to “Honduran Elections Marred by Violence, Low Turnout”
Don’t believe everything you read. I just called my family in Honduras and they said everybody was voting. People were waiting in line for hours. Voter turn out was much higher than expected and no disturbances were reported. The author of this article needs to get up off his knees and take the globalist media ball’s out of his mouth and report the truth. He owes it to the people.
Why are you publishing these lies? The turnout wad between over 65%, much, much higher than the last elections. Also the only violence was from a crowd of about 500 people trowing rocks in one city. Is your entire site this misleading?
El día de ayer, 29 de Diciembre día de las elecciones para Presidente en Honduras, la periodista colombiana, Patricia Janiot, de su propia voz, y de manera irresponsable, comentó que los militares habían reprimido al Movimiento de la Resistencia en el centro de la cuidad de San Pedro Sula, Honduras, porque este había tratado de tomarse algunos centros de votación. Esta noticia es totalmente falsa, porque yo, una Ingeniera y abuela de 53 años, precisamente estaba participando de forma pacífica y entonando nuestro Himno Nacional, junto a un millar de simpatizantes de la Resistencia, para protestar por las elecciones ilegales que habían sido convocadas, cuando de repente, la tanqueta militar donada por el Gobierno Israelí en las últimas semanas del Golpe Militar en nuestro país, arremetió contra nosotros lanzándonos bombas lacrimógenas y aguas cloacales para poder dispersarnos, razón por la cual tuvimos que correr velozmente y poner a salvo nuestras vidas. A estos gorilas desquiciados, no les importó que reporteros de la Prensa Internacional estuviesen acompañándonos, para transmitir al mundo cómo se desarrollaba nuestra marcha, incluso llegaron a abrirle la cabeza a un reportero extranjero, a quien también detuvieron, supongo que horas más tarde lo habrán dejado libre. Qué lástima que la Janiot no transmitiera esta última noticia, será porque le estaba haciendo el juego a los golpistas en Tegucigalpa; yo tenía otro concepto de esta periodista, debió haber sido más responsable y contrastar primero la noticia antes de sacarla al aire. Espero que no dejen de publicar mi reclamo; estoy muy molesta porque yo, al igual que otros compañeros fuimos víctimas de la represión militar sin sentido, ayer en San Pedro Sula. Atentamente,Vianney Henríquez P.
Yeah tons of people turned out to vote for the rightwing coup. stood in line to vote for the oligarchs and their profits. Common sense tells me the vast majority did not turn out to vote for the legitimization of the oligarch crooks defacto dictatorship. I don’t believe everything I read and I understand why the International community did not recognize the elections. Only the US and a few of its lackeys recognized the farce of elections. Sort of like the “free” elections the US Corporate Owned regime (the U$$A) organized in Occupied Iraq and Afghanistan. Who believes this crap?
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