workers. it is the very least i can do as the representative of a nation. i have struggled for the rights of the media and freedom of press in honduras. however, this has been entirely refuted. i've not been permitted to reply to the charges against me. there has been manipulations, permanent manipulation, of information. i have always upheld that right of the press, even though they have manipulated information.

they have had such an impact on people's thinking, which is the fundamental characteristic of a person. that is how we distinguish ourselves. that must be respected. as has been set, i may not agree with what you say, but you have the right and i have the right to support it. it is an imperfect system, as we know. for three years, brutal attacks have been launched to take information concerning development of the country.

when i arrived here, when i first entered office, many people were in poverty. this is centuries of poverty. in the first three years, we were able to reduce the street poverty by 10%, increasing economic output, developing private sectors 7% over the past few years. we also launched social programs. i never thought this would constitute a crime. that is where the problems began, because there were individuals who drive on the existence of poverty in the country. when the level falls, they no longer have a discourse to use.

i referred to minimum wage earlier. we established programs that were directed to meeting the needs of poor people. if people were dying of hunger, 2 million people who were only able to eat every two or three days, that alone is bad. i have been accused of being a populace by providing support. i've been accused of being a communist and ruining the country. there is much injustice in honduras. injustice arises from inequality from the laws that create inequality between human beings. we are an evil as individuals. we are an equal -- we are

inequal as nations. some have everything. some have nothing. understand that systems of countries of nations seek to reduce these inequalities to perpetuate them. by law, we are all to be respected. we sought to repeal laws that were aimed at creating a system of poverty of any quality. there is a law that has been held for eight months. that is what we had difficulties, because it was a law on domestic workers. 1.5 million people who work in domestic specters.

their sponsors were obliged to register with social security to ensure they had health- insurance. it took congress eight months to work on this bill. it took eight months to make sure they receive social security. for all these reasons, that is why we are in this situation today. i do not want to turn this into a long story. the people of hong doors have the right to participate in democracy -- of a honduras have a right to participate in democracy. there are people who have been elected and who have betrayed the same people who elected them. they are members of an elite, a small group. people have the right to express their views on the economy and on social programs,

development, and to our surprise, last week the congress adopted the blaw that states that hon doris can be used by all for all except for examination of budgetary affairs, the school, or economic matters or other social matters. what is the point? is it about asking whether the temperatures is hot or cold at night? what is a point? i was engaged in an actor says in keeping with the law. it was the first legal act that my government approved on the very first day we entered into power.

it was necessary to govern. many changes were made to exact this. the law was eventually passed. this concerned citizen participation. citizens of the country have the right to request that they be compelled with general interest that affects them. i am applying that legal act. i've received forerunner thousand requests from individuals who -- 400,000 requests from individuals who asked to be consulted on reforms. i cannot carry them out because it will not to my

cabinet in power. i received those and sought to launch a public opinion poll in order to find out what the honduras people wanted. this constituted a crime also. december there are surveys that used in order to take the public to nurture to gauge the public -- there are surveys that your use in order to ask the public what their opinions are.

it is not binding or unlawful. the judge declared his arm was twisted because it was already under way. they said the survey was illegal. i was applying a law. only the congress can repeal a law. a law is a commitment. it guarantees human rides. -- human rights. the night states, to come all contain an article -- the united states contains an article that says no resolution can be diminished or impaired. it guarantees that the constitution grants to the citizen of this country the guarantees of our natural rights. people have shed blood for this

to be stipulated into law. and nobody can change them. the congress cannot undermine rights to democracy. these are laws of which cannot be repealed. nobody can declare that a confrontation or a survey of the citizens is illegal. it does not reduce our rights for our constitutions. this is a violation of the law. it is an act undertaken in the context of a coup d'etat. this was what the judge ruled. he was violently expelled from

the contract. my country has been in a state of paralysis for nearly three days now. buses carrying passengers have been hifired. 160 people have been injured. arrests were made on the streets. it ministers have been detained. 140 people have been beaten. the people have taken to the streets. thercompanies have gone on strie all forms of workers, teachers and not going to the school.

they want it restored what they had voted for. military officials wearing green uniforms have occupied all the surrounding environments, playing music loudly to avoid questions. a crime has been committed. this is a crime against humanity. it crime which we all reject. this is their respective of where it occurs. -- this is irrespective of where it occurs. humankind returns to his primeval state. everything is reduced to force.

when i received this invitation from you, i feel ever more deeply committed to humanity. i do not believe the man is man's worst enemy. we compete amongst ourselves, but we are also each other's brothers and we can use the good that is within the individual. there are those who seek to await the evil the lines with in each individual and use that. it is they who go unpunished. this must be brought to everyone's attention to ensure these acts are not repeated anywhere in the world. i'm concluding on sunday last,

15,000 have been circulated. 15,000 cardboard boxes have been circulated for the opinion poll. it was to be a massive survey. we thought we would reach 1.5 million individuals. there are no telephones or post offices in the rural areas of honduras as there are in sweden and switzerland. you can poll using the telephone. there are remote areas in honduras and villages that are not easy to reach. there are very widely dispersed rural areas where people lacking -- are lacking reason ways of communication.

the armed forces refuse to distribute the material that was necessary for the survey. they are refused to do so. the workers, the unions, the wlaborers, said that we will disseminate the polling papers. this was a crime. i wish to call for a march of people in honduras you are going to distribute the polling materials. their freedom of movement was interrupted. these people were willing to

distribute the equipment necessary for the survey and able to do so in 24-hours, which earlier would have required six months time. the congress said that the oas was not welcomed. there were ambassadors of all countries who were accredited to observe the survey. there were television programs that were brought -- broadcast on how the survey would proceed on peaceful conditions. there would be no violence. at 2:00 in the morning, when the program had ended, i was

speaking with the people who had been involved in the polling in order to see with the breakdown was. to see what the general trend was. after a first break down of polling, to see what the incentives were 4 yes and no. see what the answers were to the questions. the questions were as follows. do you wish to see a fourth furnace used in the next survey? there were questions pertaining to national interest. this contained -- dealt with the

possibility of a fourth urn in the next election. i will be leaving at the end of my term, but i wish to leave the people newly empowered with this new right. 3.5 years ago, my election was to empower the systems. this is through more education, health, literacy programs. that is how to achieve psittacine empowerment. the survey was for that purpose. we were trying to meet that objective. how can we make up for the shortcomings caused by any quality -- by any quainequality. you will have greater justice. you will have strength.

if you leave the door open to those who are afraid of the people, then there are in justices. people in the french resolution were forced to write up. many people could not read or write. we decided that people -- the power belong to the people. if we do not belong in that, let's not speak of democracy. democracy is the people. all those who study have come to the conclusion that democracy starts with the people. the question was, do you wish to see a fourth urn at the upcoming election in order to consult with the people as to the possibility that for the next government there will be a constitutional assembly which

will revived the competition and ensure open participation for the condor and people? this is limited by the constitution. that was what was to be explained in the referendum. even stones can be transformed. this was not creating any new obligations upon the state. it was simply an auction for the people to launch an initiative in congress. i was explaining this on the radio. i spoke until 2:00 a.m. it was for caught in the morning by the time and went home. -- it was 4:00 a.m. in the morning by the time i went home.

at 7:00 in the morning, when the consultation began, when the survey would be launched, instead, i had only been asleep for an hour. i live in a house which is in the center of a middle-class area. it is a small house. i was fast asleep i have no other house. i live in a rural area. i own land. i have been a forarmer and a casual rancher. my house looks directly onto

the streets of my home. surely after 5:00 in the morning, i was awoken by shouts, by hammering against the door below. there were screams. i awoke, still in mind night's close. -- still in my night clothes. i was pushed out into the street. these are moments i do not wish to remember. it breaks my heart to see humanity slide backwards. i wondered if this is what it is

like to be pushed once again against barbarity. there were rifles pointed out to me. that is when i heard the rifle shots begin. i saw all 10 or 15 individuals who work for me, the watch men who had been overcome. they began to break down the doors of my house. my 21-year-old daughter lives in my house. the domestic workers below ran downstairs.

i sought to hide from the bullets that i could hear being fired. i could hear rifle shots. once the engines on the door gave way and the injured, i still had my mobile phone in my hand. i was trying to call and and for people what was going on. -- and inform people what is going on. more than eight rifles were pointed at me. these were heavy rifles. they were wearing full combat gear. there were rifles, bayonets, aimed at my breast. i was told, drop a phone or we

will shoot. this is a military order, dropped the phone. drop it or we will shoot. drop the phone. aiming at your humble servant. the mobile servant -- the mobile phone was ripped from my hand. you have been ordered to shoot me, then shoot me, i said. i will not stand in your way. if that is your order, issued to me. do not make me suffer any longer. just do it. they grabbed my arms and said, we are taking you away. i was put into a vehicle. 50 minutes later i was aboard an airplane. then i was in coaster rica. the open the door of the airplane and i was still wearing my night clothes at coaster rica. -- that's costa rica. my daughter, i cannot talk about

it. i choked up. i took up from rage and pain. [applause] the president met me directly at the airport. this is a country where no could talk has occurred, costa rica. it is a country that practices democracy. it is perhaps the oldest democracy in the americas other than united states. it is a country with no army. i began to receive telephone

calls from president that i told you about earlier. i wondered, is this the democracy that we are trying to fight for? this barbarity? are we reverting to the age of dictatorship? in my country, we have progressed from dictatorship to kentish -- to constitutional order. i fought for this because i was against the disappearances' for the families of the disappeared. there are mothers who are orphans. they are still fighting to find where the remains of their love dorms are. their bodies were never found. i was opposed to this, because dictatorship has now been established.

repression has been this -- established. i thought the reversal but i fought against -- i thoufought r the reversal of the system. when pressures is exerted, instead of finding a legal path, a correct approach, brewed force is used instead. once again, state crime resumes. i was the first to condemn these acts. i wish to speak here to condemn these acts. i do not want to see me is the president was to return because he is president. for me, this is nothing more than an instrument. that is all in the struggle for society, to provide services. it has no significance other than that. there is an individual callewhoy

ancestor that said what is important is not to be a poet or artist, but having dignity, satisfaction, joy and doing a job well. at whatever level, as long as you feel satisfaction of doing a job well. the president is an important opportunity to provide these services. i do we clean the rights. i have struggled for these rights for my children, my grandchildren, future generations. the salvadorean poet said that the problems arose because laws are always enacted by the rich and powerful. that is why there is so many poor people, because the poor did not participate. the poor when -- the day when poor establishes the rules as we will all of and better