These countries deserve better.

Vaya con Dios.
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http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106085412

I’d also call your attention to National Review, Christian Science Monitor, Wall Street Journal, Investor’s Business Daily, and I’m sure there are more.

From the context of Jamey’s comment about media support for the new gov’t, though, I think he may be referring to Honduran media like La Prensa, La Tribuna, El Heraldo–altho CNN Espanol can hardly has escaped his notice.

(Univision online poll is running 69-31 in favor of the new govt, by the way.)

Hey are you posting from the USA, sounds like Washington DC these days?

FMLN, FLSN, ALBA…pura mierda

Viva la revolucion!
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I’m not under any allusions about any of the governments in the region. I try to maintain an objective opinion while learning, and I hope that my general attitude about governments is proven wrong. To date (I’ve been studying the region since 1993), I’ve yet to be wrong.

The Guatemalans I spoke with this weekend were, to a man, concerned not by the new government but about what the ‘Communistas’ were going to do in retaliation. They insisted, as I have come to believe, that the people are glad to have Zelaya gone, were frightened by his abuse of power, and want a return to democracy (no doubt a sentiment shared by Venezuelans). This ‘coup’ seems to be unlike any other in recent memory in that all sides of the government were in favor of the action, there have been no brutal acts by the armed forces, and things have been peaceful.

I would have agreed with you before regarding the preference over an arrest and trial, and certainly that would be better on paper. However, I suspect the leadership in Honduras knew that Zelaya’s people in Tegucigalpa, Caracas and Havana (and no doubt Moscow), would have preferred such a development as a pretext for a foreign military intervention which would have been launched to free him and topple the government. Lots of people would have been killed who ‘resisted’, and Zelaya would be able to purge the government of dissenters. (This is all right out of the old Soviet textbook, by the way).

As it is, it seems to me a model of peaceful change of government when an executive attempts to rule extra-constitutionally.

If Zelaya were right of center and was replaced by a left of center politician, Obama/Chavez/Castro would be calling it a peaceful revolution by the people which all other governments must respect. Since Zelaya is a protege of the Chavez et al, it is a ‘coup’, and the cabal threatens invasion.

If I were President I’d fly the 10th Mountain division to Tegucigalpa for “combined forces training”, and maybe put a battleship and destroyer off the coast. Communists only understand force, and it would send a message that the march across Latin America has come to an end (all in humble Honduras; who would have guessed?).

I bet the democrats in Venezuela and elsewhere are looking to the developments in Honduras and plotting their next move.

They’re all bad guys and the new de facto bosses are most likely going to be worse than Zelaya. You don’t mention the rampant corruption throughout the gov’t. of one of the poorest, small countries in L.A.,the abject poverty most Hondurans find themselves in, and the real golden egg in this fairy tale which is the narco money and who controls it. (don’t get me started on conspiracy theories).

This was a coup to get things back to the old-boy networks “status quo”. If you have any doubts watch for the coming excuse of why they can’t have the scheduled elections in November. “The situation is too unstable, so we’ll stay in control.”
They don’t want to go anywhere. This is only beginning and I hope the region is spared the potential world of hurt the Hondurans will now have to put up with for no one knows how long.

Mark, I gather from your writing that you have not been around here for very long and I know you can’t speak the language but there is a reason why the Guatemalans you talked to this weekend were concerned. They’ve been down this road too many times to want to see it again.

Coups are bad, people die and disappear and there is nobody to answer for the actions taken because no one is legitimately in control. It is a scary place to be and a road Guatemala (and the region) definitely thought they had left behind. God save us from the defenders of the Honduran constitution, (who, by the way, have suspended same).

I’ve learned from a slew of bad presidents starting in the 80’s that you let these guys run their course and go away, so far (in Guate)there has been 1 good one and 5 bad ones since I’ve lived here. Some much worse than others.

Zelaya wasn’t going to carry his “encuesta” and even if he did, so what. He’s not Chavez and has a completely different situation on his hands. The reason Micheletti grabbed power is because he moved from third to second in line, following the vice presidents resignation to run for pres in November (having beaten Micheletti in the primary, no sour grapes there, I’m sure).

Zelaya should have been allowed to run his course or arrested and by the police forces and tried. Not what happened on Sunday morning.
What happens next causes a great deal of fear in everyone with a memory.

So hey, thanks Honduras for a trip back to the only part of the 80’s I didn’t enjoy.

http://mimundo-jamesrodriguez.blogspot.com/2009/07/mel-our-friend-people-are-with-you.html

What do you think now… do you still think it was disingenuous to call it a coup?