No To Coup in Honduras!
Restore Demoracy! Reinstate the Democratically Elected President!
Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM) strongly condemns the coup d'etat organised by the military and right-wing political elite in Honduras on 28 June 2009, which ousted the democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya.
The coup took place just hours before the people of Honduras go out to vote on a consultative referendum concerning whether to rewrite the constitution. The current Honduran Constitution which was written in 1982 during the height of the US administration's dirty war in Central America, was designed to ensure the ruling elite who have closed ties with the US imperialist to consolidate their powers with little interference from the ordinary people.
The consultative referendum proposed by President Manuel Zelaya is merely an opinion poll for the Hondurans to determine whether they are prepared to enter into a democratic process to modify their constitution. The referendum though is a not-binding vote, has been viewed by many unions and peasant groups as a necessary precursor to economic reforms favoring Honduras's poor majority. Yet, the right-wing political elites are threatened by it and used every mean to stop the people of Honduras to determine their future by themselves.
President Manuel Zelaya, elected in 2005, has increasingly come under attack by the right-wing forces in Honduras for his growing relationship with the ALBA countries. The coup is clearly a cowardice act by the right-wing political elite and US-backed economic interests which in fear of losing their grip on this Central American country when it moves closer with countries which are now undergoing revolutionary process like Venezuela.
PSM calls for:
1. Restore democracy in Honduras
2. Immediately reinstate the democratically elected President Zelaya
3. People of Honduras have their right to determine whether to re-write the out-dated imperialist influenced constitution in order to restructure its society for the benefit of ordinary vast majority.
No to coup! Power to the People!
Released by
Choo Chon Kai
International Bureau
Socialist Party of Malaysia / Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM)
