[Marxism] interesting... Council on Hemispheric Affairs Press Release

[nchamah miller]

 Clarification of COHA’s Position on President Zelaya and What Went on
in Honduras



On Friday, June 26, COHA issued a statement regarding recent events in
Honduras. As a result of this communiqué, the organization has
received a heavy volume of mail on the subject, most of it intensely
critical. The article was drafted by Brian Thompson, an extremely
bright young Honduran national and an ardent opponent of President
Zelaya. Brian was under significant pressure within his community to
steer his piece in a direction that would censor Zelaya’s
“irresponsible actions,” which had been not a few in number. The only
problem was that Brian’s “take” on what was happening in Honduras
substantially differed from that of COHA. The result was that in a
crowded office of some 30 researchers, the Honduran piece was released
without sufficient oversight, and carried an analysis that was much
different from that of COHA’s.

President Zelaya is the constitutional president of Honduras, but his
conduct has been not always wise and had done damage to his standing
in a very hostile political environment. Over the years, COHA has been
very involved in Honduras’s affairs, dating back to the banana wars of
several decades ago, as well as the development of the country as
Washington’s “Unsinkable Aircraft Carrier” during the years of the
contra war and the operations of the U.S.- tolerated Honduran death
squad Battalion 316.

As of now, many of Zelaya’s leading foes, including the leaders now
serving in the rump government ruling Honduras, are unworthy and
self-serving politicians who demonstrably are not being driven by
democratic principles. It is true that COHA has been somewhat
suspicious of President Zelayas’s motivation for his adhesion to ALBA,
which we looked upon with approval as an act that pluralized the
political landscape and vitalized the Honduran polity in a way unseen
in the Central American nation since the admirable presidency of Ramón
Villeda Morales, a half century ago. But alas it has been plain to see
that Zelaya was more a local caudillo than a far-seeing regional
leader.

Overthrow in Honduras
On June 25, Hondurans awoke in a state of anxiety and uncertainty. The
previous night, President Manuel Zelaya announced the ouster of
General Romeo Vasquez, head of the country’s armed forces, on grounds
of insubordination. General Vasquez had declined Zelaya’s order for
the army to lend logistical support to a referendum on constitutional
reform which was scheduled to take place in the country on June 28. As
a result of this vote, the president hoped to eliminate, as has been
recently done in a number of other Latin American countries, and as is
about to take place in Colombia, the existing one-term limit placed on
Honduran presidents to qualify for office. The referendum had just
been declared illegal by Congress and the Supreme Court, and General
Vasquez said that he would be violating the law by instructing the
military to follow the President’s directives. However, having
previously announced that “orders are meant to be followed, not
analyzed,” Zelaya responded by discharging the general.

In response to General Vasquez’s firing, the nation’s military bases
went into a state of “high alert.” Armored vehicles rolled out onto
the streets and soldiers took up positions at key intersections. Later
that day, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal declared Zelaya’s re-election
game plan null and ordered the seizure of all ballot boxes and
election-related materials. According to Spanish daily El País, the
ballot boxes were being kept at the Tegucigalpa, had been flown in
from Venezuela by the Chavez government, which was closely allied to
Honduras via its trade and solidarity alliance, ALBA. Instead,
investigators from the Ministerio Público, the Honduran attorney
general’s office, arrived to seize the election cartons.

Street politics
At this point, the President decided to strike back and called
hundreds of his supporters to follow him to the airport on a “mission”
to rescue the electoral boxes. Zelaya placed himself at the head of
the march and oversaw the actions of its participants after they
battered in the gates to the base and swelled past riot police, where
they then proceeded to remove the election material from the military
facility.

While some members of the new government, including the ousted General
Vasquez, have called for Hondurans to remain calm, Zelaya moved to
oppose the actions of his foes. By pursuing his referendum, which has
been declared illegal by the Honduran Supreme Court, and unanimously
criticized by Congress, Zelaya challenged the escalating actions of
his political foes, determined to confront what has become an
extremely volatile situation.

The president’s version of events
On June 26, Zelaya announced that Congress was plotting a “technical
coup” to remove him from power through so-called legal maneuverings.
The technical coup Zelaya was referring to was an impeachment vote,
which is allowed under the constitution, but only under very special
circumstances, which did not appear to be met in this instance. This
strategy also could be viewed as an attempt on Zelaya’s part to garner
international support for his position. Several days later, after the
military had forcibly removed Zelaya from power, an emergency meeting
of the General Assembly of the Organization of American States ruled
in Zelaya’s favor, condemning the coup. By presenting his government
as under attack by rightist, anti-constitutional elements intent on
overthrowing his presidency, Zelaya has managed to present himself as
an emblem of democracy and legitimacy.

President Zelaya successfully won democratic plaudits for himself as
the authentic leader of his country. He also has been immensely aided
by the almost completely unanimous support of the UN, the OAS, many of
the EU countries, as well as Washington, all of which have declared
that any extra-constitutional change will not be tolerated in Honduras
or anywhere else.

It can be surmised that some of those who acted against Zelaya are
worthy people who acted out of a sincere belief that Honduras’
democratic principles were at stake. But no matter how
well-intentioned they may have been, the military must realize that
because of the region’s experience with military seizures of power and
subsequent rule in which thousands of innocent civilians were
subjected to an array of human rights atrocities as well as murder by
armed forces, the hemisphere must stand united in upholding the
principle of no extra-constitutional changes of power.
This analysis was prepared by COHA Director Larry Birns
July 1st, 2009
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