A Congressional Coup Caucus emerges

[Judi Lynn]

Source: U.N. Dispatch

A Congressional Coup Caucus emerges
Mark Leon Goldberg - July 7, 2009 - 3:21pm



Support for the coup in Honduras extends beyond the pages of right wing political magazines to the United States Congress. Tomorrow, the House Committee on Foreign Affairs Ranking Member Ileana Ros-Lehtinen will host a private meeting for her Republican colleagues with former Honduran President Ricardo Maduro and former Costa Rican Ambassador to the U.S. Jaime Daremblum. According to the invitation, obtained by UN Dispatch, "President Maduro will help to outline the sequence of events leading to the shift in power in Honduras and removal of Manuel Zelaya; provide insight into Honduran constitutional authorities; and discuss how the U.S. can now work to support the democratic institutions and rule of law in Honduras." Ambassador Daremblum will discuss his Weekly Standard piece titled "A Coup for Democracy."

In related news, Florida Republican Connie Mack (pictured) is circulating a congressional resolution that effectively supports the coup. So far, the Congressional Coup Caucus includes Dan Burton (Republican from Indiana), Jeff Fortenberry (Republican from Nebraska) and Dana Rohrabacher (Republican from California) who are co-sponsoring the resolution.

Here is a sample of what they are signing onto, passed onto UN Dispatch from a congress watcher who says Rep. Mack will likely "drop it in the hopper" tomorrrow.

Whereas several sectors of Honduras were opposed to this referendum, including the legislature, the judiciary, the Attorney General, the Human Rights Commission, the Catholic Church, evangelical groups, business associations, and four of the five political parties represented in the National Congress—including President Zelaya's own party.

Read more: http://www.undispatch.com/node/8563

[Judi Lynn]

1. High stakes for Honduras

High stakes for Honduras
The US should give clearer signals of its support for the restoration of President Zelaya, the victim of a right-wing coup

Benjamin Dangl guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 7 July 2009 20.30 BST

When rallying in the streets of Tegucigalpa for the ousted President Manuel Zelaya, Alejandra Fernandez, a 23-year-old university student told a journalist why she supported Zelaya: "He raised the minimum wage, gave out free school lunches, provided milk for the babies and pensions for the elderly, distributed energy-saving light bulbs, decreased the price of public transportation, made more scholarships available for students." Others gathered around to mention the roads and schools in rural areas the president had created.

"That's why the elite classes can't stand him and why we want him back," Alejandra explained. "This is really a class struggle."

But it's not just because of these relatively progressive reforms that Zelaya enacted that he deserves our support. Nor is it simply because this democratically-elected leader was ousted in a repressive coup led by right-wing oligarchs and military officials trained at the infamous torture and counterinsurgency school, the School of the Americas, now known as Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, based in Georgia.

He also deserves our support because he was ultimately overthrown in response to his plans to organise a popular assembly to rewrite the country's constitution.

According to Central American political analyst Alberto Valiente Thoresen, Honduras's current constitution, written in 1982, "was the product of a context characterised by counter-insurgency policies supported by the US government, civil façade military governments and undemocratic policies." In an assembly made up of elected representatives from various political parties and social sectors, a new, likely more progressive and inclusive constitution could have a lasting impact on the country's corrupt politicians, powerful sweatshop owners and repressive military institutions.

Many commentators have said that Zelaya sought to re-write the constitution to extend his time in office. Yet nothing indicates that that was the case. Leading up to the coup, Zelaya was pushing for a referendum on 28 June in which the ballot question was to be: "Do you agree that, during the general elections of November 2009 there should be a fourth ballot to decide whether to hold a Constituent National Assembly that will approve a new political constitution?" This non-binding referendum - not plans from Zelaya to expand his power – was enough to push right wing and military leaders to organise a coup.

If the Honduran people approved the formation of a constitutional assembly in November, it would likely take years – as it did recently in Bolivia – to rewrite the document. Zelaya would not be president as he would not be running in the upcoming elections. His term in office finishes in January 2010, too short a time to complete a national assembly's rewriting of the constitution.

Given that it was the call for the constituent assembly that led to the coup, it appears that the coup leaders are more worried about an assembly in which the people could re-write their own constitution, than Zelaya himself. Clearly it's the Honduran oligarchs, rather than Zelaya, who are more interested in concentrating and conserving their own power.

More:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/jul/07/honduras-zelaya-class-struggle

(My emphasis)

[SkyDaddy7]

9. Right wing coup?

Is it not more than just the right who was behind this coup? Does their constitution support such a coup? Just asking because I have read some things that raise all these questions.

I, personally, do not like it but if their constitution allows such a removal then in a odd way this is democracy in action...Just not our style of democracy.

[DissedByBush]

11. I knew nothing of Honduran politics until this

But the facts I've been able to gather are:

He wanted to have a vote of whether the populace would like to vote on having a constitutional convention.

The constitution can easily be changed by the president and congress except a few articles.

One of those few is term limits, another is presidential succession.

His attorney general advised him the vote would be unlawful.

The supreme court ruled it to be unlawful.

His chief of the armed forces agreed it was unlawful and refused to go along with it. He was fired.

The supreme court and the congress agreed that the firing was unlawful.

The congress discussed impeachment.

The day of the vote the supreme court ordered soldiers to arrest and deport him.

---

What I can get from this is that he wanted to extend his term using an unconstitutional vote and all other branches of government agreed that his actions were illegal.

So unless I get any more information otherwise all I see here is a president who wanted to be dictator for life but the constitution and the democratic institutions of government got in his way.

I was sure hoping that if Bush had tried something like that our Congress, Supreme Court and military would stop him.

[IndianaGreen]

15. You heard it wrong

all you are repeating is the RW meme.

[DissedByBush]

16. I'm repeating the facts

Inform me if there are any facts that oppose what I found. To me it looks like a constitutional democracy worked to prevent a power grab by one of the branches of government. I'm pretty sensitive about that since Bush.

And what does RW have to do with this? Facts are facts regardless of ideology. Was the president a leftist? Is that why I see so much defense of him?

[IndianaGreen]

18. Zelaya is not a leftist. He is establishment, but he raised the minimum wage

The referendum was non-binding and had nothing to do with term limits.

The golpista regime has repealed by decree several civil liberties, including freedom of speech and assembly. This is the regime you are defending!

July 1, 2009

Behind the Honduran Coup

Why Zelaya's Actions Were Legal

By ALBERTO VALLENTE THORENSEN

In the classic Greek tragedy, Prometheus Bound, the playwright observes: “Of wrath’s disease wise words the healers are.” Shortly put, this story is about Prometheus, a titan who was punished by the almighty gods for having given humanity the capacity to create fire. This generated a conflict, which ended with Prometheus’ banishment and exile.

Currently, there is a tragedy being staged in the Central American republic Honduras. Meanwhile, the rest of humanity follows the events, as spectators of an outdated event in Latin America, which could set a very unfortunate undemocratic precedent for the region. In their rage, the almighty gods of Honduran politics have punished an aspiring titan, President Manuel Zelaya, for attempting to give Hondurans the gift of participatory democracy. This generated a constitutional conflict that resulted in president Zelaya’s banishment and exile. In this tragedy, words are once again the healers of enraged minds. If we, the spectators, are not attentive to these words, we risk succumbing intellectually, willfully accepting the facts presented by the angry coup-makers and Honduran gods of politics.

In this respect, media coverage of the recent military coup in Honduras is often misleading; even when it is presenting a critical standpoint towards the events. Concentrating on which words are used to characterize the policies conducted by President Zelaya might seem trivial at first sight. But any familiarity to the notion of ‘manufacturing of consent’, and how slight semantic tricks can be used to manipulate public opinion and support, is enough to realize the magnitude of certain omissions. Such oversights rely on the public’s widespread ignorance about some apparently minor legal intricacies in the Honduran Constitution.

For example, most reports have stated that Manuel Zelaya was ousted from his country’s presidency after he tried to carry out a non-binding referendum to extend his term in office. But this is not completely accurate. Such presentation of “facts” merely contributes to legitimizing the propaganda, which is being employed by the coup-makers in Honduras to justify their actions. This interpretation is widespread in US-American liberal environments, especially after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that the coup is unacceptable, but that “all parties have a responsibility to address the underlying problems that led to ’s events.” However, President Zelaya cannot be held responsible for this flagrant violation of the Honduran democratic institutions that he has tried to expand. This is what has actually happened:

The Honduran Supreme Court of Justice, Attorney General, National Congress, Armed Forces and Supreme Electoral Tribunal have all falsely accused Manuel Zelaya of attempting a referendum to extend his term in office

http://www.counterpunch.org/thorensen07012009.html

[DissedByBush]

32. It was obviously about term limits

Even the writer passes by the facts. A constitutional convention was completely unnecessary for any issue except for, in your author's words, "form of government, presidential periods, re-election and Honduran territory."

It seems unlikely he wanted to expand Honduran territory, and they already had a democratic three-branch government, so changing that seems unlikely unless he wanted more power for himself.

We're left with matters of him continuing in power beyond current constitutional limits.

[Judi Lynn]

38. How would you attempt to interpret what the author here:

In fact, the possibility that a president might serve a second term could only emerge in a new constitution that would not be drafted until well after Zelaya left office in January, 2010.

Anyone who has spent serious time researching this is very well acquainted with the facts, not the deceitful spin by fascist butt-in-skis.

[DissedByBush]

45. Who's butting in?

In researching this more, the only country I found butting in to internal Honduran affairs currently is Venezuela.

[No Elephants]

37. Facts are facts. True, but lies are also lies.

[SkyDaddy7]

29. I agree with you!

From what I have read I reached the same conclusions you have...I guess you have noticed we are in the minority. LOL!

[AlphaCentauri]

13. ARTICLE 3

ARTICLE 3. - No one owes allegiance to an usurping government nor those who assume public office via force of arms or utilizing means and procedures that violate or circumvent what is in the Constitution and established by law. The acts taken by such authorities are null. The people have the right to recur to insurrection in order to defend the constitutional order.

spanish
ARTICULO 3.- Nadie debe obediencia a un gobierno usurpador ni a quienes asuman funciones o empleos públicos por la fuerza de las armas o usando medios o procedimientos que quebranten o desconozcan lo que esta Constitución y las leyes establecen. Los actos verificados por tales autoridades son nulos. el pueblo tiene derecho a recurrir a la insurrección en defensa del orden constitucional.

[fascisthunter]

41. .

[Flaneur]

14. No provisions in the Honduran constitution for kidnapping the president

...at gunpoint and deporting him.

The coup has been denounced by the US, all Latin American governments, the OAS, the EU, the UN General Assembly.

Israel and Taiwan, on the other hand, support it.

[DissedByBush]

17. That's the one thing I see wrong from the other side

The arrest and deportation was ordered by his own attorney general and the supreme court, and after congress deliberated impeachment for the illegal firing of the military chief of staff.

But the arrest might not have been legal. I don't know their law well enough. Maybe they should have gone through with the impeachment. But then, their congress and their supreme court are probably the final say of what is legal and we know what side they're on.

[No Elephants]

36. Their military admitted it was a crime, but say they will be exonerated, based upon an "end

justifies the means" rationale. http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/71238.html You know, a rationale similar to that used by the RW in America.


What does RW have to do with it? You don't understand what a "RW meme" means?

[L. Coyote]

42. Military officers putting a President on a plane in his pajamas is ALWAYS a coup!

Doesn't anyone read Latin American history? :rofl:

New GD thread: Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya Discusses Coup
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6020357

In Rare U.S. Broadcast, Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya Discusses Coup, Costa Rica Talks, U.S. Role and More
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/7/9/in_rare_us_broadcast_ousted_honduran

[fascisthunter]

33. not by the military

and not the way they did it.

[midnight]

21. So Zelaya wants to expand the constitution in Honduras so he

is removed? Thanks for this insight.

[eridani]

25. Really? How do you explain that he had an expected successor who was assassinated? n/t

[madrchsod]

2. obama needs to make his position perfectively clear to hillary

this is the state dept`s turf. time to make a stand on who runs foreign policy..the congress or the president.

[Vidar]

8. He's made the right noises so far but that's no longer enough.

Our right wingers, operating through our "gusano"ambassador & CIA types, are going to help consolidate this coup, without some show of strength on Obama's part I don't support military intervention, however, as are record is too dark in Central America.

[SuperTrouper]

10. Yeah, Hillary just passed the buck to Arias as "mediator". That will not work unless Zelaya

accepts to be a toothless, eunochoid, and caretaker President for the last 4 months until election time 11/29/09 at the service of the coup-supporting Honduras Supreme Court and the Honduras National Congress and the Honduran military under Romeo Vazquez Velazquez. Once again the RW GOP will go to the MSM saying that Obama was tepid in Honduras as he was against Iran's mullahs. Even if I do not like Zelaya, the USA should be unequivocal in their condemnation of the coup...

[madrchsod]

12. shit i read about that yesterday..... thanks for reminding me

[santamargarita]

3. Our right-wing assholes are hoping to stage a fascist coup here

They tried with FDR!:popcorn:

[Demeter]

4. And Here I Was, Thrilled that Progressives Were Taking Over Congress

Well, it was a nice dream for a few seconds. Damn speed reading!

[murielm99]

5. Dan Burton!

For some reason, I thought they got rid of that fool.

Watermelon Dan -- He was so convinced that Clinton had murdered Vince Foster that he ran his own ballistics tests in his backyard, shooting at watermelon. He is a lunatic.

[Judi Lynn]

6. Gets a TON of his campaign funds from the right-wing reactionary Miami Cubans. n/t

[AlbertCat]

7. Our meddling in South and Central America's affairs have worked out so well....

....why stop now????

[IndianaGreen]

19. Horrors! Zelaya got generic drugs from Cuba!

Cuba has supplied Honduras with generic medicines. None of this endeared Zelaya to his former allies in the political class, nor to senior commanders in the armed forces. He had already alienated them by raising the national minimum wage by 60 per cent.

http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/features/behind_the_honduran_coup

We can't have Americans get funny ideas that socialism may just be the "Change We Can Believe In."

[anonymous171]

20. Zelaya is far from a saint, but this new guy is a full blown fascist.

I kind of hope that the CIA, if they should feel so inclined , works its magic in the next couple of months. But ,knowing the CIA, they would probably only fuck with Honduras if they had just experienced a leftist coup rather than a conservative one. They are funny that way.

[IndianaGreen]

22. Zelaya could pass for a moderate Democrat in the US

Zelaya implemented domestic reform policies, significantly increasing the minimum wage of workers and teachers’ salaries, while increasing spending on health care and education.

The upshot is that a reform-minded president supported by labour unions and social organisations is now pitted against a mafia-like, drug-ridden, corrupt political elite that is accustomed to controlling the Supreme Court, Congress and the presidency.

It is a story often repeated elsewhere in Latin America, with the United States almost always weighing in on the side of the established, entrenched interests.

The Honduran elites were outraged that a member of their class would carry out even modest reforms. They began to portray Zelaya as a demagogue, and demonised Chavez as trying to take over the country.

When Zelaya announced that he would hold a plebiscite on June 28 to see if the country wanted to have the option in the upcoming November presidential elections to vote for the convening of a constituent assembly that would draft a new constitution, the political establishment would have none of it.

They falsely claimed that Zelaya was trying to stand for re-election (a lie repeated by the international media).

http://www.greenleft.org.au/2009/801/41254

[Judi Lynn]

23. Here's the next paragraph, well worth grasping, for the coup-supporting non-Demcrats:

In fact, the possibility that a president might serve a second term could only emerge in a new constitution that would not be drafted until well after Zelaya left office in January, 2010.

What a shame the overly loud voices supporting the armed abduction of Honduras' elected President and the coup can't be silent long enough for these Einsteins to simply get in touch with the facts of this situation FIRST before giving us the benefit of their brilliant opinions.

[Chulanowa]

26. You'll come to learn...

That around here, the only good Latin American government is an outright fascist one. Every Latin leadr who smells faintly liberal basically gets torn apart by DU'ers who must really like cheap bananas or something

[nashville_brook]

27. that's so true -- sad, but true.

[fascisthunter]

35. oh... it hasn't gone unnoticed

how they can call themselves Democrats is beyond me.

[No Elephants]

39. Not all DUers even pretend to be Dems, except to the extent that posting here implies being Dem.

Call them on being cons and they toss a lot of red herrings around, but don't outright claim to be Democrats.

Wish Democrats would close the screen door behind them.

[Zhade]

46. It's easy -- those who support fascists have no problem with also being outright liars.

NT!

[fascisthunter]

34. wow... great find

[Judi Lynn]

40. It's been completely omitted by our rigid corporate media. n/t

[Solly Mack]

24. K&R

[starroute]

28. I'm getting flashbacks of the late 70's-early 80's

This pattern of right-wingers in the US supporting and cooperating with ultra-right-wingers in Latin America is painfully reminiscent of the situation during the Carter administration, when fascist regimes were being supported by groups like WACL and CIS, by right-wing politicians like Jesse Helms, and by rogue elements of the CIA.

After working behind Carter's back -- and in some cases actively undermining him -- those groups went on in the early Reagan years to carry out much of the administration's illegal Latin American strategy. They supported the Contras, they cheered on death squad leaders, and they harassed and terrorized US opponents of the Latin American fascist regimes.

Many of the same people and groups are still around, on both the US and Latin American sides. Dan Burton -- mentioned in the OP -- was closely associated with Helms back in the 80's. Dana Rohrabacher is another name out of that period.

Two groups funded with taxpayer money through the National Endowment for Democracy -- the International Republican Institute and the Center for International Private Enterprise -- appear to be in close contact with the ultra-conservative Venezuelan group CEDICE. Those groups (and others on the more liberal end of the spectrum) were founded in 1983 to do openly what the CIA had been doing illegally in the way of meddling in other countries' elections. Their activities have generally been more-or-less in alignment with US foreign policy -- but now I'm getting a strong sense that they may be preparing to go rogue and start actively sabotaging Obama's policies.

Anti-communism was one of the strongest organizing principles for the Republican Party over many decades, helping bring together business interests, libertarians, and other groups that might not otherwise have had anything in common. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, the GOP has been reduced to its essentially non-existent domestic agenda and as a result has become increasingly fragmented. They'd love nothing more than to get that sort of consensus back.

In a lot of what's been going on lately, I can see seeds of an attempt to turn "anti-socialism" into a new organizing principle that applies to both foreign governments that challenge the dominance of US corporations and progressive or pro-labor policies at home. Support for the Honduran coup may not have much traction as an issue right now -- but if it helps them get their messages and their mailing lists together, it could be a harbinger of things to come.

[Judi Lynn]

30. That makes absolute sense. I had wondered why they kept dragging out that wildly odd "commie scare"

crap so many years after the U.S. outgrew it, even forgot about it. Since the old "commie scare" days, the efforts to control Latin America seemed to have taken up the banner of "drug fighting," using THAT as the overriding reason to keep a military presence occupying as much terrain as possible south of the border, under the guise of "helping" Presidents with their "drug problems."

No matter how hard they have ridden this new drug steed it just hasn't gotten them to their ultimate goal in summoning free-floating rage and xenophobia they can successfully harnass for that good old-fashioned hysteria they loved so deeply as it allowed them to make complete fools of themselves while attempting to portray themselves as patriots.

You have put the whole matter into focus, without a doubt.

[Judi Lynn]

31. Please examine the photo airbrushed to remove blood from the dead protester, posted by subsuelo:

LaPrensa airbrushed the blood out of the Isis Obed Murillo photo
Posted by subsuelo

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=405x18371

Just discovered this was posted in the Latin America forum.

It will give you something to think about very seriously.

[L. Coyote]

43. One must ask, "Is this the Pro-Narco Caucus?"

They really need to look a little deeper at what drives the political corruption
in small Latin American countries, and who Zelaya is an actual threat to.

[Mudoria]

44. The Honduran Congress made the mistake of not impeaching him.

Trying to hold an illegal referendum ought to have been enough to provide the grounds to do so. The coup accomplished the same thing but the public relations for an impeachment would have made much better PR since the Honduran people elected the Congress. No one elected the military.