Honduras coup: troops deployed to oversee election

[Downwinder]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/27/honduras-election-troops-deployed-zelaya

[Peace Patriot]

1. This article has a rather despicable tone of hopelessness...

For instance, follow this narration to its bummer characterization of the Honduran people...

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Thousands of soldiers have been deployed across Honduras to oversee a controversial election which will cement the overthrow of President Manuel Zelaya.

The de facto government has militarised the capital, Tegucigalpa, and other cities to deter pro-Zelaya protests and ensure that Central America's first coup since the end of the cold war prevails.

The authorities blanketed media with patriotic footage of army manouevres and football matches – Honduras recently qualified for the World Cup – to try to stir passion for what it termed an "electoral fiesta".

They hope the election of a new president – Zelaya, 57, is not on the ballot – will consign the toppled leftist to oblivion and pressure the international community to let the 28 June coup stand.

But apathy and resentment may keep turnout low, throwing into doubt whether the poll will resolve a five-month old crisis that has made Honduras a pariah state.

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"Apathy" and "resentment"? But those are the only qualities that can be seen in a police state, which is described in the next paragraph:

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Security forces have suppressed dissent by beating and arresting hundreds of Zelaya supporters in recent weeks, leaving an edgy calm. A state of emergency has been declared for the vote and 5,000 army reservists mobilised.

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The writer, Rory Carroll, has not scratched the surface. Below that surface are outrage, new political consciousness and determination to see major political reform in Honduras--which we have all been reading reports of, from many sources. The undertone of his description seems to be "you might as well give up." GRANTED, he has the statement of one Resistance member to back this up:

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Zelaya's supporters plan to boycott the election but, exhausted and cowed, cannot stop it. "The vote is a farce, a pantomime, but the coup has won," said Miguel Alonzo Macias, a leader of the "resistance" in Siguatepeque, outside the capital.

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But my suspicion is this: He sought out this quote, to fit a slot in his depressing, hopelessness-inducing article. There are many leaders of the Resistance. Do they all feel this way? Did he do a poll? Of course some people would feel momentarily down and defeated, watching this "state of emergency"-enforced 'election,' and considering the violence that has been perpetrated against the people of Honduras. But what is deeper down, in their inner beings? Why didn't he ask the next question: what will you be doing tomorrow, to bring about reform? And why didn't he consult at least one or two other Resistance leaders?

He makes vague and general reference to the Resistance continuing to seek reform, at the conclusion (the underlined part below), but then veers off in another inaccurate and gloomy direction (bold-faced), perhaps led there by the "Council on Foreign Relations thinktank"...

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Whoever takes over will inherit a mess. The economy is slumping, Latin America has scorned the election's legitimacy and Zelaya supporters, defeated but defiant, are expected to push for a new constitution.

"Under the rock that has been lifted there is a lot of intense anger," said Julia Sweig of the Council on Foreign Relations thinktank. "This is a society that needs major reform."

Allowing the coup to stand sent a worrying signal to a region with fragile democracies and weak institutions, she said. "This sets a terrible precedent for other countries in the region."

But Zelaya's foes are not jubilant. Honduras has paid dearly for turning the clock back to an era of military-led overthrows, curfews and repression.

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Carroll mixes accuracy with inaccuracy. In fact, Latin America has shown extraordinary democratic STRENGTH, not fragility, and its democratic institutions are quite sturdy, considering the relentless assault upon them by the Bushwhacks and now the Obamites. In a region which was for decades run by US-supported heinous, bloody dictatorships, followed by rightwing/"free trade for the rich" governments which exhibited extraordinary malfeasance and corruption, impoverishing millions of people, Latin Americans have managed to get back on their feet, through a decade of hard work on their democratic institutions--notably honest and transparent elections--and have elected strong reformers in Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay, Nicaragua, Guatemala and El Salvador, with Chile's center-left government as an ally on some critically important issues (Latin American sovereignty; political/economic integration; and the "raise all boats" philosophy that is so marked in the leaders of Brazil and Venezuela).

Of these governments, only Argentina's leadership--after a restoring Argentina to solvency, and a strong run of reform--is in any political trouble. Most of these reforming leaders have huge approval ratings. It's true that the latest additions are first-termers, all in Central America, surrounding Honduras. There is some fragility there, because, a) the presidents are new, and b) Central America was a major battleground for the US "dirty war" of the 1980s and the detritus of those horrible, murderous US-installed governments is still around, as has been made clear in the Honduran coup.

But I think Mr. Carroll greatly underestimates the strength of the leftist democracy movement that has swept Latin America over the last decade. The collapse of Barack Obama's stated policy of "peace, respect and cooperation"--that the Honduran coup and the US military buildup in Colombia represent--may be better for this historic democracy movement, in the long run, because it was evidently a lie to begin with, and it's better than everybody know that, sooner rather than later. In fact, US intentions may be very bad, indeed. There is increasing evidence that a war plan is being implemented. And the US may well be intending to extrapolate this evil civil war strategy that we have seen in Honduras, that they have been fostering in Colombia for some time, and that they tried to employ in Bolivia last year, to the entire region.

It is a time for the region to stick together--as Lula da Silva has demonstrated with regard to President Zelaya and other U.S. targets--and finally and firmly declare its independence from the United States.

Carroll has too narrow a focus, in this article. The Honduran people are not alone. The solidarity shown by Brazil has been remarkable. The determination of even a more centrist and US-friendly government like Chile's never to permit US meddling ever again is very, very strong. The US cannot defeat this movement, and it will for sure meet its "Waterloo" if it tries to do so. These are not Iraqis we are talking about, beaten down by Saddam and exhausted by a decade of sanctions. These are Americans and democrats with a small d, who have been working hard on issues of integrated trade, sovereignty, regional independence, social justice and cooperation.

[Zorro]

2. "Finally and firmly declare its independence from the United States?"

In other words, follow the Cuban model?

Yeah, that's a real winning policy.

[Downwinder]

3. Cuba the only place independent of the USA?

If so, better get water wings and a snorkel.

[Peace Patriot]

5. Is France "communist"? Is India? Is South Africa? Is the EU?

There are plenty of models of sovereign independence from the U.S. that are not "communist." And, in assuming that there are not, you reveal what may be a fatal flaw in the U.S. political/economic system, that it has ceased being a democracy and has become a corporatocracy--rule by all-powerful, U.S.-based global corporate predators that are above the law and live forever (like the Roman Catholic Church in the Middle Ages) accumulating so much wealth and power that they cannot be challenged. These new monarchs enforce the religious doctrine of "free trade for the rich" and penury for everyone else--and any economic model that does not enrich them at the expense of most people is "communist."

In fact, the South Americans have formalized USAUR, their "common market," and are organizing themselves on the EU model, which is based on the notion of "strength in numbers" by means of political/economic integration, and includes mostly mixed socialist/capitalist economies. "Strength in numbers" makes it possible for smaller economies to rival big ones through cooperative action, and to fend off potential bully powers (the U.S., China, Russia, the old Soviet Union), and also to insure civil rights, humanitarian principles and social justice within the boundaries of the "common market" (among its members).

An illustration of the latter is the Islamic veiling of women in Turkey, which has been a stumbling block to Turkey's membership in the EU, because it is viewed as oppressive to women--making them second class citizens--and to other religions including other forms of Islam, whose tenets are not privileged by and enforced by the state. The EU has democracy and equal rights at its core. So does UNASUR.

Another principle of common markets is the "raise all boats" philosophy that is so characteristic of these new left leaders in South America, especially Hugo Chavez and Lula da Silva. Both have been acting on "common market" principles for some time, in their help to smaller, weaker countries, to bolster economic health, living conditions and democracy throughout the region. For instance, both Venezuela and Brazil (and also Chile and Argentina) acted swiftly to support Evo Morales' government in Bolivia, when the U.S./Bushwhacks tried to instigate a white separatist civil war to bring down the elected (and very popular) democratic government. In fact, this was UNASUR's very first action, last year--although it was more the economic clout of individual allies of Bolivia (Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina) that forced the white separatists to stand down (and reinforced Morales in his decision to throw the US ambassador out of Bolivia). Brazil and Argentina--Bolivia's main gas customers--made it very clear to the white separatists that they would not recognize or trade with a secessionist state. Brazil and Venezuela then pledged funds to build a new highway across South America that will benefit Bolivia, and Chile granted Bolivia access to the Pacific Ocean (settling a long term dispute) to enhance that benefit.

By concerted action, the countries of South American were able to fend off a major threat to one of their own, and bolster the victim up politically and economically. And there have been a number of examples of this "raise all boats" principle (Venezuela's formation of the ALBA trade group to help its weaker neighbors in the Caribbean/Central America, Venezuela's initial economic aid to Argentina and formation of the Bank of the South, Brazil's aid to Paraguay's new leftist government, Brazil's aid to the President of Honduras) and so on). "Raising all boats" is fundamental to independence from the U.S. and its predatory corporations and war profiteers. This is one major reason that the U.S. has destroyed democracy in Honduras--a member of ALBA. It does not want Honduran independence, but rather Honduran subservience--and it really, really, REALLY does not want our corporate predators to have to contend with regional trade blocks on equal terms.

One of the Honduran junta generals said that, by their coup, they were "preventing communism from Venezuela reaching the United States" (quoted in a report on the coup by the Zelaya government-in-exile). This is the propagandistic bullshit that the U.S. and its corpo-fascist 'news' horns are flinging about, with the purpose of re-enforcing U.S. corporate/military rule over Latin America. And you have just echoed this propaganda--that, to be independent of the U.S. is to be "communist."

Cuba may be both independent of the U.S. and communist, but you do NOT have to be "communist" to be independent of the U.S. In fact, all you have to be is democratic--because most Latin Americans detest and revile what the U.S. has become--a world aggressor, war criminal and war profiteer--and want to be independent of it. They know well enough what the war on Iraq was all about, and what it may mean for them. Lulu said that the newly reconstituted US 4th Fleet in the Caribbean is a threat to Brazil's oil reserves. Chavez has said that the SEVEN new US military bases in Colombia are a threat to Venezuela's oil region. Ecuador (leftist government, big oil reserves, adjacent to Colombia to the south) is so concerned about US military intervention that it threw the US military base out of Ecuador altogether. This was a campaign pledge of its very popular new president, and it is by far the majority view in Ecuador and throughout Latin America. The US is viewed as a threat, and that threat is increasing.

These are the reasons that I said: " It is a time for the region to stick together--as Lula da Silva has demonstrated with regard to President Zelaya and other U.S. targets--and finally and firmly declare its independence from the United States."

They had all been hoping that Obama would be different--that respect and cooperation might be possible. They have found, in rather dramatic fashion, that it's the "same old same old" with the U.S. Our corporate rulers will not abide a level playing field. So, if Latin Americans want to establish their sovereignty and want to accomplish their goals, such as social justice and real democracy (not the Honduran junta kind), they need to make a stand, now, on two things: Honduras and the US military buildup in the region. The U.S. has been chipping away at their unity. They need to reassert it, equally dramatically, as Brazil has been trying to do by sheltering President Zelaya in the Brazilian embassy in Honduras. I don't know what's next. That is for Latin Americans to decide. But I know generally what's needed, if Latin American democracy is to succeed: unity of principle and action, as they showed on Bolivia last year.

[Judi Lynn]

4. News video: Honduras: Elections as coup laundering

Honduras: Elections as coup laundering
Report from Tegucigalpa: Coup regime rides police state repression into elections hoping for clean slate

http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=4535