Second Coup Fails, as Lonely Oligarch Plots Third Honduran Coup of 2009

With nobody outside of golpistas -- and not all of them -- taking the upcoming fake elections seriously, the golpistas are in a world of hurt.  And they still haven't silenced the resistance radio, which was well prepared for the coup.  If not for their preparations, which enabled them to resume broadcasts (even if only online) within hours of the golpista seizure of Globo, the coup plotters would right now have had nearly three whole days of media silence working in their favor -- media silence that would have allowed them to commit atrocities without limit.

The Michelletti decree is being used to silence media, and to make a right wing candidate look like a hero for defending the Constitution.  This seems part of the fourth coup--the farce election to install a right wing oligarch in the Presidency.

The decree can sway the electorate and paint a false impression about a conservative candidate seemingly opposing it.

Jim - I've certainly thought the same thing at times. But said right-wing candidate, Pepe Lobo, is screwed, too, now by the decree, because it makes it impossible for elections as soon as November 29 to become legitimized. And he hasn't exactly been so coherent and forceful on the matter that he is winning over converts: he's already the front-runner mainly because the Liberal Party candidate Elvin Santos is seen as a traitor by the half of his party that is anti-coup.

A lot of politicians are what I call "pretty boys," they have a certain "look." Pepe's so ugly - to borrow a phrase from Jim Hightower - he has an elbow wrinkle for a face. Which means that to succeed at politics he has to rely on his wits and not his looks. He's smarter than his leading rival, the pretty boy Elvin Santos, that's for sure (who while not technically a "right winger" is still a right winger, functionally). But that Lobo, alone among the four horsemen of official parties, was smart enough to figure out that the decree was a non-starter and say so aloud is an indication of where the smart money is starting to lay down its bets.

I think that everything coming out right now about this plan idea, that plan idea, etc is a bunch of talk -- the real news here is this:

1) Zelaya's return has put the coup regime between a rock (allowing protests to grow and risking an insurrection) and a hard place (cracking down so hard that the protests are mildly stifled but so is any semblance of democracy or conditions for an election). What we are witnessing is the coup regime squirming between this rock and the hard place. We all knew this was coming and that's why we were all so happy to see Zelaya return to Tegucigalpa!

2) Keep in mind that the coup regime is far from unified; it never has been. Before, it had the advantage of being unified behind one goal -- hold out until the elections. But with Zelaya back, now they have something else to make a decision about and this decision requires them to act with unity. Already, they've shown that they all have different ideas and interests in dealing with Zelaya's return and they are publicly displaying these diverging interests. The coup involves numerous business people and politicians who are at odds with each during normal conditions in Honduras. At some point, with enough pressure, we will begin to see the coup plotters' individual plans to come out on top FOR THEMSELVES. And every coup plotter knows that every other coup plotter is thinking like this.

3) The benefit of internal pressure, combined with international  pressure, is to aggravate the conditions in my #2 above. Zelaya has already said that he sees it as good news that business people have floated the above plan -- even if it is absurd and no way in hell should Colombian, Panamanian and Canadian (especially the current Canadian government). And, it *is* good in that it is the most public demonstration so far of confusion and dis-unity amongst the coup regime.

4) Now is the time to really apply pressure to the coup regime. In San Francisco, yesterday, over 100 people rallied in front of the Honduran Consulate, passing out flyers for balasc.org & encouraging people to pressure Washington DC. Over 1,500 of our flyers were given away to people from around the country (the Honduran Consulate is next to a famous tourist attraction). The local NBC channel covered it and so did Channel 14, one of the Spanish-speaking channels here. SFPD also sent 4 squad cars and an undercover unit -- according to one officer, their intelligence was that the demonstration could have been much bigger. BALASC will be holding another demonstration this Friday, in collaboration with the San Francisco Venezuelan Consulate.

I would suggest the following strategy:

1) Target specific sectors of the coup. Feel out the vulnerabilities of each one. Throw some attention their way and make them feel like they stand to lose personally for supporting the coup at this point. Find out more about them and contact them directly -- they have telephones and offices.

2) Don't let up on Micheletti and the official coup regime, in general. They are the ones who will facing down exile some where soon.

3) balasc.org is in constant contact with the Honduran Resistance Front and will be discussing the best way to provide international solidarity, from their point of view. We are also working hard to provide a way to send material assistance to them. I know our website looks disorganized now but we are acting quickly. Keep checking in with us. BALASC is a large coalition of Latin American solidarity groups, with 30+ people at each meeting, our meetings are held in Spanish and, right now, we are all working on solidarity with the social movements in Honduras.

4) Keep pressuring the US government. Show them that we care about the implications this has for the future of the Americas.

5) Keep spreading news about the criminal coup regime in Honduras and the criminal acts they are taking -- you can post it on Facebook, Myspace, on discussion boards, you can make your own flyers and hang them up around town and you can be creative and come up with your own ideas! Do something spectacular that makes the news and sends a message of solidarity!

Now is the time to make history in the Americas! We can do it! If you want to help in any way, you can email me -- it is ryan dot vaquero and that's at gmail.

 

This latest plan by the oligarchy again exposes how sick they are. Here it depends again on the United States. If Obama or Clinton sign off on this plan then consider it done, the UN will send in the blue helmets. The US is desperately looking for a way to end or silence the situation without having Zelaya fully return to power and they know Americans are too preouccpied with the economy, not to mention being scared out of their minds by anti-Iran propaganda, to do much protesting over Central America.

Right-wingers are apparently fantasizing about pulling a Michelleti/Romeo Vasquez fast one in the U.S. Huffington Post reports the article was published but later pulled down. I can't find it in Google's cache either.

So who says there's not a "vast right wing conspiracy?" (Although these days, I'd put Hillary, the statement's originator in the same camp for her nearly overt support of the golpistas.)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/30/obama-coup-fantasized-abo_n_304...

This just goes to show how far off the map this guy is with his proposal. It's impossible to have a "peace force" with Panamanian soldiers because Panama, like Costa Rica, has no army and thus no soldiers. It would be a violation of Panama's constitution to send "troops" to any country, even if that country has abolished its own constitution like Honduras.

Okke - Can you send me the text of the relevant Panamanian laws? That's funny!

Here you go:

Artículo 305.- La República de Panamá no tendrá ejército. Todos los panameños están obligados a tomar las armas para defender la independencia nacional y la integridad territorial del Estado.
Para la conservació del orden público, la protección de la vida, honra y bienes de quienes se encuentren bajo jurisdicción del Estado y para la prevención de hechos delictivos, la Ley organizará los servicios de policía necesarios, con mandos y escalafón separados.
Ante amenaza de agresión externa podrán organizarse temporalmente, en virtud de la ley, servicios especiales de policía para la protección de las fronteras y espacios jurisdiccionales de la República. El Presidente de la República es el jefe de todos los servicios establecidos en el presente Título; y éstos, como agentes de la autoridad, estarán subordinados al poder civil; por tanto, acatarán las órdenes que emitan la autoridades nacionales, provinciales o municipales en el ejercicio de sus funciones legales.

Full text of 1994 revised constitution here.

By law, the National Police has to be headed by a civilian as well.

Don't be fooled by Costa Rica and Panama's claims of no army.  They just call them police, give them blue uniforms instead of green and have all the equipment of an army.  They report to the national government unlike police in the states that report to local governments and don't have tanks.

@Harry: The Panamanian police doesn't have tanks. They have some anti-riot vehicles and that's about it.

The policemen that carry the heaviest arms are the so-called "fronterizas", who are supposed to guard the border, mostly in the Darien province which borders Colombia. They operate in small teams.They get some support from the US, notably in training. I spoke to someone from the US embassy not too long ago who was involved in training the Panamanian police. He said, tongue in cheeck, that it was a "challenge".

None of the Panamanian police is trained or equipped to operate within peacekeeping forces. This is just some bizarre idea from the lonely oligarch in Al's article.

Furthermore, Panama disbanded its armed forces after 21 years of military dictatorship which ended with an invasion by the US, precisely to guarantee that a military coup could never take place again. It is simply unimaginable that Panama would thus violate its own constitution and lend its unequipped police to grant a military coup cabal a graceful exit. We'd have riots in the streets if that would happen, and the Supreme Court would certainly rule it unconstitutional. The whole idea is simply not based in reality.