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

[Robert Naiman]

As for the cessation of U.S. military activity in the region,
including removing the base in Honduras, and stopping the basing
agreement in Colombia, I'm all for it.

"Non-intervention," as you describe it, is not an item on the menu in
this restaurant at this time. The U.S. is very deeply entangled in
Honduras. It has trained and supplied the Honduran military. The
choices before the U.S. are to support the coup or oppose it. The
"non-intervention" you advocate, if implemented, would equal support
for the coup. That's how it will be perceived - indeed, is already
being perceived - in Honduras and throughout Latin America.

On Fri, Sep 4, 2009 at 11:18 AM, E. Wayne Johnson<ewj at pigs.ag> wrote:
> Whether or not Honduras has an impeachment provision
> seems to be a matter of semiotics.  It appears that the
> Congress decided to remove Zelaya and the Supreme Court ordered him removed,
> the "equivalent" to impeachment and removal.
>
> 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.
>
> Here's the link to the BBC page:
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8124154.stm
>
> Honduras apparently has a provision for action under duress, so the coup is
> not exactly "illegal".
>
> Article 24 of Honduras' penal code will exonerate the joint chiefs of staff
> who made the decision,
>
> because it allows for making tough decisions based on the good of the state,
> Inestroza said.
>
> But, My Original question was "Why are we meddling with the affairs of
> Honduras, a sovereign state?"
>
> Should China impose monetary policy sanctions on the US because Mr. Obama
> has proposed illegal detention of
> dissidents, or because Obama has continued Bush's unconstitutional
> activities, or because the US is in the process
> of escalating its occupation of Afghanistan?  Jimmy Carter told us that the
> Soviet occupation of Afghanistan was so
> immoral that Amerikans ought to starve the Soviets into submission.  Carter
> instituted a grain embargo that
> devastated the American Farmer.  How can we be on the moral high ground in
> Afghanistan while the Soviets
> were scoundrels for doing nothing worse than what we are doing?
>
> Isn't the most appropriate response of the US a cessation of military
> activity in the region and a non-interventionist foreign policy?
>
>
>
> On 9/4/2009 8:22 AM, Robert Naiman wrote:
>
> The Honduran Congress never "impeached" President Zelaya. There is no
> impeachment provision in the Honduran Constitution.
>
> The top legal adviser to the Honduran military admitted that the
> Honduran military broke the law:
>
> http://www.miamiherald.com/1506/story/1125872.html
>
> Do you have a link to that BBC story?
>
>
> On Fri, Sep 4, 2009 at 8:49 AM, E. Wayne Johnson<ewj at pigs.ag> 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,
>
> 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?)
>
>
> On 9/4/2009 7:04 AM, Robert Naiman wrote:
>
> I think Jenifer meant to say, "stopped short of calling it a military coup."
>
> On Fri, Sep 4, 2009 at 7:23 AM, John W.<jbw292002 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> On Thu, Sep 3, 2009 at 7:15 PM, Jenifer Cartwright <jencart13 at yahoo.com>
> wrote:
>
>
>
> Stopped short of calling it a coup, but better than hoped for, huh?
>  --Jenifer
>
>
> Huh?????
>
>
> U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
> Office of the Spokesman
>
> For Immediate Release
>
> September 3, 2009
> 2009/869
>
>
> STATEMENT BY IAN KELLY
>
> Termination of Assistance and Other Measures Affecting the De Facto
> Regime in Honduras
>
> The Department of State announces the termination of a broad range of
> assistance to the government of Honduras as a result of the coup
> d’etat that took place on June 28.  The Secretary already had
> suspended assistance shortly after the coup.
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-- 
Robert Naiman
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org
naiman at justforeignpolicy.org

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