 Okay, welcome to what the F is going on in Latin America and the Caribbean, CodePink's weekly YouTube program of hot news out of the region. In partnership with Friends of Latin America, Massachusetts Peace Action, and Task Force on the Americas, we broadcast every Wednesday, 4.30pm Pacific, 7.30pm Eastern on CodePink YouTube Live. Tonight is a very special episode broadcasting on Thursday, look for us next week on Wednesday. Today's episode is Honduras elects a new future part two. And I'm so excited to say this is part two because our audience was able to see part one in November as part of the election process in November. And tonight we're going to talk about Xiomara Castro's actual inauguration. So this is part two of Honduras electing a new government for themselves. So let me just introduce the program to all of you. Honduran saw Xiomara Castro sworn in as their country's first female president Thursday, January 27, a week ago today. Amid a sea of waving flags in the national stadium. Castro blasted the departing administration for leaving her a heavily indebted country where poverty and a lack of opportunity have driven hundreds of thousands of Hondurans to migrate in recent years. She said, my government will not continue the vortex that has condemned generations of young people to pay the debt taken on behind their backs. We have the duty to restore the economic sector on the basis of transparency, efficiency, production, social justice, wealth distribution and national revenue. High unemployment, persistent violence, corruption and troubled healthcare and educational systems are just some of the pressing challenges inherited by the new government. But the people have liberated themselves from 12 years of a US coup installed national party role. Joining the conversation today is my good friend, dear friend, Lucy Pagawada Kisada, who is a teacher coordinator of D 19 Libre US Canada, and a co host of voices of resistance broadcasting on WBAI New York City Sundays at 1pm, which I'm always so grateful to be a host on her program guest on her program. And now you're a guest. And sometimes. So I'm so happy that I'm so happy that you can be my guest this evening because we have such a historic and special, special event to talk about so so welcome Lucy, I should tell our audience that Lucy and I were both at Xiomara Castro's conversation a week ago today, which is so hard to believe it's. I will also say we were both in Honduras in November for the gen November 27 elections and so it's a very very rare and special opportunity to talk with all of you tonight to actually have been an international election observer, and then to be invited back for for the presidential inauguration is a very is a huge honor and a very rare experience and so I'm so happy to have Lucy with us today to talk about all of this so welcome Lucy. Thank you so much and, as you can see, I'm feeling very happy. I'm excited. I feel like I feel very light, like you know, my body and my soul, my mind is so so light now because you know for 12 years we carried on the heaviness of the violence of the coup in 2009 against President Celaya and since we haven't stopped fighting back to reverse the coup, and incredibly just like the Bolivians were able to do it in one year we were able to do it in 12 years. And you know just like the Chileans did it in 40 years. And so every country does it in their own time, but I don't think it matters you know how long does it take as long if we are able to bring justice and democracy back to our country, which is really what we needed in Honduras. And this is how we met very this is how we met we met on the streets we met fighting. It is no coincidence that you were there for the elections and that you came back for the first female president, commander, commander in chief, Cio Maracastro, because you're in the struggle with, with all of us you know this is how we met, always fighting for justice, self, you know self determination, the respect for the respect for some entry of our countries, particularly in Latin America. So you're you're part of this process and I'm so happy that I've been able to struggle together with you with media, with Andrea, with Sonya Mansoor in Washington, you know Jill Clark and all of our compañeras because I feel that our resistance, particularly in Latin America is a resistance of women. It is no coincidence that Cio Maracastro is actually our president because the Honduran resistance is also mostly female. So, you know, during the coup it was the women that came out first and started hitting, hitting the militaries, you know they were carrying weapons while the women were carrying their backs and they were hitting the military, they were telling them to go back to their places because the streets were not their places and definitely not repressing the people, hitting and insulting and raping and killing the people that was not part of their job, although we know that the military Honduras is a repressive military just like the police. And I always say, you know, the police and the military Honduras only serve the purpose, three purposes. It is to repress, to kill and to disappear our people unfortunately. So we're hoping for better times in Honduras. We know it's a very challenging, it's going to be a very challenging government, but Cio Mara, it's amazing she has so much experience, political and social as well because she's also a woman. She's a fighter, just like you and me, just like the women of Honduras, you know, she was in the streets, she fought against the military, you know, when they were out there repressing the people. So Cio Mara came from the presidential house, the streets to the polls, back to the presidential house. This is how it has been. I was so happy that he to go back last week to the presidential house and be received, like just another Honduran citizen, because during the time of President Zelaya, this is how it was, the presidential house was the house of the people. So I felt like going back and yes, it was just amazing. But you know there's a lot to be said about how the presidential house is now. Everything has to be rebuilt, reconstruct the whole country, the presidential house, our democratic system and everything that was destroyed by the coup and the narco dictatorship, which we should add the narco dictatorship by the National Party. So let's talk, can you give the audience just a brief background, what happened in June of 2009 and what, and you know, shrouded you and your people for 12 years. Nonstop. And when I say nonstop, I mean nonstop, and you know, it was 24-7, 24-7 in every aspect that we could, whether it was denouncing what was going on in Honduras, the repression that erupted in the country after the coup, a country that became completely militarized in violence. There was a time of 2012 after the coup that the New York Times declared Honduras the most violent country in the world in San Pedro Sula being the most violent city. We're talking about hundreds of people being murdered weekly and you know this war, this war, all sectors of Honduran society from professionals like lawyers, teachers, human rights defenders, students. Students, peasants, women, LGBT community, the original people in Honduras, indigenous, Garifunas, because everyone, everyone came out against the coup. This is what made it so incredible because this was not just a coup in which we stay silent. The coup actually brought us all out inside Honduras and outside Honduras. I remember taking to the streets the first coup in Latin America in like 30 years. It was the first overt coup in 30 years and it was sponsored by the Obama industry. Yes, we had had the Haiti coup. You have to remember the Haiti coup. That's true, yeah. But in the Spanish-speaking world, it was the first and it was actually the beginning of an era of military coups in Latin America that were intended to attack and counterattack Alba, the alternative for the Americans, which actually was working towards the integration of the American continent and also Petrocaribe, which was a big thing, the exchange of oil for goods between Venezuela and Honduras. And the fact that President Zelaya is starting looking south, and let's not forget that in 2009, in May of 2009, President Zelaya signed before the OAS for Cuba to be integrated. And Hillary Clinton has said, don't do it because if you do it, it's like you're signing your death sentence. Of course, no one believed her, right? But she meant it because Hillary Clinton took it very personal. She took it very personal. And this is not just the coup of President Obama, this is also the coup of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. And I would say that I would say in the introduction of our radio program, Voices of Resistance, I would say that this was a coup of Obama and it was a coup of Hillary Clinton because this was a coup against 21st century socialism and the proximity of President Zelaya with President Hugo Chavez. So this was also a coup against President Hugo Chavez and the Troika of Resistance, Nicaragua and Cuba. So that's how we took it. We took it as it was an attack to the entire region because we were so happy. This was the times of the pink tie. And everybody was so celebratory of everything that was going on from Chavez to Correa, to Evo, you know, Kishners, Cuba, Nicaragua, these were beautiful times for Latin America. And we also feel that the United States attacked Honduras because it was like the weakest link within Latin America, you know, it's a very impoverished country. And it is a country that has been historically been dominated by the U.S. military. Let's not forget that the largest military base in Central America is actually in Honduras, you know, the House of the Southern Commander. In Palmerola, ironically, the airport that we are landing in now, right? In Palmerola. It really gave me the chills. And do you know that I saw the military plane that was actually bringing Kamala Harris's security cars? I saw it when I was landing in Palmerola where we were landing with a delegation on January 25th. We saw this intimidating, huge, horrible military plane. But we thought, oh, well, this is a U.S. military base. It must be just another military car, a military plane. Then later I saw a night in the news that these were the planes that were bringing Kamala Harris's security cars into Honduras. It was 12 of them, they said. How many cars do you need to feel safe? I asked myself. Think of what it takes. I mean, think of what that means for what that means that the vice president of the United States has to travel. Unfortunately, sadly, that's the image that the U.S. provokes that you have to have that sort of security. There was no one else invited on that level internationally that needed that type of security. You saw it and you saw the blogs and you saw the military and you saw the military jeeps coming into the stadium. And knowing that this is our government in such an intermediary level, and not only that, knowing that these are my tax money, it made me very uneasy. But I had to be nice because that was the amount of immigration, so I couldn't have to be nice. Everybody was extraordinarily well behaved on an Occuration Day. Everybody from all countries got a very warm welcome from all of your people. Some clearly got a more grandiose welcome, but no one got a negative. Well, maybe Kamala Harris. Well, Kamala Harris, Kamala Harris does receive the message, you know, and it was like a big wave at the stadium. And what they were telling her is to take off, take one Orlando Landis with you. Now it's no longer Fuerajo, now it's take hold with you, take hold with you, right? They want her to take away from Honduras. They're an arched dictator. And the people know, the people know too well, people know. He suffered for 12 years under that National Party rule, and him specifically, you know, his brothers in prison for narco trafficking, and he's been, you know, named as co-conspirator number four. So not, you know, and that's a whole, that's a whole nother episode for us to talk about the narco dictatorship. So with the US narco dictator in Honduras, we're trying to figure that one out. What's going to happen to him? Amnesty? Somewhere, Miami maybe, you know. Did you hear about the letter that Bob Menendez sent to President Biden today? Asking that he needs to declare one Orlando Landis a couple of narco trafficking because of the accusation that he has in the Southern Court in New York, and also that he needs to remove his visa and declare him as a narco. Wow. That happened to them. Oh, wow. Well, that's news. I hadn't seen that. Wow. Well, it's accurate. It is. And we hope they mean it, you know, because we're tired of like, you know, people asking, you know, congressmen and women and senators asking the executive to do something and they never do anything about their thoughts in Latin America. We hope they mean it. So what you did was you got rid of them. And you got, and the Honduran people got rid of them on your own and you did it in peaceful means and you did it via constitutional means, which is a huge story in and of itself. And the years of organizing that it took to pull that to make that happen. And you tried before and the and the elections have been were manipulated by the U.S. by the OAS by all sorts of the U.S. Embassy. The President. Yes. Before. Twice. Twice. Before the count was even done. So this is. Before we move forward from the cool conversation because it is really what has brought us here, right? The process, the amazing organizing process of the Honduran people in the United States in Honduras, in Europe, different parts of Latin America, because we're all over the place and from all over the place we, we kept going with this struggle. And I don't want to forget to mention that in this struggle, we lost thousands of lives that there are so many matters, people who were killed because of their fighting. And among them, you know, our environmentalist indigenous leader, Bertha Casares, and so many other leaders that were also murder and let's not forget to that the deepening of the social, economic and political crisis in Honduras that the U.S. people produced is what made Honduras an exporter of caravans, human caravans, the tragic images that we all have seen on TV and on social media of hundreds and sometimes thousands of families in caravans walking to the streets to find asylum or refugee or simply leave Honduras because prior to to the victory of Xiomara and the leave the party and the coalition that came together to guarantee the success that we needed the definite success that we needed to get the American dictatorship out of, out of power. You know, people had no hope. This is why now, and they left, they left they have nothing else to lose. They felt like they lost everything and they, they, they left entire families, pregnant women, children on a company children. So Honduras became a tragedy that we could see it was it was perceivable it was no longer something that the narcotic leadership could hide neither the United States and I think that part of why the United States is not at this moment, pressuring to or, or stop the, the victory of Xiomara, as they had done before is because they don't want to deal with the, with the, what they call their immigrant crisis or their immigrant problem right. So they realized that they created this problem and they don't want to be seen by the world as this country that is not only creating these caravans, because of the instability in Honduras and the, the incredible poverty, and the lack of any level of opportunity, but now they have to deal with the problem here in their borders, or they have to deal with the Mexican government, so that they can try to get other governments to do for them and so it really became a chaos for the United States and, and we feel that the reason why the United States is, is more. I don't even receptive, if that's a word I don't even know what word to look for because it is very hard to put words to what is going on. It is simply because they really want to contain the problem of immigration. So I wanted to put that out there because we have had direct cost direct consequences to the impact that the coup had and we're trying to rebuild our country now this is why we call the Xiomara government the government of hope. And we, and we build in Esperanza. Really, I mean it really. It's going to be as you mentioned earlier. It's, it's not an easy road ahead. It says there's so much damage that's been done to the country and to the people to the, to the environment, to the economy to the public institutions it's all just been destroyed by a US backed government that was really looking to open up natural resources to transnational corporations and human resources as well. The labor and the, and the water and the hydroelectric dams, all of it is just a really a terrible story of us impose neoliberalism, just a really, and militarism, or neoliberalism via militarism. And it's just so I, I will share with you I'm so sorry that we didn't see each other and take you to golf about I just want to reach out and hug you now. I was so busy. I was so busy. You know, I took a delegation of 27 members of Liberty militancy, as well as leaders of the social movements here in the United States people that have a company us throughout these years and not everybody but some people you know, that we were able to come and had the time and, and the resources to come to undo this in this very special moment in the, in the, in the little time that we had to prepare because it was not that much time we had like a month. There for delegation and that was a lot of work but it was beautiful and, and we're going to give some reports back so beyond the on the watch out for the report back of our delegation because we have had a great time it was amazing. Some people had been in Honduras before throughout the process some people have been, you know, during the cool, and they were going back in victory so some people had never been to address the delegation was mixed it was it had. Which is good. Yeah, you'll have some really good, good. And to share with with with the US audience it's very. I will say I was in Nicaragua prior early January for Daniel Ortega's inauguration, which was a true honor as well. I went into the Nicaraguan presidential elections in November and then on to Honduras, and I arrived, you know, take you say Galpa, Saturday, what was that the 22nd, the 23rd, when Xiomara had called for a vigil at the Congress National, because of this rift. What happened Thursday night Thursday. So that would have been what the 20th Thursday the 20th so a week, a week before the inauguration and everyone was really sitting on pens and needles since November 27 the election election days to what was going to happen, if anything, to impede her, her presidency. So we saw why don't you share with the audience some of what what we saw unfold within the Congress right before the inauguration. Well, one of the most amazing expressions of Xiomara's government is that it is really a government of the people. And whenever she calls the people the people are there to support in every way. So the split that happened, the sudden and very unexpected split that happened in Libre with these 20 members of Congress that decided that they weren't going to respect the agreement that was made between the Libre party and the PSH Partido Salvador Gonduras which is the other party that we came together just like in 2017 and form this this alliance right that helped us getting power on November 2028 2021. So if for us it was an automatic thing that everybody was going to respect the agreement because we signed the agreement prior to the elections. So we really didn't understand why these 20 members of Congress once they they had won the elections, they decided to come together and not respect the agreement, and they even took it a little further and decided that they were going to propose their own candidate to be the president of Congress. And this is where the split happened and all of this is happening while we are preparing for the inauguration day, which made everybody tense he made everybody nervous. You know, anxiety, we didn't know what was going to happen. And we didn't even think we're going to have someone to swear Xiomara into power right at the at the stadium. So, all of that situation kept us in a lot of anxiety in a lot of tension. And this tension is still going on. But, you know, we feel that eventually, this is going to be resolved because at the end of the day is all about the people of Honduras and in these these these Congress people they have to understand that it's not about their personal gains or their personal wills. This is not what they want is what the people of Honduras need. And this is what we're working towards so Xiomara is making every single possibility to make sure that these people understand that it's really not about them that is really about the people of Honduras. So we are working with with the new Congress, you know, the the official Congress. Yeah, so what happened was that in order for Xiomara to the day that she called the people to come to Congress, she did it because she wanted to make sure that everyone understood that her government was really a government of the country. And that she was going to respect whatever the people said, and if they if she called them to support what she the agreement she had made with the other party, and the other parties right the coalition coalition if the people supported her that means that meant that everybody needs to come together and and support the agreement and and she got it. Thousands of people came, right, and they slept. They slept overnight they stayed overnight. They pitched tense at the couple. I was there I didn't spend the night there but I saw everybody pitching their 10s planning to stay and we saw it was like the people were eating there they were dancing but the interesting thing is that it was not a sad, it was not a sad protest it was a happy protest, because people were celebrating and what they were saying is listen congressmen and congresswomen, we voted for you, you knew what the agreement was so you better respect it. And they got scared, they got scared they left the Congress, they went away and they did their own little parallel Congress somewhere else that you know it's it's like, we call it the white we started calling them the white dose of Honduras, because they still proclaim themselves as the new, the new Congress and everything it was really bad because that was, that was a de facto, that was a de facto act you know that they shouldn't have violated or disrespected the people's well because when we voted, I voted here in the United States we voted knowing that disagreement had already happened. So no one has the right to break up that agreement. No one has the right, no one, because we voted and the people knew that this was going to happen. So, and people vote I mean, the Libre Party didn't just win the presidency but you know these seats in Congress and mayoral ships and local government as well by a huge majority. It was not a close election in November, it wasn't it was truly the will of the people and Honduran citizens voting for a distinct change, a new future for yourselves, and to get rid of the Narco dictatorship. And you know this is why other people came together with us to as Libre, we understand that we are the strongest party we are the largest party we are the great majority, but the support that the other parties gave us to just to get rid of the dictatorship. That was important and we need to value that and we need to honor that, because it was also the will of those other people as well, you know they're all hundreds we need to honor that. So that's what the agreement was it was really an agreement that needs to be honored because that was the agreement of the people we knew when we went to vote that this agreement was in place so it is no one's place to, to disrespect it. This is the will of the people and this comes up on your radio show Sundays, quite often and on on our code pink YouTube program as well, that this will of the people the importance of Labor social and solidarity movements on the ground in community, continuing to build a narrative to build a party to build, you know, national sovereignty and all those things on the ground in community. And this is why it's so necessary because on on Saturday the 22nd when she or Mara called for that vigil at Congress, there were thousands of people that mobilized, you know so quickly. And it was, as you said it was very peaceful, and it was people saying this is how we voted this is what we want, and we're not going home. We're pitching our tents we're spending the night we are not seating any ground to anyone questioning this huge historical win, not just at the presidential level but at the congressional level as well. It was a really in May or level to we have to remember yes, in Pegu C Galpa for example, we got rid of the of the historic narco dictatorship. Mayor that was was there for 30 years the National Party was was heading the the main was mayor of Pegu C Galpa for 30 years, and we got rid of that and the same thing happened in San Pedro Sula the two main cities, we also got, you know, a coalition, one, both in in Pegu C Galpa and in San Pedro, the mayor office. So that's important to we made incredible gains in this process that it needs to be respected the people knew very well what they were doing they knew exactly who they were wanting for, and this is why we defend our vote because we knew if this was a very conscious decision that the people of Honduras make to decide who was going to be their president to decide who was going to be their mayor's how we were going to get rid of these, you know, old National Party corrupt mayors both in San Pedro Sula and in Pegu C Galpa. So it is a lot that is at stake and this is why, you know, if we don't respect the agreement then we're going to start making the process and we don't we just can't. Yeah, well, there, there goes any sort of constitutional government. Yeah, so you and I were at the inauguration a week ago today, I will just say for me on a very personal level. There's just in tears walking in there and seeing that sea of red, the seating for around the, you know, the circumference of the stadium I mean it literally was a sea of red of Libre Party flags it was very, very, very, very powerful, very emotional, and also so wonderful and I will just share with you as my friends so wonderful to be in Honduras and see people happy. I, you know that I'll agree that was in the air, I will tell you I have never been in Honduras with that feeling that is so Latin that is so unique to Mesoamerica and the Caribbean and that that part of the of the hemisphere that that to just feel that in Honduras with that feeling that's been absent for so very, very long it was really very powerful, very moving and just so happy, so happy for all of you. Same you know it is the same feeling because we we had a we had a surreal experience as soon as we walked into Palmerola, we came out of the airport. We were received by the by a special commission of our of our presidency of Maracastro. They were there waiting for us and as soon as we walked out they were like, Oh, are you part of a delegation like we're the 19, the 19 delegation, and they just celebrated us getting there and I will, and I started crying of happiness because in the past you know throughout all these 12 years of militarization of the country. When you walked into the airport all you saw were these little soldiers with those huge guns and you knew you were walking almost into a war zone and every time you felt intimidated because they were military. There was police and there was the military everywhere the country was completely militarized so you always felt afraid, and you always always felt threatened, and you always felt nervous, and this time around. And, and I, I was interviewed I was interviewed by HSE action which is, which is, you know, is a is a conservative corporate media TV station in there, but they were happy to see us so they were like do you want to give us an interview and I was like, of course, I mean, I started being interviewed they wanted to know, why are you here coming from the United States with a delegation to, you know, for the integration, I said, you know, because we've been part of the process for 12 years and, and the most amazing thing was was this this way in which we were deep with so much love, you know, and so much happiness and so much appreciation I said, you know, in the past, I, you know, today I feel like they were they were throwing roses, and, and flowers at us when in the past, I had to face the military and the police and being tear gas, and being thrown water and just being feeling intimidated by the police and and the military is such a scary thing, you know, that I felt that this was never going to end in Honduras like this was like I had to get used to that every time I went and going back and and feeling the complete opposite of that. It was just I still have to get used to it, because we have internalized the violence in our country and we have to be like, you know, every time it's almost like you need to get used to this new reality, but it is so beautiful that it's so easy to get used to it so we went to a restaurant and all of a sudden it was just so amazing that there was no military there was no police and we'll just started dancing like everybody started dancing singing it, we were just celebrating you know we we had a day with family, because we didn't have enough time a lot of time, but it was just unbelievable and this is the New Honduras you know, this is the Honduras of hope, this is the Honduras that we have recuperated and you should also remember at the stadium, the size that said volvimos we are back, which meant that this is what we had prior to 2009 during the administration of President Celaya. Honduras was a beautiful place it was it was a place, it was a country that was growing economically, people were doing well in Honduras we were very happy, you know that was a happy country, and, and then all of a sudden the coup took away our happiness, it took away many of our friends, it took away family, it separated our families, because the political scenario that actually erupted from from the coup also separated us, it separated us between the ones that supported the coup and the ones that didn't support the coup. I have family that up until today you know they're still not talking to me now they're beginning to call me because they realize that things are getting better there, but took a lot of years for for us as families to go back together because this is what coup do you know this is what the violence does is separates the family and is separated the Honduran family and we are going back to that and it is really a beautiful thing. We did it. You know you've used recuperation and going going back to returning to I'm looking at the flag over your shoulder and for our audience. This is a return the flag physically the color the turquoise color of the flag physically embodies recuperation and a return, and maybe you can share with the audience, what happened, because this is the original turquoise and the narco dictatorship. The flag and the audience may remember the flag was a darker shade of blue, and it has now wish your Mars presidency returned to the original turquoise and that's a profound story. To me, I mean the symbol the symbolism attached with this. You have to remember that when when Orlando Hernandez got in in assert power, when he assert the power because he never won. Every time he got in power. Well, first he was Micheletti right that was put in there by by Hillary Clinton for six months and then he was taken out then Porfirio Lobososa was also put there inflated right and he was put in there by Hillary Clinton and then one Orlando Hernandez but when one Orlando Hernandez was put there by the United States government. He swore he swore that he was going to be in power for 50 years. So a lot of the changes that the narco dictatorship did. They did because they literally thought that they were going to be in power for all those years that includes to changing our presidential house and building this horrible building in which they put their offices and they really prepare for a time almost forever in power they really literally thought that they were going to be in power forever. So the flag of the of the National Party is blue right and it's dark blue and it has one start they call it la estrella solitaria the solitary start and it's dark blue. So, little by little, they started to also give us a new version of our flag, and the flag became darker and darker, almost to imitate the color of the National Party flag to the point that to us. Look, I'm wearing blue now I'm wearing the blue of my flag. You see that. Right. Yeah. And, and it is because for a long time, I couldn't wear blue. I could not wear blue, because we had we had like this stigma with blue, because everything that was blue reminded us of the National Party. And it also reminded us of the violence of the National Party, everything that the cool and represented that color represented to. So, one of the first things that's your mother Castro did when she when she won right I mean she's done so many things in so little time right was actually to to reclaim the original color of our flag because the turquoise color of our flag actually represent the two oceans that Honduras is surrounded by the Atlantic and the Pacific Ocean, you know that you can go from one ocean to the next in one day in Honduras, you go across the country and you can be in the Atlantic Ocean in the morning and then you can land in the Pacific Ocean. And so the, the, the two blue is the two blues in the in the, in the flag actually represent the two oceans and the five stars represent the five original Central American countries by that that actually got their independence in 1821. So, our flag is very symbolic is very symbolic of our territory, but the geography of Honduras but also of the legacy of general Francisco Morazan, who was our unitist, right, and you have to understand that he, for some time, led the Federation of United Central American And in our, in our claim for unity, we also look at always look at Francisco Morazan's legacy, which is similar to Bolivar's legacy of unifying La Gran Colombia. So we dream of a grand Central America. You know that is actually reflected in the five stars of our flag. So flag is very, very important. And the original colors are very important and now we're very happy because not only were we able to to reclaim our country back. And we're going to start rebuilding our democracy is going to be a challenge and it's going to take us many years to do that. But we have also been reclaiming our symbols the symbols that were kidnapped by the dictatorship. Because that's what that's what dictatorships do they take everything away from the people they take the resources they take their identity, they steal everything from us. And in Honduras, we take it back. Juan Orlando needs to go to prison. He's a criminal. And this is a criminal that committed crimes of against humanity. And he needs to go to, he needs to go to prison he needs to pay for everything that he did. He won't have enough years of his life to pay, but he needs to be punished. So this is perhaps the next stage of his life of the of Honduran history, and, and maybe even the, the next thing that the US can actually do in a positive way for, for you and your people. Let's we've talked about what President Xiomara has done with the flag and recuperating a cultural and national symbol for Hondurans. What she's done a lot more as well, since the 27th, including the evening of the 27th announcing the reestablishment of diplomacy. The same afternoon, the same after she was reopened. Yeah, so I mean, that way that was like just immediate the first foreign policy decision was to reestablish relations with Venezuela. What else has she done in the past in the past five, five, five business days, seven days. This is true because she, she was, she was inaugurated seven, seven days ago, but it's only been five working days in the five working days she's done a lot. There has been already executive orders, and she has also passed on some legislation to the Congress, and some of the most amazing things, for example, is going back to school yesterday. We started that the kids were, you know, the throughout the dictatorship, all the system, the education system, the health system, everything and do this was collapsed because we were living under a complete collapse. It was a state, it was, it's a collapse state, it's a collapse, collapse government. And it was just one Orlando and his dogs, you know, it was, it was one, whatever one of them says. And if not, then you have the police and the army to come and repress the people. So, the kid, the children really haven't been in school. And of course we know there's a lot of rebuilding of the schools that need to be done. We don't have the money to do that, but did the people of Honduras, they're willing to help and you know that we are very, we're very hardworking people. So, see a matter said, the children need to go back to school and the children came back to school yesterday. And not only that but inscription in Honduras for the children hasn't been free. And now a school inscription is for free. So that's beautiful. Everybody's happy to go back to school because nobody has to pay to go to school now. That's amazing, right? That's amazing because we know that the sole development of a society lies in its education. So, see a matter of values, education so much. And the other thing, but you have to remember that these programs were established during the government of President Zelaya. So a lot of what she's doing right now is, it's just like, like the, like the, like the science said, we are back. We're picking it up where we left it. We're picking it up what we left it with the with El Gobierno del Poder Ciudadano, the government of the of the of the of the citizenship power. That's how President Zelaya's government was called. So the other thing that, that she reestablished this week was that you know, practically free electricity for the poor. So that cannot afford to pay electricity in Honduras during President Zelaya's administration. Not only the poor didn't pay, but they will sometimes get some money back. If for whatever reason, they paid energy that they didn't have to pay, they will get their money back. Many people remember, even if they were not part of President Zelaya's party, the liberal party at the time. But they remember that. I remember during President Zelaya's administration, how we used to get free energy. So now people are getting free energy. That's, that's amazing. Also, there is, there is so long that was already passed this week to start honesty for the political prisoners, which is wonderful because under, under the dictatorship, people were highly politically persecuted. And, and so we're putting prison like, you know, people who were on the streets and, and they were arrested just for the, for the sake of protesting and they were putting in this horrendous prisons like criminals. And now there's going to be amnesty for them. So that's wonderful. We're celebrating that we're very happy about that. Can I ask, do we know if this includes the Guaipanol water defenders? Yes, yes, of course, of course, anyone who has been registered under cofades archives, as people who have been politically persecuted and they are registered under cofades, everyone who has gone through cofades is going to be protected by this. So that is amazing. Right. It's amazing. And that includes people who are in the country and outside of the country as well, because you have to remember that there's a lot of people who fled. They left. But they are still for security, because they were processed in Honduras, but they were able to escape. So, can you remind our audience cofade is what is who is the committee, the family members, the desaparecidos the Honduras is the committee for the families of the disappear. Yeah, great. Yeah, and that goes back to the 1980s, when in Honduras during the, the revolutions in Central America, Ronald Reagan established the contrast in Honduras. And that was a time of a lot of persecution in Honduras, too. And so cofade was actually created during the time of the 80s, because hundreds of people were disappeared in Honduras. They're still disappear. And so that committee was was born to raise awareness and to continue the search and to claim justice for those who were disappeared and never found by by their, by their family members. Actually, Bertha Oliva, the founder of cofade is the wife of one of the disappear Tomas, my TV. So she is the one leading cofade today. Another thing that that was passed was some and another law, excuse me, not a thing, but another law that was passed this week is a law to condemn the military coup. So the coup is history in the making Honduras lived under the coup and we are still suffering the consequences of the coup. And we don't call this persecution. This is justice. We feel that the criminals that perpetrate the coup and that killed all our mothers, they need to be, they need to be processed, just like in Bolivia. And not to say that we're doing it because Bolivia is doing it, we're doing it because we feel that justice needs to be done for the Honduran people and for the families of the matter, the people that were that were killed during this process. So those are some of the amazing things also the creation of CC, you know, the, uh huh. Like in Guatemala, they have, they have the Masi right, you know, CC. So this is going to be this new organism that is tied to the United Nations said that it's going to come in and investigate all the crimes that were committed and all the corruption and Wow. Yeah, so a lot. That's huge. Yes. Wow. Oh, it's a very strong leader and we're so happy and we are so appreciative of her firmness, you know, she's very far out. Yeah. And she, she is so as a person we know she's the leader that is going to try to do try to accomplish right her promises in the 100 days because she has a big plan for the for the first 100 days. And in the first five days she's just Power to the women in power. No, it's just a, it's just a phenomenal story for not of your country and your people. And I, you know, just to see, given the violence and the horror that been as that Honduras has been through in the last 12 years and to see this transition happen in a peaceful constitutional manner is a huge statement in and of itself. And, and so beautiful. And it will be so important going forward that that is how the transition happened by peaceful constitutional means, and to have the people under her and her government under her with her beside her that is going to be a very, very difficult thing to contest as we saw, you know, the parallel Congress go up against and fail. Well, actually, this is why we didn't make such a big deal about the split in the Congress issue because we knew that if if worse comes to worse. There and if we need to call the people and do direct vote and plebiscite for what's your manner needs to needs to get done. The people are ready. This is like the right democracy that we have directed with, we could have directed democracy in Honduras and direct participation. What could be better than that right. It's a beautiful thing. And we're still striving for it in the United States 250 years. I don't know how our fingers crossed for ourselves. So Lucy, is there anything before I let you go is there anything that you want to share with our audience that we haven't touched upon I'm so thankful for your time today just really such a wonderful conversation and I'm so happy to just celebrate this victory with you. It's just a really great thing. Thank you so much. And thanks to media company and media for her permanent solidarity and you being always there with us in the program voices of resistance so I want to invite your audience to to tune into our program on Sundays. It's a pretty powerful program that we have just like your program, where we bring the voices of the people who are on the front line of the struggle. And also, you know, to look out for our report backs on our delegation because that's going to be interesting we're going to do it both in Spanish and in English. After that too. And to keep paying close attention to what is going on do that because, although we are in celebration and we know we are in victory and we know the people are very powerful and very strong. And they have the power in their hands and see a matter is the symbol of that that we know that the enemy never sleeps and this is going to be a government that is going to be highly attacked because if President Salias the administration was attacked because he was looking out for the people of Honduras and he touched the interest of the Oligarchy and the ruling elites. And you know the the economic powers, both inside and outside on Duda's. See a matter is going to do the same and she's going to start touching the interest of the ruling elites and the powerful. And that could bring similar consequences as well. And we need to continue building our solidarity movement and the solidarity like the one that code pink has that Terry Madsen brings to all the Latin America sisters and brothers countries. We're going to need that we're going to need a lot of that too. And, but of course, we want people to come to Honduras and celebrate with us, you know, the gains and the in the amazing victory and our amazing process and we continue to grow. And politically, we continue to educate ourselves politically and to organize. And if we need to mobilize we're going to do that and we're going to do it with with us with the solidarity as well. So, just to be to pay close attention to Honduras, Honduras is an amazing place where amazing things are happening, as comrade Fidel Castro once says right in 2009 in Honduras there's a revolution happening, and we know for sure there is a revolution happening in Honduras. We're going for bigger things we might get some of the of the accomplishments that we want, we might get him in this administration but we're hoping to, to be in power for more than just one administration, and to continue building on do this, and to bring it back to be in that country in which I was born and raised and in the place where I was so happy. And this is why when when the cool happen. I became so sad and unhappy that I worked 24 seven of my life, along with my family my husband, writer and journalist or talk is sad. And our son Robert who was born in the struggle who was born and raised, but he was raised in the struggle he was he was three years old when that could happen, but he was raised in the struggle and we all fought together, along with the people of Honduras here with the immigrant community. And, you know, because we needed to to recuperate our country and it is such an amazing accomplishment that we can hear. Yeah, it's, we did it, like, now is no longer, is no longer. Yes, we can. We did it. Yeah, we did it. And now we're going to move forward and that and I think it's so I'm so thankful you shared this with our audience that, you know, the work is just starting. And our solidarity with you and, and the Honduras, Honduran people is more important now than ever to meant to ensure that the victory on November 27 is, you know, continues for all of you. And not just for Honduras but for the whole hemisphere it's such a symbol and important historical event for that for the entire for the entire hemisphere. So it's, I'm just so thankful you had time to talk today. Thank you so much and come come back to our program too. Yes, please, please, because you're, you're an amazing analyst and we always, you know, we appreciate your analysis so much and I love your program. So I love being, I love being on the air with all of you. So let me just remind the audience that Lucy's program is Voices of Resistance and it airs on WBAI at in New York City every Sunday at 1pm Eastern and it's now a two hour program. Yes, yes, it's studying this year. Yes. It's really great and all of you will really enjoy the conversation and the guests that she has on and every once in a while I'm lucky enough to be a guest and on rare occasion a co-host. Let me everything I know about doing this program. You're amazing too. Thank you. Be sure to catch what the F is going on in Latin America and the Caribbean code pinks weekly YouTube program typically broadcasting on Wednesday evening 730pm Eastern, and also be sure to catch code pink radio which broadcasts on WBAI as well. And also be sure to check out the WPFW out of Washington DC Thursday mornings 11am Eastern. So, and both programs can be found on Apple podcast and wherever you find your podcast. So, so thank you Lucy. We'll, we'll talk again because I definitely want to keep in touch with what's going on in Honduras and stand with all of you as you create, you know, a new future for yourselves. It's a beautiful story. I'm so happy for all of you. And thank you for including the same, the same, you know, because you know our struggle is internationalists and we believe that justice should be everywhere, you know, everywhere. So beautiful example. Thank you so much. I want to reach out and give you a hug. Thanks a lot. Me too. Thank you so much.