NYC Press Conference Oct. 5 to announce fact-finding U.S. Delegation to Honduras

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
**Media Advisory** Contact:
Teresa Gutierrez: 917.328.6470

Press Conference Oct. 5 to announce fact-finding U.S. Delegation to Honduras

WHAT: A press conference featuring representatives of the U.S. Delegation to Honduras, who will announce their intention to travel to Honduras from Oct. 7-11 on a fact-finding mission. The delegation calls on elected officials, the Obama administration and the State Department to assure our safety.

The delegation planned to attend the “First International Conference Against the Coup D’Etat and for the Constituent National Assembly in Honduras,” scheduled to take place Oct. 8-10. However given the political and social crisis in the country the conference has been postponed.

The U.S. Delegation is nevertheless continuing its trip to Honduras and will conduct a fact-finding investigation of the situation. It will meet with students, labor, women, youth, representatives of the resistance to the coup and others to find the truth about the situation in Honduras.

WHO: The U.S. Delegation to Honduras, which was initiated by the International Action Center, will include the following participants:

• Berta Joubert-Ceci—Co-Director, IAC, Philadelphia chapter; Women’s Fightback Network
• Heather Cottin—Freeport Workplace Project; Professor, LaGuardia Community College
• LeiLani Dowell—National Co-Coordinator, FIST youth group; Managing Editor, Workers World Newspaper
• Wellington Echegaray—Cuba Solidarity New York
• Michael Gimbel—Central Labor Council Delegate; AFSCME local
• Teresa Gutierrez—Director of Latin America and Immigration Projects, International Action Center; Co-Coordinator, May 1st Coalition for Worker and Immigrant Rights, International Migrant Alliance Depty. Secty. General
• Manolo de los Santos- San Romero de Las Américas Church-UCC/Pastors for Peace
• Michael Kramer—Veterans for Peace
• Danilo Lachapel—Director of Community Relations, Evangelical Church of the Bronx
• Lucy Pagoada—Honduran Resistance U.S.A.
• Jennifer Waller—International Action Center, FIST youth group
• Dave Welsh—Delegate, San Francisco Labor Council

WHERE: Center for Constitutional Rights
666 Broadway, 7th Floor
Between Bond & Bleeker, Take Trains F, V, or D to Broadway Lafayette, two block walk

WHEN: Monday, October 5th at 1:00pm

WHY: The repression against the Honduran people’s resistance movement has intensified since President Manuel Zelaya’s return to his country, where he has found refuge in the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa. Violating international law, the Micheletti coup government has consistently attacked the Brazilian embassy, dropping chemical gas, shutting off the water and electricity, and using Long-Range Acoustic Devices that can result in permanent hearing loss.

Throughout the capital city, the coup regime’s repression against Zelaya’s supporters and all Honduran people has reached a new peak. Individual liberties and Constitutional rights have been suspended; journalists and radio broadcasters are being severely punished for doing their jobs; and people everywhere are being detained, abused, and tortured by soldiers and police. Wounded demonstrators are being picked up from hospitals and then detained without medical treatment; people are undernourished as a result of the coup regime’s curfews.

Nevertheless, three months of constant resistance, and determination to restore their democratically elected President has earned the Honduran people the title Los Incansables (the tireless ones). The U.S. delegation to Honduras will not only gather facts from the resistance, but also express its solidarity with the people and resistance of Honduras.

We are calling on our elected officials, Members of Congress, the State Department and representatives of the press to assure the success and safety of the U.S. delegation by aggressively declaring the illegitimacy of the Michelleti government, by condemning the repression on the Honduran people and by demanding the immediate restoration of Honduras’ democratically elected President, Manuel Zelaya.

Fuente: www.quotha.net

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