Honduran shock doctrine continues

Two years after the coup which deposed the ex-President of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya together with other political exiles, returned last week to Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital, amidst the celebrations of thousands of Hondurans and international delegations. Zelaya, the elected ex-President, was kidnapped at gunpoint by the Honduran military on the night of 28 June 2009 and expelled, still wearing his pyjamas, to Costa Rica.

Under the guise of democracy, the military coup was followed by elections which were marred by fraud and resulted in what many call a dictatorship, led by Pepe Lobo. Honduras was blocked from the Organisation of American States (OAS) and isolated from the Latin American community. Since the coup the Honduran people have expressed anger at the illegal removal of their democratically elected president. The Honduran National Popular Front of Resistance (FNRP, or the Frente as it is known in Honduras) is a coalition of social movements, women's and small-scale farmers organisations, trade unions and Honduran people which formed to protest against the coup and fight for the rule of democracy. One of their central demands had been the return of Zelaya and political exiles to Honduras and last week this was granted through the signing of the Cartagena de Indias Agreement. Promoted by the Venezuelan and Colombian presidents, this agreement secured the reintegration of Honduras into the OAS on the conditions that Zelaya and political exiles were able to return, that human rights are respected and that the Frente be recognised as a political force.

Zelaya and the Frente have long accused right wing US forces of backing the coup, which was led by the wealthy classes and the military in Honduras. Zelaya, the leader of the Liberal party, was considered a threat after he approached the Venezuela government and implemented popular measures to improve the livelihoods of ordinary Honduran people. He increased the minimum wage, set up an agreement with Venezuela for a cheaper oil supply, promised to enforce the long overdue demand for agrarian reform and planned to join the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA, a regional alliance promoting an alternative to free trade in Latin America). It is no surprise that the coup took place the night before a non-binding referendum in which the Honduran people were being called to give their opinion on constitutional reform.

Despite the Cartagena Agreement representing a step towards resolving the political crisis, since the coup Honduran people have seen radical political and economic structural changes led by the powerful and wealthy elite which have dramatically changed their lives. What has happened in Honduras is a classic example of what Naomi Klein calls "The shock doctrine" in which politicians, the military and business elites take advantage of unstable and uncertain circumstances to impose unpopular structural changes. Since the coup, policies and legislation violating fundamental human and labour rights have been approved overnight.

War on Want together with delegates from Britain's third biggest trade union, the GMB, recently visited Honduras to find out about the situation facing local partners, Codemuh (the Honduran Women's Collective) and Cosibah (the Coordinator of Banana and Agroindustrial Unions), and the Frente in their fight for democracy. We had the opportunity to meet with leaders of Honduran social movements who made their strategy clear: "24 hours after the coup the FNRP was born and we have since been seeking ways to reverse the coup. The Frente is working towards this end and we are resisting from every corner of the country."

One of the actions taken by the FNRP has been to fight alongside the teaching unions to reverse the government's decision to privatise the public education system. Two months ago, the whole sector took part in a national civil strike to stop the privatisation of education and demand the respect of the Teaching Labour Code, which has been suspended by the government. They also demand that the regime bail out INPREMA (the National Institute for Teacher's Pension) which currently faces bankruptcy. Teachers who have dedicated their entire careers to education now face retirement without a pension, despite having paid lifelong pension contributions. According to one of the FNRP leaders, "After the coup more than 5,000 million lempiras [approximately £150 million] have been plundered by the regime and there is now no money to pay for teachers' pensions."

The national strike followed more than two weeks of demonstrations and rallies throughout the country during which thousands of teaching union members, families, students and the FNRP faced brutal repression. According to Human Rights Watch, "Members of the national police have used excessive force against protesters, firing teargas canisters indiscriminately and beating people with batons." Currently, 305 teachers who took part in the protests have been suspended and five of them have been on hunger strike at the National Congress for over a month. The Regime has been quick to try and keep in check the teaching unions, which have more than 60,000 members. As stated by one FLNP leader, "When the teachers' union is mobilised, the regime shakes."

This is part of the widespread criminalisation and persecution of all social movements and protesters perpetrated both by the police and, increasingly, private security firms. It is estimated that for every Honduran policeman there are now three private security personnel. There is little trust among Hondurans of any government authority or the judicial system. The Supreme Court of Justice has lost its independence, sacking and prosecuting all judges that opposed the coup.

Codemuh has been instrumental in the struggle against the proposed National Anti-Crisis Plan. This Plan, already approved by the government, allows all private businesses to employ 40% of their staff on a temporary or part-time basis, which will see a huge step backwards for labour rights in the country. These workers will not be entitled to holiday pay or social security rights such as a pension or maternity leave. Furthermore, the law stipulates that up to 30% of their wages can be paid in kind, meaning workers' salaries will be partially comprised of the products they make. Many factories have started to fire permanent workers and are recruiting temporary ones to cut costs and boost profits.

Small scale farmers in El Aguán, who have been occupying land and fighting against one of largest and most powerful landowners, Miguel Facussé, have seen the promise of land redistribution overthrown. Instead they have witnessed an increase in private security and military units in the region and a rise in brutal repression. According to COFADEH (the Honduran Committee of Families of the Disappeared, made up of families of people who have been 'disappeared' with suspected state support), more than 30 peasant activists have been assassinated in El Aguán since Lobo took office, including three in the last month. One of the Frente members described how, over the last year, 50% of all military personnel have been based in El Aguán in an effort to quell the threat posed by the strong peasant movements that thrive there. "What is happening here is an armed conflict without control." Facussé, who recently received a prize for business entrepreneurship, is one of the coup perpetrators and has openly said that private military have killed peasant activists, often referred to by the regime as "criminals". He has not been brought to justice.

Privatisation of basic public services has also been promoted by the current regime alongside a constitutional amendment to set up what are called 'Special Development Regions' or 'Charter Cities'. The Charter Cities will not abide by provincial, regional or national laws, except those relating to sovereignty, national defence, foreign relations and issuing of national identity cards or passports. City governors will be appointed by the President without elections. This new idea, similar to export processing zones where labour legislation is relaxed to attract foreign investment, has been fostered by the business and state oligarchy and is supported by the Stanford neoliberal economist Paul Romer, who was recently invited to visit Honduras by the US embassy. In fact, as the Honduran ex-MP Silvia Ayala mentioned during our visit, a delegation of 50 Honduran government representatives recently visited Asia, in particular Hong Kong, to learn about this new model of city development.

The Frente along with millions of Hondurans welcomed the return of Zelaya and political exiles. However, well known human rights organisations, Codemuh amongst them, have rejected the OAS decision to reincorporate Honduras. They have denounced the Cartagena Agreement in a public statement because it does not recognise human rights abuses committed after the coup as reported in the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). The Agreement does not bring to justice those responsible for political assassinations and repression, while the perpetrators of these crimes, and the coup, still hold key positions in public bodies such as the Supreme Court of Justice, Ministries and the National Human Rights Office immune to any investigation.

Despite what may seem a bleak outlook, Honduran people have taken a stand. The Frente has decided to become a political force in future elections in order to reform the constitution and ensure the participation of the Honduran people in the future of their country. War on Want supports Codemuh and the Frente in their call for justice and democracy in Honduras.