Local Hondurans and Supporters Demand Return of Democracy in Honduras at City Hall Rally

BOSTON/Government Center - Over 25 immigrant, labor, and religious advocates - some of them Honduran - held a brief protest between rain storms at City Hall against the military coup in Honduras this week and demanded that deposed President Manuel Zaleya be returned to power immediately.

Zeleya was flown to Costa Rica at gunpoint on Sunday and left there. The military coup was swiftly condemned by the Organization of American States and the United Nations - and by many expatriate Hondurans.

"We condemn what happened in Honduras and we demand the restoration of institutional order in the country," said Angel "Tito" Meza, coordinator of the Honduran Project. "The Honduran people were getting ready to exercise their sacred duty to vote in a referendum that called for an assembly that would reform the constitution."

Patricia Montes of Centro Presente elaborated, " The tactics used by those behind this coup are the same as in the past - a media control strategy that diffuses propaganda and stifles independent reporting. Including the harassment and incarceration of reporters. Many leaders of the military, including the chief of the armed forces, Romeo Orlando Vasquez Velasquez, graduated from the School of the Americas where these tactics were taught."

"We do not recognize the legitimacy of the de facto government and we demand the restitution of constitutional and democratic order in Honduras. It is very important that democratic processes are respected in our countries of origin, to secure the political, economic and social well being of our people and minimize the pressures that cause them to migrate in search of economic opportunity and freedom."

The event was peaceful and there was no police presence.

This article is a news brief.