Right-Wing Wins Honduran Election

It looks like the right-wing reactionary forces in Honduras may have gotten what they wanted. They had orchestrated a military coup to oust leftist President Manuel Zelaya, and on Sunday they elected right-winger Porfirio Lobo (pictured)to be the new president (taking office in January).

Zelaya had asked the populace to boycott the election, since the outlaw coup-government was still in power and still refusing to return him to his elected office. The government is claiming a 60% turnout, but Zelaya says the illegal government has inflated the turnout figures.

Honduran right-wingers are hoping the election can be used to justify the military coup they orchestrated, and it looks like the United States will fall into that trap. The U.S. government says they will accept the results of the election (and probably resume foreign aid). Personally, I think the Obama administration is making a big mistake.

Many had hoped that true democracy was coming to Latin America, but support of the newly-elected right-wing government is little more than support for military coups. The rich right-wingers in Honduras should not be allowed to oust by force a government they don't like, and then hold a fraudulent election to justify their action. It signals a return to the "bad old days" in Latin America.

Fortunately, most countries in the Americas are not as easy to deceive as the United States. Most Central and South American countries do not accept Sunday's election results. They see it as a justification of the military coup.

The Brazilian president said, "There are still many nations, especially in Central America, in vulnerable political situations. Brazil therefore must not recognize nor rethink the Honduran question." They say Zelaya will remain in the Brazilian embassy (where he has been for weeks).

Right-wingers think the military coup is still a viable option for retaining their control in Latin America. I hope they are wrong. But if it is not defeated now in Honduras, it will probably spread to other countries.

U.S. Qualifies For World Cup

Saturday night, The United States soccer team (futbol to the rest of the world) qualified for the FIFA World Cup tournament to be held in South Africa in 2010. This is the sixth consecutive time the U.S. has qualified for the tournament (after a drought of 40 years between 1950 and 1990).

It was not easily done. To clinch their birth in the tournament, the U.S. had to beat Honduras at their home stadium -- something no other team has been able to do in this round of qualifying. Honduras was 8-0-0 at home.

Honduras struck first with a goal in the second half, but then Conor Casey (pictured) scored two goals in eight minutes. Landon Donovan scored a third U.S. goal four minutes later. Honduras did score one more goal, but the U.S. held on to win the game 3-2.

Mexico also clinched a berth in the World Cup tournament Saturday night. The third team from our region will be either Honduras or Costa Rico (who the U.S. will play next Wednesday at RFK Stadium). Honduras plays El Salvador the same day. The team that does not win a direct berth will play South America's fifth place team for a last chance to make the tournament.

I look forward to seeing the United States and Mexico play in the World Cup tournament. Although not favored to win it all, both are excellent teams that cannot be taken lightly.

Honduran Regime Curtails Freedoms

A few weeks ago, the rich in Honduras used their political puppets to engineer a military coup. They seized power from the democratically elected president, Manuel Zelaya, and installed their own right-wing zealot, Roberto Micheletti. The excuse these right-wing reactionaries used for the coup was that Zelaya was trying to pass constitutional changes that would allow him to stay in power.

They claimed they were trying to protect Honduran democracy by keeping Zelaya from illegally staying in power. Of course, this was nothing but a huge lie. Zelaya has repeatedly denied a desire to stay in the presidency past his elected term of office. Zelaya was about to hold a vote on some constitutional changes, but it was only a non-binding referendum to see if the people would support the changes if they were made.

The truth is that the reactionaries were afraid of the proposed constitutional changes. They knew it would create a society fairer to the poor and disadvantaged, and this might come at the expense of their vast fortunes. No longer would they be able to take advantage of those with less. So, in order to keep their privilege and position in Honduran society (not to mention their ill-gotten wealth), they organized a military coup -- just like the bad old days.

Some of the right-wing in this country has tried to defend the illegal government installed by the coup, but the actions of the Micheletti government make that harder each day. They have surrounded the Brazilian embassy, where Zelaya is staying, and are now threatening to deny Brazil embassy rights in Honduras so they can seize both the embassy and Zelaya.

Now they have gone even further, and shown themselves to be anything but democratic. They have suspended the right to freedom of speech and the right of the people to congregate and demonstrate.

They have also closed a radio station (Radio Globo) and a television station (Channel 36), and seized their equipment (see picture). They did this because these two news outlets were the only ones brave enough to broadcast all of the news, including that from Zelaya and his supporters.

The so-called "democracy" of the coup government has no freedom of the press, no freedom of speech and no right for the people to peaceably assemble. How can that even be jokingly called a democracy? Can a democracy exist without these freedoms?

The illegal coup government says everything will be alright after the November elections, but even the United Nations says the situation in Honduras is not conducive to free and fair elections, and have withdrawn their election aid. There's no way this illegal government will allow the election of anyone except one of their right-wing flunkies.

Democracy is dead in Honduras. It died on the night of the military coup.

Honduras Still In Crises

The crises in Honduras continues to get worse. Ousted-president Manuel Zelaya has returned to the country, and is currently holed up in the Brazilian embassy in the capital city of Tegucigalpa. The embassy has been ringed by Honduran troops, and the water, electricity and telephone were cut off to the embassy. They were later partially restored (whatever that means).

Meanwhile, the capital is under a curfew and there are police roadblocks on most major streets. In spite of opposition from nearly every country in the Americas, the coup-installed illegal government seems determined to retain power -- by force if necessary.

Meanwhile, President Lula of Brazil (pictured) spoke to the United Nations General Assembly. He believes it is time for the United Nations to act in support of Manuel Zelaya. He said, "Without political will, we will see more coups such as the one that toppled Manuel Zelaya in Honduras. The international community demands that Mr. Zelaya immediately return to the presidency of his country and must be alert to ensure the inviolability of Brazil's diplomatic mission in the capital of Honduras."

President Chavez of Venezuela agreed, saying, "The United Nations should demand that Zelaya be reinstated to government again." In a separate action, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced that the U.N. has suspended giving any assistance to Honduras for its November elections. He said the conditions are not right for "credible elections".

I must agree with Presidents Lula and Chavez. The coup-installed government in Honduras must not be allowed to stand. Doing so would allow the economic elite to be emboldened to fund and stage coups in other Central and South American countries, and that cannot be allowed to happen. It would mean the end of democracy in much of the Americas.

The United States has already cut off foreign aid to Honduras. But that is not enough. It is time for the United Nations to act, and act with sufficient boldness to topple the coup and reinstate Zelaya.

If this is not done soon, we may be looking at the beginning of another civil war.

Foreign Aid Cut Off To Honduras

A few weeks ago, the reactionary forces (rich folks) in Honduras staged a military coup and removed the popularly-elected president, Manuel Zelaya. Zelaya was a left-leaning president who was trying to make the society fairer and more equitable for all Honduran citizens. The coup then installed Roberto Micheletti as "interim" president.

Nearly every country in Central and South America opposed the coup, and demanded the elected president be restored to his rightful position. I think to them, it was reminiscent of the bad old days when elected governments were routinely overthrown by military coups. The United States also objected, and threatened to cut off aid to Honduras if they didn't restore Zelaya.

Since that time, the illegal government in Honduras has ignored all appeals to restore their elected democratic government. I don't think they thought the United States would follow through on its threat. They were wrong.

A state department spokesman says all aid for Honduras has been discontinued (except for humanitarian aid). This will cost Honduras about $200 million.

The spokesman said, "The Secretary of State has made the decision, recognizing the need for strong measures in light of the continued resistance to the adoptionof the San Jose Accord by the de facto regime and continuing failure to restore democratic, constitutional rule to Honduras."

I'm glad the United States had the courage to follow through on its threat. A threat is useless if no one believes you will actually follow through on it.

Now we should turn our attention to Israel and do the same thing. If the Israelis won't stop building settlements in occupied territory (Palestinian land), and return to the negotiating table to seriously negotiate a two-state solution, then we should cut off all foreign aid to them.

Especially with our economy in such poor shape, we should not be sending any money to rogue states.

Civil War Is Possible In Honduras

A couple of weeks ago, the right-wing elements in the Honduran government teamed with the military and ousted their leftist president, Manuel Zelaya, in an illegal coup. The military seized President Zelaya (pictured) the day before the country was to have a constitutional referendum, and flew him to Costa Rica. Then they swore in Roberto Micheletti as a caretaker president.

Most countries in the Americas, including the United States disapproved of the illegal coup. It smacks of a past time in Central and South America when the rich kept power through a series of military coups, and most people had hoped those times were gone forever. The Organization of American States (OAS) has even threatened to kick Honduras out of the organization if they don't return Zelaya to power.

Both sides have agreed to negotiations guided by Nobel Peace Prize winner Oscar Arias, one of the most respected leaders in the Americas. The first round of talks ended without an agreement, and a second round of talks is scheduled for this coming Saturday. But it's starting to look like the talks might fail.

Micheletti has said he would step down if he was assured that Zelaya would not be re-instated, but Arias said that was unacceptable. Arias says, "The restoration of constitutional order must involve the reinstatement of President Manuel Zelaya." Zelaya's supporters agreed. They are demanding that the "illegal regime surrender peacefully."

Meanwhile, Zelaya's foreign minister, Patricia Rodas, says Zelaya is returning to Honduras to set up an alternative "shadow" government. She refused to say where Zelaya currently is, or where and when he will enter the country. She did say, "Our president will be in Honduras at some point and some moment. He is already on his way. God protect him and the people of the Americas who are with him. The establishment and installation of an alternative seat of government will be to direct what I will call the final battle."

That sounds to me like Honduras may be headed for an armed insurrection, or even a full-blown civil war. I hope I'm wrong and Arias is able to pull off a miracle, but things don't look good right now.

Coup Ousts Honduran President

Manuel Zelaya (pictured) has been the president of Honduras since 2006, but that ended this last weekend in a political coup. The Honduran congress voted to oust him, and just before dawn on Sunday, the military took him into custody and flew him to Costa Rica.

The congress said they had removed him because of "repeated violations of the constitution and the law and disregard of orders and judgments of the institutions". However the timing of the ouster makes that a bit suspicious. He was removed by the military just hours before a constitutional election was scheduled to be held.

The election would have authorized constitutional reforms, and could have given Zelaya the right to extend his presidency (his four year term was to end in January 2010). Zelaya says he was ousted by "a plot by a very voracious elite, an elite which wants only to keep this country isolated, in an extreme level of poverty".

The timing of the ouster lends credence to Zelaya's accusations. Why not wait a couple of days and see how the constitutional election came out? Could it be that the power elite knew how it would come out? Did they know the people supported Zelaya and the reforms he was trying to bring -- reforms that the rich and powerful feared?

The United States and most of Latin America are condemning the coup. President Obama has called for Honduras to "respect the rule of law." The U.S. State Department says the U.S. recognizes Manuel Zelaya as the duly elected president of Honduras.

I applaud the action of President Obama and others in opposing the coup. South and Central America has many new democracies, and these democracies must be supported to give the people of these countries a voice in their government.

The coup signals a troubling return to the past, when the rich elite of these countries used military coups to keep their wealth and power, and to deny any change that might empower the poor. These people fear the ballot box and anything approaching a real democracy.

The congress says the new "president" will only rule until elections can be held. But what if the people elect someone else the political elite doesn't like? Will there be another coup? Is this the end of any real democracy in Honduras?