13 Colors of the Honduran Resistance

In 13 Colors of the Honduran Resistance, feminist author and activist Melissa Cardoza tells 13 stories about women from the Honduran resistance in the aftermath of the June 28th, 2009 coup against President Manuel Zelaya. On that day, led by a U.S.-trained General, the Honduran military barged in to the president’s house and took him in his pajamas into a helicopter, flying him first to a U.S. base in Honduras and then on to Costa Rica. It was the first coup of the 21st century in Central America. The military and Honduran oligarchy quickly imposed an interim government, undid most of the progressive reforms underway, and passed hundreds of concessions to corporate interests. To the surprise of the coup’s backers, however, thousands of people around the country spontaneously came out into the streets. Their numbers and the depth of their vision and commitment kept growing during hundreds of days of consecutive protest, with fearless women at the forefront. Melissa calls those the times “when protests were poetry in the streets.” 13 Colors of the Honduran Resistance is her most intimate and impactful work to date. It is a book about the multiple and intersectional identities of those who found each other in the streets through the resistance. It is a book about what they share, not just with each other but with all people who struggle for a more just world. Melissa weaves the stories of 13 women together in a way that leaves readers unfamiliar with the events surrounding the coup and resistance in Honduras convinced of their fundamental importance to liberation struggles everywhere. This bilingual edition is the product of collaboration with translator Matt Ginsberg-Jaeckle, who was introduced to the author by assassinated indigenous leader Berta Cáceres, to whom this…