Obama's Magical Surrealism in Honduras

"I've heard many in this room say that they will not recognize the elections in Honduras. I'm not trying to be a wiseguy, but what does that mean? What does that mean in the real world, not in the world of magical realism?" - W. Lewis Amselem, Obama administration's representative to the Organization of American States

W-w-w-w-hat?!?! An American diplomat actually said that?!? In a meeting of the Organization of American States? Who is president now? Didn't Ronald Reagan die?

A little context: this was said at the OAS during a discussion of upcoming elections in Honduras. All the Latin American countries were announcing that they will not recognize the elections as valid because the current government, the one that will organize the elections, came to power through a military coup. The United States was isolated as the only government in the Americas ready to recognize the election. And Obama's representative decided that might be a good time to ridicule all the Latin American democracies for thinking that their refusal to recognize a government which come to power through military coups mattered.

Well gee, Mr. Amselem, why would it matter whether elections are recognized by the international community? As I recall, there were just elections in Iran and Afghanistan. What does it really matter whether other countries in the region recognize the regime of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, which is widely believed to have won the elections through massive electoral fraud? Does it matter who does and doesn't recognize the elections of the American-backed regime in Afghanistan, which was accused of electoral fraud on a similar scale? How about Zimbabwe, which has been teetering on the edge of catastrophe since similarly questionable elections? What exactly was your point, Mr. Amselem? Was it that democracy doesn't mean anything? Or was it that it doesn't matter what Latin American governments do? Or was it that small countries that have neither oil, nukes or terrorists don't matter? We could use a little clarification here.

Just what in the heck is going on in the Obama-Clinton State Department? As the New York Times reported today, the Obama administration's announcement of its policy regarding the upcoming Honduran elections "was celebrated by Republicans as a "reversal" of the administration's policy [and] ignited a storm of criticism from Mr. Obama's allies at home and across Latin America." Just like Hillary's reversal on the administration's position concerning Jewish settlements in Palestinian territories is being celebrated by the Israeli right wing and may trigger the collapse of the Palestinian Authority.

Mr. President, you have some very urgent work to do. First, you need to demand W. Lewis Amselem's head on a pike, now. Just to show that you are at least paying attention.

Beyond that, it is going to be tough. You have dithered on the Honduras coup for half a year, and the elections are just weeks away. Here's an idea: start over. Announce that you are very sorry, but as a way of preparing your State Department for work in Latin America, you asked your diplomatic corps to take some time off to immerse themselves in magical realist literature, and they became so engrossed they simply lost track of time. No one noticed that a year had gone by since your election. But now everyone is ready to put down their novels and return to the real world, in which no one would ever imagine that a government led by Barack Obama would stand as the only government in the western hemisphere supporting coups in Latin America.

 

Comments

[Light 101]

ZELAYA ---- HERO OF THE WORKING CLASS

Empire USA and Honduras are identical in the structure
of their two class society.

For the upper half has all the wealth, the 50% most
intelligent with more wealth then debt.

For the supremely intelligent rich nobility give just enough
wealth to just over half the people and this way stay forever
in power.

[MASTERINTERPRETER]

Once the poor are wealthy, they will have to share their wealth again. Show me a country where people are not poor. Just one. Hopefully they are not wealthy because they made another country poor. All the people want to have wealth, rich and poor, some get it some don't. All those Hollywood celebrities should send all their wealth to the poor countries. How much poor should they be so the are not blameless of being wealthy?

[JGallardo]

To the people who swear that "Maria de los Angeles" rose to the heavens like the Holy Mother, the idea that she's living happily in a northern town with the foot-soldier from Buendia's army she ran out with, is totally incomprehensible. So also with the "political analysts" who bought into the Chavez/Zelaya plot, scripted in the 1970's "Open Veins of LatinAmerica" that Mr. Obama recieved as a present.

When Zelaya entered the Brazilean Embassy, he expected 300,000 people (of 650,000 voters in Tegucigalpa) to carry him back triumphantly to the Presidential Office. Magical! According to the most optimistic pro-Zelaya media, 3,000 came, less than 1% of the city's voters. The other 99% went home in response tho the govt's curfew, causing traffic jams in the major cities and towns of Honduras. Reality.

When Carlos H. Reyes, Zelaya's supporter and independent candidate, resigned from the election, he expressed the usual "no restitution/not legal" rhetoric. Magic. That he couldn't gather enough support to establish even the 296 Municipal representatives he needed, much less the 16,000 needed at the voting tables is Reality.

That Zelaya's ouster is considered legal by the vast majority of Hondurans, as the Legal study by the LOC report confirmed, is an unacceptable reality that Mr. Osterbag's Magical world won't accept. Get it?

[Light 101]

Of course fear of the military dictatorship has hothing to do with it.

Of course 36 innocent protesters wasted and over 1000 in hospitals,
and the military making sure at least a dozzen protesters have broken
bones during each protest, of course this would never cause the people
to be in fearful submission to authority.

[sticksnstones]

I wonder how many Hondurans will decide to just stay inside their homes knowing full well that any opposition to the coup d'etat will likely result in the coup-sanctioned arrest, detention and rape of those Hondurans' family members.

[JGallardo]

Last night in Honduras' most popular news show, the ex-independent candidate and Zelaya follower came into the studio and talked directly on the open floor with the anchorman. He said there were 27 deaths. The newsman challenged him to present the cases on his news show and promised to follow them up.

Because so far, all this talk about deaths and injuries hasn't been evidenced with facts. Mothers saying that her son was killed in a driveby shooting and blaming the govt, when this has been happening long before Zelaya's ouster.

In the elections, the No. 1 concern for the Honduran citizens is security, as it was in the last election when Zelaya became president (in other words he did nothing about it). We have a serious problem with crime, the "maras" and organized crime (drug related) which increased during Zelaya's term.

Alot of Zelaya followers have been the criminals themselves. Remember the attacks on supermarkets, etc were carried out by them. There is no question about this. It is during these "aftermaths" that the violence has followed and many of the injuries have occurred then, when they attacked ordinary civilians who defended themselves.

Remember they used incendiary bombs, they savagely ravaged businesses and attacked normal regular people. Even children in a school bus. The majority of the population is against Zelaya. The anti-Zelaya manifestations have been much more massive than the pro-Zelaya manifestations.

It is Zelaya who is calling for violence to upset the elections.

[ocprogressgrl]

I would agree that the Obama-Clinton State Department's messaging on this has been inconsistent to say the least. But I read a post here, implicating the words of a certain diplomat that gives a lot of detail on the matter:

http://latinopoliticsblog.com/2009/11/07/seneca-on-obama-administrations-latin-foreign-policy-woes/

[Light 101]

MUCH CONFUSION

Surely, and your suggested WEB page has some fiction such as:

"More interesting seemed to be the Administration’s inability to persuade the defacto regime to cede power."

For all Obama has to do is block a little trade, freeze a few bank accounts and in 5 minutes
this CIA coup dictatorship would be history.

[randyjet]

Short reply. ALL the democracies in Latin America know the situation BETTER than the poster who thinks that military coups are justified. I think that THEIR words and actions are FAR better informed than the USA. To say that removing a President by force of the military is legal is absurd. One only has to remember that the Chilean Supreme Court thought that the dictatorship of Pinochet was "legal" too. I would imagine such folks would say the same thing if the US military removed Obama and the ciurrent Supreme Court would probably back them up as well.

It is a strange "constitution" that has a provision that it cannot be amended. It is NOT so strange when one considers that it was not established by the will of the people. It was established by the military to make sure that the rulers will remain that. Most folks can see the lie and the apologists for dictatorships.

[MASTERINTERPRETER]

It is a strange constitution with 75 years of history to support is"strangeness". It is the people wanting some stability. So study the history of Honduras and then it will not be strange. 98% of the constitution can be changed at any time. What can not be changed are seven articles protecting the constitution from dictators. The interim president will not be able to run for president again, even though he will be in power only seven months. We are uhholding the Constitution to prevent it from dictators. So that is why it is easy to see the motive of President Zelaya to call for a new Constitution, he wanted to change the seven articles. The others can be changed at any time.

[MASTERINTERPRETER]

There was no military coup. But our constituion allows for the removal of a President, withouth impeachment. So he was removed. According to the Constitution "he was automatically disqualified to continue as President". Too bad we are the only ones in Latin America with a constitution like that. Other countries should have it.

[sticksnstones]

Too bad there is not a single sovereign nation on the planet that agrees with your own personal set of opinions.

That's OK, though. You're entitled to your own set of opinions.

What you're NOT entitled to is your own set of facts, amigo.

How are things workin' out between you Golpistas and the Organization of American States ?? Just askin'.

[MASTERINTERPRETER]

SHORT VERSION: Ex President Zelaya wanted to stay in power and short-circuit elections. He was deposed. We need elections as to get a new President, and according to the Constitution elections by 29th November 2009. Get it!!

[Light 101]

Problem is, no one with integrity believes you.

[MASTERINTERPRETER]

Just to allow a space for debate, the elections have to be done properly, otherwise they could be objected, but lets us not decide now that the elections are comparable to the ones mentioned in the article. Let's wait for the results of the elections. Let's not call out fraud ahead of time. The Obama Administration has reversed itself, yes, it wants to save face, yes, since they are politicians, they have to be political about it. And supporting elections is not supporting coups. The Latin American countries are trying to hold ransom the elections in order to restore the president. That was an initial mistake of the Obama administration.

END PART TWO FINAL

[Light 101]

But no international inspection will there be of the election,
as virtually no nation in the world believes a military coup
dictatorship has the capacity to hold fair elections.

[MASTERINTERPRETER]

There are more international supervisors that we can handle. Additional ones will have to come and pay their expenses. Why don't you come over. Why are you so certain we can not have free election? Just because you say so? Who supervises the USA elections? Do they need to be supervised by foreigners? Even after military coups you have elections, otherwise there would not be one legal govenment in the world. From Pinochet to the present time. It is insulting to conclude from far away that the two million Hondurans who will vote do not know what they are doing. We have had elections for 28 years in a row. The only president that dared say he had won the election by cheating was President Zelaya, and even then he was allowed to govern. But since he said that, this time all four political parties will make sure nobody takes away their votes. And that is the supervision required, Hondurans looking after Hondurans.

[MASTERINTERPRETER]

ALL THE ELECTIONS MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE ARE AFTER THE FACT: Elections in Honduras have not happened yet. So why will they be illegal or fraudulent for that matter. The elections in Honduras run according to the constitution of Honduras and they are due 29th November. They started before the president was deposed, and they are not run by the Central Government. The govenrment provides the money and the INDEPENDENT SUPREME ELECTORAL TRIBUNAL elected ONE YEAR AGO from the running parties runs the elections. So not allowing the elections would be curtailing the legal parties and even the independent runners from going to elections according to the constitution. So the elections have to be held, because the constitution demands them, the parties running prior to the removal of the president demand it, the people demand it. And who says that elections have to be preceded by a "legal" government? ( We consider that the president was rightly removed and the new interim president would be violating the law if he were to stay a day longer than the 27th of January). The political crisis did not bring down the Constitution, it kept it, but it brought down (legally)the President according to Article 239 of the Constitution. So the coup,as it is called, benefits nobody's personal interests, and so that it is so, the Elections have to succeed.
END PART ONE

[mariorepe]

That the Obama administration is blessing a military coup is infuriating. We expected better than a repeat of the cold war era when the US would support criminal military dictators just because they would keep the country from falling into communist hands. With that excuse they killed and tortured with impunity and, of course, stole. We in Latin America don't want a return to those times in any form or shape. It is sad to see Obama falling in those hands under the pretense that this is not a military coup that this is just to save "democracy". I've heard that story many many times from the cold blooded criminals that ruled across Latin America during several decades with the encouragement of various American administrations.
If Obama continues reversing himself, hope in his leadership will fade away fast, which is exactly what the republicans are setting him up for. His OAS representative has offended the Latin American people.

[SouthernJim]

Sorry to throw a wrench into the continued use of the term 'military coup' that Ortega, Chavez, Castro and others would like the world to believe but those really aren't the facts.
Zelaya was removed from office by the Honduran congress, the majority of which belong to Zelaya's own political party, for attempting to change the constitution and continue in power. The Hondurans have had a history of strongmen seizing power and wrote a presidential 'one term' limit into the constitution for a reason. Additionally, they included the provision that if the president tried to change the constitution they are to be removed from office immediately. The Honduran supreme court verified the action as constitutional and the military performed it's duties under the constitution. (They were probably not legal in exiling him but that is not the issue.) So now you want the U.S. to meddle in the internal affairs of another country because you don't like what they are doing? Even though it's a legal action according to their own constitution? That's amazing.
It's just possible that President Obama and the Executive branch finally realised the correct facts and realised what they had to do. I applaud them for that.
I believe Mr. Anselem was bringing the OAS up to speed on what side of the law the U.S. would back, thankfully.

[Light 101]

Virtually every nation is fooled, and your not fooled?

A manifesto created by a military dictatorship after the coup of 1982 in
Hondurás, that makes it a Constitutional government in Hondurás?

[Hector Corrales]

Meh not really relevant. Most articles coming from the US lack an understanding of what the Tegucigalpa Accords meant to Zelaya when he signed them. He lost any chance of ever returning to the presidency. And just in time for a dessert after that last meal, he realized what he had done and chickened out of the agreement he had pledged to fulfill. The coup regime has kept its word and is fulfilling the agreement unilaterally.
Once you understand what the situation is here, you'd know that the reason why we removed Zelaya from power was indeed to ensure we would have elections.

[Light 101]

Surely you jest, for Zeláya would never have signed any document that
did not put him back in power, and all of the resistance movement
would have been in revolt.