Joaquín Mejía, lawyer, Doctor of Human rights and researcher of the team of reflection, research and communication (ERIC), says that only a review “Acta by Acta” since the computer blackout occurred during the count can open the door to settle the Crisis in Honduras.
Question. What’s the situation on the street?
Response. The situation is tense. There is a peaceful demonstration in the streets starring young people between 18 and 20 years old, who had nine when the coup d’etat occurred [against Manuel Zelaya on June 28, 2009], and there is another sector that has done looting and vandalism acts that tarnish the protest . According to the alliance [led by the opposition Salvador Nasralla and Zelaya], they are infiltrated people.
Q. What is the basis of mistrust of results?
A. At the ERIC Institute we annually do a public opinion poll and the latter says that 77.1% do not trust the Electoral Tribunal. Now, with all that has happened distrust increases.
Q. Fraud is reported but no one has been able to prove it.
A. Fraud is in the full control of the party in the power of the institutions. In the last few weeks they were so convinced that they were going to win that they had to resort to a fraud in the count. When the first data arrives on Sunday night, the Order to act and a fall of the system is also coming. Then the comeback begins. Even another of the defeated parties, the Liberal, announced through his candidate, Luis Orlando Zelaya, who with his data the winner is Nasralla with a difference of four points. That data matches the alliance’s. The two main opposition parties coincide with the data.
Q. Is there a way out?
A. There is a way out and that is that the Supreme Electoral Tribunal will make the minutes count by minutes since the fall of the system, it is that simple. But the electoral body says that only 1,030 minutes will be reviewed. Since the system fell 300,000 votes were entered and the difference between them is less than 90,000. The spectrum of minutes to be revised must be broadened, but the National Party is opposed.
Q. What is the purpose of suspending constitutional guarantees and declaring the curfew?
A. The state of siege and militarization seems destined to provoke panic among the population, and the corporate media related to the government blames the alliance of opposition to the dictatorship to generate chaos.
Q. How do you value the role of the international community?
A. The role of the OAS is dire. It is so marginal that the Chief of the Mission, the former President [Boliviano, Jorge] Quiroga has already left Honduras. That is a reflection of the little importance that the OAS gives Honduras. The European Union Observation mission is pressing for a scrupulous count and certainty about the results.
