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Today's Top News
Restoring Democracy in Honduras
Hillary Clinton's attempts to resolve the crisis in Honduras have failed. It's time for Latin America to take the lead
The mediation effort that US secretary of state Hillary Clinton arranged to try to resolve the crisis in Honduras, which began when a military coup removed Honduran President Mel Zelaya more than four weeks ago, has failed. It is now time – some would say overdue – for the Latin American governments to play their proper role.
They should take the necessary steps to implement the unanimous mandate from the Organisation of American States: "the immediate and unconditional return" of Zelaya to his elected office.
This can be done with or without the help of the Obama administration. It is important to note that the last two political crises in the region were resolved without any significant input from Washington. The first was in March of last year, when Colombia bombed and invaded Ecuadorian territory, in an operation targeting Colombian Farc guerillas.
Latin America was united in its response, condemning the violation of Ecuador's sovereignty. The crisis was resolved at a Rio Group meeting on 7 March, where President Alvaro Uribe of Colombia apologised and pledged not to violate the sovereignty of any country again.
In the summer of last year, rightwing Bolivians opposed to the government of President Evo Morales engaged in a series of violent actions that raised the spectre of a separatist civil war. The heads of state of the Union of South American Nations (Unasur) met in Santiago and unanimously declared their support for the Morales government. This unified regional response, and the ensuing investigations of right-wing violence sponsored by Unasur, helped put an end to the insurrectionary hopes of the Bolivian right.
It was too much to expect that a mediation process set up by Hillary Clinton would resolve the Honduran crisis. The US government has too many interests that conflict with what the rest of the region wants and needs.
First, there is the US military base in Honduras, the only such base in Central America. The constitutional reform process that Zelaya hoped to set in motion could easily lead to voters' rejection of foreign troops on their soil. However much our government may prefer democracy as a political system, when there is a choice between democracy and a military base, Washington's track record is not a good one.
Brazil's foreign minister, Celso Amorim, complained to Clinton that the mediation process should be within the framework of the OAS resolution, and therefore should not impose conditions on Zelaya's return – especially, he said, a coalition government with the people who overthrew the government. This was one of the conditions proposed by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, whom Clinton recruited to mediate.
Amorim also noted that any negotiated solution that was seen as rewarding the coup perpetrators would increase the threat of military coups in other countries. These concerns reflect Latin America's strong and unambiguous interest in a complete reversal of the coup. They will have to live with the consequences of failure.
In Washington, by contrast, we have a muddle of conflicting interests: powerful lobbyists such as Lanny Davis and Bennett Ratcliff, who are close to Clinton and are leading the coup government's strategy; the Republican right, including members of Congress who openly support the coup; and new cold warriors of both parties in the Congress, the state department and White House who see Zelaya as a threat because of his co-operation with Venezuela's Hugo Chávez and other left governments.
No wonder Washington's response to the coup has sent so many mixed signals. The first White House statement did not even criticise the coup, and the state department still won't officially call it a coup. And Clinton has repeatedly refused to say that "restoring the democratic order" in Honduras means bringing Zelaya back – much less unconditionally. It took three weeks for the administration to threaten a foreign aid cutoff, and Washington is alone in keeping its ambassador in place.
Latin America gave Washington a chance to use its influence with the Honduran elite to restore democracy there. It didn't work. Now it is Latin America's turn to take the lead. Hopefully, Washington will follow.
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43 Comments so far
Show AllSpecifically, what are Latin American nations supposed to do to put Zelaya back in power?
Here's one thing they could do: they could all agree to deny visas and freeze bank accounts and assets of leaders of the coup regime. This would be useful in its own right, as well as building pressure on the U.S. to do the same.
Rep. Raul Grijalva is circulating a letter to President Obama, calling on him to freeze U.S. assets and suspend U.S. visas of coup leaders. [The Administration has taken a good first step by canceling the visas of four coup leaders.] Signers of the letter include Reps. McGovern, Conyers, Serrano, Fattah, Honda, Barbara Lee, Jesse Jackson, and Oberstar. Urge your Representative to sign the Grijalva letter calling for more U.S. pressure on the coup regime.
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/act/grijalva-letter
Trade sanctions. The US could help by locking down Soto Cano USAFB, and putting it on full alert.
Trade sanctions were used against Cuba, and look at the results, they have an un-democratic government which has lasted 50 years.
As for the US Air base in Honduras, what would you propose, use them to bomb Tegucigalpa? Don't you think it's over the top when they're about to have elections in November?
Who is THEM?
This is an English language commentary site.
Try learning the language before posting.
It's very clear that the Washington government doesn't wan Democracy in Honduras. Why? Because American business doesn't want a Democracy and our government must follow the lead of the corporate elite. American corporations can't do the kind of business they want to in a democracy. The Honduran people are a threat to the profits of American companies. That has to be stopped. Read WAR IS A RACKET by General Smedley Butler.
Hoa binh
I appreciate Mr. Weisbrot's invoking of the crises in Colombia and Bolivia as proof that Latin American countries have it in their capacity and disposition to handle a challenge to democracy in the region. They have no need---as they have already proven---to have Papa USA intervene to settle their squabbles. And that's all very, very good news for what has to happen if we are ever to end the regime of USA manipulation of Latin American politics. We'll have to be forgiven quite a few past transgressions to be accepted again in the FDR conception of a "good neighbor," but a dramatic back-off of U.S. involvement (which would include, however, a U.S. statement of confidence in the O.A.S. to solve the matter) is a good beginning toward stabilisation in the region. Who knows, before long Obama, Chavez and Morales may be drinking a beer.
I hope so,
I'll bet there was more to the proposed non-binding referendum than allowing a second term.
The new election very soon, will be a big one and Zelaya will be back and he will be the popular one...
He might enjoy his new freedom Later.
Zelaya is precluded from doing so by term limits set by the Honduras Constitution. Therefore even if he returns he won't be President beyond January, when the new President takes over.
I really have no interest at all in whether Zelaya "comes back" as President after January when his term expires; nor do I think the international community's concern should be focussed on anything except his completion of his elected term and the right of the Honduran people to make their own decisions about amending their constitution.
I believe Honduras will do better if Zelaya returns, not because the guy was doing a good job, but because they need to show the military their actions won't be rewarded.
However, I believe those who propose military action or an economic blockade are way over the top, because there WILL be elections in November, therefore it's not worth it.
I believe there's a good chance the Arias talks will lead to something. If they don't, then if I were Washington I would recommend to Honduras they form an international panel of jurists to help them amend their Constitution to avoid having this repeated. I understand the Honduras Constitution lacks an impeachment procedure, this means ANY action to remove Zelaya would have been ad-hoc. This of course should be remedied. They could also benefit if they introduce a means to have a popular referendum on whether the President can stay in power, removal requiring say a 60 % super majority.
fdoleza: a better idea, I think, is that Washington or anyone else outside the country refrain from "recommending" to Honduras what it should do about its constitutional situation, just as I'd suggest any Honduran bug out if he/she were recommending how our political system might be reformed. When a lion "suggests" a course of action to a mouse, the mouse is pretty sure to take it, like it or not, especially if the lion has a slightly "aggressive" reputation.
Jerry, you're probably right, but many contributors here are pushing for a range of options from bombing Tegucigalpa to a full embargo. My proposal is meant to reach a middle ground. I believe other issues such as Iraq and Afghanistan are much more critical, and Honduras will sort itself out without our wisdom.
I do want to point out it seems to be the flavor du jour in Latin America to write new Constitutions, which from my vantage point are too long, and flawed. I'll give you an example: the new Venezuelan Constitution goes as far as discussing Amerindian rights to the land, but the clauses discussing these are so detailed and prescriptive, the government failed to apply some of them as required. And this sets a poor precedent, now the government is violating the Constitution it advocated, and this helps create an atmosphere of disrespect for the constitutional order.
"many contributors here are pushing for a range of options from bombing Tegucigalpa to a full embargo."
You are arguing with a straw man. Who are the "many contributors here" calling for bombing Tegucigalpa or imposing a full embargo? Please refer us to those posts.
You did not reply to Robert Naiman who answered you with specific actions that are NOT full embargo or bombing anyone with anything. Instead of propping up your straw man to argue with, you could reply to Robert Naiman.
Washington does not want Zelaya back in power, despite the rhetoric. What this article fails to mention that in April 2008, Zelaya stated that he was going to turn the Soto Cano USAF base into a civilian airport in order to promote tourism, industry etc.
Washington has its 2 stooges in power now, Gen. Romeo Vásquez Velásquez, the head of the of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Honduran military and by Gen. Luis Prince Suazo, the head of the Air Force, both graduates from the US terrorist/dictator/torturer-training organization, the School of the Americas (recently renamed Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, WHINSEC).
As an historical footnote, Ollie North ran his "Contra" operations out of Soto Cano.
The US has taken out a few its CIA stooges before and they may have do it again.... for good PR anyway.
The gringos still have not put superterrorist Luis Posada in jail--he's got his right arm, Francisco Chavez in Honduras to coordinate dirty tricks with Negroponte.
They would be well advised to put all 3 in front of a firing squad if they want anybody to believe they didn't do the coup.
Who did the coup?
The US did the coup--who else?
Coordinated by the Southern Command from the Honduran military base, with oversight, planning and execution by Negroponte, Posada and Francisco Chavez--among others.
So where did you hear this? Or are you speculating? What's Negroponte's latest job? Is he working for the US government?
Hey, pal, I live in latin America and I read the papers--in Spanish--and the internet news sites--in Spanish.
Once you learn English, you might consider learning some Spanish.
However, if you google John Negroponte you will find out that he has worked for the US government for many years--currently, apparently, for the State Dept.
I like your style and your level of information is much higher than that of the 'Norte Americanos'---
Do you speak Nahuatl?
"Nativetoungue.maimi"
There are several inter-tribal sources in the States---Abanaki I am not sure, but have many contacts.
There should be some way for you to contact me or visa verse---
"thunk on it"
Thanks,
The US has no business putting a polyster pantsuited harpy like Hillary in the middle of Latin American affairs.
Get her the fuck out--as well as the trained hamster, Arias.
The real target of the coup was not Zelaya, because even he agrees that he would have been gone by 01/01/10. The real target of the coup was any other opposition leaders with aspirations of unseating stooge Micheletti from his anticipated coronation.
Even if someone else wins the popular vote and is legitimately elected president of Honduras, in the back of their mind will be the realization that what the elites have done before they can do again--unless they are dealt with in a firm manner.
Poet
Michiletti wasn't running for President, nor is he running now. As a matter of fact, the press reports he supports getting Zelaya back under a slightly revised Arias plan, and asked Arias to send a high level rep to Honduras to work out the fine print. Don't forget, even if Zelaya went haywire in the recent past, they belong to the same political party.
I suggest that instead of posting your ignorate semi-literate drivel here that you buy a plane ticket to Tegucigalpa and see what a country in Latin America actually looks like.
In Central America, the operating term for those in power who use their nations as a money-making machine is oligarchy. Oligarchies have been established in all of Central American except Costa Rica and possibly Nicaragua.
(Actually, during the 30 years, oligarchies have been established in most nations -including the USA.)
The oligarchs rule through a mixture of crude constant media propaganda, clientalism and military bosses.
Clientalism is something like the boss-system of old Chicago.
The oligarchs personally give benefits to selected members of the upper-middle and vast lower-classes; they, in turn, gain the political support of these groups.
That is why the oligarchs are horrified by any state actions that may break the oligarch's personal network of control over benefits. For the first time in years, an Honduran President allocated state resources toward alleviating the poverty of the masses.
He had to go. All of Zelaya's social reforms have been reversed. One of my Honduran friends relayed to us that the small tractors distributed to many poor campesinos have been "repossessed." Actually, the first act of the coupsters was to reverse Zelaya's raising of the minimum wage. In fact, the oligarchs began plotting this coup when Zelaya implemented this reform.
The plotting started way before Zelaya proposed an overdue non-binding encuesta. (By the way, the constitution was constructed in 1982 in the waning days of the last dictatorship. The oligarchs, military and Negroponte put it together. No democratic input was sought or given.)
Encuestas are perfectly legal under Honduras civil code; this particular encuesta was only recently ruled illegal by Honduras' notoriously corrupt and inept Supreme Court.
Previously, when a President pulled a JFK or a LBJ, usually he was supplanted by the military...just like today! The only difference is that the Supreme Court was involved in this coup in order to give it a veneer of legality.
You are right in many points "Balakeriv"
You failed however to address the fact the the Greatest of All, Oligarchs---the Plutocratic Oligarch of the United States can be directly tied to the establishment of most of the Oligarchs you refer to .
To answer the point of the article:
Since the USA is most likely in the 'last days' on its long 'questionable' status as a "Super Power/Meddler"---it will be impossible for "Washington to follow Latin Americas Lead"---Washington will be busy trying to survive the collapse----and the chance that "Democracy Prevails In Honduras" will be much higher. The Military officers who commanded the take over were most assuredly trained in the School of the Americas, right here in the 'good ole USA'.
As soon as the world realizes that the USA is no longer a 'super power', but has 'morphed' into a 'creature' that defies 'classification'--and cut off the credit lines they are currently using to create death and destruction in three other countries-----they can simply wait for the Americans to devour themselves.
Actually the world might just be a safer place.
Good Luck America, your really need it.
As there seems to be some very basic confusion among posters here as to who is responsible for the coup, perhaps this will help?
(Carlos Fazio's analysis from La Jornada in Mexico)
The oligarchical-military coup in Honduras represents an Obama-Clinton Administration strategy which is designed to push back the advances of democratically elected governments so that its imperial power can be maintained and consolidated in some “hot zones” of the planet. Such a strategy operates from a several prong political base, combining direct military intervention (Afghanistan, Pakistan, Irak) with clandestine and destabilizing operations (Venezuela, Iran, Honduras, Bolivia, Ecuador) and a two way diplomacy, that seeks to utilize the instruments and initiatives inherited by Barack Obama from the Bush Administration.
The classist attack on the weakest Latin American link was undertaken to turn back the democratic government of Manuel Zelaya so that a new de facto client regime could be imposed in the empire´s back yard. The coup hopes to reinforce the conservative militarized pole of the Plan Puebla Panama/Merida Initiative, led by Mexico and Colombia. The progressive advances in Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador complicated Washington´s geopolitical plans, that sought to bring an interventionist platform in South America into line focusing upon hydrocarbons in Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador and the immense Amazon and the Guarani water resources. In that sense, it was also a blow against ALBA, the Bolivian Alternative for the Americas (la Alternativa Boliviana para las Americas).
To carry out the conspiracy, the State Department and Pentagon used the Honduran military high command that has been structurally penetrated by US security and intelligence organisms. The coup´s general, Romero Vázquez, its cunning adviser Roberto Micheletti and the founder of the 1980´s squadrons of death Billy Joya Améndola, were “exemplary students” in the US School of the Americas (la Escuela de las Américas). The military coup participants acted like an occupying army in their own country. But Honduras is also occupied by the United States which controls the Soto Cano (or Palmerola) military base where the force of the Tarea Conjunta Bravo can be found, consisting of half a thousand military personnel with advance espionage and interventionist equipment including air combat equipment such as the HU-60, the Black Hawk and the CH-47 Chinook.
That base is part of a network of Advanced Operating Posts (FOL) of the Pentagon, integrated by Comalapa in El Salvador, Guantánamo in Cuba, Arruba, Curazo and Manta, in the Ecuadorian Pacific. Similar to Ecuador´s president´s decision about the Manta base, Zelaya had told the White House of his intention to convert Soto Cano into an international commercial airport which would be financed by Alba and Petro-Caribe. In substitution for Manta, the Pentagon succeeded in convincing Álvaro Uribe to put (Colombian) military bases at its disposal in Palanquera (Cundinamarca) Apiay (Meta) and Malambo (Atlántico) which will convert Colombia into the Israel of Latin America.
The hawks in the Department of State and the Pentagon also fell back upon their old connections with the primitive Honduran oligarchy which controls Congress and the Supreme Court and they (also) counted upon the legitimization of Cardenal Oscar Rodríguez Madariaga, Archbishop of Tegucigalpa. What we witnessed, then, was a civic-military coup of US design, with the consensus of the fascist powers..
But, the other evil coup which got support in Honduras was the media war. (The coup) sought its legitimacy via the media which is under private monopolistic control. In particular, the Honduran newspapers La Prensa de San Pedro Sula and El Heraldo of Tegucigalpa, whose proprietor is Jorge Anahuati, a dealer of State arms and drugs and director of the Inter-American Press Society (SIP) an old arm of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) ever since the cold war days; the daily La Tribuna of San Pedro Sula, run by the conservative businessman Carlos Roberto Facussé, ex-president of Honduras (1988-2002), the daily Tiempo of Tegucigalpa which belongs to Jaime Rosenthal Oliva, businessman, banker and Secretary General of the Liberal Party (Partido Liberal); the network of television channels of José Rafael Ferrari, and with involvement in the HRN radio chain. Likewise, the coup counted upon the support of US CNN which, from the first moment, looked for a way of legalizing the putchistas and incriminating Zelaya as well as upon the other large Latin American media tied to SIP.
The backward strategy of the Clinton clan and the institutional apparatus at the service of the energy military industrial complex, that ends up with a policy of events that would be endorsed by Obama, owes much to the key role played by the current ambassador in Tegucigalpa, the Cuban-US citizen Hugo Llorens. Connected to the ex intelligence czar John Dimitri Negroponte and the ultra conservative Otto Reich, protector of the Cuban-US mafia in Miami, Llorens coordinated the expulsion of Manuel Zeylaya. He is part of a network of diplomats named in the last days of the Bush Administration, all of whom are experts in undercover operations and psychological warfare against Cuba and Venezuela: Robert Blau in the El Salvador Embassy: Stephen McFarland in Guatemala and Robert Callahan in Managua, Nicaragua.
With her formal ambiguities, Hillary Clinton has legitimized the new privatized Micheletti and Company regime, and via the conduct of Öscar Arias, an old Washington lackey, has pushed forward a “negotiation-trap” to give the coup leaders time to strengthen their power and to wear down the heroic popular Honduran resistance. Obama will have to decide to label what has happened a coup d´etat, recall Ambassador Llorens and cut US assistance to Honduras or continue backing down before the hard wing of the imperial system.
Translated by William S. Stone: wstoneoax@yahoo.com
To read the original version in Spanish, please see the following link:
http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2009/07/27/index.php?section=opinion&article=019a1pol
From the text: "The first White House statement did not even criticise the coup..."
More research begs to be done on the actual blood relationship of President Obama and his "cousin" Dick Cheney.
With all of the abuses we've witnessed during the first six months of this administration (government largesse delivered to the banksters, the generals, and the health insurance corporate execs, along with FISA and Gitmo extensions, alarming rising unemployment, et al)
it's like Dick Cheney is still president.
You think it's in their genetics?
No. Vice President Cheney isn't human.
Micheletti's oligarchical coup "government" just declared US Embassy staff are to have their visas revoked.
I don't think this was a smart move on his part. The one thing that the US oligarchs won't put up with is the blustering big mouth of a two-bit Third World coupster that disses them.
Face it. Our oligarchs are the leading imperialist figures in the world. Thus, they are racist to the core. I can't imagine them putting up Micheletti's strutting talk.
As mentioned before, these guys and gals are unbelievably stupid, crass, hallucenatory, uneducated, and uncultivated.
They have no cool whatsoever.
Congratulations to the USan far-left. We extinguished the rabid rightwing fanaticism in Washing-town and left the beast confused, paralyzed. Meanwhile the OAS will work to restore democracy in Honduras. Behold the spontaneous synergy of leftist energy at work in the hemisphere. Our progress is practically automatic.
Who says it is to the credit of the AMERICAN far-left?
I said it earlier. Zelaya's call for an insurrection was a bad idea. And it failed just like I said it might. His insurrection was a complete flop.
This coo coo coup needs to damn end! This writer has it just right. What the hell has the current US president been waiting for? He needs to fire Hilary Rodham Klanton pronto.
AD
I have an idea.....how about if we restore Democracy, or a reasonable facsimile, to the United States of America first?!?
Once we do that, then we can maybe do something positive to help others.
I hope that Nicaragua and Venezuela back Hondurans in ending the coup with a violent blow. The only thing the rightists understand is military power. Make them pay.