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Latin America
Related: About this forumHonduras: Three Legislative Profiles in Courage
Honduras: Three Legislative Profiles in Courage
Sunday, 20 April 2014 11:39
By Larry Birns, Council on Hemispheric Affairs | Op-Ed
- Despite a positive recent declaration, what is needed is more than just another shrug of horror lamenting the further deterioration of Honduras, Washingtons best friend in Central America.
- Today marks the return of Central Americas notorious unsinkable aircraft carrier and arguably the rebirth of Latin Americas most persistent human rights violator.
Congress- The best and the worst
Honduras is known for being an egregious human rights transgressor and a scene of violence against individual journalists and media organizations, as well as a number of conscience-driven trade unionists. Unfortunately, calls made for the safety of journalists and transparency in cases where dissident journalists risk their own safety by practicing their profession in the face of extreme danger are all but ignored. The demands by Representative McGovern, Farr, and Schakowsky, while inspiring due to their personal courage and sense of principle they were determined to uphold, are a striking anomaly amidst the cheap political practices and political maneuvering regularly engaged by U.S congressmen, including Senator Robert Menendez, Congresswoman Ileana Ross-Lehtinen and their supporters. The latest cycle of vengeance and violence was sparked by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton when she defended the 2009 coup against the constitutionally-elected President Manuel Zelaya who was overthrown by the Honduran military over the protest of most of the members of the OAS and in violation of the OAS charter.
For decades the U.S. government has looked upon Honduras constitutional democratic institutions as a huge joke and a doormat for Washingtons abusive and inherently dismissive foreign policy, often brushing aside human rights violations and respect for the sovereignty of Honduras. During the 1980s in the decade-long Contra war against the Sandinistas, Honduras provided a series of staging areas to mount the U.S. backed contra campaigns. Honduras also served the United States as a base site for the enormous amount of military equipment that was absorbed by the airbase at the military and CIA facility at Palmerola.
As pleads are being made for a reversal of this tendency and various U.S. authorities in order to reveal a greater sense of priority to the alarming deterioration of the human rights situation in the Central American country, a return to the bad days in the region seem all-but inevitable.
The danger facing the people of principle throughout Central America has been significantly radicalized in the last few years and was stepped up by some of the more extremist elements in the U.S. political party structure. These hardliners include Senators Melendez, Marco Rubio, and Ted Cruz as well as House Foreign Relations Committee Chair Ross-Lehtinen, who given the chance, would send all of the countrys liberals to the guillotine. By their constant bashing of regional political figures and their dissembling of hemispheric realities, these legislative figures have a destructive sense of reality and may have also done grave damage by concealing the full quality of political realities in Latin America as a whole. They have served to legitimate Miami Cubans, Venezuelan-Americans, and Salvadoran-Americans who tirelessly have raised funds for their would-be exile co-conspirators. Melendez and his extremist cohorts who have focused on Venezuelas leftist government now would know no limitations in their support of rightwing movements in that country. Meanwhile immigrants from the region are often too frightened to confront their possible intimidators because they fear that non-enacted legislation like parole-visa statutes or temporary executive orders issued by the Obama Administration will be used against them.
More:
http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/23195-honduras-three-legislative-profiles-in-courage
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