Airport Protests: “A Burst of Machine Gun Fire”
[Editor's Note: Thanks to Pancho Ramos-Stierle for this translation]
Friends of the World: We are receiving phone calls about the more than 200,000 protesters who are walking along the boulevard in front of the Tegucigalpa airport. The rally started this morning July 5th in a way to show support to the Constitutional President José Manuel Zelaya Rosales. Colleagues from the human rights offices in the area, have reported that about 4:35PM a burst of machine gun shootings were heard.The shooting was done against the people who were in the south part of the Toncontín airport. Two men died due to the machine gun of a soldier, one of the victims a 17 year old young man, who was born in Catacamas, the city were President Zelaya was born too. The other person died while he was transported, by the same organizations, to the School Hospital. There are several injured people, including children. Some soldiers in front of the march were collaborating with snipers (positioned on the buildings), who were shooting and throwing tear gas at the people in an indiscriminate way.
Soldiers took their attack positions in the airport´s runway to prevent the landing of the airplane that was transporting President Zelaya and a group of friends, including the Secretary General of the Organization of Americas State [Jose Miguel Insulza].
The broadcasting of the signal from the only local provider was interrupted by the national TV, to repeat the press conference of the illegal president, Roberto Micheletti. In fact, this was the morning broadcasting, transmitted with the solely purpose to try to hide, from Hondurans and the World, the repression against the people of the rally [Zelaya supporters]. We make a denunciation of this massacre to the World, action that needs to be repudiated. The governments committed with the strengthening of democracy and human rights, must increase their mechanisms of pressure, so that the illegitimate government can be ceased. In this way, we will be walking on the path towards a democratic and peaceful process for our country, always remembering about the International Penal Court for all the crimes that had already happened. CIPRODEH.
[Editor's note: this is the original report en Espanol]
Amigos/as del mundo: Estamos recibiendo llamadas de los más de 200,000 mil manifestantes movilizados en todo el boulevard frente al aeropuerto de Tegucigalpa, que realizan desde esta mañana 5 de junio una manifestación pacífica para recibir al Presidente Constitucional José Manuel Zelaya Rosales. Colegas de oficinas de derechos humanos en la zona, nos reportan que a eso de las 4:35 de la tarde se comenzaron a escuchar ráfagas de ametralladoras contra las personas que estaban en la parte sur del aeropuerto Toncontín, dos hombres fallecieron por impactos de fusil militar, uno de ellos un joven de 17 años proveniente de la ciudad de Catacamas, ciudad natal del Presidente Zelaya, la otra persona falleció cuando era trasladado por las mismas organizaciones sociales al Hospital Escuela. Hay varios heridos, incluyendo niños y los militares apostados frente a la marcha en combinación con francotiradores en edificios adjuntos continúan arrojando gases lacrimógenos y disparando indiscriminadamente.
A la vez que se colocan en posición de ataque en la pista aeroportuaria para evitar que aterrice el avión que transporta al presidente Zelaya y su comitiva, que incluye al menos al Presidente de la Asamblea de la Organización de Naciones Unidas.
La transmisión del único medio local que registraba las imágenes fue interrumpida por una cadena nacional para epetir una conferencia de Prensa del Presidente de Facto Roberto Micheletti, que de hecho es una repetición de esta mañana y que se retransmite con el único propósito de ocultar a Honduras y al mundo la represión contra los manifestantes. enunciamos al mundo esta masacre, que al ser cometida por un gobierno de facto debe ser repudiada, a la vez que los gobiernos comprometidos con el fortalecimiento de la democracia y los derechos humanos deben aumentar las edidas de presión para que cese el gobierno ilegalmente constituido y se allane el camino para volver al proceso de democratización y pacificación de nuestro país, sin descartar la posibilidad de denunciar ante la Corte Penal Internacional los crímenes cometidos. CIPRODEH
Tags: citizenjournalism, ciudadano, detenciones, journalism, militar, periodismo, reclutamiento
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