Drafting Honduran Democracy

[Judi Lynn]

March 16, 2011
Drafting Honduran Democracy
As repression continues, the National Front of the Popular Resistance plans a constitutional convention.
By Jeremy Kryt


TEGUCIGALPA—This is what democracy looks like: On February 26, 2011, the National Front of the Popular Resistance (FNRP) held its inaugural Constitutional Assembly in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa. Some of the delegates were peasants. Others were professors. But there were no military strongmen and no puppet politicians. Instead, 1,500 ordinary citizens, elected by municipalities from across the country, met to debate and vote on a series of resolutions aimed at crafting a new, more participatory national charter.

“It’s a historic moment,” FNRP Coordinator Juan Barahona told In These Times. “Never before have the Honduran people had a political voice with which to speak. … Always they have lived as slaves of the oligarchy.”

The FNRP—comprised of teachers, students, trade unionists, human rights NGOs and many other progressive groups—sprung up in the wake of the military coup against President Manuel Zelaya in June 2009. Zelaya had enraged the nation’s elites by bowing to popular pressure for constitutional reform and attempting to hold a nonbinding opinion poll on the issue. Since the putsch, Honduras has been plagued by human rights abuses as the government has sought to repress pro-democracy demonstrators. More than 100 people have died, and thousands more have been beaten, gassed and illegally detained during demonstrations.

Because of the ongoing human rights violations, the delegates to the Constitutional Assembly voted against forming a political party to take part in traditional elections. Until the human rights abuses stop, says Barahona, the FNRP will focus on mobilizing and organizing its large base for June 28, 2011, the two-year anniversary of the coup, when a smaller pool of elected delegates will meet to hammer out a new constitution.

More:
http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/7050/drafting_honduran_democracy/