Nothing betrays US mentoring for, if not complicity in, this coup quite like the way the military enlisted the Honduran Congress and Supreme Court to endorse it. In fact, after passing a resolution accusing Zelaya of “manifest irregular conduct [and] putting in present danger the state of law,” the Congress voted (“by a show of hands”) to remove Zelaya and appoint its leader, Roberto Micheletti, to replace him.
Meanwhile, they launched this perfectly executed coup despite the fact that Zelaya’s only crime seems to have been championing a constitutional referendum that would have allowed him to emulate his mentor, Chavez, by removing term limits on his presidency.
[Déjà vu: American-trained military executes coup in Honduras, TIJ, June 29, 2009]
This, in part, was my take on the military coup that forced the democratically elected leader of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, into exile two months ago this week – with nothing but the pajamas he was wearing.
And since then, US authorities have done all they could to spin the inherently specious notion that Zelaya deserved to be ousted. Unfortunately, he has done all he could to give credence to this notion.
For the US was clearly trying to undermine efforts to return Zelaya to power by insinuating that he had too much in common with diehard socialists President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and President Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua.
Yet Zelaya himself was doing even more to undermine those efforts by staging vainglorious protests at the Nicaraguan-Honduran border, hoping that his entourage and Honduran supporters would march him in a caravan back into power.
My presence in Honduras can undo this coup. The people will surround me, and the soldiers will lower their rifles.
(Zelaya)
Instead, chaos invariably ensued as Honduran border guards dispersed “the people” and allowed him to get no more than 10 meters pass the ‘Welcome to Honduras’ sign before forcing him back into Nicaraguan territory.
Moreover, these incidents made a mockery of internationally sanctioned mediations, headed by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, a Nobel Peace Laureate, that were aimed at letting Zelaya complete his term, which expires in January.
And, the shrewd politician that she is, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wasted little time insinuating that his “reckless” cross-border antics demonstrated that he was mentally unfit to serve as president.
Still unbowed and undeterred, Zelaya somehow managed to sneak back into the country a week ago, but ended up at the Brazilian embassy, where he has been holed up ever since.
In fact, all he seems to have accomplished by this latest stunt is to turn his domestic political dispute into a combustible row between Honduras and Brazil, prompting the US Ambassador to the OAS to condemn him as follows:
The return of Zelaya absent an agreement is irresponsible and foolish … He should cease and desist from making wild allegations and from acting as though he were starring in an old movie.
For its part, here’s how the Honduran interim government reacted to his return:
Since the clandestine arrival to Honduras by ex-president Zelaya, the Brazil embassy has been used to instigate violence and insurrection against the Honduran people and the constitutional government… No country is able to tolerate that a foreign embassy is used as a command base to generate violence and break tranquility like Mr. Zelaya has been doing in our country since his arrival.
(Official statement by the Honduran interim government)
Then, even though it has said that Zelaya is a “guest” of the Brazilian Embassy in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa, here’s how the Brazilian government responded to the ultimatum the Honduran government issued over the weekend to formally decide Zelaya’s status:
Brazil doesn’t accept ultimatums from coup-plotting governments.
This means that we now have a good old-fashioned standoff between two countries where machismo seems a far more respectable trait than diplomacy. And with Zelaya’s supporters threatening violent protests, all of the ingredients are in place for a very bloody end to this political crisis.
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Déjà vu: American-trained military executes coup
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