I skipped day 16 because it wasn't possible to write anything yesterday, but I plan to summarize both days together in this note.

Just now came the resignation of the foreign minister Enrique Ortéz Colindres, ideologue of the coup d'etat, previously respected strategist of the liberal party and today a politician fallen in disgrace because of his polemical statements that brought him first to resign as Secretary of Foreign Relations and then the Secretary of Justice and the Interior--the first thinning of the internal ranks for Micheletti. His departure wouldn't be worth mentioning except to say that I am sorry he will not be continuing in his post as foreign minister; noone reflects better than him (except for Michelleti himself) with such forcefulness the stupidity of the class behind the coup.

The marches continue. The reds have an impressive capacity for resistance after 17 days of walking on all the streets of the country and that of the whites, listless, almost non-existent. Today I went by the central park of the city and I saw 20 or so primary school kids along with two teachers shouting, through a sound system worthy of a concert, "We want classes! We Want classes!" It should be clarified that the teachers shouted more into the microphones than all the boys and girls, who chased each other around in the gardens of the plaza. Pathetic, really, but it's the new campaign that the media has designed and certainly tomorrow it will appear on the front pages as a righteous call of the littlest Hondurans for their teachers to end their strike.

And speaking of teachers, yesterday the president of one of the teacher's organizations came out with statements in the media saying that teachers should return to classes and leave it to the politicians to work out what is "essentially political." His statements have raised the ire of teachers across the board, including members of PRICMA (El Primer Colegio Magisterial de Honduras) who remember the role they ended up playing in the 80s when Suazo Córdova, president of Honduras between 1982 and 1986 used this teachers union to fragment one of the strongest unions and thus ensure the impossibility of the grassroots sectors coming together. Now we constantly see ads proclaiming the "irresponsibility" of teachers for having left their classrooms. Fathers and mothers, and children like those in the park, shout at the top of theiir lungs that they end the strike and come back. But it doesn't seem to be working.

In a radio program with the right-wing journalist Andrés Torres, he mentioned the difference between the two marches: if you throw a bomb in the middle of the march of the whites, they will all go home. If you throw it in the middle of the reds, they will go for a moment, but then they will come back with sticks and stones to confront the police. You can gas them all you want, you can shoot them with live bullets and they will always come back. That is the difference.

They unity between the grassroots sectors has remained just as strong as it was the first day. Groups that had never worked together, like the different feminist organizations that have been in conflict for decades, today occupied the facilities of the National Institute for Women to prevent the new minister, Mrs. María Marta Díaz, from taking control of the institution. We must recall here the close connection between Mrs. Díaz and the mafias trafficking Chinese people and coordinating the illegal sales of Honduran passports to Asians, known in our country as Chinazo 1 and 2.

The armed forces and police for their part have invested a huge amount of money in television programs seeking to improve their public relations after the coup. Old programs like "Military Projections" have come back, appearing on the bigger channels and repeating, among other wonders of the armed forces, that they never forget their duty to the constitution and the law, new instructions that sound unconvincing: We have returned to normalcy...Security is real...we are committed to respect human rights.

And now the curfew has been internalized. Last night I went out into the streets of the city and I could see how, starting around 10 at night, the city became practically empty. The bars and restaurants try to attract customers but it's useless. People aren't going out for fear of what could happen outside and as a precaution against what could happen with the economy in the coming weeks. As much as the media dedicates itself to assuring us that the finances of the country are fine, nobody believes them because they are the same ones who are telling us, just like the police, that we have returned to normalcy.

The government announced a concert calling for "peace and the return to the productive life of the country." They're supposedly bringing Juanes and Ricardo Montaner, among others. Luckily I don't like anyone they're bringing. At one point Shakira was mentioned and I have to admit it would have been a shame to see her in the white shirt of the coup. Responding to the logic of the war of the fourth generation, in which a good part of the battles are played out on the screens of the internet, we have decided to play along and use our contacts to bring our own crew of singers in solidarity: Manu Chau, Calle 13, Bicosí, along with all the national singers who have opposed the coup (fortunately Guillermo Anderson has put on the white shirt so I won't have to listen to him anymore). The idea is to bring them to walk together with us in the streets of the city to show that what is happening in Honduras is not just a Honduran issue. We hope it will be a big, fun and insurrectional fiesta, we don't plan to ask permission.

Micheletti had a secret meeting last Sunday with the leaders of the armed forces, which was officially for deciding on whether to suspend the curfew, but it bears saying that such a high-level meeting doesn't seem logical for making such a simple decision. The news that sectors of the army are in rebellion against the hierarchy get stronger by the day. Now, Manuel Zelaya has given an ultimatum to Micheletti to abandon the presidency, who meanwhile remains unwavering in his stance, refusing to recognize Zelaya's statements. What we all know for sure is that, if that man [Zelaya] wants to hold onto the resistance for much longer and return to the presidency, he should do something now, because if he doesn't the grassroots will forget about him and continue their process of radicalization over the political cadaver of Mel, who will not have succeeded in creating the myth as described by Joseph Campbell.

¡No pasarán!