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Coup d'état in Honduras Elicits International Condemnation

by: Tom Loudon, t r u t h o u t | Report

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    A Popular Consultation about putting a National Constitutional Referendum on the ballot for the November elections had been scheduled in Honduras for today, sparking tensions between the president and other branches of the government. The simple, non-binding poll that President Manuel Zelaya was sponsoring would have asked the Honduran people their opinion on adding a Referendum question to the next election ballot in November.

    The Honduran Congress and Supreme Court had ruled to stop the poll from going forward during the past week. Last Wednesday, Gen. Romeo Vasquez refused to involve the army in conducting the poll and President Zelaya fired him. The next day, President Zelaya and supporters stormed the base where the ballots were being kept and removed them. The situation was tense, but it was expected that the consultation would be conducted today without major incident.

    However, at 5 AM today, elements of the Honduran military forced their way into Zelaya's residence and, after a struggle with the presidential security forces, kidnapped the president. They took him to a military base in Honduras and then flew with him to Costa Rica. The Honduran military plane which carried him to Costa Rica landed without prior permission.

    The military has also rounded up many of Zelaya's allies within the government; the whereabouts of Zelaya's cabinet members are unknown. The foreign minister of Honduras, Patricia Rodas was kidnapped by the Honduran military despite efforts on the part of ambassadors from Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua who were beaten up as they tried to prevent her abduction. Rodas has been taken to an undisclosed location, presumably a military base. Social movement leaders also fear capture, and many are in hiding. A leader of the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH), Fabio Ochoa, is in critical condition in the hospital. Five days ago he was shot five times as he left a television station where he had been speaking in favor of the poll.

    By 1:30 in the afternoon, an urgent session of the Honduran Congress was convened and a letter of resignation, allegedly signed by Zelaya was read. A resolution was read on the floor accusing Zelaya of "manifest irregular conduct" and "putting the state of law in present danger." These charges refer to Zelaya's refusal to obey a Supreme Court ruling against holding the poll scheduled for today.

    Subsequently, the president of Congress, Roberto Micheletti Roberto Micheletti, was sworn in as the new president, to finish the term of President Zelaya. All of the 124 delegates present voted in favor of the new president. The four deputies from the left wing UD party did not participate in the session. Micheletti and Zelaya are both members of the Liberal Party. Micheletti has been in Congress for 29 years and it is widely rumored that he has long aspired to be president. Micheletti lost the primary election to Zelaya for this presidential term.

    This afternoon, Costa Rican President Oscar Aries stated in a press conference that he had received a phone call early this morning, informing him that a plane carrying President Zelaya had landed in Costa Rica without prior permission. Arias condemned the coup d'état against the Honduran president and called for a return to Constitutional order in Honduras.

    During the same press conference, Zelaya told the story of his kidnapping, of being led away forcefully in his pajamas by 10 hooded and heavily armed soldiers. He explained that his intention as president has been to reduce poverty levels in the country, and he explained that what was scheduled for today was a simple, non-binding consultation to poll people about their interest in putting the question of having a Referendum Question on the next ballot. Zelaya accused those who executed the coup of being a mafia wanting to control the country. He said that nearly assassinating a president for merely conducting an opinion poll was an affront to democracy. President Zelaya asked the people of Honduras "to be calm, but defend democracy and your rights."

    In Honduras, the state-run television station has been shut down as well as other media outlets, including Radio Progresso, with little news being broadcast from remaining media outlets. Electric and phone service in the country have been intermittently shut down throughout the day. These measures are being used to hide what may be going on, to assure that the referendum doesn't happen, and provide insulation from violations of rights by the police and army.

    Leaders from all over the world, including President Obama, have condemned the coup. Acting Secretary of State for Western Hemispheric Affairs Tom Shannon called Zelaya, assuring him that the United States is not aiding the coup and does not support what is happening in Honduras. The Organization of American States held an emergency meeting this morning and has condemned the coup. The European Union and MERCOSUR also rejected this disruption of Constitutional order and called for a return to power of President Zelaya.

    This morning, President Daniel Ortega, president pro tem of Central American Integration System (SICA), called for an emergency meeting of SICA in response to the crisis in Honduras. By late this afternoon, the ALBA countries had called for an emergency session to begin in Managua as soon as leaders can arrive. Secretary General Insulza of the OAS also announced that he would be traveling to Managua to attend the emergency meetings.

    Today's events in Honduras are a stark reminder of the not-so-distant past in Central America, where military and business elites ran roughshod over democratic processes. However, the strong and immediate regional and international condemnation of today's coup, including by the United States government, sets a new precedent. Without international acceptance, it is unlikely that this coup will be successful.

    Right now the people of Honduras are at risk for a violent internal crackdown; arrest warrants have been issued for cabinet members and mayors who supported the referendum, news outlets are silenced, and a curfew has been issued. Some reports estimate as many as 20,000 people gathered in front of the presidential palace, attempting to block the new president from entering. The international community will need to be vigilant and stand with the people of Honduras at this critical juncture.

  

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Tom Loudon is co-director of the Quixote Center in Washington, DC.

Comments

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Freedom, Justice, Ecological

 Mon, 06/29/2009 - 23:08 — Garrett Connelly (not verified)
Freedom, Justice, Ecological Econ, these are opposed as by right wing minds wanting more, faster, regardless of health, or fun, and willing to brainwash the young into killing for it.

The best message that the

 Mon, 06/29/2009 - 23:19 — Anonymous (not verified)
The best message that the USA can send to the military in Latin America is to restitute Zelaya as President. There is not a legal reason for the coup. There is no ground for negotiation either. General Romeo Vasquez has committed an act of insubordination and treason. He was fired by Zelaya, the Commander in Chief, for disobeying his order. Micheletti is just an ambitious politician whose dream has been to be president. He has usurped a position to which he was not elected. If the Honduran’s congress wants to remove Zelaya, they have to impeach him first, not to oust him illegally and unconstitutionally. The congressmen who voted to remove Zelaya should also be prosecuted. Eisenhower fired a big General and Bush got rid of some military who did not agree with his policies. In Colombia, Uribe has conducted referendums and is planning to conduct another one to be reelected for the third time, even against the opinion of the Supreme Court. So why are these Honduran congressmen and military so afraid of a referendum?

My favorite disingenuous

 Tue, 06/30/2009 - 02:18 — Anonymous (not verified)
My favorite disingenuous argument for doing nothing about Honduras is that the elected president was on his way to becoming a dictator, and the military coup prevented that. THINK ABOUT THAT ONE FOR A MINUTE! Got a headache yet? In other words, a popular president is a threat to becoming a dictator even though it's IMPOSSIBLE to become a dictator without the support of the military (for what should be obvious reasons). Since this popularly elected president is getting too big for his breeches, the military removes him from office by force, rather than waiting for another election and installs an unelected dictator to insure that the actual president doesn't become one. With lovers of democracy like these, who needs fascism. Arguments like this one can only be used in a vacuum. It's impossible to get away with saying 2+2=5 if other people have the right to respond.

Where's the Republican

 Tue, 06/30/2009 - 02:19 — Anonymous (not verified)
Where's the Republican outrage we heard about Iran?

The part of this story not

 Tue, 06/30/2009 - 05:07 — rjt (not verified)
The part of this story not being reported by the media is that Romeo Vasquez is a graduate of the School of the Americas (SOA). If you are not familiar with SOA it is a school at Fort Benning in Georgia, known for training Central and South American right-wingers in the art of terrorizing their countries. He must be getting an A+ from his US instructors for destabilizing a left leaning democratic country. Do you see why there is no outcry from Republicans? More than likely, there will not be any action by the US other than a lot of public rhetoric. Do not kid yourself, our corporatist government and the corporate media know about Romeo Vasquez's US ties.

The result of this coup

 Tue, 06/30/2009 - 05:23 — David Brookbank (not verified)
The result of this coup d'etat will be a true victory for democracy on a hemispheric scale, a democracy of an entirely different type than the government of the U.S. has imposed through death, terror, and torture on the people's of Latin America for more than 164 years. Today the foreign ministers of the members of ALBA (the Bolivarian Alternative for Latin America) announced that they will withdraw their ambassadors from Tegucigalpa. In addition, they will recognize no diplomatic representatives of the illegitimate government of Roberto Micheletti, but instead will only recognize representatives of the government of Manuel Zelaya. There is talk of a possible closure of the borders of Honduras on all sides (by El Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala). Latin America is being born again, on its own terms with a series of rapidly growing organizations, from ALBA, UNASUR, Banco del Sur, TeleSURtv, Petrocaribe, etc. Even old U.S. dominated organizations like the OAS and Grupo de Rio -- on the verge of being superceded, if not replaced, by this revolution of Latin American governments -- have had, like the U.S. itself, no choice but to begin following the lead of these countries acting in unity. By the way, if anyone wants to hear one of the most brilliant interviews I have heard in a long time, listen/watch/read today's interview (with excellent interpretation) with Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa at Democracy Now http://www.democracynow.org/2009/6/29/ecuad

Yeah, sure, the US condemns

 Tue, 06/30/2009 - 07:32 — Anonymous (not verified)
Yeah, sure, the US condemns this action. Any bets on that the US is in on it? Bets? Can't beat the odds. I mean; didn't we condemn Peru, Argentina, El Salvador? All the while supporting the opposition? Phfft!!!

None of the reports reaching

 Tue, 06/30/2009 - 08:15 — Scott Griffith (not verified)
None of the reports reaching me makes any mention of US corporate interests in Nicaragua. What roles did they play in this attempted coup, what promises did they make to the military, which US congressmen/women are in their pockets? We need to be reminded of the long and sordid history of such 'interventions' in Latin America as a whole from what Morales is having to fight now in Bolivia right back to the earliest dealings of the United Fruit Company and others.

In his comment ( None of the

 Tue, 06/30/2009 - 14:18 — David Brookbank (not verified)
In his comment ( None of the reports reaching Tue, 06/30/2009 - 08:15) by Scott Griffith asks about U.S. business interests in Nicaragua. I assume he means Honduras, the neighboring country where this coup occurred. The "For US Business" page of the website of the US Consulate in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, begins with the following: (quote) “More than 300 companies have set up offshore operations in Honduras over the last several years. They include manufacturers of apparel and textiles, assemblers of automotive and electronic parts, and companies operating in the agroindustry and tourism sectors. On the list of apparel suppliers to the United States, Honduras ranks 1st in the Caribbean, 1st among Central American countries and 3rd in the world. Honduras is also the fourth largest supplier of harnesses to the U.S. market." (end quote). At the bottom of this 2oor letter http://tiny.cc/ECAT from the Emergency Committee on America Trade, are the names of some 120 US corporations and associations (interesting the ECAT site home page features my Democratic Senator Patty Murray receiving an award from ECAT) promoting "free trade" with Central America. There is no such thing as "free trade" with Latin America which favors the peoples of Latin America. And because of the instability created by these agreements favoring U.S. corporations and the ruling classes of Latin America leads to coups (such as this in Honduras) and corrupt, repressive governments (such as Peru and Colombia), the reputation of the U.S. is deservedly dismal. Fortunately, the peoples of Latin America are electing governments more than capable of acting in their own interests and against the U.S./ruling class alliance. Adelante, compañeros! David Brookbank -- "Hasta donde debemos practicar las verdades?"

If the proposed referendum

 Tue, 06/30/2009 - 16:46 — Anonymous (not verified)
If the proposed referendum is only a nonbinding poll of the peoples' opinions, how come there is a coup over it? Something really smells bad about the media coverage of this situation. There is no mention here or in any other articles or tv coverage as to what the constitutional change about which the nonbinding poll would have been. The focus is now on rightists and leftists, or is heading in that direction -- and of course the U.S. prefers rightists, no matter how ill-behaved they are, to those EVIL communists. I, for one, think it is ludicrous that the United States has no "labor party" or "communist party" to balance out the two "rightist" (corporate fascism} parties who have it rigged that we "waste our votes" if we don't vote for one of THEM. We are forced by virtue of gerrymandering and other scurrilous finagling to select between what we figure to be the lesser of evils, and that is now totally obvious given our election of a Democratic congress that is behaving the very same as the former Republican congress. It may not be emanating from Denmark, but it is much as The Bard told it, something STINKS! In the U.S. of A. AND in Hondurus. Constitutions don't matter at all. What matters is which corporations in this world hold the most wealth and power (or power enough to steal their wealth from the People). Beyond that basic fact, the details are inconsequential. I favor root-cause analysis for failed economies designed to reduce the "power of the people." Here's mine: Root Cause = Crooks and Liars in charge, who successfully plot to keep the people ignorant and poor and helpless to make changes without violent anarchical revolutions, over which the crooks and liars can know they will prevail. Dontcha think?

In the post "If the proposed

 Wed, 07/01/2009 - 00:52 — David Brookbank (not verified)
In the post "If the proposed referendum Tue, 06/30/2009 - 16:46"), Anonymous asks, "If the proposed referendum is only a non-binding poll of the peoples' opinions, how come there is a coup over it?" and goes on to comment, "Something really smells bad about the media coverage of this situation." What we know about the media coverage is this. TeleSURtv journalists have been harassed and detained. CNN en Espanol was blacked out, as reported by the Washington Post. Boston Globe reported the detention of 4 Associated Press staffers. Tiempo.hn reports that Channel 8 in Honduras was off the air for two days due to military intervention. Reuters reported in Spanish that TeleSURtv and CNN were blocked by the military and that radio stations were closed. Other information reports that pro-coup stations broadcast children's cartoons and U.S. comedies rather than news. Even conservative agencies like Reporters without Borders (which initially failed to condemn the coup against Hugo Chavez in Venezuela in 2002 when those eventually failed coup plotters manipulated the media) has condemned the actions of the illegitimate Micheletti government. The Honduran media which is operating is broadcasting rumors about possible military interventions by Venezuela, presence of Cubans and Nicaraguans in the country, and generally catering to a tightly U.S.-affiliated class in the capital (those Honduran voices you hear on NPR and BCC speaking nearly perfect English). The problem the elite have with Zelaya is that he is a businessman who "betrayed his class" and decided to put himself on the right side of history on the side of the poor and against historically U.S. backed oligarchs and a School of the America's trained military leadership. Adelante, Zelaya! David Brookbank -- "Hasta donde debemos practicar la verdad?"

Well over a hundred US

 Thu, 07/02/2009 - 17:44 — Scott Griffith (not verified)
Well over a hundred US companies and business associations signed the letter referred to by David Brookbank in his helpful response to my comment on the Honduras coup. (Thank you, David, for the gentle reminder that I'd mistakenly written Nicaragua when I meant Honduras). Among the signatories in favor of so-called "free trade" I note many of the usual suspects: Exxon Mobil, IBM, Boeing, Caterpillar, Eastman Kodak, the Gap, Johnson & Johnson, National Cash Register, Nestlé, Pfizer, Sara Lee. I wonder, just in passing, how they managed to keep Monsanto off the list. At the end of the day, I'd bet, the plutocracy that runs the US these days is there behind the scenes, along with the inevitable WHINSEC graduates and, who knows?, maybe even the Israeli lobby. It all stinks. Will any of the media pick up on it? Not likely. Apologies for the cynicism.

Another important part of

 Wed, 07/15/2009 - 07:32 — David Brookbank (not verified)
Another important part of this story is the team of well-credentialed "coup-making" U.S. ambassadors in Central America: Nicaragua -- Robert Callahan (formerly in Bolivia and Costa Rica, U.S. National War College professor, press attaché in Iraq, and established the press office at the newly created Office of the Director of National Intelligence in Washington, D.C. before becoming public diplomacy fellow at the School of Media and Public Affairs at George Washington University); Guatemala -- Stephen McFarland (US Air War College, a US Marine embed in Iraq with a combat group, in Venezuela under Amb. Brownfield, involved in construction of US military base in Paraguay, and considered an expert on "democratic transitions"); Honduras -- the Cuban-American Hugo Llorens (terrorism expert and Bush NSC advisor on Venezuela during failed coup of 2002), and El Salvador where the charge d'affaires is Robert Blau (previously the Deputy Director for Cuban Affairs in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, following a two-year assignment at the U.S. Interests Section in Havana as Counselor for Political and Economic Affairs where he focused on support for the "Cuban democratic opposition.”) As this excellent piece from New Zealand states, "In every country in the region, the US government has placed very senior, very experienced, deeply ideologically motivated diplomatic clones. Every one of them has a thorough grounding in destabilization. None of this is new and is common knowledge in Latin America." http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0907/S00173.htm I have long said that the US ruling class tasked Obama with dealing with Latin America. The nature of the team around him, further spelled out in the New Zealand article, makes that clear.