The mass resistance of the poor majority to the coup regime that overthrew elected President Manuel Zelaya on June 28 continues after nearly 120 days. Talks between the coup regime and Zelaya to resolve the crisis, which is costing the Honduran economy millions of dollars, were finally declared dead by Zelaya on October 23.
The talks, which dragged out for 16 days, failed due to the refusal of the coup regime to accept the central demand of Zelaya's negotiating team — that he be restored as the legitimate president.
Instead, the regime offered to allow the Supreme Court, which supported the coup against Zelaya, to decide if Zelaya could return.
Angus-reid.com said on October 19 that an August poll by polling company COIMER&OP found 60.1% of Hondurans wanted Roberto Micheleti, installed by the coup as "president", to resign.
The coup regime, which has used bloody repression against the ongoing peaceful mass protests, is seeking to legitimise its rule by holding elections on November 29.
Zelaya, the National Resistance Front against the Coup (FNRG), the Organisation of American States, the European Union and the United Nations have all said elections organised by the coup regime would not be considered legitimate.
The three central demands of the FNRG are for the reinstatement of Zelaya, no immunity from prosecution for the coup plotters and for a constituent assembly to create a new constitution. The current constitution, which favours the elite, was imposed by a US-backed military dictatorship in the 1980s.
On October 19, Karl Cosser, an member of the Australian Socialist Alliance, told Green Left Weekly from the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa: "Protests have been continuing everyday against the Michelleti coup regime, demanding Zelaya's return."
Cosser said the regime had still not repealed its decree suspending constitutional liberties and "repression from police continues". He said that "independent media are at a direct risk of repression".
"Activists have taken their voice to the streets in the form of graffiti. One spray-painted on a wall in [the capital's] Morazan Plaza reads 'Billy Joya = disappearances'".
Joya was a member of the US-trained 3-16 Battalion, a unit of the Honduran army responsible for the murder and disappearance of many activists during the 1980s.
"Joya has been given the role of security advisor to Micheletti's regime. It has been reported that at least 100 people have disappeared or been killed since the coup.
"Many believe the 3-16 Battalion is operating under a different name, kidnapping and killing the people of Honduras to repress political dissent."
Cosser said one protester told him he was "fighting for the future of my children". He told that corporations operating in Honduras enjoyed tax exemptions, which Zelaya wanted to change to improve the quality of life .
He said Zelaya's measure earlier this year increasing the minimum wage by 60% was one reason the wealthy elite moved to oust him.
Cosser spoke to the husband of Wendy Elizabeth Avila, a resistance activist who died on September 27 when tear gas bombs were fired into a protest induced a lethal asthma attack. The hospital sought to cover up the cause of death by claiming she died from AH1N1 virus, but denied requests to release the autopsy results.
Cosser said: "Many people have been protesting in the barrios and colonias [poor neighbourhoods], where there is a great amount support for Zelaya's return.
"One important demonstration occurred in the main street of Hato de Enmedio, an outer-suburb of Tegucigalpa declared a liberated zone after residents defended it from police attack.
"The protest was peaceful, but had a lot energy and passion. Although there was a heavy riot police presence, people took to the streets in a great atmosphere of music, chanting and dancing.
"With fists and Honduran flags raised, people sang the Honduran national anthem."
The FNRG issued a statement on October 20 condemning the "continuation of the repression by the police and military bodies of the State, which is expressed in assassinations of militants of the Resistance".
It repeated its refusal to recognise elections organised by the coup regime and "our unbreakable will to install a democratic and popular National Constitutional Assembly with which we will refound the country and rescue it from a minority economic class that exploits the working class".
The statement concluded: "After 115 days of struggle here, no one is giving up."