Thugs and Caudillos
Nine years have passed since I wrote the last lines of a thesis on the figure of the dictator in Latin American literature. Although my study pointed out the existence, still, of several caudillos who served as magnificent references for writing novels, in the end I thought it was an endangered species. Shortly afterwards, I began to doubt if the tyrants weren't in incubation, to reappear on our American lands. For some time now I have left my doubts behind: the dictators, or those aspiring to be, are here, although now they wear jeans, guayaberas or red shirts.
Nor has that other danger been extinguished: the military that takes the law into their own hands; the uniformed who impose their will by force of arms. We continue to rush into the arms of one or the other because a tradition of personalities and demagogues is not so easily eradicated. Right now in Honduras a whole nation can wrap itself in the prickly coat of the soldiers or be mesmerized by the "triumphal" return -- a la Chavez -- of one who has been deposed by force. In this dilemma, the citizens rarely come out well.
I like neither military coups nor presidents who seek infinite reelection. I have the same distrust of one who comes down from a mountain bearing arms, as I do of one who is elected at the ballot box and administers his country as if it were a hacienda, or as if it were his parents' old plantation. And so I am worried about Honduras. I fear what happened will pave the way for the emergence of another figure invested with full powers. Beware! In the broad range encompassing satraps, the worst combination is when the figure of the caudillo and the armed thug converge in a single person.
Yoani's blog, Generation Y, can be read here in English translation.
Follow Yoani Sanchez on Twitter: www.twitter.com/yoanisanchez
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Article 237 of the Honduran Constitution:
No citizen who has already served as head of the Executive Branch can be President or Vice-President. Whoever violates this law or proposes its reform, as well as those that support such violation directly or indirectly, will immediately cease in their functions and will be unable to hold any public office for a period of 10 years.
The people of Honduras, the majority, are most proud that their government stood by their Constitution and exiled a president who was performing illegal acts. The actual choices for him were arrest/jail, exile, loss of citizenship. They chose to give him a plane ride to Costa Rico who promptly asked him to leave. The parades and peace marches for the new interim government (same party as Zelaya) have been overwhelming and have made me proud to be an American living here for eight years. For this little country with many economic problems to stand up for democracy and freedom has been heartfelt by all of us Americans here. Mel went too far and the Supreme Court and Congress warned him what he was going to do was illegal, especially trying to force his own govt employees to participate in an illegal referendum, and when he ignored their warning they sent him packing. By the way, there have not been bullets flying as has been reported, nor was Mel badly beaten; he looked pretty good in Washington. All of our services are up from phones, cell phones, tv, internet, it is business as usual in the grocery stores and malls. Nothing has been shut down even though it was so reported.
Zelaya tried to return to Tegus today but his Venezuelan plane was not allowed landing. The AP just issued a news article with photos, 11 minutes ago.
And I keep saying, Ms. Sanchez, feel lucky that you don't have Sarah Palin!
Free and fair elections are central to the exercise of democracy, but alone are not enough. The Inter-American Democratic Charter cites a number of “essential elements” of representative democracy, including respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms; the exercise of power in accordance with the rule of law; the pluralistic system of political parties; and the separation of powers and independence of the branches of government.
Mel Zelaya, was elected democratically, but that alone was not enough to guarantee democracy in Honduras. His government had to comply with the other “essentials elements” of democracy. Zelaya did not respect at all the separation of powers and the independence of the branches of government. He did not govern in accordance with the rule of law and openly threatened the democratic guarantees.
bad moral logic : you would give moral equivalence to a president elected by the citizenry (regardless of how many times they choose to elect him) , & unelected generals who usurp the will of the people.
I suppose the rest of the world has forgotten that freedom needs to be protected by any means and that doing so is legitimate. I wonder if any of the so called critics have taken the trouble of reading the Honduran constitution.
Sandokan1: I have because I live here in Honduras. Many people just don't want to believe that Honduras acted appropriately; for some reason they are bent on spinning this entire thing and even go so far as to call it a military coup. They don't know what a military coup is for if they did, they'd realize there wasn't one. In many countries south of America the government uses the military as law enforcement. They don't understand laws outside of their land. And then we have an American administration who does not know the difference either. They wouldn't condemn Iran for two weeks but throw Honduras under the bus. That was a bad, bad choice. You and I get it, and many news agencies are starting to since they are now digging deep into the Honduran Constitution.
A sound, reasoned and most importantly balanced perspective. Thank you.
I like you distrust state power in general, military juntas or willy politicians in particular.
Interesting insight from this Cuban writer. Her blog comments on day to day life under Castro serve as an counterpoint to the Cuba that is portrayed in "Sicko". Sounds though that people everywhere are trying to throw off unreasonable curtailments of their personal liberty. I wonder how the people of Honduras are reacting?
From all of the parades and peace marches, I'd say the Honduran people are a pretty happy bunch right now. I attended one two days ago, only a couple thousand of us, but seeing Hondurans wrapped in their flag and signs in Spanish reading: The Little Country That Could, and Viva Democracy, brought me to tears, tears of happiness for them. With the economic troubles Honduras has, the people's spirit was something everyone should see. People in America should be applauding this little country and not tell untruths about bullets and killings; never happened.
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