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<a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/quigley06282010.html" eudora="autourl">
http://www.counterpunch.org/quigley06282010.html<br><br>
</a></font><font size=2 color="#990000">June 28, 2010<br><br>
</font><h1><font size=4><b>The Coup Year One <br><br>
<br>
</i></font><font size=5 color="#990000">Honduras, After Democracy
</b></font></h1><font size=4>By BILL QUIGLEY <br><br>
</font><font size=3>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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
The media has ignored the revival of US hard power in the Americas and
the widespread resistance which challenges it. <br><br>
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. <br><br>
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. <br><br>
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. <br><br>
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. <br><br>
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. <br><br>
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.
<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.
<br><br>
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. <br><br>
As it stands now the coup government of Honduras’ biggest ally is the
United States. <br><br>
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. <br><br>
Once again the US is on the wrong side in Latin America. <br><br>
Once again, the US government is undermining democracy and actively
supporting a government that is murdering its own people. <br><br>
Once again, the US has sided with anti-democracy forces and is trying to
bully the world into rubber-stamp approval of our mistakes.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
For more information about the Honduran resistance, please see their
website (and click on the “English” tab):
<a href="http://www.resistenciahonduras.net">
http://www.resistenciahonduras.net</a>/<br><br>
<b>Bill Quigley</b> is legal director of the Center for Constitutional
Rights and a law professor at Loyola University New Orleans. His
email is
<a href="mailto:quigley77@gmail.com">quigley77@gmail.com</a>
<br><br>
<br><br>
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