Reliable news is hard to come by, particularly from a foreign country going through turmoil. Which is why new blogger Hunter Smith is doing such a service by blogging (text and photos) from inside the crowds on the streets of Tegucigalpa.
Hunter recently completed his service in the Marines, and decided to hop a flight to Honduras to see first hand what was going on. His blog is Honduras Abandoned.
Right now, Hunter is in the crowd approaching the airport for the possible return of Manuel Zelaya. [Minutes ago it hit the wires that Zelaya’s plane was not allowed to land.] Here is his most recent post:
Hunter texted and asked me to update his page. Protesters are being held about a quarter mile from airport. Army feel back, police just fell back and it appears they are letting the protesters to the airport. No violence so far. Protesters are self policing. One protester threw a rock and hit a policeman. Police did not respond and protesters pushed the young man back to the back of the crowd. They have been negotating with the police and appear to have gotten access to the airport after promising no violence.Rumor on the ground is that Mel is on his way and should land in an hour. Just rumors in the crowd. Will update when I hear more from Hunter. He has been with the crowd since morning when they marched on the airport @ 11:30 central time.
Thanks for your service, Hunter, both to the country and to the blogosphere.
UPDATE: This it the type of info. you don’t get unless someone is on the ground, from Hunter’s latest (emphasis mine):
Protest organizers are trying to send people home. They do not want any more blood shed. Crowd has calmed down but it was very tense when Hunter first arrived. police/army had pulled back from fence. Few people are leaving and he said the crowd is a lot better now. He got pictures of the blood. He did not hear the shots personally.
He did see an older man in a white shirt reach down into the blood pool and cover his hands. He then wiped them on his shirt to make it look like his blood or that he had been involved. Hunter saw what he thought was an AP photographer take the man’s picture. Hunter said if you see it on the web, don’t believe it. It was faked.
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Related Posts:
Let them come to Tegucigalpa
Hands Off Honduras
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Comments
Very interesting. Thanks for the link over there. I will follow that blog as well. Honduras Abandoned.