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Honduras: Lasting Effects of the Coup
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The crisis in Honduras has reached a crucial stage. A dialog is beginning between the de-facto president Roberto Michelltti and the deposed president Manuel Zelaya. The Organization of American States will have another go at reconciling the two sides this week. Both camps say a peaceful solution is on the horizon. Zelaya returned to Tegucigulpa on September 21st and is still holed up in the Brazilian embassy. It’s been three months now since he was deposed.
On the ground, the crisis sounds as bad as ever with road blocks and curfews, censorship and hunger strikes. Kurst VerBeek is in Tegucigulpa. He’s a teacher at Calvin College and a founder of The Association for a More Just Society in Honduras. ASJ is focused on making structural changes in Honduras to help the country's poor. VerBeek describes the kind of ripple effects the coup has had with people on the ground.
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Gary Cozette, Chicago/Lakeview // Monday, October 05, 2009 @ 2:54 PM
It was disappointing that Mr. VerBeek repeats the centerpiece of misinformation invented by the coup plotters that President Zelaya of Honduras was forcibly removed from office because he was seeking to remain in office for anther term in violation of the Honduran Constitution. In fact, what President Zelaya was sought was a non-binding "consulta" (consultation vote) vote on June 28 to offer a referendum during the scheduled presidential vote this November 2009 asking the Honduran voters if they would support a process to rewrite the Honduran Constitution. If they agreed, a referendum would have appeared on this November's ballot seeking a Constitutional Constituent Assembly to carry out this task.
Thus, President Zelaya did not seek to be on the ballot in November, but rather sought last June 28 to ask the voting public if they would like to see a referendum in November to open a process of Constitutional reform. At some future time, after a new Constitution is rewritten, which MIGHT include the possibility of more than one term, one would any past president would be able to run again, not just Mr. Zelaya. But the earliest that would likely be is in four years, given that the formation of a Constitutional Constituent Assembly and a Constitutional rewrite would easily take two or three years. The coup plotters knew all of this from the beginning, and planned along with their public relations consultants in the USA a misinformation campaign that the coup was about Zelaya seeking a 2nd term. For more information on this, check Mark Weisbrot's "US leaves Honduras to its fate" in the Guardian UK, July 9, 2009 http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/jul/08/honduras-coup-washington-zelaya
Moreover, the Catholic Church hierarchy - especially the Cardinal - fully and publicly supported the coup. This is well documented, most prominently in "Honduras had a new kind of coup", July 12, 2009, by Tracy Wilkinson in the LA Times I mention this because twice in the interview, the Catholic Church was cited as a trustworthy institutional power in Honduras above the fray. At best, this is misleading. It is unfortunate the Honduran Catholic Cardinal supported the coup in Honduras, as the Catholic Cardinal in Venezuela supported the 2002 coup in Venezuela that briefly overthrew President Chavez. In both cases, the Catholic Church leadership supported efforts to illegally depose the duly elected President through open, fair elections. This is an unfortunate and truly sad new chapter of Catholic heirarchical leadership in Latin America.
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