[R-G] Canada and Honduras

[Sid Shniad]

http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/bullet234.html 




The Bullet • Socialist Project • E-Bulletin No. 234 • July 7, 2009 



Canada and Honduras 



By Yves Engler, yvesengler at hotmail.com 



Hostility to the military coup in Honduras is increasing. So is the Harper government's isolation on the issue. 



At Saturday's special meeting of the Organization of American States (OAS) Canada's minister for the Americas, Peter Kent, recommended that ousted President Manuel Zelaya delay his planned return to the country. Kent said the “time is not right” prompting Zelaya to respond dryly: “I could delay until January 27 [2010]” when his term ends. Kent added that it was important to take into account the context in which the military overthrew Zelaya, particularly whether he had violated the Constitution. 



Along with three Latin American heads of states, Zelaya tried to return to Honduras on Sunday. But the military blocked his plane from landing and kept a 100,000 plus supporters at bay. In doing so the military killed two protesters and wounded at least 30. On CTV Kent blamed Zelaya for the violence. 



This was Kent's most recent attack against Zelaya. In June Kent criticized Zelaya's plan for a non-binding public poll on whether to hold consultations to reopen the constitution. "We have concerns with the government of Honduras," he said a couple of weeks ago. "There are elections coming up this year and we are watching very carefully the behaviour of the government and what seems to be an attempt to amend the constitution to allow consecutive presidencies." 



With political tensions increasing in Honduras, two days before the coup the OAS passed a resolution supporting democracy and the rule of law in that country. Ottawa's representative to the OAS remained silent on the issue. 



Foreign Affairs took a similar position in the hours after Zelaya was kidnapped by the military. Eight hours after Zelaya's ouster last Sunday morning a Foreign Affairs spokesperson told Notimex that Canada had "no comment" regarding the coup. It was not until late in the evening, after basically every country in the hemisphere denounced the coup, that Ottawa finally did so. 



Canada , reports Notimex, is the only country in the hemisphere that did not explicitly call for Zelaya's return to power. Unlike the World Bank and others, Ottawa has not announced plans to suspend aid to Honduras, which is the largest recipient of Canadian assistance in Central America. Nor has Ottawa mentioned that it will exclude the Honduran military from its Military Training Assistance Programme. 



Ottawa 's hostility towards Zelaya is likely motivated by particular corporate interests and his support for the social transformation taking place across Latin America.