Thousands of teachers were brutally repressed by military and police

August 26 – Tegucigalpa

Thousands of teachers were brutally repressed by military and police near the Presidential Palace (Casa Presidential) in a confrontation for which it is reported that there were various wounded.


The Committee for the Defense of Human Rights in Honduras (CODEH) verified that there are four wounded professors that “the Hospital Escuela did not want to take care of”.


One of the wounded was professor Angel Hipolito Bonilla, originally from the province of de Valle, who was urgently removed from the main medical facility when they did not attend him even though he was passed out in the emergency department of the hospital


Images broadcast on television showed the military firing military rifles during the repression against the demonstration.


“We were surprised that the hospital did not want to attend to the wounded, they first asked where they (the wounded) came from”, said Andres Pavon, president of CODEH.


Given the lack of medical attention, the President of the union for the secondary education teachers (COPEMH) decided to transfer the wounded to a private medical facility.


Another of the injured is professor Ramon Bustillo from the province of Santa Barbara. The names of the other injured teachers is not known at this time.


The teachers marched from the National Pedagogic University to the Presidential residence after negotiations with representatives from the government of Porfirio Lobo (Arturo Corrales an Rafael Callejas) broke down.

Arriving at the residence the protesters were met by a blocade of military troops and the clash with the teachers began immediately.


Pavon criticized the behavior of the Minister of Planning, Arturo Corrales, who “did not show an acceptable moral stance” referring to the teachers in an offensive manner saying, “ don’t screw with the deductions”, the wrong kind of statement towards, ‘a struggle that has a very clear reason to exist, there is no baisis to negate the foundation of this struggle”. In addtion CODEH noted that there are an unknown number of persons affected by the tear gas used.

*Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59ERJP7lDvY