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CONTACT: Institute for Public Accuracy (IPA) Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167 |
Honduras: Will a Coup Continue to Stand?
WASHINGTON - July 9 -
ANDRES THOMAS CONTERIS
Andrés Thomas Conteris is director of Nonviolence International's Program on the Americas. He is in contact with various political groups and officials in Honduras, is available for interviews and can also facilitate arranging interviews with others. He is also founder of Democracy Now! en Español and was on Democracy Now! recently.
HECTOR PERLA
SUYAPA G. PORTILLO VILLEDA
Hector Perla, a professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and Suyapa G. Portillo Villeda, a research fellow at Pomona College and originally from Honduras, are among 35 Latin America scholars and specialists who signed an open letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday urging against the idea of early elections in Honduras as a possible resolution of the current crisis resulting from the June 28 military coup d'etat. The letter states: "Anything less than the urgent restoration of President Manuel Zelaya to office would be an usurpation of the will of the Honduran people. Following resolutions by the United Nations General Assembly and the Organization of American States calling for Zelaya's immediate and unconditional return to office, the U.S. must ensure his prompt restoration by enacting forceful economic sanctions against the regime.
"Each day that the illegal coup regime remains in office further jeopardizes the capacity for Honduras to enjoy free and fair elections in November, let alone in an earlier time frame. Elections currently would take place under a coup regime that has suspended civil liberties, and where the conditions for free elections do not exist."
MARK WEISBROT, [via Dan Beeton]
Co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, Weisbrot is the author of numerous papers and articles on Latin America. He just wrote the piece "Washington is unwilling to take the side of democracy in Honduras by opposing the coup leaders it helped to train," published in the Guardian in the UK.
ANDRES THOMAS CONTERIS
Andrés Thomas Conteris is director of Nonviolence International's Program on the Americas. He is in contact with various political groups and officials in Honduras, is available for interviews and can also facilitate arranging interviews with others. He is also founder of Democracy Now! en Español and was on Democracy Now! recently.
HECTOR PERLA
SUYAPA G. PORTILLO VILLEDA
Hector Perla, a professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and Suyapa G. Portillo Villeda, a research fellow at Pomona College and originally from Honduras, are among 35 Latin America scholars and specialists who signed an open letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday urging against the idea of early elections in Honduras as a possible resolution of the current crisis resulting from the June 28 military coup d'etat. The letter states: "Anything less than the urgent restoration of President Manuel Zelaya to office would be an usurpation of the will of the Honduran people. Following resolutions by the United Nations General Assembly and the Organization of American States calling for Zelaya's immediate and unconditional return to office, the U.S. must ensure his prompt restoration by enacting forceful economic sanctions against the regime.
"Each day that the illegal coup regime remains in office further jeopardizes the capacity for Honduras to enjoy free and fair elections in November, let alone in an earlier time frame. Elections currently would take place under a coup regime that has suspended civil liberties, and where the conditions for free elections do not exist."
MARK WEISBROT, [via Dan Beeton]
Co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, Weisbrot is the author of numerous papers and articles on Latin America. He just wrote the piece "Washington is unwilling to take the side of democracy in Honduras by opposing the coup leaders it helped to train," published in the Guardian in the UK.
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1 Comment so far
Show AllProblem is,
this was not a military coup nor was it an abrogation of the constitution.
The Supreme Court ruled that Zelaya was in violation of Articles 239 and 4 and, by Article 313, invoked their authority to have the military enforce the ruling. Article 239 says that anyone that who breaks or even merely "proposes its reform, and anyone who supports him directly or indirectly, shall immediately be removed from his position, and shall not be able to hold public office for 10 years".
Zelaya wanted to rewrite the entire constitution (technically he wanted a referendum for a convention to do so). Supreme court says, ipso facto, that violates 239, so you're outta here.
Now, you can argue whether the constitution, as written, is what *you* would like to see, or not, but that is a different issue.
This was actually democracy at work.
The military did not take power
They did not install a puppet.
They simply removed Zelaya, per the Supreme Court and the constitution, and the Congress emplaced an interim president.
The whole point of 239 is that they NEVER want it changed -- only one term for the president -- FORVEVER.
That seems OK to me, given the history of South American politics, why not you.
Zelaya claims that the constitution does not give poor people enough power.
He is there to give it to them, just like every other 2-bit dictator in South America and Africa.
Your left-leaning ideals happen to agree with those of this particular statist, so it becomes a militry coup.
Zelaya is a statist.
Obama is a statist.
They both cannot stand capitalism and republican forms of government where the rule of law is supreme and comes from the people.
They know what is best and they will force it to happen.
That's why Obama supports Zelaya.
Now that the record is straight on the constitutionality of what happened, we can debate other issues:
1) should that article be in there?
2) is the constitution "fair" to poor people?
3) was it merely an attempt by rich congressman to maintain power and wealth for themselves and their constituents (sound familiar)?
I don't know.
But there is room for rational discussion without the need to distort.
bv