Sept. 15th - Central American Independence Day; Neocolonialism meets resistance in Honduras

[Downwinder]

Quixote Center

http://www.quixote.org/content/sept-15th-central-american-independence-day-neocolonialism-meets-resistance-honduras

[Peace Patriot]

1. Some important points in this article...

Perhaps the most important point that the article brings home is that the Honduran election is imminent (in November), the coup government is still in place, extrajudicial (death squad) killings of political leftists continue, thousands of political leftists are still in jail, the resistance coalition and President Zelaya have called for a boycott of the election, the OAS, the UN, the EU and the US government have all said that they will not recognize the results of a coup-run election, and the coup government has "passed a law" making it illegal for any Honduran to advocate boycotting the election.

Another important and very interesting item--first I've heard of it (the bold-face, underlined part): "The United States cut more aid and announced that visas were being revoked for 17 key people in the coup government, including the defacto president, attorney general, head of armed forces and all 14 Supreme Court Judges. Perhaps even more threatening to the coup regime, the United States cancelled an unknown number of visas for powerful civilians who back the coup. This past week end, Adolfo Facussé, president of the powerful National Association of Industries of Honduras, which many think has financed the coup, was taken off his flight from Honduras and held by ICE agents in Miami before being deported back to Honduras. Creating this kind of embarrassment may just be the most effective thing the U.S. has done to date to discourage supporters of the coup. A few days prior to his trip, Mr. Facussé announced a plan devised by business owners to increase the vote in the November elections. Pro-coup businesses are considering offering discounts to people who show the ink on their fingers indicating that they have voted."

Two other items with regard to this so-called election: The EU has formally declared that it will not monitor this election for the coup government. That's new. The UN last week said that it is withholding election aid funds to Honduras.

Here's the latest extrajudicial killing: "Selective murders continue on a weekly basis. On Saturday August 29th, Ismael Padilla was murdered by unknown assailants in front of his house. Padilla was President of the Association of Microbuses, and had accompanied President Zelaya to pick up ballot boxes in one of the busses on the day before the coup. His assassination was a clear message to all who oppose the coup, and support the call for a Constitutional Assembly."

The article points to a coup PR/killing-leftists strategy of avoiding mass killings and iPhone-exposable shootings and beatings of protestors, but to pick off important individual leftist political organizers with selective killings and also selective arrests and detentions. They also now have their own self-made law outlawing free speech as to the massive election boycott, which means that they have permitted themselves the "lawful" excuse to suppress protests leading up to, and on, election day. I read an account of a resistance coalition meeting reported by NarcoNews at which they discussed a counter-strategy, for those afraid of beatings, arrest and "getting put on lists," of entering the voting booth but voting for more than one candidate for president. This will invalidate their ballot, and be a form of passive protest, which would be especially effective as an expression of opposition to the coup if many people do it. This is one thing we should look out for, in following events in Honduras. The coup government may announce a big turnout but fail to state that huge numbers of voters deliberately invalidated their ballots as a protest.

The military backing off from using live ammunition on protestors and other, highly visible brutal tactics may have resulted from this (as well as all the international pressure and spotlight). From the OP: "The visit which perhaps had the most influence on the behavior of the coup government was that of the International Criminal Court. One of the members of this delegation was Judge Garzon, the Spanish Judge who brought the infamous Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet to trial. Garzon stated that he was, 'gravely concerned by the human rights situation in the country.'”

International pressure on the coup continues to be intense and quite particularised (not just BS words). For instance (from the OP and reported elsewhere): "Earlier this week, an incident occurred at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. Several countries, including Brazil, Argentina and Mexico refused to allow the representative from Honduras to stay in the session unless he was approved by President Zelaya. After several hours of conflict, which postponed the opening of the session, he was escorted out by UN guards."

You gotta figure the coup government is still getting large amounts of money from somewhere, and lots of signals from rightwing forces in the US that they should keep their stranglehold on Honduras. This raises the question of whether President Obama and Sec of State Clinton are insincere in their opposition to the coup OR are being sabotaged by fascist operatives like John McCain and by Bushwhack moles in the State Dept., the diplomatic corps, the Pentagon and agencies like the USAID. I have not decided what I think of this yet. Obama/Clinton have become increasingly anti-coup in their actions, and this could be a sign that they are increasingly getting a handle on what was a Bushwhack-laid booby trap in Honduras. Maybe I'm being too charitable and too hopeful, but I don't think things are very clear yet, as to US (Obama/Clinton) foreign policy in Latin America or in Honduras. And they could be in some middle position between good and evil--that is, they intended to wink at the coup, because it serves US corporate and war profiteer interests, but soon realized that the Latin American and international communities, and the people of Honduras, were not going to let the coup be winked at, and that winking at this coup was going to undermine every other initiative of theirs in Latin America, and possibly elsewhere, so they were compelled to get serious about restoring democracy in what is essentially a US client state (Honduras).

If I were forced to guess at this point, I'd have to say that the middle position between good and evil is likely the truth, but again, I'm not sure. There also could be a "hawks vs doves" thing going on within the Obama administration, with regard to the Latin American Left, and Honduras, or, say, a situation where Clinton was following her own inclinations (pro-coup, pro-big business, pro-multinationals, pro-war profiteer, pro-US military bases, anti-democratic, anti-Left) but was at some point reined in, and has had to begin implementing Obama's policy (as opposed to her own), which is more peaceful and pro-democracy. Clinton aside, I think it is very likely that the Bushwhacks laid all sorts of "land mines" for Obama in Latin America (and everywhere else, including here at home). And we need to be careful and wise in judging situations where he may be dealing with evil people who can easily destroy his presidency, Diebold him out of office in 2012 and even kill him. US democracy has not yet been restored. We are extremely vulnerable to manipulation of our elections and our perceptions. These are not normal political times in this country and we should never forget that.

[Peace Patriot]

2. It is notable that Mexico has been so active against the Honduran coup...

"Earlier this week, an incident occurred at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. Several countries, including Brazil, Argentina and Mexico refused to allow the representative from Honduras to stay in the session unless he was approved by President Zelaya. After several hours of conflict, which postponed the opening of the session, he was escorted out by UN guards."

Just wanted to add this thought. One of the dangers for Obama/Clinton in not doing enough to oust the coup in Honduras is that the sovereignty of Latin American countries is the one issue that unites much of the rightwing leadership of Latin America with the majority left wing leadership. Cuba is another issue of unity. Many Latin American leaders see the coup in Honduras as a US-sponsored coup, and they have good reason to believe this. The Honduran economy and the Honduran military are dependent on US financial support. It is impossible to believe that the Honduran oligarchy and military committed this audacious coup without significant nods from US powers--possibly from the Bushwhack-appointed ambassador in Honduras and from in the Pentagon, as well as from fascists like McCain, if not from Obama or Clinton. And many Latin American leaders therefore see this coup as something the US could be planning to do to them--even to rightwing leaders who do not sufficiently kowtow to US interests.

Mexico's rightwing president, Felipe Calderon, did something very interesting way back in March 2006, when he had only just been (s)elected (in a highly controversial vote count, in which leftist Lopez-Obrador came within 0.05% of winning the election). Bush Jr. then did a 'tour' of the backyard, stopping in Mexico. In greeting him, Calderon publicly lectured Junior on the sovereignty of Latin American countries, using Venezuela as the example! It's possible that Calderon was just posturing--trying to get a little distance between himself and the hated US pResident. Junior was likely there to do some kneecapping on US oil policy--to push Calderon to hurry up the privatization of Mexico's constitutionally protected oil resource against adamant opposition within Mexico. But I get the impression that Calderon was not just posturing. Even this rightwing leader dislikes being pushed around by the US.

A bit later, in accepting billions of US tax dollars for the "war on drugs," he insisted that the money be controlled by the Mexican government and police forces (as opposed to the DEA and the Pentagon)--another item on which you could say that he was posturing, and he probably was, to some extent, but his position was a reflection of widespread sentiment, within Mexico, and throughout Latin America, against US domination and bullying. Also, recently, Calderon has abandoned some US war tactics in the "war on drugs" and supported the decriminalization of individual citizen possession and use of small amounts of marijuana, cocaine, heroine and other forbidden drugs, and he fired the hard right Mexican head of the "war on drugs" program. The Obama administration expressed "disappointment" at this SANE Mexican policy change. Calderon would have been less free to implement it, if he had not asserted Mexico's sovereignty on the "war on drugs" to begin with, and had accepted US dictation on how it should be run.

In any case, even in a place like Colombia, where US clientelism is rampant, there is resentment against US dictation and some national, and even regional (Latin American), pride. In Colombia, President Alvaro Uribe--who is certainly bad news (close connections to death squads and drug lords)--is torn between regional economic integration and its advantages for Colombia (integration with a dozen countries with leftist governments) and complete US subjugation of Colombia by the US military and US "free trade." He is therefore vulnerable to being ousted by the Rumsfeld-like former Defense Minister, Manuel Santos, either in a phony, Santos-death-squad run election or by an outright military coup.

All this makes it very interesting that Mexico has played such an active role against the coup in Honduras. The Honduran coup embassy staff and ambassador in Mexico City, for instance, were thrown out of their embassy by Zelaya's representatives, with the help of other countries' embassies, and with the cooperation of Mexican authorities. That happened early on. And here Mexico has helped to deny Honduran coup diplomats even observer status at a UN meeting.

US aid and US domination are a double-edged sword. It may cut in your favor, at one time--if you are a rightwinger--and it may cut your throat, later on, if you are not sufficiently compliant with US interests. The leaders of South Vietnam, Panama, Haiti, Iraq and other countries have all learned this lesson the hard way. (And the current leader of Colombia may be ripe for ouster as well, one way or another--why else would the NYT be publishing articles on his corruption?). This may have stiffened Calderon's spine as to the Honduran coup, which is clearly supported by rightwing forces here in the US. He is defying those forces in several ways and on several important issues.