National Resistance Front Against the Coup: The elections will not be recognised, the struggle continues



November 9, 2009 -- The National Resistance Front Against the Coup declares to the Honduran people and the international community:

1. Since the midnight deadline of Thursday November 5th passed without the restoration of legitimate president Manual Zelaya, we declare we will actively not recognise the electoral process of November 29 of this year.

Elections which are imposed by a de facto regime that represses and violates the human and political rights of the citizenry would only validate nationally and internationally the oligarchic dictatorship and secure the continuation of a system which marginalises and exploits popular sectors in order to guarantee the privileges of a few.

Participation in such a process would give legitimacy to the coup regime and to its successor which would be fraudulently installed on January 27, 2010.

2. The refusal to acknowledge the electoral farce will remain firm between now and the elections even if President Manuel Zelaya is reinstated. A period of 20 days is too little time to dismantle an electoral fraud conceived to ensure that one of the representatives of the coup-making oligarchy will be put in place and therefore give continuity to its repressive and anti-democratic project.

The prior statement does not mean that we have renounced our fundamental demand that constitutional order be returned to Honduras, including the return of President Zelaya to the position he was elected to fill for four years by the Honduran people.

3. Now more than ever it is clear that the exercise of participatory democracy through the installation of a Constituent Assembly is not just a non-negotiable right but also the only way to provide the Honduran people with a democratic and inclusive political system.

4. We denounce the complicit attitude of the US government, maneuvering to stall the crisis and now showing its true intention to give validity to the coup regime, thereby ensuring that the successor government will be docile in the face of the interests of transnational companies and their goal of regional control.

Therefore, we consider correct the decision made by President Zelaya to declare the failure of the Tegucigalpa Agreement, an agreement which is part of the US strategy to stall Zelaya's restoration in order to validate the electoral process.

5. We call on all organisations and candidates in the November 29 elections to act in accordance with previously stated commitments and publicly pull out of the electoral farce.

6. We call together the mobilised and as yet unorganised sectors of the population to join actions which reject the electoral farce and promote acts of civil disobedience, as supported by Article 3 of the Constitution of the Republic, which gives us the right to disobedience and popular insurrection.

7. To the friendly nations and peoples of the world, we call on you to maintain political pressure to overthrow the military dictatorship imposed by oligarchy and imperialism, as well as commit to recognise neither the illegitimate elections of November 29 nor the spurious authorities who seek to pass as representatives elected by the people.

"We resist and we will win."

Tegucigalpa November 9, 2009

President Zelaya explains to Democracy Now! why the accord failed

November 9, 2009 -- Democracy Now!

AMY GOODMAN: Well, for the latest news, we now go to the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa. We are joined by the ousted President Manuel Zelaya, who has been holed up there for weeks.



President Zelaya, is the deal dead?



PRESIDENT MANUEL ZELAYA: [translated] The accord has twelve points, and we had an agreement with Secretary Hillary Clinton, as well as President Obama, to move forward on that unified accord. In this sense, it is not as—it was explained by Assistant Secretary Tom Shannon and that it, the accord, goes step by step. It is an accord that needs to be seen in its entirety. We did not sign twelve accords; we signed one accord, and the main point of that is the restitution of the president of Honduras. If this reinstatement does not happen, then the accord fails.



The accord had a deadline of November the 5th for the installation of the government of reconciliation and unity. Mr. Micheletti proceeded to go ahead with the accord, installing that new government without me. And when he did this, we then declared that the accord is completely null and void. It is a dead letter.



AMY GOODMAN: President Micheletti, the coup leader, says he will form a national unity government without you. Your response, President Zelaya?



ANDRÉS CONTERIS: The last part of the question, Amy, please?



AMY GOODMAN: What is your response to Micheletti saying he will form a national unity government without you, President Zelaya?



PRESIDENT MANUEL ZELAYA: [translated] He can form as many governments as he wants, since that is exactly what he did on the 28th of June by force and by violence. Those governments who do that are completely illegal, and that is the basis of the coup d’état.



AMY GOODMAN: President Zelaya, what do you feel the US government, President Obama, Secretary of State Clinton, should do now?



PRESIDENT MANUEL ZELAYA: [translated] According to recent statements from the US government, I believe that President Obama has been weakened as a result of this process in the accord. And this government is basically very, very weakened in facing this coup d’état regime, and they are weak-kneed. The government of President Obama has been weakened in the face of the dictatorship itself here in Honduras. The people of Honduras have not been weakened, and nor have I, but the government of the United States, yes, has been weakened.



AMY GOODMAN: We have ten seconds. What would bring you, your side, back to the negotiating table?



PRESIDENT MANUEL ZELAYA: [translated] After four months, I cannot go back to negotiation with the coup regime at all.



AMY GOODMAN: Five seconds. Translate?



PRESIDENT MANUEL ZELAYA: [translated] This is now in the hands of the OAS, and they can file the charter of the OAS, or they can make it—[no audio]



