[News] Honduras, After Democracy - The Coup Year One On

[Anti-Imperialist News]

http://www.counterpunch.org/quigley06282010.html

June 28, 2010


The Coup Year One


Honduras, After Democracy

By BILL QUIGLEY

One year ago, on June 28, 2009, Honduran 
President Manuel Zelaya was awakened by 
gunfire.  A coup was carried out by US-trained 
military officers, including graduates of the 
infamous US Army School of the Americas (WHINSEC) 
in Georgia.  President Zelaya was illegally taken to Costa Rica.

Democracy in Honduras ended as a de facto 
government of the rich and powerful seized 
control.   A sham election backed by the US 
confirmed the leadership of the coup powers.  The 
US and powerful lobbyists continue to roam the 
hemisphere trying to convince other Latin 
American countries to normalize relations with the coup government.

The media has ignored the revival of US hard 
power in the Americas and the widespread resistance which challenges it.

A pro-democracy movement, the Frente Nacional de 
Resistencia Popular (FNRP) formed in the coup’s 
aftermath.  Despite horrendous repression, it has 
organized the anger and passion of a multitude of 
mass-based popular movements -- landless workers, 
farmers, women, LGBTQ folks, unions, youth and 
others-- and spread a palpable energy of 
possibility and hope throughout the country.

These forces of democracy have been subjected to 
police killings, arbitrary detentions, beatings, 
rape and other sexual abuse of women and girls, 
torture and harassment of journalists, judges and 
activists.  Prominent LGBTQ activists, labor 
organizers, campesinos and youth working with the 
resistance have been assassinated.  Leaders have been driven into exile.

Four judges, including the president of Honduran 
Judges for Democracy, were fired in May 2010 for 
criticizing the illegality of the coup. Two of 
them went on a widely-supported hunger strike in 
the nation’s capital.  Judges who participated in 
public demonstrations in favor of the de facto government remain in power.

In 2010 alone, seven journalists have been 
murdered.  Many others have been 
threatened.  Reporters without Borders calls 
Honduras the most dangerous country in the world for journalists.

Why was there a coup?   Honduras was planning to 
hold a June 28 poll on whether or not a 
referendum for forming a constituent assembly to 
rewrite the constitution should be on the 
November ballot.  Many among the poor correctly 
view the current constitution as favoring 
corporations and wealthy landowners.  As a result 
of the constitutional preference for the rich and 
powerful, Honduras has one of the largest wealth 
gaps between the rich and poor in Latin America. 
Washington and the Honduran elite were also 
angered that President Zelaya signed an agreement 
to join the Bolivarian Alternative for the 
Americas (ALBA).  ALBA is a regional trade 
agreement that provides an alternative to the 
free trade agreements such as CAFTA that have 
been pushed by Washington yet opposed by many 
popular movements through the 
Americas.   Zelaya’s proposal to transform Soto 
Cano Air Base, historically important to the US 
military, into a much-needed civilian airport was 
unpopular in Washington as was his lack of 
support for the privatization of the telecommunications industry.

Forces in the US provided critical support for 
the coup.  As members of the resistance have 
explained, coups do not happen in Latin America 
without the support of those with power in the 
US.  Right wing ideologues and shell NGOs based 
out of Washington played a critical role in the 
coup and since.  A leadership vacuum in the Obama 
Administration regarding Honduras has led to 
extreme right-wing ideologues directing US policy 
there. These people are hell bent on stopping the 
growing populist movements throughout Latin 
America from gaining more influence and 
power.  Some, such as Otto Reich and Roger 
Noriega, have moved from positions in the State 
Department and United Nations into private 
lobbying firms or conservative think 
tanks.  Others, such as Robert Carmona-Borjas, 
who was granted asylum in the US after his 
involvement in the attempted coup against Hugo 
Chavez, are working for so-called NGOs that use 
vague missions such as “anti-corruption” to mask 
the foreign policy work they do.

In the past year, the business elite in Honduras 
have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on 
Washington-based lobbying and PR firms to get the 
U.S. Democratic and Republican parties in 
line.  For example, the Asociación Hondureña de 
Maquiladoras (Honduran Association of 
Maquiladoras) hired the Cormac Group to lobby the 
US government regarding “foreign relations” just 
days after the coup.   Close Clinton confidant 
Lanny Davis lobbied for the coup powers in DC.  A 
delegation of Republican Senators travelled to 
Honduras in the fall to support the coup 
government and organized for wider Congressional support upon their return.

Despite initially condemning the coup, the Obama 
Administration has completely shifted its 
position.  It provided critical, life-giving 
approval to the widely denounced elections that 
were boycotted by much of the Honduran 
population.  The military that was killing people 
in the streets was also guarding the ballot 
boxes.  Major candidates such as Carlos H. Reyes, 
now a leader of the resistance, refused to run. 
The Carter Center, the United Nations, and other 
respected election observers refused to observe. 
The FNRP called on people to stay home.

The Organization of American States suspended 
Honduras and has continued to resist efforts of 
Secretary of State Clinton to pressure them into 
readmitting Honduras. However, the US pushed for 
and was able to secure the formation of a 
high-level OAS panel to “study” the re-entry of 
Honduras at its recent meeting in Peru. We may 
well start to see the international community 
beginning to normalize relations with this illegitimate government.

As it stands now the coup government of Honduras’ 
biggest ally is the United States.

A year after the coup, US activists and 
pro-democracy supporters need to increase their 
knowledge about what is going on with our 
neighbors in Honduras and stand in solidarity 
with the resistance.  For democracy to mean 
anything, it has to mean that plans for a 
national referendum to rewrite a Constitution to 
better serve a nation’s people should not be met 
with a US-supported military coup.

Once again the US is on the wrong side in Latin America.

Once again, the US government is undermining 
democracy and actively supporting a government 
that is murdering its own people.

Once again, the US has sided with anti-democracy 
forces and is trying to bully the world into 
rubber-stamp approval of our mistakes.

Moving forward from this unfortunate anniversary, 
one thing is certain - the people’s movement in 
Honduras is only growing.  The resistance has 
gone ahead with organizing for a constituent 
assembly to rewrite the constitution.  Today 
there will be massive demonstrations throughout 
Honduras. We must stand with this dramatic and 
powerful social movement and challenge our own 
government to support the forces of democracy, not destroy them.

CCR will be hosting the NYC premiere of a film 
about the Resistance on July 7, 7pm at Tribeca 
Cinemas in lower Manhattan. It will also premiere in DC and Berkeley.

For more information about the Honduran 
resistance, please see their website (and click 
on the “English” tab): 
<http://www.resistenciahonduras.net>http://www.resistenciahonduras.net/

Bill Quigley is legal director of the Center for 
Constitutional Rights and a law professor at 
Loyola University New Orleans.  His email is 
<mailto:quigley77 at gmail.com>quigley77 at gmail.com




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