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Honduras coup condemned
Nov 26, 2009 12:48 PM
Lucy Pagoada, a Honduran and UFT member, tells delegates of the repression endured by people in her native country.
The delegates overwhelmingly passed a resolution to condemn the June 28 military coup in Honduras and restore the democratically elected president Speaking on behalf of the resolution, Lucy Pagoada, a Honduran and a UFT member for 13 years, spoke of the repression being endured by her people and of the resistance movement being led by teachers.
Teachers and the poor, especially women, took to the streets and have been there every day since the coup, she said, in an unheard-of show of strength. But the price has been high: violent repression, the arrest and beating of leaders including the leader of Honduras’ largest teacher union and the deaths of protestors including two teachers.
Describing a poor country with a 60 percent illiteracy rate, Pagoada spoke with pride of what she described as a resistance movement and class struggle of poor indigenous Hondurans “willing to go the limit to defend their democracy.”
The resolution also called on the UFT to publicize the struggle of Honduran teachers and unionists and to contribute $1,000 to assist the teacher unions. Another resolution to oppose the dismissal of school aides [see page 2] was also passed.
