While English language television in the United States mined the minutiae of Michael Jackson's upcoming funeral, millions watching Spanish, Portuguese and French language media in the rest of the Americas were transfixed by live broadcasts of the Honduran military shooting and killing a 10-year-old boy and other protesters.
From the U.S.-Mexico border to the southern tip of Argentina and Chile, Latin Americans were besotted by television and Internet images of the tens of thousands of Hondurans who risked their lives while staging a peaceful march to the airport where a plane carrying the ousted President of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, and United Nations President Miguel d'Escoto was trying to land.
In the course of Sunday's mass mobilization by Hondurans, many throughout the continent watched the drama of the police stepping out of the way of the marchers when their chief declared that he "holds the military responsible" for any bloodshed. Shortly after blood was, in fact, spilled as at least two people were killed by the military and several others were injured, according to Telesur, which broadcast live from the Tegucigalpa airport.
Public and official outrage in response to the killings and shootings are sure to intensify pressure on the military coup leaders who already face worldwide denunciation and pressure. The Organization of American States (OAS) suspended Honduras' membership Saturday; the European Union and most countries in Latin America with embassies in Honduras have withdrawn their ambassadors; the World Bank and some governments have either suspended or frozen loans to Honduras.
But the military coup leaders are still recipients of U.S. economic and military aid.
As a result, the whole Latin American world is watching Honduras and President Obama, who still has not heeded calls to suspend U.S. military aid to Honduras. In fact, Latin America may well be where the decline and fall of Obama's global rock star status begins.
The Obama Administration has chosen to respond to the crisis in a manner that will signify little to millions watching the bloodshed taking place in Honduras. While nobody in the hemisphere wants the return of the actions of the Bush era, many already believe that the Obama Administration's inactions mean that the "new" or fundamental "change" Obama promised during his also widely-viewed Summit of the Americas speech last April adds up to little more than this: more militarismo, but with a smile.
For example, rather than officially declare and denounce the Honduras putsch as a "coup", which would, among other things, trigger a cutoff of military and other aid, the Obama Administration has instead chosen the symbolic act of suspending joint military operations.
In a region where U.S. military aid, U.S. military training and U.S. political support for dictatorships responsible for killing, torturing and disappearing millions are at the heart of why Obama needed urgently to signal a "new" U.S. policy, Obama's continued "Si Se Puede" (Yes We Can) to continued military aid for such human rights violation-plagued governments as those of Colombia, Mexico and Honduras will only tarnish his and the U.S.'s image in the region.
The President's inability or unwillingness to call for an immediate suspension of U.S. military aid is already raising questions about the motives and role of Obama Administration operatives like Hugo Llorens, the current U.S. Ambassador to Honduras.
From 2002-2003 -- the year many in Latin America condemned the attempted military coup in Venezuela -- Llorens was the Director of Andean Affairs at the National Security Council (NSC).
Llorens was charged with advising then President Bush and his National Security Advisor on issues pertaining to Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, and Ecuador. Although Llorens and the Obama Administration do not recognize the current government, they did, apparently, know that the coup in Honduras was going to take place.
That the Obama Administration knew of the coup and did not cut off aid immediately after it took place, makes its claims that it tried to "stop" the coup seem naive, at best.
That the Administration may not cut off aid even after coup-appointed Honduran Foreign Minister Enrique Ortez described President Obama as "ese negrito que no sabe nada de nada" (that little black boy who knows nothing about nothing) is to add political insult to tragic injury before a hemispheric audience; That Obama may not cut off military aid even after Sunday's increased bloodshed adds even graver injury to that insult.
And in Latin America, a region where the word "Honduras" now means "defend democracy", a region where many know that Democrat-led U.S. regimes have propped up military dictatorships, assassinated leaders and covertly destabilized left-leaning governments with the same zeal and effectiveness as Republican regimes, President Obama and the United States, no longer have the luxury of being on the wrong side of history made on the streets. This hemispheric sensibility was articulated forcefully by Argentinian President Cristina Fernandez, who traveled with the Presidents of Ecuador and Paraguay to El Salvador on Sunday in order support Zelaya. During their late night press conference, Fernandez seemed to speak to and for millions when she stated, "We're not just defending Honduras. We're defending ourselves." The question President Obama must answer as unequivocally and rapidly as possible is, "Who are Latin Americans defending themselves from?"
For more on the Honduran coup and other issues, visit www.ofamerica.wordpress.com.
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In what way is this apparent?
Those who lived through the dirty war of the 1980's in Central
America will feel the blood freezing in their veins to hear the news
that the "ministerial advisor" to the coup president is named Billy
Joya Amendola.
Examining the "work history" of Joya Amendola is indispensable to
understanding the political culture of the coup junta led by Roberto
Micheletti.
During the 1980's Billy Joya Amendola was one of the principal
leaders of Military Intelligence Battalion 3-36, in charge of the
kidnapping and disappearance of opposition politicians, and founder
of the death squads "Lince" and "Cobra". While in charge of this
task he became one of the principal figures involved in kidnappings,
tortures, and assassinations in Honduras, and he was accused
of participating personally in at least eleven
executions under the pseudonym of "Doctor Arranzol". Also, he was
accused of the kidnapping and torture of six students, four of whom
were later disappeared.
There is evidence that he worked in
Argentina under the orders of one of the principal oppressors there,
Guillermo Suarez Mason, known among other things for being the
principal organizer of the kidnapping of children during the last
dictatorship.
Today he is the right hand man of Roberto Micheletti.
(Any errors in translation are mine. Greg McDonald)
Remember he said “there’s no red State, there’s no blue State, but there’s only The United States of America”. We knew he was going to govern from the center. That doesn’t mean he discards your ideas, but rather, they are going to play a part in his decision making, along with others, as opposed to Bush and his ilk.
The most important piece of legislation that will be considered this year will the Healthcare Bill. We have known for a while that Universal Coverage is in the best interest of the country, but look at how the Republicans are painting him: leftist, communist, fascist, “we’re on the way to a government controlled, rationed system”.
If he was actually any of those things he wouldn’t be able to advance the issue.
And btw, if we in the US are so enlightened as we think we are, we should stop calling for the very military intervention that we are decrying. The situation in Honduras should be left for us in Honduras to solve, not Venezuela or the US.
The attorney general tells the president that the “only” body that can authorize the referendum is the congress, and anybody involved in the campaign would be violating the law and would be prosecuted; the National Elections Committee echoes the AG words, but he presses ahead anyway and orders the head of the Armed Forces distribute the ballots throughout the country, when he refuses, he fires him. What do you do now (impeachment is NOT an option under the constitution). The Congress re-instates the head of the armed forces and, well, you know the rest of the story.
What people around Honduras have been saying for the last couple of years:
“The only thing that changed during MEL’s administration is the time”.
During his campaign MEL’s slogan was “Necesitamos a Mel Zelaya” (We need Mel Zelaya), in the last six months people were saying something that rimes with the former but has a different meaning: “Nesecitamos Mel se vaya” (We need Mel to go)
Well, Chaves introduces the Pres to his godfather Fidel Castro they try to figure out a way to win the people, how about mandating a 60 % minimum wage increase, that ought to do it, done. Why don’t you join us to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the triumph of the Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua with our pal Daniel Ortega? “I’d love to”. Now people are beginning to ask themselves “where is this going?”. And then when he is talking about a referendum to ask the people if we should convene a constitutional convention to re-write the constitution next November, people are asking themselves again, “what’s going on?”, “where is he going with this?” “what about doing something to better the country first, instead of spending money we don’t have on this referendum?”
And when the team of laywers from Spain that wrote the constitution for Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia giving the incumbent president the right to be re-elected for perpetuity show up in Tegucigalpa as Mel’s guests, then you begin to get really scared.
The problem that I see is that here in the US no one, including Mr. Lovato is giving us the full picture of what has and is happening in Honduras. President Obama is being cautious because he “knows” more than we do. The supposed coup plotters did not consult with the US, but the American Embassy in Tegucigalpa knew what preceded these events, heck, everyone in Honduras knew (I knew, I left Honduras the day before he was removed from office), they tried to diffuse the situation but they could not persuade the authorities, or they were convinced that it was the only course of action. The list of sins that “Mel” Zelaya has committed is long and this last move was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Assume for a moment that the US is a poor country like Honduras and up to its neck in debt, the president is ostracized by his own party and he is wowed by Hugo Chavez with the promise of cheap oil with which you can “pacify” the population, and by the way, why don’t you join ALBA (The Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas) so you can have a people’s revolution in Honduras like we’ve had in Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia. The president says yes, but doesn’t bother asking the people whether they like the idea or not.
Hey, maybe some day as many people will take to the streets to demand an end to our wars in Central And South Asia and our support for right-wing thugs in Latin America as take to the streets to mourn the death of a pop star!
Let's see some real change. Suspend all aid to Honduras until Zelaya is returned!
However, I definitely agree with the implication in this column that the US press has been far too distracted from serious news. We searched hard for more news re Honduras, and could find international news only occasionally [Iran, Honduras, upcoming Russia etc trip], and only on the international version of CNN, carried on channel 851 for those readers who are Time-Warner cable subscribers in NYC.
The majority of Honduran people including those from Zelaya's party, support the removal of Zelaya whose term was to end in January 2010. The ballots for Zelaya's referendum to change the constitution were printed and sent in from Chavez in Venezuela. What does that tell you? Let the OAS take the lead in resolving this situation peacefully so that Honduran's can have their democratic elections this fall (as already scheduled).
I strongly disagree with Mr. Lavoto's article and his presentation of the situation.
The left wing wants him to get all bluster and demand the evil military stand down, suspend aid, heck maybe even invade. of course, they didn't mind a cautious approach in Iran. Yet it was the right one; you didn't want to encourage people to go out and get shot by the Iranian military when you couldn't help them.
the right wing wanted all bluster and bang-bang in Iran, but now in Honduras, the coup's OK. It's the same tendency that led Reagan and Pappy Bush to support Saddam before they didn't support Saddam. They prefer military rule to messy democracy, as long as the dictators play ball.
Obama realizes it ain't about us. we shouldn't impose our will and can't even try when Bush left us losing two wars.
His supporters seem pretty quick to abandon him every time he avoids a knee-jerk reaction, though.
If Obama and his administration are true to their election p.r. they will condemn this as a coup. I didn't vote for Bush lite.
I suppose he could invade without the approval of congress or consent from the UN -- which I guess would be Bush-heavy.
Obama was elected with the idea of certain possibilities. We can change our relations with the world. We can change our internal dialogue. We can no longer dictate. We can state powerful views that make sense. Perhaps they could be powerful because they do make sense. Obama has an opportunity. He's squandering that opportunity. (Domestically, also.) Perhaps he doesn't want it. Perhaps forces more powerful constrain him.