Coup d'état in Honduras

[Asi-Irish]

Al Jazeera English - Americas - Troops seize Honduran president

[Asi-Irish]

I have no comment on this right now, because I know very little about Honduras. I was having dinner with some Honduran friends last night and they told me about the crisis.. then my neighbour called and told me about the coup.

We pay little heed to Honduras, it seems.

[cactusflower]

Report here from the Green Left site:
Green Left - Honduras: Coup attempt threatens democracy

President Zelaya recently aligned with Cuba and Venezuela. He has been taken by several hundred troops: is residence is being surrounded by artillery and there are military planes overflying it, according an Al Jazeera report


Green Left - Honduras: Coup attempt threatens democracy

An attempted coup has broken out in Honduras in the lead-up to a referendum scheduled for June 28. The referendum is on whether a further vote should be held to decide to re-write the Central American nation’s constitution.


The coup has threatened to bring down elected President Manuel Zelaya, although mass mobilisations of his supporters have filled the streets to defend the elected government.

Under Zelaya, Honduras has joined the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA), which is led by Cuba and Venezuela. This is a trading and political bloc that seeks to create an alternative to US domination and foster regional integration based on solidarity, not competition. ALBA and the Organisation of American States have both backed Zelaya.

Statement of opposition to the coup from the organisation of the indigenous Indian population:

This action is a desperate response by right-wing forces and their allies to frustrate the people’s will to find a democratic path for national transformation. The reactionary right wing has been desperately trying to block steps towards the creation of a constituent assembly to draw up a new constitution.

This drive toward a coup was planned and carried out through collaboration between the fascist National Congress, the lords of the communication media, the ministry of public safety, the country’s strongest businessmen, and the Armed Forces, who have acted in open defiance of government decisions.

We therefore denounce the army for playing a role similar to that of the 1980s, when it was an agency for destabilisation and repression.

This campaign won support from some sectors of the Evangelical and Catholic hierarchy, who have encouraged, justified, and acted as middlemen for the coup-like actions.

We also denounce the interference and involvement of the US government and its ambassador to Honduras. Told in advance of these actions, they quit the country, and called on the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, and other institutions under their influence to do the same.

This clearly shows their complicity with the pro-coup forces.

We call on the ranks of COPINH and the Honduran people as a whole, whether or not they are organised, to mobilise in their communities, villages, or cities, to express their defiance and indignation. We call on them not to be intimidated by the terrorist media campaign unleashed against the people’s desire for a new country with justice and equity.

We call on the international community to speak out decisively against this attack on the Honduran people, and to express its solidarity with the people and support for their human rights.

We call for intensification of the organised struggle to establish a constituent assembly now, at this historic juncture for our homeland.

COPINH recognises Zelaya as the only constitutional president of the republic and rejects any “substitute” imposed by imperialist power.

With the power of our ancestors, we raise our voices for life, justice, dignity, liberty and peace.

Al Jazeera is showing troops threatening photographers and film crews outside the armed forces central command. There are people on the streets outside the Presidential Palace raging angry.

After years of military dictatorship, the Referendum was going to offer a democratised Constitution. Zelaya had moved to the left to favour the poor (75% of the population) and had sacked the head of the army. The Supreme Court had aligned with the army and said the Referendum was illegal and some in his own party were also opposed. Soldiers are going around burning the ballot papers.



It is a re-run of Venezuela - when Chavez was arrested.

******************************g ******************************g ******************************g Obama.

[cactusflower]

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Zelaya had believed the US when they said they wouldn't support a coup:

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LS355357.htm

[cHeal]

It's more complicated than "US Involvement". He was attempting to get a referendum on a change to the constitution which would allow him run a second term. The legislature created laws to prevent this and the Army worked to those laws. The President was recently forced to bring back some fella he had sacked, by the courts but he refused to comply and so we have a coup.

That's what I learnt of the situation a few days ago so It's hard to tell exactly who is right and wrong here.

[lostexpectation]

well that greenleft article makes it all about writing a new constitution rather then about him extending his term which is what we've heard in the media.

i guess it was both,

these guys really need to learn how to find replacements who will continue their work.

[Pauli]

Didn't Bertie go here around six months ago to tell them how they should run their economy? An unlucky country in recent times, it seems.

[Defeated Romanticist]

The man was elected as a Bush baby but ate from the hands of Mr Tayto. Good Riddance I say.

[cactusflower]

well that greenleft article makes it all about writing a new constitution rather hen about him extending his term which is what we've herd in the media.

i guess it was both,

these guys really need to learn how to find replacements who continue their work.

Yes: it was both. I don't think extending his term beyond five years could have been much of an issue. Most Presidencies allow for a ten year term or longer. Our President is serving a second, unelected, term after all. The military dictators like Pinochet have had fairly extended terms.

This is a very good point about succession though. We shouldn't rely on populist demagogues to deliver redistribution of wealth.

[Darth Brooks]

I was having dinner with some Honduran friends last night and they told me about the crisis.. then my neighbour called and told me about the coup.

Classic !

It reminds me of the the time when I was having a couple of Eskimo friends over for lunch in Late March of '89 when the phone rang and it was none other than the captain of the Exxon Valdez with some shocking news.