CYM on Honduras

The Connolly Youth Movement condemns in the strongest possible terms the military coup that has taken place in the Republic of Honduras. The kidnapping and exiling from the country of, the democratic and rightful President, Manuel Zelaya, is an outrageous affront to democracy and stinks of US involvement.

The Connolly Youth Movement calls for President Zelaya to be returned to power in Honduras and for thosetraitors in the military, who moved against him, to stand down. The CYM echoes the words spoken by the Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla in denouncing “the criminal and brutal character of this coup d’état.”

The CYM is particularly concerned about the kidnapping of the Honduran Foreign Minister Patricia Rodas. Ms Rodas’s whereabouts are still unknown since she was abducted by a group of soldiers whose faces were covered in balaclavas. This is in clear opposition to the Vienna Convention and international law. This is a particularly worrying situation and Ms Rodas must be released immediately and unconditionally without being harmed.

The CYM also condemns the treatment of the Cuban Ambassador, Juan Carlos Hernandez and the Venezuelan Ambassador Armando Laguna. The mistreatment, beating and the theft of the mobile phones of these diplomats is unacceptable behaviour by the Honduran military.

This military coup is a particularly worrying development as it may destabilize the wider Central American area. Honduras shares borders with Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala. There is a fear that Hondura scould be used by the United States as a staging ground, as it was in the past, to undermine leftist presidents Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua and Mauricio Funes in El Salvador, as well as Guatemala, where there is already a real danger of a coup against President Alvaro Colom.

The Connolly Youth Movement supports the ongoing efforts by the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) to reverse this coup.

The Connolly Youth Movement sees President Manuel Zelaya as the only legitimate President of the Republic of Honduras.

He must be restored immediately to govern the country.

National Executive
Connolly Youth Movement