I made a stop in the drafting of a material about a historical episode on which I have been working for two weeks now to express my solidarity with the constitutional president of Honduras, José Manuel Zelaya.
 
I was impressed when I saw him on Telesur, haranguing the Honduran people.  He was energetically denouncing a gross reactionary refusal aimed at preventing an important popular consultation.  That is the “democracy” that imperialism defends.  Zelaya has not infringed the law in any way; neither did he resort to the use of force.  He is the President and the General Commander of the Armed Forces of Honduras.  The situation that might result from whatever occurs in that country will be a test for the OAS and the current US administration.
 
An ALBA meeting took place yesterday in Maracay, the Venezuelan state of Aragua.  The Latin American and Caribbean leaders who spoke yesterday at such meeting excelled in their eloquence as much as in their dignity.
 
Today I was listening to the solid arguments expressed by President Hugo Chávez when he denounced the attempted coup through the TV channel Venezolana de Televisión.
 
We do not know what will happen tonight or tomorrow in Honduras, but the courageous behaviour adopted by Zelaya will go down in history.
 
His words made us remember the speech given by President Salvador Allende while several fighter planes were bombing the Presidential Palace, where he died heroically on September 11, 1973.  This time we saw another Latin American President entering an air base, accompanied by his people, to claim for the popular consultation ballots that had been spuriously confiscated.
 
That is how a President and a General Commander behaves!
 
The Honduran people will never forget that gesture!
 
 
Fidel Castro Ruz
June 25, 2009
8:15 p.m.