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Three people – including a teenaged girl – have so far been killed in violent clashes following the disputed Honduran elections, as the armed forces opened fire on unarmed opposition supporters while enforcing a 10-day curfew imposed by the government late Friday.
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One man was killed in the port city of La Ceiba on Friday and 19-year-old Kimberly Dayana Fonseca was shot in the head early Saturday in Tegucigalpa as soldiers busted up protesters' blockades, a spokesman for the national police said, bringing the total death toll to three.
In a brief statement to the press, the head of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) David Matamoros announced late Saturday that the scrutiny of more than 1,000 disputed ballots would resume Sunday 9:30am local time.
He also noted that screening more than 5,000 ballots, as requested by the Opposition Alliance, would have taken 12 to 15 days. "We appreciate your presence, but there will be nothing else here today, I reiterate that we will call for tomorrow at 09h30 local time," the magistrate said.
In response, Opposition Alliance leader Salvador Nasralla accused the TSE of deliberately excluding the towns of Lempira, La Paz and Intebuca after he requested they be reviewed when the turnout was abnormally high (75 percent) compared with the rest of the country (50 percent).
Nasralla insisted it was mathematically impossible that Hernandez could win the election with 30 percent of the votes still uncounted before the electronic system collapsed.
"We want what the Honduran people want," he told teleSUR in a televised interview. "If the people want, we will run for another election. If they want, I won't participate if Juan Orlando Hernandez doesn't either.
"If (electoral authorities) refuse to recount, let's hold the elections again, but with an international tribunal: that's our position," he concluded, describing the situation as "a coup d'etat."
He also said the leadership of the armed forces had "sold themselves" in shirking their constitutional duties "against a tyrant who forcefully wants to stay in power," and accused the government of infiltrating opposition protests in order to loot local stores and discredit the movement.
Human rights organizations have denounced the curfew, blaming "excessive force" by state troops. The U.S.-based Action Network has sent an open letter to the U.S: Congress and State Department, expressing "deep concern about reports of fraud and state violence" and calling for the immediate suspension of all U.S. police and military aid to Honduras.
The Venezuelan government firmly condemned on Saturday the "latest attempted blow against democracy from sectors of the Honduran oligarchy. The people's will and human rights of the people of Honduras must be respected," said Jorge Arreaza on Twitter.
In a communique, Venezuela's Foreign Ministry also slammed the "repression and the excessive use of force by State security forces," accusing "the same actors" responsible for the 2009 coup against the constitutional President Manuel Zelaya.
The Honduran Ministry of Justice ordered the suspension of citizens' constitutional rights shortly before 11pm Friday. On Saturday, the Committee of the Relatives of the Disappeared in Honduras (Dodafeh) confirmed 11 people have been injured in Tegucigalpa since late Saturday and 41 arrested, six of whom are minors.
The government, controlled by current president and electoral candidate Juan Orlando Hernandez, claims the move is to counter what they call "violent protests" by supporters of presidential candidate and Opposition Alliance leader Nasralla.
The Honduran Roundtable for Human Rights (HRHR) said "excessive force" is being used by Honduran military and state security forces. Nasralla said the suspension of constitutional guarantees is part of a Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) plan to "steal" his "victory," claiming the electrobal body has committed electoral fraud since polls closed Sunday night.
The HRHR, in a formal statement, said the Armed Forces are creating a "terrorist state" against peaceful protesters, killing at least two people with rubber bullets and injuring dozens. National police forces have "arbitrarily arrested" citizens, intimidated media and thrown tear gas at marchers.
Bolivian President Evo Morales reprimanded the United States and Organization of the American States (OAS) for their alleged complicity: "Nearly a week since the Honduran elections. Why are the U.S. and OAS silently complicit regarding the elections and death of citizens in Honduras? Democracy is in danger in a neighboring country?"
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Official election results on the TSE website have remained unchanged since Friday morning, with Hernandez leading by less than one percentage point over Nasralla. Over 94 percent of ballots are counted.
The decree now in effect until Dec. 11 says that people can move about freely only from 6am until 6pm. Outside of that time, they are not allowed to be on highways or in any public space, otherwise they are "putting their lives in danger." The decree gives the military the right to patrol the streets and detain anyone "violating" the curfew.
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