Reflections by comrade Fidel
A SUICIDAL MISTAKE
Three days ago, in the evening of Thursday 25th,
I wrote in my Reflections: “We do not
know what will happen tonight or tomorrow in Honduras, but the courageous
behavior adopted by Zelaya will go down in history.”
Two paragraphs before I had indicated that: “The
situation that might result from whatever occurs in that country will be a test
for the OAS and the current
The prehistoric Inter-American institution met in
Washington the following day and in a halfhearted and spiritless resolution
promised to immediately make the necessary efforts to bring about harmony
between the contending parties; that is, a negotiation between the putschists
and the Constitutional President of Honduras.
The high ranking military chief who was still in
command of the Honduran Armed Forces was making public statements different
from the President’s position while recognizing his authority in a merely
formal way.
The putschists needed barely anything else from the
OAS. They couldn’t care less for the presence of a large number of
international observers who had traveled to that country to bear witness to a referendum
and who had been talking with Zelaya until late into the night. Today, before
dawn, they launched on the President’s home about 200 well-trained and equipped
professional troops who roughly set aside the members of the Guard of Honor and
kidnapped Zelaya --who was sleeping at the moment-- taking him to an air base
and forcibly putting him on a plane to
At 8:30 a.m. we learned from Telesur of the assault on the Presidential House and the
kidnapping. The President was unable to attend the initial activity related to
the referendum that was to take place this Sunday and his whereabouts were
unknown.
The official television channel was silenced. They
wanted to prevent the early spread of the news of the treacherous action
through Telesur and Cubavision Internacional, which were
reporting the events. Therefore, they first suspended the broadcasting centers
and then cut off electricity to the entire country. At the moment, the Supreme
Court and the Congress involved in the conspiracy had yet to make public the
decisions that justified the plot. They first carried out the indescribable military
coup and then legalized it.
The people woke up to a fait accompli and started to react with growing indignation. Zelaya’s
destination was unknown. Three hours later the people’s reaction was such that
we could see women punching soldiers with their fists and the latter’s weapons
falling off their hands as they were nervous and confused. At the beginning,
their movements resembled a strange combat with ghosts; later, they tried to
cover Telesur’s cameras with their
hands and nervously aimed their guns at the reporters. Sometimes, when the
people advanced the troops stepped back. At this point, armored vehicles
carrying cannons and machineguns were sent in as the people fearlessly
discussed with the crews of the armored vehicles. The people’s reaction was
amazing.
Approximately at 2:00 in the afternoon, a tamed
majority in Congress --in coordination with the putschists—toppled Zelaya, the
Constitutional President of
Many other things happened today. Cubavision took all of its time to
expose the coup and keep our people informed.
Some events were purely fascist in nature and even if
expected they are still astonishing.
Honduran Foreign Minister Patricia Rodas was the
putschists’ main target, second only to Zelaya. Another detachment was sent to
her residence. She was brave and determined, and she acted quickly; she did not
waste time and started denouncing the coup in every way possible. Our
ambassador contacted Patricia to learn about the situation; other ambassadors
did likewise. At a given moment, she asked the diplomatic representatives of
When the diplomats were already in her house, the
putschist command sent Major Oceguera to put her under arrest. The diplomats
stood between the woman and the officer and claimed she was under diplomatic
protection and could only be moved accompanied by them. Oceguera discussed with
them in a respectful fashion. A few minutes later, 12 or 15 men in uniform and
covering their faces with ski masks rushed into the house. The three
ambassadors embraced Patricia but the masked men using force managed to
separate the Venezuelan and Nicaraguan ambassadors; Hernandez held her so strongly
by one arm that the masked men dragged them both to a van and drove to an air
base where they finally separated him and took her away. As he was there in
custody, Bruno, who had news of the kidnapping called him to the cell phone;
one of the masked men tried to violently snatch the phone out of his hands and
the Cuban ambassador, who had already been punched in Patricia’s home, shouted:
“Don’t push me, cojones!” I don’t
remember if the term was ever used by Cervantes, but there is no doubt that
ambassador Juan Carlos Hernandez has enriched our language.
Later, he was abandoned in a road far from the Cuban
mission not before being warned that something worse could happen to him if he
talked. “Nothing can be worse than death,” he answered with dignity, “and still
I’m not afraid of you.” Then people from the area helped him to return to the
embassy and from there he immediately called Bruno again.
There is no way to negotiate with that putschist high
command. They must be asked to abdicate while other younger officers,
uninvolved with the oligarchy, take charge of the military command; otherwise,
there will never be in
There is no hope for the cornered and isolated
putschists if the problem is faced with determination.
Even Mrs. Clinton stated this afternoon that Zelaya
is the only President of Honduras and the Honduran putschists can’t even
breathe without the support of the
Zelaya, a man who was in his pyjamas just a few hours
ago, will be recognized by the world as the only Constitutional President of
Fidel Castro Ruz
June 28, 2009
6:14 PM.