On July 1, 60 people attended an emergency rally againt the coup in Honduras in the Latin American Plaza in Sydney. The emotionally charged rally was called at short notice by the Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network (AVSN) and the Latin American Forum to condemn the undemocratic coup carried out by a small group of military officers, members of the oligarchy and their political agents in Honduras.
The rally heard about the violent kidnapping and expulsion to Costa Rica of democratically-elected President Manuel Zelaya and the ruthless attack on the rights of the Honduran people to freely elect their own leaders and decide their own political future.
The rally was attended by many Latin American solidarity groups as well as socialist groups and the Greens.
John Gauci from AVSN called on the Australian government to resolutely condemn the coup, to refuse any recognition of the new, fraudulent regime in Honduras and to cut off all military, economic and political ties with the junta.
Gauci said AVSN condemned the assault on the Venezuelan, Cuban and Bolivian ambassadors, who were trying to protect the foreign minister of Honduras from military arrest. He applauded the bravery of the tens of thousands of Hondurans who have taken to the streets defending their democratic rights.
"AVSN salutes Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez when he warned of CIA involvement in the Honduran events, and when he called on US President Barack Obama to 'reject the coup right from the marrow'", he said.
Gauci pledged AVSN's full support of moves by the nine governments of ALBA to prepare a plan of action to combat the coup. "AVSN pledges its full solidarity alongside the Latin American solidarity movement in Australia until the coup is overturned and democratic rights are reinstalled in Honduras."