US Support is Propping Up Honduran Military Coup
By Francisco Dominguez Whilst the popular movement continues to mobilise in Honduras,Chavez’s remarks reflect the fact that the United States is the only country in the hemisphere that still maintains diplomatic relations with the de-facto Micheletti government in Honduras. Washington has not withdrawn its ambassador from Tegucigalpa.
It is only because of pressure from a united Latin America to reject the coup that US State Department official Ian Kelly announced (July 2) that the US has "paused" economic aid "directly aiding the government" pending the outcome of its legal finding. In other words, the US has not suspended or terminated economic aid.
Furthermore, the US has not ended the pouring of millions of US dollars to ‘civil society’ through ‘democracy promotion’ programmes funded through the National Endowment for Democracy, the International Republican Institute and USAID. These three US bodies have channelled
US taxpayers’ money to various Honduran organisations which form part of the so-called ‘Union Civica Democratica’ (Civil Democratic Union) which has publicly backed the coup against President Zelaya.
The United States could easily cancel the tariff exemptions it grants Honduras under the terms of the Central America Free Trade Agreement(CAFTA), yet it has chosen to continue granting thus sending a signal to Micheletti et al, that rhetoric apart, the US government is not serious about condemning the coup and is not prepared to put an immediate end to it.
The coup was carried out by General Vasquez, head of the Armed Forces and Graduate of the notorious School of the Americas in US – the school of death squads and coups, and General Suazo, head of the Air Force, also a graduate of the school of the Americas. Previous military dictators in the 70’s and 80’s were similarly graduates, when the contras were organised from Honduras and Battalion 3-16 was the most feared death squad and the model for others. Apart from the assassination of Isis Obedo Murillo, 19, by bullets fired by soldiers at the Toncontin airport on July 5, there are extremely worrying reports of social movement leaders being assassinated this weekend. The victims were Roger Bados, 54, and Ramon Garcia, 40. It has already been noted that the killings carried out were typical to those committed by the death squads of the 1980s.
No condemnation has been issued by the US about these killings nor have any demands been made on Micheletti to answer for such attacks on democracy, human rights and human life, which totally belies President Obama’s pronouncements to defend democracy and begin a new era of relations with its Southern neighbours. It is clear that such ambiguity and clear action on the part of the Washington only emboldens the dictatorship in Tegucigalpa.
The de facto government in Honduras has stripped the people of Honduras of basic freedoms, namely; the right to protest, freedom from unwarranted arrest or seizure, freedom of association, the right to a fair trial, freedom of movement, and the rights of the media. Indeed, it has illegally arrested and expelled journalists from VTV and Telesur from Honduras, with no charges against them.
Read the full article here:
http://www.londonprogressivejournal.com/issue/show/79?article_id=483
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