00:0017 years have passed since the coup d'etat against Manuel Zelaya in Honduras.
00:05The Libre Party and the Popular Resistance commemorated the date,
00:09certain that the causes that united the Honduran people back then
00:13remain just as relevant and necessary today.
00:16Reporting from Tegucigalpa, this is Gerardo Torres Zelaya.
00:21Rixi Moncada, deputy coordinator of the Libre Party and former presidential candidate,
00:26led the events commemorating the 17th anniversary of the coup d'etat against President Manuel Zelaya
00:33and the birth of the National Resistance Front.
00:36Moncada recalled the events that triggered this assault in democracy,
00:40an attack driven by far-right violent forces coordinated by the United States against the people of Honduras.
00:54Today, June 28, 17 years later, we reflect on what this means for the Honduran people
00:59and for our own experience.
01:07Especially since we stood with President Zelaya during that important and historic administration
01:12that we were focused on the people's sovereign power,
01:23on true independence, on opening our borders to all the world's nations,
01:27and on pursuing a sovereign economic policy,
01:29such as importing fuel from Venezuela through the Petro-Caribbean Initiative,
01:33and uniting efforts across the continent with governments championing policies that benefit the people,
01:37it was a beautiful era, brutally cut short by force and violence.
01:49Those who took to the streets 17 years ago to defend democracy remember those days well.
01:56They recall how the fourth ballot box, Cuarta Urna project,
02:00sought to create a new constitution for Honduras,
02:03one that would foster fair development for the continent's second poorest nation,
02:08a country where the poverty rate stands at 65 percent
02:12and more than 80 percent of the wealth
02:14is concentrated in the hands of just 10 families.
02:20Today we are not celebrating.
02:22We are commemorating 17 years,
02:25which amounts to 6,205 days.
02:27The memories are with us every day,
02:30not just from the time we were participating in the Cuarta Urna initiative,
02:34which was a public consultation,
02:36asking the people if it was possible to make certain changes to the constitution.
02:41But the oligarchy, always jealous and imperious,
02:45and always enforcing the rules they themselves dictate,
02:48imposed their will and staged a coup d'etat.
02:55The example of Manuel Zelaya remains relevant in Honduras.
02:59The former president, founder of the Popular Resistance
03:02and current coordinator of LIBRE,
03:04decided to travel to his native department of Olancho
03:07to pay tribute to Isi Obed Murillo,
03:10a 19-year-old killed during the protests against the coup d'etat
03:14and who is recognized as the first martyr of the resistance.
03:23Today we mark June 28th, 17 years,
03:27since a blow was struck against the institutions that defend the people.
03:31People defend democracy because it serves them.
03:34They do not defend the use of force.
03:36It is the elites who defend the use of force,
03:39as they benefit from it,
03:41leveraging that force along with their economic and corporate resources
03:45to maintain their grip on power.
03:48Yet democracies belong to the people.
03:50Democracies belong to the citizenry,
03:52which is precisely why the people took to the streets to protest.
04:03The LIBRE party is experiencing a period of political persecution
04:07and harassment of its leaders.
04:09Nevertheless, Rixi Moncada asserts that the historic legacy of the resistance
04:13remains significant to the Honduran political history.
04:23That legacy is symbolized by all the martyrs
04:26and by the blood of those who were persecuted and murdered.
04:28Yet, there is a specific symbol,
04:30that of our historic leader, Manuel Zelaya.
04:40He is the symbol of the man who refused to yield to the pressure
04:43of the country's power brokers.
04:48Forces that had to resort to foreign intervention,
04:51armed might and violence to drive him from his homeland.
04:55Today is a significant day in the political and social history of Honduras.
05:04From the international airport of Don Contín, Tegucigalpa, Honduras,
05:07where 17 years ago, former president Manuel Zelaya Rosales
05:10attempted to come back to the country after the coup d'etat of June 28, 2009.
05:16Today, the National Resistance Front and the LIBRE party have gathered
05:19to call and claim for their history, their martyrs and their victories,
05:24and to assure that democratic socialism and the refundation of the country
05:29is as important today as it ever was.
05:32From Tegucigalpa, Honduras, for Telesur in English, Gerardo Torres Zelaya.
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