Obama Should Change Course and Support Democracy In Honduras
President Obama is making a big mistake in coddling the dictatorship in Honduras, and putting his administration at odds with the rest of the hemisphere. It also looks terrible to the world that his government so easily abandons its professed commitment to democracy and the rule of law.
President Mel Zelaya of Honduras was overthrown by the military on June 28. Most of Latin America saw this as a threat to democracy in the hemisphere, immediately condemned the coup, and strongly supported Zelaya's return. The Organization of American States as well as the General Assembly of the United Nations called for Zelaya's "immediate and unconditional" return.
But the Obama administration has issued a series of conflicting statements, and last week the U.S. State Department sent a letter to Republican Senator Richard Lugar that appeared to blame Zelaya himself for the coup. The letter also said that U.S. policy was "not based on supporting any particular politician or individual," thus further distancing Washington from Zelaya.
These statements were widely publicized in the Honduran media and helped to bolster the dictatorship.
Perhaps more ominously, the Obama administration has not said one word about the atrocities and human rights abuses perpetrated by the coup government. Political activists have been murdered, independent TV and radio stations have been shut down, journalists have been detained and intimidated, and hundreds of people arrested. Human rights groups in the U.S. and internationally have denounced this political repression. But Washington has been silent. On the contrary, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton criticized Zelaya -- who is not linked to any violence whatsoever -- for attempting to return peacefully to his own country.
On Tuesday, 16 Democratic Members of Congress, including Raul Grijalva of Arizona and Jan Schakowsky of Illinois, sent a letter to President Obama calling on him to "publicly denounce the use of violence and repression of peaceful protestors, the murder of peaceful political organizers and all forms of censorship and intimidation directed at media outlets." Can he ignore this public appeal from his own party?
The Members of Congress also asked President Obama to " freeze the bank accounts and assets of individuals involved in the coup, and deny them entry into the United States."
These and other measures that are easy to implement could force the dictatorship to allow the President Zelay's return. But the Obama administration has shown no interest in using them.
This problem is not going to go away. On Tuesday the governments of South America issued a joint statement that they will not recognize any president in Honduras that is elected under the dictatorship. This is important because there is a presidential election scheduled for November, and the coup government hopes to stall until then.
But South America had made it clear that this is not an option.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is very close to the Honduran dictatorship's chief strategists such as Lanny Davis and Bennett Ratcliff, who are powerful Washington lobbyists. Davis was a former counsel to President Bill Clinton and also helped Hillary's own presidential campaign. Most likely Clinton hopes to return Zelaya as close to the election as possible.
This would guarantee an unfair election that her friends in the dictatorship would easily win. The Presidential election campaign has already started, and the longer it continues under conditions of political repression and censorship, the less likely it is that anyone outside of Washington will consider it legitimate. And an illegitimate government in Honduras would become a festering sore, with boycotts and economic sanctions of the type that targeted the South African apartheid regime in the 1970s and 80s.
The Obama administration can still change course and support democracy in Honduras. But time is rapidly running out.
This op-ed was distributed by McClatchy Tribune Information Services on August 12, 2009 and published by the Sacramento Bee and other newspapers.
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John Perkins, author of NY Times best seller "Confessions Of An Economic Hit Man" - exposes the truth about the Honduran coup...
Honduras Military Coup Engineered By 2 US Companies?
By John Perkins
8-19-9
http://www
Sure, we will not talk about Chavez and we will focus on Zelaya. You mentioned 5 people died. Why don’t you talk about the hundredths of people that were kidnapped and killed during his term. He did not do anything to fight crime and violence. His only action was to try to order the media not to report bad news. Well lets about how people couldn’t go to a hospital if they didn’t support Zelaya’s reelection. He ordered all his government staff to leave their jobs and go to the country side to promote his constitutional project. How come Honduras was the only country in America that didn’t have a plan against the world financial crisis?
You mentioned poverty and I want to remind you that he was our president for over three years and during that time there was a significant increase in crime, poverty and unemployment. Meanwhile he was buying Harleys, Ferraris, and ranches. We elected him to lead not to break or law and the minute he disobeyed our law he ousted himself out of power. The army only carried out the orders. As a proud Honduran I can say there is no systematic killing of people or disappearances. There is a curfew because the Pro -Zelaya people are blowing our country into pieces. But according to you they are the victims. Last why don’t you talk about the video of the 4 millions that were taken out of the central bank to bribe people?
Dario,
The huge, highly organized pro-Zelaya faction in Honduras has not committed murder. The coup faction HAS. That's a fact, and denying that fact doesn't make it less so. It merely weakens your authoritarian argument.
You accuse Zelaya of trampling your constitution on the one hand and dismiss the trampling of that same constitution by the coup cabal on the other hand. Don't you see how unbelievably hypocritical that stance is? The coup perpetrators CREATED the political unrest by their actions. Constitutionally guaranteed human rights have been denied. Hondurans want those rights restored.
" The army only carried out the orders. " Wrong again. The military had no legal authority from any branch of government when it shoved Zelaya on a military aircraft and reomved him from your borders. The de facto coup faction has admitted this breach of authority numerous times. Are those you support liars?
You seem almost disappointed at the low number of assassinations and disappearances. You'll be happy to know those numbers are climbing. However, IMHO, one murder is too many.
You argued that Zelaya was a good president and that he worked for the people and we both know that is not true. I stated numerous examples of how Zelaya abused his powered and indicated his lack of care for our country. He was ousted because of his bad work and because he attempted to stay in power forever. You repeatedly looked the other way and blame everything on Mr. Micheletti as if things happened in a vacuum and Zelaya was guilt free.
By the way calling me a hypocrite or uncaring for my people will not automatically make you win an argument. You intend to portray me as something I am not sir! I don’t agree with everything that Micheletti has done but at least he had the courage to take a decision. Where were you and for that fact all the other countries when Zelaya promoted his constitutional coup? Like you, I want all this mess to end but I don’t want Zelaya in power again. He has proven to be untrustworthy and an unfit ruler. If in fact the army officials had killed this people, they should be convicted. However, I want to remind you that unless you were a witness to these murders or have solid evidence your comments are just personal opinions and not facts as you stated. Finally, those huge groups you described are mostly paid and incorporate people from Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Ecuador.
If the point of this article is to call for greater support for Manuel Zelaya, why don’t you just ask us to give our country away to Chavez? The difference is that we are not talking of a simple exercise of political policy; we are talking about the lives of our people! Most of you are in Canada or elsewhere and your comments are based on what you hear.
Why don’t you guys talk about the restaurants, cars, and buildings that were blown by the "angels" that support Zelaya? Why don’t you talk about the people that were beaten down ? Or the millions that have been paid people in this mobs. This week they threw 7 molotov bombs to a major newspaper. I want to invite you to visit Radio Globo and Canal 36 website as they are perfectly running. Somebody mentioned the increase in salary. Why don’t you mention the great number of people that lost their jobs as a result of that decision? Starting by the government staff that didn’t get paid in months because the government did not have money. Why don’t you talk about how he didn’t present the national budget so that he could spend the money at his whim? Or the way he openly disobeyed the courts' orders to abort his constitutional project. Zelaya said “not even Kaliman or the Virgin Mary can stop the 4ta urna". He called the people to disobey the law and openly laughed of the Supreme Court .
This article isn't about Chavez, as if the mention of that name alone is all the justification needed for Zelaya's extrajudicial exile to Costa Rica.
Let's talk about, instead, returning your democratically elected president to Honduras so that he may finish his term in office. Honduras has been given notice by a majority of Latin American countries that any president elected under Micheletti's coup d'etat regime will not be recognized as legitimate.
Let's talk about, instead, Executive Order 011-2009 which has been illegally extended beyond its 72 hour time frame and is still in effect, thus insuring that Honduras remains a police state.
Let's talk about, instead, the coup-sanctioned assassinations and disappearances of your fellow Hondurans.
Sure, lets not mention Chavez. Let focus on Zelaya government instead. Why dont we talk about he approved the contruction of the airport more than a year ago and they never even started the project. Everything was a big charade to gain relevance and divert the attention to the many problems of our country. You mentioned poverty on your earlier post but I want to remind you that Zelaya was our president for over three years now. In that time there was a significant increase in crime, unemployement and poverty.
Why was Honduras the only country in Central America that didnt have a plan against the world financial crisis? You know why because he didnt cared for that all he cared about was getting reelected and using our money to purchase harleys, ferraris, ranches,etc. Why dont we talk about how he ordered all the government staff to leave their jobs and go to the country side to promote his constitutional project. Or the fact that before people couldnt even go to a hospital and get aid if they didnt support his reelection project. So dont talk of Zelaya as if he is a saint and the savior of Honduras.
It is apparent to me that the writer of this article knows little about what is happening in Honduras. Honduras is just fine as it is -without Zelaya. Zelaya is just where he needs to be - out of Honduras. The current government will do just fine and will hold elections as publicized. I'm almost amuzed as to how those not Honduran proclaim thier "expert" knowledge of the politics of Honduras. The only threat to Honduras is the abandonment by the world and its hipocracy when it comes to interpreting what Democracy means as if there is a perfect cookie cutter approach to its definition. Would you call Chaves' government a democracy? well, it was elected... right? but is it a democracy? so you see, Honduras is just fine. Those that keep protesting have shown that in Honduras they still have a right to demonstrate all they want but without creating insecurity for others... in other words no burning of fast food places, no burning of tires in roads (bad for the environment and people's health), no disruption of commercial flow (bad for all). The "attrocities and human rights abuses" is by far the most laughable.
" Honduras is just fine as it is .. "
Is Honduras just fine for the 70% of its population living at or below the poverty line ? Or is it just fine for the wealthy business community which screamed bloody murder when Zelaya campaigned for and won a 60% increase in the minimum wage for that country's workers. Or is it just fine for the wealthy business community who are largely ignoring the law and refusing to pay the new minimum wage six long months after legislation was passed??
I'll bet things are fine as they are for a certain Canadian mining interest (Goldcorp) which had been given notice by Zelaya that he intended to place a moratorium on giving out any more mining concessions for exploration or exploitation, and that he was going to push for complete mining law reform.
I'll bet things are fine as they are for the Honduran military and the sizable American military force in your country which had all been given notice by Zelaya that Palmerola Airfield (built with US funds during the Contra War and one of the largest and longest in Central America) would be converted to the new civilian international airport with the construction of a new terminal. The new airport, of course, would have replaced the notoriously dangerous and outdated existing international airport,Toncontin.
Of course Chavez's government is a democracy. Hugo Chavez won the 1998 election with the largest margin of victory in Venezuela's previous 4 DECADES of elections. He won again in 2000 with 60% of the vote (the 2nd place had 39%). In 2006, he won again with 62.8% of the vote, an even larger margin. In 2004, he beat the recall referendum with 58% of the vote.
Each of these elections have been certified as fair and democratic by 3 or 4 separate international observer groups.
That's what is called an overwhelming mandate. In contrast, George Bush won the presidency in 2000 with a -0.5% margin of the vote. In 2004, George Bush won by a margin of 2.4% of the vote.
Furthermore, Hugo Chavez's political program is one of participatory democracy. For instance, neighborhood asambleas have complete autonomy and receive a budget from the federal government with jurisdiction over deciding what to do with that money to improve their own neighborhoods. That's just one example of Chavez's radical participatory democracy.
You can try to call Chavez a dictator but every real world fact in the world stands against you.
"President Mel Zelaya of Honduras was overthrown by the military on June 28. "
Keep repeating this lie, and people will start believing it.
The military does not rule now, they were ordered to remove Mel, the government wasn't cleansed of Mel's supporters because most of his supporters/own party voted to remove him, opposition activists have not been killed by the military (who have shown incredible restraint), some media outlets were closed for ONE day, and the Honduran Legislature and Supreme Court is indeed a legitimate government, not illegitimate as you claim.
I never read so many outward lies and distortions in an article than THIS!
" .. opposition activists have not been killed by the military ..."
Tell that to the families of the following Hondurans who have been murdered by the military :
MURILLO MENCIAS
GABRIEL FINA NORIEGA
RAMON GARCIA
ROGER IVAN BADOS
VICKY HERNANDEZ CASTILLO
Disappeared :
ANASTASIO BARRERA
MANUEL SEVILLA
Five guys? You're joking, right? Five guys killed rioting, and it's automatically the military's fault and that's comsidered a massacre?
Did all of the soldiers fire bullets into them? Five different soldiers, one for each one? Or just one soldier who killed all five?
You're trying to make political capital out of something that just ain't there. The Honduran military has acted with incredible restraint, the general command even said they would accept Mel's return if that was agreed to, and you're trying to turn THEM into the villains?
My God, there's no end to the depths some leftists will sink in support of their cause.
You forgot to include this young man, who was tortured to death and his mangled body left near a protest site as a warning to others:
http://www
Here is an extensive human rights report on the situation in Honduras.
http://www
This article is right on. Obama insulted everybody the other day when he said that Latin Americans are hypocrites for saying "yankee go home" (like, when the US is supporting contra terrorists who rape and kill nuns) but simultaneously expect the US to be a responsible regional partner that supports democracy.
And now, NarcoNews has broken the story that not only is Clinton's campaign man, Lanny Davis, representing the brutal military coup in Honduras, but Hillary Clinton is defying her own State Department policy by funding the coup regime through the Millennium Challenge Corporation (of which she is a Chair). Who is the hypocrite now, Obama? Your administration says one thing and secretly you are feeding millions of dollars to an illegal regime that is shooting peaceful protesters in the streets, dumping tortured bodies at protest sites as a warning and behaving like Ronald Reagan is back in office.
Obama, you've gone back on a lot of promises already. But this is the biggest blunder yet.
As any serious student of history knows, there is a real danger in encouraging foreign folks to pick their own governments. Pretty soon after that they get all sorts of independent ideas about their economy and foreign policy.
It is episodes like this that really test Obamas foreign policy. The US govts attitude to South America has been so cynical for so long. The first coup in the CIA traditional style (not saying they provoked it, or am I nieve) should have been the administrations time to shine. Instead ones left wondering how much power does an administration have over corporate interests and the agencies that protect them. Will the US continue to export democracy when it's in their interests and crush it/ stay silent when it's not.
Obama's got a lot on his plate right now, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. Hillary Clinton though, after a democracy preaching tour of Africa sounds hypocritical.
Three words from President Obama to his Secretary of State, H. Clinton, would put an end to this coup d'etat : Make it happen.
It would be that easy. Instead, Lenny Davis appears to be calling the shots on what will likely be the first sanctioned coup of the Obama Administration. That's absofrackinlootly not the change I voted for.
I have been a long time Democrat and it wasn't until this situation happened in Honduras that I realized that the the Republicans and the Democrats are one and the same. Here we have a coward president Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton allowing dictatorship that would not last a week with out the support of the U.S. On the other hand maybe they are doing it on purpose, because this event is only fueling the flames of the people of Latin America to go even further to the Left, because they are seeing that the U.S. only gives them lip service about democracy and when it comes down to it they don't really support it!!!
I am a Honduran. I want to denounce at least three lies that were written on this and other articles.
I totally deny that there is currently a dictatorship in Honduras. Wikipedia entry on "dictatorship": http://en.
"Human rights violations and atrocities" are another blatant lie, that only intends to put a negative image on our new government. I challenge the author to provide 1 credible source for this.
Michelleti did not close any radio or TV stations. All stations remain open and the two radio stations and one TV stations that are pro-Zelaya do nothing but accuse the new govt. and spread lies and leftist propaganda, and the new govt. respects their freedom of expression.
I voted for Zelaya on 2005. I participated in his democratic election, but I feel he stabbed us in the back, because what he was trying to do was not what he promised on his campaign. Like me, 70% of Hondurans are happy that Zelaya is no longer here. Some of us may disagree with the way he was taken out, and some of us may not like Micheletti much. But we rather have Micheletti as care taker for 6 months, than having Zelaya and Chavez for our life time. Viva Honduras!
You should have read that wiki entry.
dictatorship is a form of government that has the power to govern without consent of those being governed, while totalitarianism describes a state that regulates nearly every aspect of public and private behavior of the people. In other words, dictatorship concerns the source of the governing power (where the power comes from) and totalitarianism concerns the scope of the governing power (what is the government). In this sense, dictatorship (government without people's consent) is a contrast to democracy (government whose power comes from people) and totalitarianism (government controls every aspect of people's life) opposes pluralism (government allows multiple lifestyles and opinions). Though the definitions of the terms differ, they are related in reality as most of the dictatorship states tend to show totalitarian characteristics. When governments' power does not come from the people, their power is not limited and tend to expand their scope of power to control every aspect of people's life.
Micheleti has the consent of 70% of Hondurans to be care taker for the next few months, until a new president is takes office, January 27th, 2010.
And by the way, that definition applies very well for what currently Chavez is implementing in Venezuela, and what Zelaya was trying to do here, but thankfully, he was expelled before he did so.
"In contemporary usage, dictatorship refers to an autocratic form of absolute rule by leadership unrestricted by law, constitutions, or other social and political factors within the state."
Honduras has laws and has a constitution (which Zelaya wanted to to away with) that are respected by the current government, and numerous social and civic organizations, and 4 out of 5 political parties support it.
So I really don't see how dictatorship applies to current Honduras.
As you quote wiki as a credible source, here is the entry on human rights violation and atrocities:
http://en.
Wikipedia is a credible source for definitions and history for older events. Not so much for current events, where there usually are several versions of the "truth".
Again, from your source, wiki, on media, here: http://en.
Reuters on 29 June 2009, describing the situation in Honduras as a "media blackout," reported that the military had shut down several TV stations, radio stations, and newspaper's websites. Among the TV stations closed were CNN en espanol; Telesur (a cooperative sponsored by several Latin American governments including Venezuela); and "a pro-Zelaya channel." Reuters said that "the few television and radio stations still operating on Monday [the 29th] played tropical music or aired soap operas and cooking shows," and "made little reference to the demonstrations or international condemnation of the coup. . . ." A government health worker interviewd by Reuters said that the anti-Zelaya newspapers El Heraldo and La Tribuna, and "some television channels controlled by the opposition" were the only ones still broadcasting on the morning of the 29th.[113]
I do agree that there was a media veil on Sunday, June 28th and partially on Monday, June 29th, when the situation was very confusing. I can tell because I lived it. Cable companies where blocking some international news channels like Chavez's Telesur and CNN en Español (which was re-broadcasting coverage from Telesur), and some radio stations were not broadcasting at all. Local TV was not mentioning anything about it, instead showing normal programming, and I firmly think that was on military orders. Although I do not condone it, I think it was done in order to not spread panic in the population.
By June 30th, the situation was restored to normality in terms of media coverage. The two Pro-Mel stations that were not broadcasting started broadcasting that day. Some cable companies independently decided to no longer include Telesur on their programming because they confirmed that channel was only a Chavez propaganda outlet.
Again, I do not agree with the way some events happened, but I am happy of the outcome. It really hurts me when someone from outside says we are in a dictatorship, when I, that live, work and sleep here don't feel like we are in one. The new govt. has done more in the last two months than Zelaya did in his entire last year.
One source huh?
http://www
That was easy. I take it you do read spanish.
Link is not opening. And I said one CREDIBLE source.
" Human rights violations and atrocities are another blatant lie. "
The following is from the International Observation mission, published on August 6, 2009. This Mission is composed of 15 INDEPENDENT professionals; legal experts, journalists, anthropologists, political scientists, sociologists, and human rights experts from 13 countries.
" The fundamental rights violations reported to the Mission included a significant number of extrajudicial executions, hundreds of arbitrary detentions, multiple threats, curtailment of freedom of expression and information, as well as undue restrictions on the freedom of movement, altogether signaling a clear context of political persecution that especially affects political and union leaders, human rights defenders, social activists, journalists, foreign citizens, and others. "
" ... several distinct sources confirmed by the Mission have reported the following individual deaths : Isis Obed Murillo Mencias, Gabriel Fino Noriega, Ramon Garcia, Roger Ivan Bados, Vicky Hernandez Castillo ... "
" From the Center for Investigation and Promotion of Human Rights(CIPRODEH), the Mission has received related reports of forced disappearances of : Anastasio Barrera and Manuel Sevilla. "
It's increasingly difficult to tell Barack Obama from George W. Bush.
It turns out that our "democracy" doesn't really offer change at all. It offers minor variations of a corporate regime that continues to dominate the world as it has for decades. The Honduras debacle reminds me of the Guatemala coup in the early 1950s that made Central America safe for a large American banana company.
Why do we Americans even bother to vote? After the Obama bait-and-switch, a lot of us won't anymore.
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