Hondurans weary after 3 months of coup dispute

[September 29, 2009]  TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) -- Honduras' interim president promised to restore civil liberties and allow into the country an Organization of American States mediation team, quickly backpedalling from tough measures amid criticism from his own allies that he had gone too far in his fight to stay in power.

Roberto Micheletti's decision Monday to reverse an emergency decree declared a day earlier reflected the largest public show of dissent within the ranks of his supporters to date. Some conservatives feared the decree would endanger the Nov. 29 presidential election, which they consider Honduras' best hope for regaining international recognition.

Zelaya, speaking via telephone to a United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York, deplored the decree, which suspended freedoms of speech and assembly and allowed warrantless arrests. He called it proof "this is a fascist dictatorship that has repressed the Honduran people."

The interim government said the measures were needed to counter calls for civil war by Zelaya's supporters.

The reversals came in a roller-coaster 24 hours.

Micheletti first gave the Brazilian government a 10-day ultimatum to get rid of Zelaya -- who has been holed up at the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa since sneaking back into the country Sept. 21 -- warning Brazil it would have to take down its flag and remove the embassy crest. Then on Monday, Micheletti said he wanted to send "a big hug" to Brazil's president and pledged nothing would happen to the diplomatic mission.

Ahead of the three-month anniversary of the June 28 coup that ousted Zelaya, officials restricted free speech and the right to assemble, closed dissident television and radio stations and expelled OAS employees. But they revoked the measures Monday and said an OAS delegation would be welcome to help mediate talks scheduled for early October.

Micheletti said he had been swayed by a delegation of congressional leaders who asked him to revoke the decree. He acknowledged his government was concerned about the decree's affect on the election, in which all the major candidates oppose Zelaya's policies.

Thousands of Zelaya supporters had responded to his call for a "final offensive" against the government. That and Zelaya's presence in the country had rattled interim authorities.

"Some radio stations, some television stations, were calling for violence, for guerrilla war, and that had us in the government super worried," Micheletti said.

He said that was why they issued the decree banning unauthorized gatherings and allowing police to arrest people without warrants or shut news media for "statements that attack peace and the public order, or which offend the human dignity of public officials, or attack the law."

All the drama belied the fact that throughout three long months demonstrations by both sides have been largely peaceful.

On the average day, pro-Zelaya marches have been accompanied by mocking "Goriletti" gorilla dolls dancing on poles, while the Jesus Aguilar Paz School band beat out a samba-like "punto" rhythm from Honduras' Garifuna region, sending anti-government protesters into hip-swaying dances.

The months of protests have given rise to impromptu heroes like 75-year-old Dionicia Diaz, affectionately known as "Granny Number One," who marches with a megaphone in hand. Shouting slogans and instructions, Granny Number One is considered a leader, in part because soldiers and police are thought to be less likely to confront her.

"We've been in the streets for 91 days, and nobody is going to stop us," she said.

But Honduras is deeply divided. Even the high school band is split: the more conservative horn section quit, while the drums renamed themselves "The Band of the Resistance" and have marched in about five dozen protests to demand Zelaya's reinstatement.

Band leader and music teacher Rafael Rubio said the music "takes the stress out of people ... it makes them less likely to be confrontational." But the 35-member band isn't here; only about 14 drummers remain, with their drums heavily patched and only a few drumsticks.

"When this started, society got divided. Some of the kids' families belong to the National Party, and they support the coup," including almost the entire horn section, Rubio said.

The conflict has divided Honduras into two camps: the conservative "white shirts" and the liberal "red shirts" -- "the perfumed ones" against "the sweaty ones."

So far, protests have seen little bloodshed. The government says three people have been killed since the coup, while protesters put the number at 10. Protest leader Juan Barahona said that could change.

"This mass movement is peaceful, but to the extent they repress us, fence us in and make this method useless, we have to find some other form of struggle," he said.

[Associated Press; By MARK STEVENSON]

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