Honduras Coup: The Dumbest Regime on Earth

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-farrell/where-the-hell-is-the-usa_b_2...

His big finish:

"Former Ambassador Robert White, now President of the Center for International Policy and an expert on the region, says the solution is simple: all Secretary Clinton need do is have U.S. Ambassador Hugo Llorens call a press conference in Tegucigalpa and, with the OAS representative at his side, read the OAS resolution and state that the return of President Zelaya is firm U.S. policy. Then he can stand back and 'watch the coup regime unravel.'

Instead, Honduran citizens are dying in pro-democracy demonstrations and others are murdered or disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Failing to restore a stolen presidency makes a mockery of Obama's words at the Summit of the Americas. So what keeps Secretary Clinton from denouncing this theft of government and demanding the return of the elected president? Certainly her relationship with Lanny Davis, the well-connected DC lawyer who has been hired by the financiers of the coup to be their U.S. mouthpiece can't supersede support for democratic rule... Can it?"

can you get this authentic reporting on the Citizen Power of the Honduran people.  When I hear anything on the news about the coup, I already know the nuances and bullshit as they hit the radiowaves.  Why?  Because I read this site.

That's why I support this site with a tiny monthly $$.  Even in the throes of job loss, COBRA, pre-existing conditions, raising kids, I look to this site to give me hope.  The Honduran People give me hope.  Authenticity in life, whether up or down, keeps me going.

Thank you Al for this latest post... Right on... Seems Honduran Congressmen who supported the Coup... Do not want to lose their Miami shopping privileges as well... After Arita and Saavedra lost their South Beach passports... Our sources say Mel should return as President Friday... Michelletti will join Bush as another wannabe revolutionary... Who added their circus act to world history... Our hearts will always be with those who have died as a result of unstable madmen... At several Michelletti blogs I have seen a pic of a Michelletti fan... Holding up a sign saying something like this... "Honduras does not have money" We are poor... But what we do have are balls"... Amazing how a man will sell his soul for an U.S. visa... What happended to their revolutionary "balls"...

that the original referendum was scheduled for the same vote that would elect Zelaya's successor, I wonder if this chain of events only played into the hands of Honduras' legitimate President?

(From Wiki:) George Wallace had become very popular during his first term as governor (1963–1967), largely due to his opposition to racial desegregation. He could have easily won a second term in 1966 had he been eligible to stand for one. In Alabama (as in many states at the time), governors were not allowed to serve two consecutive terms. This provision was incorporated in the current state constitution in 1901.

Wallace attacked this problem on two fronts, First, Wallace worked for the repeal of the term limiting provision. Second, Wallace devised a plan in which his wife, Lurleen, would run for governor while he continued to exercise the authority of the office behind the scenes, duplicating the strategy in which Ma Ferguson won the 1925 election for governor in Texas.

Wallace's attempt to change the succession rule before the 1966 campaign failed. He eventually succeeded in getting the term limit repealed, however, and would go on to serve three more terms, two of them consecutive. However, using his wife as his electoral surrogate succeeded, and Mrs. Wallace won the ... governor(ship) in 1966.

Not to compare Zelaya with Wallace, but from a political strategy view, it figures that he had a placeholder in mind to run in the fall, while waiting for the Constitutional amendment that would allow the people to vote him back into office.

I'm not sure being allowed to sit in the President's chair with a hostile legislature and judiciary is better for Zelaya right now - continuing as the insurgent against the moneyed interests (and making their gorillista puppets look like monkeys) should only make it easier to elect a sympathetic successor and generate popular support to overturn the term limit.

(I still wonder why the government didn't just impeach the President before trying to exile him?  As long as they were trying for the appearence of legitimacy...)

The candidates for the November elections have been announced. The ballot order was just published. (Thanks again to the commenter in a previous thread for providing a link in response to my question).  There are at least two candidates attractive to voters who support broader public participation and constitutional reform: Cesar Ham of UD and Carlos Reyes, a popular movement leader who is running as an independent.

Xiomara Castro de Zelaya clearly has a bright political future, but I doubt very much she'll be running in the November presidential elections, and have little enthusiasm for the prospect.  Even if Ham and Reyes stepped aside and threw their support to her in an ad-hoc 'unity ticket', wouldn't that just confirm the coup supporters' lie that this has all been about extending Zelaya's term in office, rather than about constitutional reform more broadly?  Wouldn't the effort to replace candidates after the deadline reinforce the worst insinuations about Zelaya's extralegal and destabilizing methods?

But that's for the Honduran parties and popular organizations to decide among themselves. 

The important thing now is for U.S. citizens is to support the popular movement (one way to do so is to publicize and attend their current speaking tour in the U.S.) and increase the pressure on our own government to live up to the early fine words about restoring democracy and constitutional order -- and that means pushing for the complete restoration of the Zelaya government. 

That means the return to office of all the cabinet ministers who've been forced out, as well as the restoration of the legitimate mayor of San Pedro Sula.  No "unity government" b.s., which would only reward coup participants.

Al,

I commend the great reporting you're doing from Honduras; most news outlets have dropped it with a resounding thud.

I must confess, however, to missing your read on the U.S. Is anyone at Narco News currently working that angle?

Best,

Sadie

In response to:

It's all Honduras all the Submitted July 21, 2009 - 7:26 am by Pat (not verified)

It's all Honduras all the time, not a word about Iran. What about the home front? The big battle here at home is health care reform. Not a word on that either. Just sayin'.

Al wrote:

Submitted July 21, 2009 - 9:27 am by Al Giordano

Pat - It's all Honduras all the time... and it will continue to be so from this corner.

There are a thousand bloggers writing about health care daily, and at least 100 writing in English in the situation in Iran (a subject that, before Honduras blew up on our beat, which is this hemisphere, I wrote extensively about).

But how many sources of authentic news do you have for this very important story that continues to develop out of Honduras? It is a story whose outcome will decide whether other democratically elected governments are attacked by military coups in the near future. And a country called América is my beat and where my first responsibilities lie.

If you don't want to read about Honduras, there are a million websites that either ignore it or diminish its importance. Feel free to go read about health care somewhere else. This is the most important story in this hemisphere right now, and if we weren't giving it this level of full coverage a great many people would be very poorly informed on it.

Personally, I think the Honduras story has more to do with American politics than Al is overtly pointing out.. the stalemate over healthcare reform at the bidding of the insurance and pharmaceutical lobbies appears to be beyond the ability of a Democratic President, a +80 Democratic majority in the House, and a "filibuster-proof" 60 vote Democratic majority in the Senate.  But hey, the party has only been trying to do this since 1948, right?

That said, I imagine Al doesn't want this thread to turn into a discussion of US politics right now - but I couldn't resist the foreshadowing ; )

Again, not bashing the Honduras coverage(agree that it is v. important in immediate and larger contexts, and latin America gets shoved under the rug outrageously often), just wishing we could clone Al a few times over. :)

Nell, you were writting about november elections and First Lady options in Al´s previous post.

Analizing the events prior to the coup, Zelayas opposition had founded their arguments against the non-bindding referendum around several ideas; one of them was that the only way to reach a constituent assembly is thru a coup d'état. So, the signing of Arias' Plan with the complete acceptance of Zelaya´s return would indeed imply that a coup d'état took place.

Carlos H. Reyes has been saying lately that the first act he´ll make in the event he is elected President is invoking a constituent assembly.

Zelaya's opposition knew that door was unlocked for constituent assembly before the coup, but after if they opened the door completely.

This is why I believe Honduras Right Wing is so against Zelaya´s return.