[Peace-discuss] State Department Terminates Aid to Honduras Coup Regime

[C. G. Estabrook]

[I believe I posted the full article earlier, so I risk "overstuffing 
mailboxes"...  --CGE]

	Season of Travesties: Freedom and Democracy in mid-2009
	Noam Chomsky
	July 9, 2009


...The Western hemisphere also witnessed an election-related crime at the 
month's end. A military coup in Honduras ousted President Manuel Zelaya and 
expelled him to Costa Rica. As observed by economist Mark Weisbrot, an 
experienced analyst of Latin American affairs, the social structure of the coup 
is "a recurrent story in Latin America," pitting "a reform president who is 
supported by labor unions and social organizations against a mafia-like, 
drug-ridden, corrupt political elite who is accustomed to choosing not only the 
Supreme Court and the Congress, but also the president."

Mainstream commentary described the coup as an unfortunate return to the bad 
days of decades ago. But that is mistaken. This is the third military coup in 
the past decade, all conforming to the "recurrent story." The first, in 
Venezuela in 2002, was supported by the Bush administration, which, however, 
backed down after sharp Latin American condemnation and restoration of the 
elected government by a popular uprising. The second, in Haiti in 2004, was 
carried out by Haiti's traditional torturers, France and the US. The elected 
President, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was spirited to Central Africa and kept at a 
safe distance from Haiti by the master of the hemisphere.

What is novel in the Honduras coup is that the US has not lent it support. 
Rather, the US joined with the Organization of American States in opposing the 
coup, though with a more reserved condemnation than others, and without any 
action, unlike the neighboring states and much of the rest of Latin America. 
Alone in the region, the US has not withdrawn its ambassador, as did France, 
Spain and Italy along with Latin American states.

It was reported that Washington had advance information about a possible coup, 
and tried to prevent it. It surpasses imagination that Washington did not have 
close knowledge of what was underway in Honduras, which is highly dependent on 
US aid, and whose military is armed, trained, and advised by Washington. 
Military relations have been particularly close since the 1980s, when Honduras 
was the base for Reagan's terrorist war against Nicaragua.

Whether this will play out as another chapter of the "recurrent story" remains 
to be seen, and will depend in no small measure on reactions within the United 
States.

http://www.zcommunications.org/zspace/commentaries/3922

E. Wayne Johnson wrote:
> The BBC reports:
>> 
>> Tension had been brewing in Honduras over recent months. Mr Zelaya sacked
>> the head of the armed forces, who refused to give logistical support for
>> the 28 June vote. The Supreme Court overruled him, saying the army chief
>> should be reinstated.
>> 
>> When Mr Zelaya insisted the consultation would go ahead, Congress voted to
>> remove him for what it called "repeated violations of the constitution and
>> the law", and the Supreme Court said it had ordered the president to be
>> removed from office to protect law and order.
>> 
> Since Honduras's own Congress has IMPEACHED and voted to Remove Zelaya, and
> the Honduras's own Supreme Court has ordered Zelaya's removal, How is it that
> Anyone could say that his removal is Illegal, since it would appear that Due
> Process and the Rule of Law is being followed?
> 
> On 9/4/2009 7:36 AM, E. Wayne Johnson wrote:
>> 
>> Of course I am pleased that the US is terminating its "aid" to Honduras.
>> Honduras should be glad too.  Amerika's jelly beans have fishhooks in them.
>> 
>> 
>> What business does the United States have interfering with the conduct of
>> government in Honduras, a sovereign state?
>> 
>> The American battle for independence from the bloody British was an illegal
>> coup. We have a military base in Honduras. Why shouldn't they throw us out
>> of there if they could?
>> 
>> How is our meddling with Honduras not an act of aggression against a weak
>> sovereign nation? How is it any different from what we are doing in Iraq
>> and Afghanistan?
>> 
>> It appears that the initiating spark in Honduras is an insistance on 
>> violation of term limits by the now-ousted President. What is it that we
>> like about that?
>> 
>> Is the US on the wrong side of the fight?  (once again?)