Honduras faces repeat of 2009 coup

HONDURAN presidential challenger Salvador Nasralla alleged ballot fraud and urged protests for Wednesday as troops rolled toward the capital.

Fears of a repeat of the 2009 US-backed coup against president Manuel Zelaya were raised after video posted on social media on Tuesday showed long lines of army trucks carrying soldiers on the road from Sigatepeque to La Esperanza — west of the capital Tegucigalpa.

Counting of votes in Sunday’s presidential election resumed after a mysterious two-day hiatus.

Mr Nasralla’s five-point lead over incumbent Juan Orlando Hernandez rapidly shrank to 24,000 — less than one per cent — with around half a million ballots left to count.

The Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) promised a final result by Wednesday night.

On Tuesday Opposition Alliance candidate Mr Nasralla accused the ruling National Party of Honduras (PNH) of pressuring the TSE, which had called his 45 per cent to 40 per cent lead irreversible days earlier, to steal the election.

He said: "The company hired to give out the results, under pressure from the magistrate president, removed security mechanisms from the data transmission system."

Mr Nasralla called on his supporters to take to the streets to protest the fraud, insisting: “We’ve already won the election.”

“I‘m not going to tolerate this, and as there are no reliable institutions in Honduras to defend us, tomorrow the Honduran people need to defend the vote on the streets.”

PNH National Secretary Juan Zelaya — no relation of the ousted president — called his supporters on to the streets on Tuesday to “defend the triumph,” despite his candidate still trailing at the ballots.

Mr Hernandez succeeded party mate Porfirio Lobo, who took over from Liberal Party congress speaker Roberto Micheletti.

Mr Michelletti was made interim president after the military coup against Manuel Zelaya after he won a referendum to extend the presidential term limit — with a pledge not to seek re-election.

The coup condoned by then-US secretary of state Hillary Clinton with the support of former Republican senator Jim DeMint, a prominent backer of US President Donald Trump.

It was followed by a vicious security crackdown with the murders and disappearances of Zelaya supporters and others, including indigenous campaigner Berta Caceres.

Mr Nasralla has said his supporter Mr Zelaya would have influence in a new government, and his wife and former presidential candidate Xiomara Castro would join his cabinet.

He has also promised to review the siting of a US military air base in the country that Mr Zelaya vowed to convert to civilian use.

The mystery of the Guanches

The origins and language of the indigenous people of the Canary Islands remain a mystery, writes Dr Sabina Goralski Filonov Translation by James Tweedie The guanches, the aboriginals of the Canary Islands whose origin, lost in the mists of time, still arouses intense and passionate debate and great controversy about their origins and the how the seven Canary Islands were populated – which according to some studies occurred between 10,000 and 8,000 years BC. Literally, the word ‘Guan’ means man or person and ‘Chenech’ or ‘Chinet’ is applied to the island of Tenerife, thus meaning a man or inhabitant of Tenerife – although according to Núñez de la Peña, the Spanish named them the Guanchos during the conquest of the islands. But with the passage of time, experts in the subject are questioning whether the word Guanche was used to designate the primitive inhabitants of all the islands in the pre-Hispanic period. The term ‘Guanche’ has also ceased to be applied to the distin

Los Gigantes Beach Landslide Tragedy - Three Days of Mourning for Victims

SHATTERED IDYLL: Los Guios beach in Los Gigantes in happier times. SANTIAGO del Teide council declared three days of official mourning after two women were killed in a landslide on Los Gigantes beach on November 1. by James Tweedie The local authority announced the period of mourning following an emergency council meeting on Monday November 2, called in response to the tragic deaths of 57-year old British holidaymaker Marion O’Hara and 34-year old Canarian hotel worker Maria Vanesa Arias Romera. Flags at Santiago del Teide town hall were flown at half mast for the period of mourning, and all official functions observed a minute’s silence in memory of the victims. The two women were killed when 130-foot wide stretch of the cliffs above the tiny Los Guios beach collapsed from a height of about 200 feet, burying them beneath rubble up to 15 feet deep, according to a spokesman for the Guardia Civil which was conducting the investigation into the accident. The landslide occurred about 3pm

African Teachers Against Privatisation

Teachers from across Africa urged the continental bloc to halt the privatisation of national education systems today. Unions affiliated to the Education International (EI) federation pressed the African Union (AU) to stop the spread of sordid tin-shack schools funded by the world's richest man. The EI statement, issued in the Ethiopian capital and seat of the AU Addis Ababa warned: “we are witnessing a shift away from education as a public good,” with “a reduction in education budgets and increased privatisation of education.” “This is not the Africa we want,” said EI Africa Committee Chair Christian Addai-Poku, referring to the AU's 'Agenda 2063' plan. “Quality education for the public good is an indispensable condition for the development of our continent and the realisation of the full potential of all its people.” The teaching unions criticised the rapid growth across the continent of ‘low-cost’ private schools, which they said were “notorious for empl

UNIONS UNITE FOR GENERAL STRIKE

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Homeless dogs’ home fights for compensation

Dingo Dogs owner Phil Nelson at his since-demolished home. DOGS’ home owner Phil Nelson has vowed to take legal action following his eviction from his Dingo Dogs animal sanctuary in August. by James Tweedie Indian-born Mr Nelson, along with former girlfriend and Dingo Dogs treasurer Leigh Crouch were left homeless by the court-ordered eviction and have been sharing a small hut in the mountains near Las Chafiras with ten dogs and three cats ever since. Mr Nelson’s dispute with his former landlord began in September 2004, after he officially registered his rented hillside finca as an animal sanctuary. It was a requirement of his registration that he keep proper financial records, including receipts for payment of rent. Mr Nelson says that despite having a rental contract and paying his rent “as regular as clockwork” for years, his landlord never gave him a receipt even after he began asking for one every month in 2004. In May 2005, after his landlord had refused

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