INTERNATIONAL POLITICS-HONDURAS:

END MILITARY REPRESSION IN HONDURAS:

The following appeal is from the website of the Public Service Alliance of Canada.

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Stop the military crackdown in Honduras:
Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, who was forced into exile following a military coup in the country on June 28, defied the coup regime's efforts to keep him out of the country by staging a return to Honduras on September 21. Despite a hastily-imposed curfew, thousands of Hondurans defied the coup regime's orders and gathered in front of the Brazilian embassy in the capital, Tegucigalpa, where Zelaya is currently in refuge, to support the democratically-elected President.

The coup regime is responding with a brutal crackdown on the Honduran democracy movement. We are receiving reports by the hour of cases of brutal military repression and assaults which have resulted in a large number of injuries and an unconfirmed number of deaths, including that of an eight year old child. The military has surrounded the Brazilian embassy and is out in force in poor neighbourhoods. The national stadium is reported to have been converted into a large holding center for the detained.

The coup regime leader, Roberto Micheletti, has threatened to cancel the embassy's immunity if Zelaya is not handed over to the de facto regime.

In the face of this escalation of violence, Canada is one of the only countries that has failed to act effectively to isolate the coup regime. We need to speak out now and demand action from the Canadian government, before it's too late.

PHONE:

Call Canadian Minister of State for the Americas Peter Kent and deliver the following message:
“I want Canada to work for the unconditional immediate reinstatement of President Zelaya and to pressure the Honduran military to stop the violence against the people and their democratically elected president, Manuel Zelaya. Canada should make clear that it will not recognize the November elections and announce further sanctions against the coup regime and its leaders.”
Call numbers: 1-800-267-8376 (toll-free in Canada) or 613-992-0253.

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EMAIL:
Send Peter Kent an email at: kentp@parl.gc.ca. You can write your own, or use the following letter.
Dear Minister Kent:
Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, who was forced into exile following a military coup in the country on June 28, returned to Honduras on Monday afternoon, September 21.

The coup regime is responding with a brutal and violent crackdown on the Honduran democratic movement.





Despite this escalation of violence, Canada remains one of the only countries that has yet to act effectively to isolate the coup regime.





Canada must take a strong stand for democracy and against the military coup. I ask that our government:
**call on the coup leaders to order the immediate return of the Honduran military and police forces to their barracks;
**condemn the large scale repression of civilians and demand that the coup leader immediately release all protesters incarcerated since the June 28 coup;
**declare its unconditional and public support for the immediate return of the entire constitutional government of President Zelaya;
**announce publicly that Canada will not recognize the results of the November 2009 elections if the coup regime is still in place;
**announce publicly that the coup perpetrators will be held responsible for their actions under international law; and
**institute concrete and targeted economic economic, military and diplomatic sanctions against the coup perpetrators.
Sincerely,