Honduras Crisis via ‘Union Civica Democratica’ by Oscar Avila  

Sept 18th 5:30-8pm at UNO Lakefront Campus, Kirshman Hall Room 210

A delegation from the ‘Unión Civica Democrática’ (UCD) in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, will be making a presentation this week at the University of New Orleans on the current crisis in that country. The UCD is made up of forty Honduran organizations that support the ouster of President Manuel Zelaya and are now intent on making the case for the legitimacy of his removal to the world. The delegation will be coming to New Orleans, according to one of its spokespersons, Mr. Carlos Avila, because they recognize that “the city possesses the largest and most important Honduran community outside of Honduras itself.”

The presentation, to be entitled “ Honduras Crisis via Unión Civica Democrática,” will be held on the University of New Orleans Lakefront Campus, in Room 210, Kirschman Hall, from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m. on September 18. The event will be hosted by the World Affairs Council of New Orleans (WACNO) at the University of New Orleans . WACNO is a non-partisan organization that is encouraging the presentation of both sides in the current debate over the crisis.

There will be three speakers from the UCD, including:

1. Mr. Fernando Alejandro Garcia Merino

2. Mr. Frederico Alvarez Fernandez, MBA

3. Ms. Mercedes Sofia Hernandez

The panel will be moderated by Professor Anthony Pereira, Head of Tulane Political Science Department.

This presentation is one of at least three taking place this fall on the subject of the Honduran crisis. The first was a Breakfast Briefing on August 25 by Mr. Hugo Llorens, current US Ambassador to Honduras, at the World Trade Center . The UCD presentation on September 18 will be followed by another panel presentation on September 23 at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art entitled “ Honduras meets NOLA.” That presentation, presented in collaboration with UNO-Latin American Studies, Tulane University’s Stone Center for Latin American Studies, and Loyola University, will feature the artistic and cultural contributions of the local Honduran community and a discussion of the crisis by Oscar Avila, a local Honduran community leader, and Darío Euraque, noted historian and Director of the Honduran Institute for Anthropology and History.