Honduras Newspaper Impressed that Daughter of Pinochet Backs Coup

Posted by Al Giordano - July 10, 2009 at 9:08 am

By Al Giordano

Here in the newsroom, we wondered if the website of the daily El Heraldo in Honduras (part of the same newspaper chain as La Prensa, which now enjoys the infamy of having photoshopped the blood out of the iconic photo of assassinated teenager Isis Obed Murillo) had been hacked by creative coup opponents.

But, apparently not: the newspaper (part of the Inter American Press Association) published a story yesterday titled: Pinochet's Daughter: "Zelaya Attempted a Coup."

I don't know what is weirder: that a pro-coup newspaper would think that quoting the daughter of the Chilean military general, Augusto Pinochet, somehow adds to its already bombastic portrayal of a military coup as a legal or "constitutional" action, or that Ms. Lucia Pinochet Hiriart (in the photo, above) has a constituency among the coup-defenders to the extent that she would be making public statements in praise of it, and those statements would somehow be newsworthy.

It was her father, the disgraced General Pinochet, who fomented the bloody 1973 military coup against the elected government of President Salvador Allende in Chile, which launched a dark era of similar authoritarian coups in countries throughout Latin America.

But there she is, Ms. Pinochet, instructing the Honduran people:

"The one that wanted to cause a coup was (elected Honduran President Manuel) Zelaya... Right now, he's the victim, but he is no victim...."

No, it's not parody. Rather, it's instructive of the state of mind of the coup defenders. (You can see it in repeated online comments on Twitter and elsewhere attacking Organization of American States chairman Jose Miguel Insulza because he was part of the elected Allende government before Allende was assassinated by Pinochet's forces.) They see the Pinochet coup of 36 years ago as a heroic act, and long for the bad old days when they could simply stamp out democratic will by rounding all dissenters into a stadium and assassinating more than 3,000 in a single week, which is what happened after September 11, 1973 in Santiago de Chile.

It is another proof positive that they are trying to start that ball rolling all over again throughout the hemisphere. And it demonstrates exactly why not a single government in América or in the entire world recognizes their illegitimate regime.

Update: And so it not be forgotten...

The 1973 coup d'etat in Chile, just like today in Honduras, was "justified" through a series of legaloid arguments that it was "constitutional" and such. Here's a typical piece of right-wing revisionist history with that spin.

Of course, what the world saw after that coup was successful was the Pinochet military coup regime proceed to violate every single one of the laws that its supporters had accused Allende of breaking, only more violently and on a much more massive scale than even what they had alleged (but not proved). And the same is occurring today.

 

Comments

Oh those wacky Pinochets

Submitted July 10, 2009 - 10:39 am by Lucidamente (not verified)

While she's at it, maybe Senora Pinochet y Hiriart could do some fund-raising for some of our own coup-lovin' Republican congressmen, like the ones mentioned here:

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/rep.-mack-introduces-bill-slamming-h...

Yes

Submitted July 10, 2009 - 11:58 am by Erin Rosa

And those shallow graves of the disappeared are full of candy and magical rainbows!

 

I also love

Submitted July 10, 2009 - 1:09 pm by Bzr (not verified)

how the Tribuna is trumpeting Otto Reich's support for the Coup. Big Surprise..

http://twitter.com/Tribunito/status/2571114279

Any word about the missing mayor?

Submitted July 10, 2009 - 3:51 pm by Jeff Larson (not logged in) (not verified)

I haven't seen any updates regarding the San Pedro Sula mayor Rodolfo Padilla Sunseri and other missing people who were "disappeared" by Micheletti and his nephew. Has anyone seen any news of them.

POLICE STATE IN HONDURAS

Submitted July 10, 2009 - 4:24 pm by Héctor (not verified)

 

Given all the conditions we are leaving in today after the coup, I can only remember Naomi Wolf's

The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot

 

The ten steps

  1. Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy.
  2. Create secret prisons where torture takes place.
  3. Develop a thug caste or paramilitary force not answerable to citizens.
  4. Set up an internal surveillance system.
  5. Harass citizens' groups.
  6. Engage in arbitrary detention and release.
  7. Target key individuals.
  8. Control the press.
  9. Treat all political dissidents as traitors.
  10. Suspend the rule of law.

Every of these steps are ongoing right now!!!

Qué más se puede esperar

Submitted July 10, 2009 - 6:37 pm by María Stella Dabancens Gándara (not verified)

Qué más se puede esperar de la generación perdida. Los hijos de papi y mami que se escudaron en la desaparición de miles de nosotros por una causa que ellos ni siquiera conocen.

Por supuesto que tendrían que estar, como Lucía Pinochet, incómodos de ver que los pueblos responden, y sin la CIA de Nixon-Reagan-Bush para taparles los desaparecidos.

Honduras tiene una oportunidad, única, de convertirse en nación, de lo contrario, república bananera, que te vaya bien.

 

@ Jeff Larson

Submitted July 10, 2009 - 7:22 pm by Al Giordano

Jeff - In response to your question I asked our reporter Kristin Bricker to follow up on the situation with Mayor Padilla. She came up with this:

This points to him being in hiding.  But it could be a fake letter, because if you look at what the paper says the law says, if he's not in office for ten days straight, he can be thrown out of office.  So hypothetically they could disappear him, send a fake letter saying he won't be around for a little while because of the security situation, and then after ten days kick him out.  Just hypothetical, but since he hasn't been seen, the report of that letter doesn't rule out him being in govt. custody.

I sent this to you in chat, but just again, this article sums up the confusion regarding his whereabouts, but provides no clues as to where he is.

This reports that there's an arrest warrant out for him and he's been deposed.  It was taken from Xinhua. This article has the national party regidor saying he doesn't know anything about any arrest warrant. That's not a denial, but something's up. In that same article the head of the local chamber of commerce saying that as he understands it, there's "some legal actions" but no arrest warrant.

Hope that's helpful.

Isis Murillo's father taken away

Submitted July 10, 2009 - 7:55 pm by Nell (not verified)

Speaking of arbitrary and mysterious detentions:  Otto at IncaKola News has the report of Isis Murillo's father being taken into custody by men in plain clothes.

A commenter in a previous thread here had pointed to a recent news interview of Sr. Murillo giving an account of the shooting at the airport, and holding Billy Joya responsible for the military's actions that day.

thank you Al and Kristin

Submitted July 11, 2009 - 11:54 am by Jeff Larson (not logged in) (not verified)

There must be dozens if not hundreds of people who are now detained, disappeared or removed from office because of their ties and/or support for Zelaya or Padilla.

I don't expect the NYT to get that but that is why I keep visiting The Field.

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