Demands U.S. Cut Off Aid

Minneapolis, MN - An emergency response protest here, June 29, condemned the military coup that happened on June 28 in Honduras. The protest also expressed solidarity with the Honduran people's resistance to the right-wing military coup and demanded that the U.S. government cut off aid to Honduras. This was one of many emergency protests that happened in the U.S. and throughout the world.

The main speakers at the Minneapolis protest were Father Luis Alvarenga, a Salvadoran religious leader and immigrant rights activist in the Twin Cities and Meredith Aby, of the Colombia Action Network and Anti-War Committee. Alvarenga emphasized the need for solidarity with the people of Honduras. Aby talked about the long history of U.S. military intervention in Latin America and the need to stop it. She noted that the Honduran coup leaders were trained at the U.S.-based School of the Americas.

On the morning of June 28, the command of the Honduran military took over the house of the president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya. The men covered their faces and wore regular military uniforms. While entering the house, they shot and killed one of the president’s security guards, then kidnapped the president and forced him to fly to Costa Rica. The coup took place as Hondurans were set to vote on possible future changes to the country's constitution.

Francisco Segovia, a member of the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Coalition (MIRAc) said, “The Central American community living in Minneapolis, Minnesota condemns this coup executed by the higher ranks of the military powers, supported by economic elites and given illegitimate imprimatur by the president of the Honduran parliament, Roberto Micheletti.”

Niger Arevalo, a member of the FMLN of Minnesota, added, “For more than a century, the people of Latin America have suffered horrendous crimes executed by the military in alliance with the dominant national and international economic groups that exercise great power in Latin America. Once again, the ghosts of previous military coups traverse the continent – this time visiting the Honduran people.”

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