Twenty Honduran youth gather in an abandoned building to learn about socialist history and ideas. "The history of social change," begins the facilitator … "we need to understand our history to know where we are today." We are greeted by a young boy whose resemblance to Che gives me chills. "We’re the students. The workers. The farmers. We are the people. La gente. And we are against the coup."
Kids sneak out of their homes stacked with parents proud to be golpistas (coup supporters) to debate alternatives in the midst of a city transformed into a canvas of political graffiti. The group is called Los Necios, a political organization determined to put an end to the social and political injustices in
Until this moment, the location of the concert, set to begin the following morning at 9a.m., was kept secret. As a foreigner living in
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In his response to my previous article about
After his visit to
My understanding of the coup in
While anti-coup movements are just budding in the countryside, mobilization is in full force here in the capital. The most fascinating aspect is the involvement of the youth and women in this fight. Together, the people are fighting to reinstate ‘Mel’ as the President of Honduras, and through unity and perserverence, anti-coup activists have taken over the city, painting the walls with anti-coup art, selling t-shirts with Lucha and Luchita (cartoon activists) and performing satirical versions of the current political landscape in the country.
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It’s now the morning following the clandestine meeting of Los Necios. From 9a.m. until 11p.m., theatre groups and revolutionary musicians hailing from
Fathers perch their kids up on their shoulders while the elderly sit on the grass taking in the sounds of local favorites like Café Guancasco. Mel calls in and talks to the people, followed by a pastor speaking of his repression by coup supporters; he and the crowd declare that they will fight at any cost. To the world they chant, "This is not a coup against
The fight in
We leave the concert at 11p.m., at which point we drive to the office of Radio Globo — a radio program broadcasting the concert — to continue protesting, as the live feed of the show was cut by the golpistas halfway through the night.
‘When do you sleep?’ I jokingly ask one my friends. ‘When the fight is over,’ she responds.
Adelante, Adelante, la lucha es constante.
Ashley Holly is a Canadian researcher and graduate student in
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