More on the non-Coup in Honduras
ByRegional and international media, Bolshevist bloggers and others continue to characterize the removal of Mel Zelaya from office by the Honduran Supreme Court and Congress as a ‘military coup’. (Last I checked the new President is a civilian elected by the legislature).
I’ve learned people are pretty thin-skinned here if you dissent from the official ‘line’. When I doubted the ‘analysis’ of the allegations against Colom, I got death threats. When I questioned the prudence of the Guatemalan who called for a run on the state bank, I was called a coward. Now that I’ve observed the democratically elected representatives removing a protege of Chavez and Castro for repeatedly defying the ruling of the Supreme Court, friends resort to calling me a liar.
If you’re interested in a true analysis of the situation by intellectuals, check out this blog. It’s one of my favorite Guatemalan blogs and has an emphasis on economic matters. I’ve discovered you can learn a lot about a blog by reading the comments, and this guy attracts some bright people. Carlos brings up some great questions, including the ease with which so many constitutions in the region are amended, which tends to attract dictators and demagogues to the executive branch who believe they can twist the constitution by scaring the masses into constitutional referendums (a la Hugo Chavez).
Another balanced analysis of the situation is here. This blogger quotes extensively from foreign governments and international organizations condemning the move and calling for Zelaya to be restored to power. I find it hard to believe Hondurans would give a damn what some foreign power or multi-national political organization thinks about the internal workings of their country. I know what I would think if the UN had tried to get involved with the Bush-Gore debacle in 2000.
Of course, the truth of this is that the guy who got booted was a leftist, which explains the outrage of the media and the international community. Naturally no President in Latin America is going to condone a Chief Executive’s removal, for fear of their own job security, so between the two groups you have what appears to be unanimous international opinion against the people of Honduras. Of course, Obama and Hillary have criticized the developments, which ought to tell you on which side of the discussion thinking people ought to be.
I’m sure there will be more to come…
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6 Comments
June 30th, 2009 at 5:44 pm
Pues as a Guatemalan expat living in Canada I don’t have the perspective you have from down there. In any case, Hondurans apparently don’t care about the UN or the international community, but they care that their vote was completely disrespected by the military and the courts and the congress. The courts and the congress could’ve impeached Mel Zelaya, they just chose to make a circus out of it. The only benefited will be Mel Zelaya and his godparents (Chavez, Castro, etc).
June 30th, 2009 at 8:50 pm
As a comment to Emromesco, as I understand it, the Honduran constitution doesn’t allow for impeachment. The president can be removed for mental instability, but not much else. Please correct me if I’m wrong because it wouldn’t be the first time.
Somebody make a note; this is one of the few times I happen to agree with Mark. I live in Mexico and follow his blog for information on Latin America. I don’t often agree with him, but on this one he is dead on.
Being originally from the US, I had a certain mindset. However, after living in Mexico for three years I’ve been able to look back at the wall the media has built around the northern country. The people in the US within the wall have been so misled by the press, who stress the sensational to make a buck. They’ve really been brain washed.
Larry
June 30th, 2009 at 9:54 pm
The Honduran constitution can be amended by referendum. The referendum must be pre-approved by the assembly. Zelaya wanted to have a referendum anyway and so had ballots printed up in Venezuela (!) and shipped to Honduras for this purpose. When he ordered the head of the military to distribute the ballots in preparation for a vote, he was refused, so he fired the guy. The Supreme Court ordered him to be reinstated, but Zelaya refused and still wanted to go ahead with the referendum, which the attorney general and supreme court had both ruled was an illegal vote. Zelaya was then arrested and apparently given a choice of either being detained in Honduras or flying to Costa Rica in his pajamas. He chose Costa Rica.
This seems to me pretty much the same as if a US president was trying to make some sort of constitutional amendment, but without bothering with the (mandatory) congressional passage or approval by two-thirds of the states. (Not gonna happen.)
Anyway, I read somewhere today that we may be hearing some more about this “mentally unfit” business.
My wife talked by telephone with her uncles in Copan province today and they report that the roads are blockaded…I assume to prevent people from traveling in order to congregate and hold demonstrations.
July 1st, 2009 at 4:47 am
Gentlemen,
A late night phone call from a friend in Tegucigalpa confirms my worst fears:
1. The people are entirely supportive of the ouster and there is no widespread unrest;
2. There is little or no understanding of the scope of international interest in the domestic situation;
3. The idea that Zelaya would return, supported by foreign powers, frightens Hondurans that a ‘real’ coup may be imminent.
If you people think this is merely a minor side show in a third-world country, think again; these are the front lines of the new Cold War being waged in our backyard by the Russians and Chinese through their Cuban and Venezuelan proxies. Whether you like or hate Cheney, his promise that the enemies of the US would test Obama early in his presidency have been fulfilled, in North Korea, Iran and now close to home. Make no mistake about it-this is one small part of a broad effort to ‘probe’ the new administration.
July 1st, 2009 at 8:05 am
I heard on the radio that commerce between Guatemala and Honduras is prohibited for 48 hours, in order to pressure the Hondurans into reinstating Zelaya. How in the world is this gonna help Hondurans? How much money will be lost during these 48 hrs?
There´s also talk of Zelaya being mentally unstable, from what I heard on the news last night. Maybe he´s just 5 cents shy of Chavez´ mental stability: he definitely wants to follow in his footsteps. How do you prove his mental (in)stability?
I, for one, think that the legislative branch was actually quite brave by not letting their opinion be thrown down the toilet by Zelaya. However, maybe it should´ve been the police who should´ve captured Zelaya. With the military being so involved in politics and human rights violations in the past in all of Latin America, anything that involves them will immediately cause cries of “COUP”. And of course, all the other Latin American countries will stand by Zelaya, because most of them have “una cola que pisar”.
As a Central American, my hair stands on end just to think that the ballots for the referendum were printed in Venezuela. There´s support for populist governments because poor people are tricked into thinking that the government is Oh so nice for giving stuff away (as in Solidaridad), when it´s the taxpayers money that they´re using. Can´t they see that hurting businesses is just shooting themselves, not in the foot, but more like, right splat in the middle of the abdomen?
July 1st, 2009 at 8:26 am
Cristina took the words out of my mouth. What I’m about to say sounds terrible, but I believe that democracy can only work (for the time being) in Central America, by imposing a literacy test on voters. This golpe has nothing to do with Russia or China. It is education versus populism.