By: Al Giordano

While most international news organizations took obedient dictation of the Honduras coup regime’s claims of more than 62 percent voter participation in the November 29 “elections,” authentic journalist Jesse Freeston did what real reporters are supposed to do: He went directly to the source, asked questions, took notes, and videotaped the evidence.

Freeston today publishes this bombshell report, above, on The Real News that documents definitively that Honduras electoral officials knowingly lied about their claims of more than 60 percent voter turnout. The hard results in possession of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE, in its Spanish initials) demonstrate only 49.2 percent turnout: That means that a majority – more than 50 percent – of Honduran citizens abstained in the “elections” that the National Front Against the Coup d’Etat had called unfair, unfree and placed under boycott.

The hard numbers show that abstention – and by inference, the Resistance – was the winner in the November 29 vote.

Usually, electoral fraud is committed to change the outcome between candidates in an election. It is not yet known whether the stuffing of official results with claims of 62 percent voter turnout (about 25 percent higher than the actual 49 percent participation) was also used to change the results of presidential, congressional or municipal contests.

The real question all along was well known to be: How many Hondurans would vote? And how many Hondurans would not? In the coup regime’s zeal to legitimize this electoral farce it invented a number – 62 – and claimed that to be the percent of participation in the November 29 vote. Journalist Freeston walks the viewer, step by step, through the post-electoral claims by presidential candidate Pepe Lobo (declared winner of the mock elections), members of the Honduran Congress, diplomats from the United States, Canada, Costa Rica and other countries, and international corporate newspaper editorials, all of which cited the “more than 60 percent turnout” to label the “elections” as free, fair and transparent.

He then goes inside the vote counting rooms at the Supreme Electoral Tribunal in Tegucigalpa, camera in hand, and videotapes the real numbers from computer screens and paper print-outs: 49.2 percent turnout. He also conducts an interview with Leonardo Ramírez Pareda, the official responsible for counting the votes, who in a moment of frankness (perhaps unaware of what his bosses were claiming outside the room to the press) says, matter of factly, that the participation was at 49 percent. All of this evidence is on camera, and it is now known to the world, thanks to the journalist gumshoe work of Freeston and The Real News.

The 49.2 percent turnout count, Freeston notes, is very close to the independent count of the US-financed “Hagamos Democracía” organization, which works under the auspices of the National Democratic Institute (NDI) of the US State Department’s National Endowment for Democracy (NED). Freeston notes that the NDI withheld its own count information from its press release lauding the the “elections” as a success.

The work that Freeston did to bring you, and all Hondurans and citizens of the world, these facts was something that any reporter for AP, Reuters, CNN, NPR, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal or any other media could have done, but did not do: report the real facts that were available on the ground even as the Supreme Electoral Tribunal still has not – eight days after the “elections” – released the official town by town “results” which make a lie of its chairman’s election night claims of 62 percent turnout.

Logic would dictate that the same governments and media organizations that, in the days since, have cited the false turnout numbers as the reason to consider the Honduras “elections” free, fair and transparent, and therefore recognize their “results,” now must withdraw that recognition. Some have been played as fools, once again, by an anti-democratic coup regime. Others are willing participants in the dishonest charade.

Freeston’s report is a game changer inside Honduras and outside of it as well. It will shortly be translated to Spanish and other languages (as will this written summary of it). The real facts will be distributed far and wide by the Honduran resistance and by pro-democracy voices everywhere on earth. The conclusion is based on hard data and therefore undeniable: The Honduras coup regime cooked the “results” of the November 29 “elections” with knowing falsehood. The real results reveal that abstention and the Resistance-called boycott of the electoral theater won the majority two Sundays ago. The elections are therefore absolutely illegitimate, cannot be recognized, and neither can their “results.” And authentically freedom-loving peoples of Honduras and the world will never adhere to them, abide by them, respect them or acknowledge them.

The coup d’etat unleashed last June 28 now has led to a situation where the incoming government that is slated to take power on January 27, 2010 enjoys no more legitimacy or legality than the present coup regime. The Honduras people are without a democratically elected government, and will continue to be without one for some time to come. And any other country’s government, or media, that continues to claim to recognize them as legitimate reveals itself to be complicit in the theft of democracy.

Now, kind readers, do your part: break the information blockade, distribute Freeston’s video report far and wide, translate it into your own languages, and wave it in the faces of any government official or media organization that attempts to repeat the big lie of majority participation in the Honduras vote last week. They are the usurpers of democracy. And you are its last, best hope.

Update: Jesse Freeston, the investigator and author of the report, adds an important point – that the 49 percent total was itself subject to opportunities for padding between the ballot box and that count. Thus, if anything, the number could well be too high, still:

“The TSE tabulation is still up-stream from numerous opportunities for fraud. So I don’t think it’s fair to assume that the 49 percent number is correct. There’s the entire military apparatus between the vote cast and the vote count.”

• Verklaring 41
• Comunicado 41 (PT-Br)
• Déclaration No. 41
• Darbeye Karşı Ulusal Direniş Cephesi
• Comunicato Nr. 41

Statement No. 41

National Front of the Popular Resistance Against the Coup
REPORT ON THE FAILURE OF THE ELECTORAL FARCE

To the Honduran people and the international community, the National Front of Resistance Against the Coup reports:

1. The total failure of the electoral farce staged by the oligarchy on 29 November, under conditions of dictatorship, confirms our approach to declare illegal and illegitimate the election and its results, and further strengthens our position of not recognizing the regime which will be installed on 27 January.

2. We call on democratic and honest governments and social movements in the world to reject the results of the sham elections and to not recognize the intended government to be installed on 27 January.

3. Because this electoral process which just took place lacks legality and legitimacy and seeks to ensure power for a minority sector of the population, we, the National Resistance Front, will keep fighting for the installation of a National Constituent Assembly as the alternative to channel the demands of political participation of all the people of Honduras.

4. We reiterate that all acts carried out by the current de facto regime and its successor will not be recognized by the people. We also emphatically reject any amnesty to those who violated the human rights of the people of Honduras.

5. We take this opportunity to acknowledge the work of the Committee of Relatives of the Detained and Disappeared in Honduras, which today completes 27 years of working to ensure truth, justice and building a society where human rights are fully guaranteed.

¡RESISTIMOS Y VENCEREMOS!
Tegucigalpa, M.D.C. november 30 th, 2009

Comunicado No. 41

Frente Nacional de Resistencia Popular Contra el Golpe de Estado

El Frente Nacional de Resistencia contra el Golpe de Estado, al pueblo hondureño y la comunidad internacional comunica:

1. El fracaso total de la farsa electoral montada por la oligarquía el 29 de noviembre en condiciones de dictadura, confirma nuestro planteamiento de declarar ilegales e ilegítimos las elecciones y sus resultados, además refuerza nuestra posición de desconocimiento del régimen que se instale el 27 de enero.

2. Hacemos un llamado a los gobiernos y movimientos sociales democráticos y honestos en el mundo a rechazar los resultados de la farsa electoral y a desconocer el pretendido gobierno que se instale a partir del 27 de enero.

3. Al haberse realizado un proceso electoral que carece de toda legitimidad y legalidad y que pretende garantizar el poder a un sector minoritario de la población, la instalación de una Asamblea Nacional Constituyente representa la alternativa para canalizar los reclamos de participación política de todo el pueblo hondureño. Por ella seguiremos luchando.

4. Reiteramos que todos los actos que realicen el actual régimen de facto y su sucesor no serán reconocidos por el pueblo. Hacemos énfasis en el rechazo a cualquier amnistía a los violadores de derechos humanos.

5. Aprovechamos la ocasión para reconocer el trabajo del Comité de Familiares Detenidos y Desaparecidos de Honduras, que hoy cumple 27 años de velar por la verdad, la justicia y la construcción de una sociedad donde los derechos humanos sean plenamente garantizados.

¡RESISTIMOS Y VENCEREMOS!

Tegucigalpa, M.D.C. 30 de noviembre de 2009

Honduras/Haiti Vigil:

Thurs.Oct.29 – 4:30-5:30

Oakland Federal Building

1301 Clay St (12th St. BART)

Hondurans and Haitians are still in the streets protesting political kidnappings and coups.

Haitian President Aristide and Honduran President Zelaya – both kidnapped from their homes in the middle of the night and flown into exile in military coups. US involvement in both abductions is clear. This is intolerable.

Aristide was abducted by US Special Forces in 2004 and flown to Africa on a US military plane. He is still in exile in Africa.

Zelaya was seized in his pajamas — by troops under the command of a general trained at the US School of the Americas — and flown to the US military base at Soto Cano, then to Costa Rica.

It has been over 2 years since the kidnapping and disappearance of Haitian human rights leader Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine. Yet the authorities have sat on their hands.

President Aristide, a liberation theology priest with a 91.8% mandate (2000 election), was removed because he fought to eliminate poverty. His policies angered the Haitian elite and the US which profit from sweatshops, privatisation and the import of [US] rice which has destroyed the local agriculture and contributed to starvation. Like Zelaya in Honduras and Chávez in Venezuela (who also faced a coup in 2002), Aristide increased the minimum wage, and invested in food, health and education.

Return Zelaya to the Presidency!

Return Aristide to Haiti!

Return Lovinsky!

Sponsored by Global Women’s Strike, Haiti Action Committee and Women
of Color in the Global Women’s Strike. Endorsed by Bay Area Latin
America Solidarity Coalition.

www.haitisolidarity.net
www.globalwomenstrike.net

What is happening now?

Fundraiser for El FRENTE

(National Resistance Front Against the Military Coup)

Minimum Donation: $10

Sunday, October 25. 10 am to 1 pm. (Brunch)

At the Chavez-Fisher home:
800 Shields Street
(corner Byxbee near S.F. State U.)

RSVP 415-585-0414 or

e-mail: afisher800@yahoo.com

Reporte de Honduras

Que esta pasando ahora?

Todo diñero recogido va para EL FRENTE

(Resistencia Nacional Contra el Golpe Militar)

Donacion: $10 minimo donacion (comida ligera)

Domingo, el 25 de Octubre de 10 am a 1 pm.

800 Shields Street

(esquina Byxbee, cerca de S.F. State U.)

RSVP: 415-585-0414

o e-mail: afisher800@yahoo.com

She was arrested while reporting news from Brazil Embassy on September 22nd, a day after president Zelaya returned to country. She was in jail for 21 days and was released on bail of 100 thousand Lempiras (around $5 thousand dollars) payed by the Colegio de Profesores (Teachers) and with the help of the lawyers Kenia Oliva and Noelia Núñez.

There are six political prisoners still in jail in Honduras, their bail has being denied by the golpista government. Their cases are covered by the decree created by Micheletti which suspends constitutional rights such as public assembly and freedom of speech. Although it was announced the end of this decree, the decision haven’t being published on Honduras Official Journal by the government to become official, therefor the decree is still on.

On September 25th Dr. Juan Almendares, a Honduran medical doctor and award-winning human rights activist wrote a letter reporting about Agustina’s conditions after visiting her in prison. She was brutally beaten by the police at the moment of her arrest, below is video from Al Jazeera (English) about Agustina detation as well as others political prisioners arrested for demonstrate in favor of presidente Zelaya.

After being released Agustina Flores gave an interview by Mario Casasús for the newspaper Clarín from Chile. When asked about her 21 days in jail she respond:

It was difficult, but within it all it has being very nice to know that are so many people and organizations in solidarity with the Resistance, there was not a single day that I wouldn’t receive a visit from my compañeros/as, from the media and is thankful for this that I am out of there, because there were so many people demanding my freedom. At the time of my arrest I was beaten badly, I remembered what we had experienced in the 1980s, when my brother and my mom were persecuted constantly, they chased us as well, we had to move away from La Esperanza in 1978. Micheletti’s dictatorship made me remember the repression from the dirty war, I was afraid to become a missing prisoner. My crime was to fight for my rights, what I told the police: “No problem, tell me what crime I am accused and read me my rights” that bothered them a lot, right when I felt the first blow I told them I was going to denounce to all human rights organizations, including at international level and once they saw themselves threatened they retrain and I didn’t disappeared or was executed. They invented many things, I was on the demonstrations as it allows me the Constitution of the Republic of Honduras, I never denied it, my behavior has never been in a gang as they indicated in prison.

Freedom for all Political Prisoners in Honduras Now!

Contact Obama Administration and Congress to denounce the human rights violations in Honduras!

White House Comments: 202-456-1111, FX 202-456-2461.

US Department of State, Honduras Desk: 202-647-3482 or 647-9572, FX 202-647-8947.

Bay Area Representatives Anna Eshoo, Zoe Lofgren, George Miller, Jackie Speier and Pete Stark have not signed on to H.Res. 630 condemning the coup; contact their foreign policy aides.

Switchboard: 202-224-3121

oasweb@oas.org; svillagran@oas.org; civilsociety@oas.org; cidhoea@oas.org

Honduras: Repression of hundreds of protesters despite visit of OAS Mission

Ladies and Gentlemen Members of the Organization of American States,

The demonstration being made by Honduran people in front of the U.S. embassy is being suppressed with tear gas by the military.

They threw many gas bombs on hundreds of protesters and they are being persecuted. Men and women, unarmed who arrived this week, as usual, in front of the U.S Embassy trusting that the visit of the Foreign Ministers and the OAS delegation would bring peace to the streets of Honduras.

Protesters are running towards the downtown of the capital, Tegucigalpa, where they are forced to pass in front of a large military and police contingent which is placed in front of the Brazilian Embassy. They described that this was one of the most aggressive attacks they have received so far.

When asked on the violations of human rights, the police spokesman Daniel Molina said the human rights organizations such as the CIDH have to justify their work and therefor they are biased, for that he does not believe in their reports.

Perhaps they are taking advanced of the minute of absence of the press who is covering the stories at the luxury hotel, where the dialogue is taking place. A dialogue on a thin talbe while the Hondurans are being chased by the military.

Please stop this since you are an international delegation on Honduran soil. It can be that one pretends to establish a dialogue while they are using their arms and repressing the Honduran people.

Thanks for your attention,

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