Cuba condemns coup against Honduras constitutional president

News from Cuba | Thursday, 2 July 2009

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla strongly condemned a coup d?état perpetrated on Sunday morning by Honduran military forces against the government of President Manuel Zelaya and demanded respect for the Constitution of this Central American country.

During a press conference at the venue of the Cuban Foreign Ministry (MINREX) in Havana, Rodriguez also condemned the military’s violation of the diplomatic immunity of Cuba’s Ambassador to Tegucigalpa Juan Carlos Hernandez, who was kidnapped and beaten along with Honduran Foreign Minister Patricia Rodas in the presence of the Venezuelan and Nicaraguan ambassadors.

Speaking over the phone, Hernandez said that troops with hoods on, led by a major whose surname was Oceguera, forcibly took Rodas and him to a military base in Tegucigalpa while they beat and insulted him as he refused to leave the Honduran top diplomat alone.

Hours later, he was released and, with the help of friends, returned to the Cuban embassy, where all the personnel remains firm, like the more than 480 compatriots, mainly doctors and nurses currently working in diverse areas of the Honduran geography protected by the people, Rodriguez Parrilla added.

There’s a constitutional government in Honduras, legitimately elected, and that is the one we recognize, stressed the Cuban Foreign Minister, who also referred to the uncertainty that prevails in Tegucigalpa and other regions of Honduras due to the violence perpetrated by coup supporters against the people.

Rodriguez Parrilla asked the international community, in particular the governments of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our Americas (ALBA), the United Nations, the Non Aligned Movement (NOAL) and the Rio Group, to condemn the coup against Zelaya.He also urged political parties and the Honduran Congress to act in accordance with the Constitution of this nation.

The Cuban FM also held the Honduran military responsible for the life of his Honduran counterpart Patricia Rodas and the integrity of the Cuban embassy and its personnel.He also urged the international press to be objective in these

difficult moments.

I’m convinced that truth and justice will make their way, concluded Rodriguez Parrilla, who recalled that military coups, such as the one against Chilean President Salvador Allende in 1973, are part of history.

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STATEMENT OF THE CUBAN WORKERS TRADE UNION CENTRAL (CTC) IN VIEW OF THE EVENTS TAKEN PLACE IN THE SISTER REPUBLIC OF HONDURAS

The Cuban Workers Trade Union Central (CTC) in view of the recent coup d?etat staged in the sister Republic of Honduras, adheres to the indignation and demands of the world's public opinion.

Oligarchic forces have tried to trample the democratic will of the people of Honduras in an attempt to silence their voices in favour of a more dignified society, leading to the staging of a criminal coup d?etat perpetrated by military forces under the services of oligarchic interests, having as its supreme expression the kidnapping of their legitimate elected President, Manuel Zelaya and his Foreign Minister Mrs. Patricia Rodas, as well as the carrying out of other flagrant violations of the Constitutional and International Laws.

The Cuban Workers Trade Union Central (CTC) expresses its most forceful condemnation in the face of the brutality of such events and demands the unconditional re-instatement of the constitution in that sister nation, that will only be possible by the way of the restitution of those who were legitimately elected by the people. Equally, we also adhere to the international demand for the respect of human rights in that country.

We also join in the rejection and denunciation of the abuses suffered by our Ambassador in Tegucigalpa in violation of international standards and agreements.

We therefore express our utmost solidarity with the workers and people of Honduras, with their trade union and social organizations in the struggle they are willing to wage in favour of the irrevocable return to a state of law in that sister nation, expressing as well our commitment to join them in this hour of struggle and for the rescue of their dignity.

CUBAN WORKERS TRADE UNION CENTRAL


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