Waiting for the May Day march to get started in the La Granaja neighbourhood in Comeyaguela (Tegucigalpa).
Street theatre by Honduran women drawing attention to the high levels of violence against women and femicide. Sign reads "Sorry for the inconvenience but they are murdering us". The women lying on the ground represent the 14-year old high school student Soad Nicole Bustillo Ham thought to be killed by death squads; Margarita Murillo, campesina leader murdered in Villanueva (northern Honduras) in August 2014; Maria Jose Alvarado known as Miss Honduras murdered in November 2014 days before she was set to participate in a world beauty contest; and a woman killed after being sexually assaulted.
14-year old Soad Nicole's body was found on the side of a dirt road wrapped in a sheet. Sign reads "Soad Nicole Ham, Student of the Vicente Caceres Central Institute, 13-years old, March 25, 2015, strangled, "student struggle"". Throughout the march, University students carried what people call an
encostalado or a murdered body found wrapped in either a sheet or in a sack. A
costal in Spanish means a sack and an
encostalado refers to a person that has been murdered and their body has been put into a sack normally found deposited at the side of a road/street.
Workers from the Workers' Union of the National Property Institute (STEPIP) carry signs that read "Mr. President. You lied to the people and the working class, promising a better life [using the infamous name of Juan Orlando Hernandez's social program "Vida Mejor"] and each day, we are worse". Sign on right "Why are you hitting and killing us students?, Because you are student beasts"
Another creative and awesome presence by women and feminists groups that danced, sang, made noise and banged drums throughout the march. Signs (from left to right) read: "Vanessa Zepeda, born on April 29, 1981, nurse by profession, part of SITRAIHSS [Workers' Union of the National Social Security Institute], Victim of feminicide by her parter, Dr. Rafael Alejandro Sierra. She would have been 34 years old two days ago if she were still here" [Vanessa is known as one of the martrys of the FNRP that was killed shortly after the military coup] and "Women are a revolution inside the 'revolution'".
Workers from STIBYS (Workers' Union of the Beverage and Related Products Industry) dancing around with matching t-shirts that read "STIBYS: 61 years in the anti-capitalist struggle, No to the dictator", "Venezuela is not a threat, its hope"
Yes, this is a picture of a wall but couldn't help myself - the message is so awesome. "Get out foreign/US troops!"
Hondurans living in the 19th Department of Honduras (outside of the country), Lynn, Tito Meza, and Oliver Hernán Valladares and members of the Honduras Solidarity Network. Signs read "Department 19, struggling with the people" and "Honduras Solidarity Network (HSN) and Department 19 in solidarity with the working class"
Youth spray paint the front of the National Party headquarters as the march passes by. Painting reads "Julieta Castellanos [Rector of the National Public University (UNAH)] is a national party supporter"
After a long walk, we arrived to the National Congress, and then to the park in the center for speeches.
