.
As researchers, professors and concerned individuals who study and are acutely concerned about Honduras and Central America, it is our professional and personal obligation to speak out about the coup d'état in Honduras, which occurred on June 28, 2009.
As we reflect on what has happened, we condemn the unconstitutional intervention of the military in deposing the Head of State and constitutionally elected president of the Honduran Republic, and expelling him from Honduras, his native land. It is all too clear that the recent expulsion of President Manuel Zelaya has threatened political institutions and created a dangerous situation that has already led to the loss of life. We call for the immediate return and restoration to office of President Zelaya, and we call for the guarantee of all constitutional rights for the Honduran people and press.
We also declare that unconstitutional acts such as those committed by the military have historically undermined the development of democracy in Honduras and Central America and that this type of action is precisely what hinders the consolidation of democracy in the region.
Declaración firmada por especialistas en Centroamérica
Como investigadores, profesores y personas interesadas que estudian y están profundamente preocupadas por la situación en Honduras y Centroamérica, es nuestra obligación personal y profesional expresar nuestras perspectivas sobre el golpe de Estado ocurrido en Honduras el 28 de junio de 2009.
Al reflexionar sobre lo acontecido, condenamos la intervención inconstitucional con la cual el ejército hondureño ha depuesto al Presidente electo de la República y lo ha expulsado de su país. Es patente que la reciente expulsión del Presidente Manuel Zelaya ha amenazado las instituciones políticas y ha creado una situación de peligro que ya ha significado incluso la pérdida de vidas humanas. Pedimos, por eso, la reincorporación inmediata del Presidente Zelaya a su puesto y la restitución de los derechos constitucionales del pueblo y de la prensa hondureña.
Declaramos, además, que actos inconstitucionales como los cometidos por el ejército han minado el desarrollo de la democracia centroamericana en general, y la hondureña en particular, y que este tipo de acción es precisamente lo que dificulta la consolidación de la democracia en la región.
Signed / Firmada
Harry E. Vanden, University of South Florida
Beatriz Cortez, California State University, Northridge
Ana Patricia Rodríguez, University of Maryland, College Park
Paul Almeida, Texas A&M University
Charles D. Brockett, The University of the South
Richard Stahler-Sholk, Eastern Michigan University
Sheila R. Tully, San Francisco State University
William Stanley, University of New Mexico
Rose Spalding, DePaul University
Suyapa G. Portillo Villeda, Cornell University
Ellen Moodie, University of Illinois
Erik Ching, Furman University
Kelley Ready, Brandeis University
Susanne Jonas, University of California, Santa Cruz
Sylvia Tesh, University of Arizona
LaDawn Haglund, Arizona State University
Millie Thayer, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Marc Zimmerman, University of Houston
Julie A. Charlip, Whitman College
Maureen E. Shea, Tulane University
Susan Fitzpatrick Behrens, California State University, Northridge
Breny Mendoza, California State University, Northridge
Silke Heumann, Amsterdam School for Social Science Research (ASSR), University of Amsterdam (UvA), The Netherlands
Richard Grossman, Northeastern Illinois University
Jennifer N. Costanza, Brown University
C. Matt Samson, Davidson College
Aaron Pollack, Instituto Mora, Mexico
Laura Enriquez, University of California, Berkeley
George Yúdice, University of Miami
Erin S. Finzer, University of Utah
Laura Barbas-Rhoden, Wofford College
Jocelyn Viterna, Harvard University
Cecilia Menjívar, Arizona State University
M. Gabriela Torres, Wheaton College
Jefferson Boyer, Appalachian State University
Deborah T. Levenson, Boston College
Mariantonia Bermúdez González, Universitat de Barcelona
Sonja Wolf, Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México
Aaron Schneider, Tulane University
Elizabeth Oglesby, University of Arizona
Leisy Abrego, University of California, Irvine
Katherine Hoyt, National Co-Coordinator, Nicaragua Network
Bridget Hayden, University of Southern Mississippi
David Bronkema, Eastern University
Juliet Hooker, The University of Texas at Austin
Mary Addis, The College of Wooster
Valeria Grinberg Pla, Bowling Green State University
Ronald Nibbe, California State University, Northridge
Carol E. Pearson, North Dakota State University
Lynn Stephen, University of Oregon
Bruce J. Calder, University of Illinois at Chicago
Christopher L. Chiappari, Saint Olaf College
Silvia L. López, Carleton College