[HNA] SocialistWorker.org: "Honduras' golpistas break deal"

Mon Nov 9 03:51:59 PST 2009

http://socialistworker.org/2009/11/09/honduras-golpistas-break-deal
Honduras' golpistas break deal

Shaun Joseph explains what led to the collapse of an agreement that was
supposed to bring Manuel Zelaya back to office in Honduras.

November 9, 2009

THE POLITICAL crisis that began with the June 28 coup d'etat against
President Manuel Zelaya has reopened afresh after the collapse of a
U.S.-brokered deal apparently agreed to by coup leader Roberto Micheletti
that was supposed to return Zelaya to office.

The agreement, known as the Tegucigalpa/San José Accords, was struck October
28 under the auspices of Thomas Shannon and Daniel Restrepo--respectively
the top Latin America hands for the U.S. State Department and the Obama
White House.

One week later, the deal was in tatters, with its first important step--the
installation of a "government of unity and national reconciliation" by
November 5--devolved into a typically absurd display of Micheletti's
chutzpah.

The accords didn't formally mandate the reinstatement of Zelaya, but the
ousted president clearly expected to return to office by November 5.
Zelaya's confidence in this interpretation, also shared by other
governments, is strong evidence that the U.S. negotiators guaranteed
Zelaya's return.

Because this was for many--including the popular anti-coup resistance--a
precondition for recognition of upcoming elections, scheduled for November
29, tolerating Zelaya until the end of his term in January would have been
the most intelligent option for the Honduras' elite.

Although the business class backed the coup, the relentless struggle of the
resistance has prevented the Micheletti's regime from consolidating and
legitimating itself, opening up splits among the country's rulers about
whether to continue backing the coupmakers. The elections would have given
Honduras' business interests an opportunity to go back to "business as
usual," ending months of exhausting--and expensive--political instability.

But the "golpistas" arrogance has often ruled the day during the coup, and
it appears to have done so again.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

THE FIRST omens that the coup regime would back out of the agreement came
immediately after it was signed, with pro-coup legislators openly predicted
that Zelaya would not be restored--and this didn't draw any objection from
U.S. officials.

The appointment of Labor Secretary Hilda Solis to the agreement's
Verification Commission was a further sign of the Obama administration's
lack of seriousness, given the contrast between the primarily domestic
responsibilities of a labor secretary and the need for international
experience in a critical diplomatic mission.

On November 3, the golpista-controlled Executive Council of the National
Congress declared that it wouldn't convene to discuss the restoration of
Zelaya until *after* the November 29 elections.

At the same time, Micheletti let it be known that he would be assembling a
unity government under his own (illegal) authority. Minutes before midnight
on November 5, he announced the formation of his unilateral "Government of
Unity and National Reconciliation." Its leader was that proven uniter and
reconciler: Roberto Micheletti.

The National Resistance Front Against the Coup d'Etat had greeted the
expected reinstatement of Zelaya under the accords as a "popular victory
over...the pro-coup oligarchy." But the unfolding reality has signaled the
agreement's collapse. In its communiqué of November
5<http://contraelgolpedeestadohn.blogspot.com/2009/11/comunicado-no-33.html>[1],
the Front announced that if Zelaya were not reinstated by midnight, it
would not recognize the elections. The next day, Zelaya declared the
agreement a "failure" and also issued a statement calling for
non-recognition of the
election<http://www.telesurtv.net/noticias/secciones/nota/61184-NN/gobierno-constitucional-declara-fracaso-en-acuerdo-de-tegucigalpa/>[2],
saying, "Elections under dictatorship are a fraud for the people."

The collapse of the Tegucigalpa/San José Accords marks the third breakdown
of attempts to reconcile the legitimate government and the coup regime
through negotiations. Each time, the failure was due to the intransigence of
the golpistas--who seem incapable of making concessions even when it's in
their own greater interests to do so.

The coupmakers have exhausted the patience of even bourgeois diplomats.
Former Chilean President Ricardo Lagos, a member of the Verification
Commission, bluntly blamed Micheletti for breaking the agreement. Costa
Rican President Oscar Arias, a U.S. client who has been trying to impose a
basically pro-oligarchy "compromise" in Honduras, complained that the
golpistas "are looking, by means of delaying tactics, to pass the time until
the elections come, risking that the future government will not be
recognized by some countries."

For its part, the Obama administration has slouched from its confident
declaration of success on October 28 to a more typical posture of
self-contradiction.

In an alarming November 3 interview with CNN en Español, Thomas Shannon
indicated that the U.S. would recognize the Honduran elections even without
the restoration of Zelaya--apparently, a reversal of U.S. policy.

Worse, two days later, Republican Sen. Jim DeMint issued a press
release<http://demint.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.Detail&PressRelease_id=c6542515-c3af-d65a-085d-537015ff8a97>[3]
claiming that he had "secured a commitment from the Obama
administration
to recognize the Honduran elections on November 29th, regardless of whether
former President Manuel Zelaya is returned to office and regardless of
whether the vote on reinstatement takes place before or after November
29th."

DeMint cited personal assurances from both Shannon and Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton. Yet the State Department refused to confirm or deny
DeMint's claims, leading to complete confusion about what official U.S.
policy actually is--or if it exists.

Over the weekend, Micheletti--apparently under pressure from U.S. Ambassador
Hugo Llorens--announced a "waiting period" before installing his "unity
government." However, a meeting between Llorens and representatives of
Zelaya and Micheletti got nowhere.

Furthermore, Llorens told Radio America, "The elections will be part of the
reality, and will return Honduras to a path to democracy." Even if the U.S.
had always intended to recognize the elections, it makes no sense to say so
now--this give ups any U.S. leverage with the golpistas and exposes
Washington politically. Obama's policy, simultaneously cynical and stupid,
arouses nothing but contempt.

If the Honduran coup is, as resistance leader Juan Barahona characterized
it, an "experiment in turning back the clock" to the days before the advance
of the populist trends in Latin America, then the U.S. has let the
experiment go awry. Its tacit backing of the coup is on the verge of
becoming explicit, bringing the Obama administration down on the unpopular
side of a deeply divisive issue across the hemipshere.

Although few Latin American governments are eager to cross the U.S., most
will find it difficult or impossible to support elections conducted under a
manifestly illegal dictatorship that is widely hated by the Latin American
public. This is the kind of "with us or against us" policy that other
governments hoped the Obama administration would abandon.

The situation inside Honduras defies prediction. As Berta Cáceres of COPINH,
the indigenous resistance organization, said in a November 1
speech<http://hondurasresists.blogspot.com/2009/11/berta-caceres-we-only-have-one-option.html>[4],
"[I]f there is a scenario...where they don't reinstate the president,
then this country will approach a tremendous situation. Greater repression
and violence, maybe even a civil war, which the people don't want, and then
more isolation."

One should also add the possibility of international war, given the
golpistas' isolation, xenophobia and provocations--particularly against the
Brazilian Embassy where Zelaya has stayed since his secret return to
Tegucigalpa.

Yet as Cáceres insists, "In all of these scenarios, brothers and sisters, we
only have one option. In all of them--in whichever one that happens--it is
to struggle. It is to continue in the resistance. It is to march towards the
refounding of this country."

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
 What you can do

Spanish readers can find out more about the National Resistance Front
Against the Coup d'Etat <http://contraelgolpedeestadohn.blogspot.com/> [5]
at its Web site. Material support for the Front can be provided via an
international bank account listed at the site.

The Quixote Center <http://quixote.org/> [6] organizes a great deal of
Honduras solidarity work in the U.S., including solidarity delegations. In
the Boston area, there is a very active Committee in Solidarity with the
Honduran Resistance <http://www.hondurasresists.org/> [7].

For more on the situation in Honduras, Spanish speakers can find live
streaming video from the Venezuelan TV station
TeleSur<http://www.telesurtv.net/>[8]. The Honduran TV network
Cholusat
Sur <http://www.cholusatsur.com/> [9] and radio station Radio
Globo<http://contraelgolpedeestadohn.blogspot.com/2009/09/resistencia.html>[10]
also provide live streams, although both are frequently pulled off the
air by the golpistas.

English speakers can find frequent updates at the excellent Honduras
Oye!<http://hondurasoye.wordpress.com/>[11], Honduras
Coup 2009 <http://hondurascoup2009.blogspot.com/> [12], Honduras
Resists<http://hondurasresists.blogspot.com/>[13] and
Quotha <http://quotha.net/> [14].

The Facebook page Miguel and Shaun in
Honduras<http://www.facebook.com/pages/Miguel-and-Shaun-in-Honduras/127086057240>[15]
also posts frequent updates from a variety of sources in both
languages.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

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<http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0>[16] license, except
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   1. [1]
   http://contraelgolpedeestadohn.blogspot.com/2009/11/comunicado-no-33.html<http://contraelgolpedeestadohn.blogspot.com/2009/11/comunicado-no-33.html>
   2. [2]
   http://www.telesurtv.net/noticias/secciones/nota/61184-NN/gobierno-constitucional-declara-fracaso-en-acuerdo-de-tegucigalpa/<http://www.telesurtv.net/noticias/secciones/nota/61184-NN/gobierno-constitucional-declara-fracaso-en-acuerdo-de-tegucigalpa/>
   3. [3]
   http://demint.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.Detail&PressRelease_id=c6542515-c3af-d65a-085d-537015ff8a97<http://demint.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.Detail&PressRelease_id=c6542515-c3af-d65a-085d-537015ff8a97>
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   http://hondurasresists.blogspot.com/2009/11/berta-caceres-we-only-have-one-option.html<http://hondurasresists.blogspot.com/2009/11/berta-caceres-we-only-have-one-option.html>
   5. [5] http://contraelgolpedeestadohn.blogspot.com/<http://contraelgolpedeestadohn.blogspot.com/>
   6. [6] http://quixote.org/ <http://quixote.org/>
   7. [7] http://www.hondurasresists.org <http://www.hondurasresists.org/>
   8. [8] http://www.telesurtv.net/ <http://www.telesurtv.net/>
   9. [9] http://www.cholusatsur.com <http://www.cholusatsur.com/>
   10. [10]
   http://contraelgolpedeestadohn.blogspot.com/2009/09/resistencia.html<http://contraelgolpedeestadohn.blogspot.com/2009/09/resistencia.html>
   11. [11] http://hondurasoye.wordpress.com/<http://hondurasoye.wordpress.com/>
   12. [12] http://hondurascoup2009.blogspot.com/<http://hondurascoup2009.blogspot.com/>
   13. [13] http://hondurasresists.blogspot.com/<http://hondurasresists.blogspot.com/>
   14. [14] http://quotha.net/ <http://quotha.net/>
   15. [15]
   http://www.facebook.com/pages/Miguel-and-Shaun-in-Honduras/127086057240<http://www.facebook.com/pages/Miguel-and-Shaun-in-Honduras/127086057240>
   16. [16] http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0<http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0>
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