Day 12 & 13 (morning) - 2017 Election Crisis Update
/- Sunday, December 10 & Monday, December 11 (morning) -
Yesterday, the Alliance called large marches in different parts of the country. The march in Tegucigalpa started at the public hospital and ended in front of the U.S. Embassy. There were several signs calling out the U.S. for supporting the electoral fraud.
There were an announcement circulated calling for a Paro Nacional for today (Monday) but it was not officially called by the Alliance & the Convergence against Reelection. Regardless, there are road blocks and protests all over the country. Road blocks and protests have been reported in: Choluteca (Choluteca), Sambo Creek (Atlantida), Tocoa (Colon), Puente Arizona (Atlantida), Pajuiles (Atlantida), Ceibita (Santa Barbara), Tela (Atlantida), Porterillos (Cortes), and likely in multiple places in Colon. The popular movement in Colon called for permanent blockades starting today. In Tegucigalpa, several roads and major boulevards have been blocked since early this morning.
Already reports of violent evictions are coming in. Two young people were reported to have been arrested in Choluteca and Military Police fired live rounds at the protesters. A vehicle owned by journalists covering the event were hit by bullets. There have also been evictions reported in El Progreso and several parts of Tegucigalpa.
Radio Progreso reports that its antenna and tower has been sabotaged which takes its radio in Tegucigalpa off the air. Radio Progreso's station in Tegucigalpa also got a strange visit from the state telecommunications body, CONATEL, on Friday as well. And then on the weekend, they started experiencing strange interruptions and problems with their signal.
The TSE announced last night that it finished counting the 4,753 actas of the 5,300 that were flagged by the Alliance as being suspicious. They started the count on Saturday. They announced that the trends favoring JOH remain the same - 42.98% for JOH and 41.38% for Nasralla. The U.S. Embassy released a statement for human rights day yesterday, but its largely believed that the Embassy is really pushing for the TSE to announce results which are likely to mean that they will announce JOH as the winner of the Presidential race. The TSE also updated the information of the total number of 'impugnaciones' or motions to challenge election results. The number is now at 150 motions.
In response to the TSE's weekend announcements, the Alliance has called a press conference at 11 am this morning.
Finally, Manuel Zelaya, Coordinator of the Alliance, published a letter that accuses the U.S. Embassy of pressuring to divide the Alliance. Yesterday, Mel and Nasralla spoke together to the crowds gathered to protest in Tegucigalpa so not public evidence of a major split to date. Nasralla also did publicly respond to Zelaya's letter. Its important to note that this is the time of closed door negotiations where Nasralla would be under significant pressure from international institutions, specifically the U.S. Embassy.