Lobo Reverses Stance on Honduran Coup

[Judi Lynn]

Posted: May 30, 2010 07:42 AM
Lobo Reverses Stance on Honduran Coup

Last week, Honduran President Porfirio Lobo Sosa publicly acknowledged that the expulsion of President Manuel Zelaya from the country on June 28, 2009, constituted a coup. This was a startling admission from a man who won last year's presidential election in a climate rife with fear, repression and censorship. Lobo's belated recognition of the coup suggests that the pressure to normalize relations with the international community may be getting to him. He has now reversed his earlier position, and in doing so, risked putting himself at odds with allies throughout the Honduran political establishment.

Porfirio Lobo had walked a veritable tightrope on his way to assuming the presidency in January. He was the front-runner well before the June 2009 coup, and the fissure within the Partido Liberal that culminated in the coup all but assured him and his Partido Nacional an electoral victory. There was never any question that Lobo would participate in the elections. But Lobo did not want to appear too close to Roberto Micheletti, the de facto president at the time, for fear of alienating the many Hondurans opposed to Micheletti or the international community that he would have to engage as president.

Days after Zelaya's expulsion, Lobo explicitly denied that a coup had taken place. Lobo then resorted to dodging the question, blaming Zelaya for provoking the crisis while offering mild critiques of the Micheletti government. By never taking a position against Zelaya's illegal ouster and Micheletti's installation as president, Lobo continued to effectively condone the coup. Once in power, Lobo declared amnesty for those involved and rewarded coup supporters. Most notably, General Romeo Vásquez, head of the armed forces that expelled Zelaya, became the head of Hondutel, the national telephone company.

But what are the consequences of Lobo's public recognition that the events of June 28, 2009, were in fact a coup? If nothing else, it will likely raise concern among the leaders of both dominant parties, the Supreme Court, the armed forces, and the various other state institutions and political players who defended Zelaya's ouster as a "constitutional succession." And, with the recent launch of the controversial Truth Commission, those responsible for the coup may fear that Lobo's pronouncement will pave the way for a more critical and threatening report.

Thus, uttering the simple words "it was a coup," Lobo has risked alienating domestic political allies and sparking further attacks from the Honduran Right against the Truth Commission.

More:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-altschuler/lobo-reverses-stance-on-h_b_594717.html

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