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HONDURAS:
Referendum Row Rocks Democracy
By Thelma Mejía
TEGUCIGALPA, Jun 26 (IPS) - Honduras is caught up in a
crisis following the dismissal of the head of the armed
forces for refusing to provide logistics and security for a
non-binding referendum called by President Manuel Zelaya for
Sunday, the legality of which is disputed by the courts and
the opposition.
The government has called the referendum to decide whether
or not to hold a formal vote on creating a Constituent
Assembly to rewrite the constitution, during the Nov. 29
national elections.
At a press conference Wednesday night, left-leaning
President Zelaya, flanked by leading left-wing social and
political supporters, announced the dismissal of the head of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Romeo Vásquez, and his
acceptance of the resignation of Defence Minister Edmundo
Orellana.
A military source told IPS that the meeting between Zelaya
and the armed forces chiefs had been tense. The chiefs of
staff told the president they could not help distribute and
guard the ballot boxes for the referendum, because in their
view it was unconstitutional, and there was a court order
against it.
"So the president sacked Vásquez, and the other members of
the high command resigned in solidarity with him, along with
the defence minister," said the source, who spoke on
condition of anonymity.
In his official announcement, however, Zelaya did not
mention the resignation of commanders Javier Prince of the
air force, Juan Rodríguez of the navy and Miguel García of
the army.
General Vásquez told IPS "it was difficult for us to tell
the president, who is the commander-in-chief of the armed
forces, that we could not comply with his order because it
ran counter to the constitution, and there was an explicit
court order against (the referendum) because it was
illegal."
"Unfortunately, President Zelaya pays no attention to
legality and reason," he said.
Vásquez refused Friday to step down, after the Supreme Court
revoked Thursday the president’s decision to dismiss him.
But Zelaya told a crowd of cheering supporters that he would
not reinstate Vásquez.
The Attorney General's Office, which appealed the dismissal
in the Supreme Court, said it regarded the president's
decision to hold the referendum as "illegal," and therefore
his order to the military commanders as well.
Hundreds of troops with tanks surrounded the seat of
government and the international airport in Tegucigalpa on
Thursday, according to local press reports, ostensibly to
prevent disturbances by supporters of the president.
A broad collection of organisations called on their ranks to
mobilise Friday in Tegucigalpa, in support of the government
and democracy. Demonstrators from other parts of the country
were arriving in the capital late Thursday.
On Friday the president and his supporters went to an air
force base to recover voting material for the referendum, to
take it "to a safe place," where preparations for the Sunday
vote would be made.
Also on Friday, Zelaya announced that Congress was plotting
a "technical coup" to remove him from power by legal
manoeuvres (such as an impeachment vote). The leaders of the
five parties represented in parliament are meeting to seek
legal and constitutional mechanisms to overcome the
political crisis.
In the early hours of Wednesday, Congress passed a law
banning any referendum or plebiscite being held within 180
days of presidential elections.
The rebellion of the military high command is added to the
serious political conflicts unleashed two months ago, when
the government launched its referendum proposal, which
opponents regard as an attempt by Zelaya to remain in
office.
The president took office in 2006 and his term is due to end
in January 2010. Under the present constitution, he cannot
stand for reelection.
Andrés Pavón of the non-governmental Committee for the
Defence of Human Rights (CODEH) told IPS there is a climate
of uncertainty in Honduras. "We support the president
because we think his (referendum) initiative is consistent
with the greater participation that the people want. I think
the position the military have taken is a betrayal of the
country. They were rightly dismissed," he said.
Lawmaker Marvin Ponce of the left-wing Democratic
Unification Party (UD) said his party would hold out "in
favour of the president." "The referendum this Sunday will
go ahead, regardless of whom is against it. We're going to
teach a lesson to the power groups and right-wing
conservatives, who want to hijack democracy," he told IPS.
Zelaya was elected president as the candidate of the
centrist Liberal Party, but soon after taking office his
politics took a turn to the left, creating resistance and
anger among Liberal leaders and lawmakers on the one hand,
and attracting support from the opposition, civil society
organisations and popular movements on the other.
The UD, the international peasant movement Vía Campesina and
similar groups, trade unions, indigenous, women's and human
rights organisations like CODEH and the Committee of
Relatives of the Detained-Disappeared in Honduras (COFADEH),
are now his staunch supporters. So is the Popular Bloc, a
coalition of workers' organisations.
The president of Congress, Roberto Micheletti, a Liberal but
an opponent of Zelaya's, said that the president’s
insistence on holding the referendum showed that he wanted
to remain in power. But "we will defend the institutions, we
will not allow a coup, and if we have to go to jail to
defend democracy, many of us are willing to do so," he said.
Orellana, who over a decade ago was the country's attorney
general, had warned the president and his cabinet that
holding the referendum would be illegal, political sources
said.
The same advice was given by a group of legal advisers to
the presidency, headed by constitutional expert Efraín
Moncada, according to a letter leaked to the press.
For Sunday’s non-binding referendum,ballot boxes will be
placed at bus stations, markets, supermarkets, parks,
schools and other public places. People will only need to
show their identity card and fill in a ballot form answering
Yes or No to the question of whether a vote to create a
constituent assembly should be held.
The ballots will be counted by government employees, an
arrangement that is arousing considerable mistrust among the
opposition.
The Attorney General's and Public Prosecutor's offices have
already told the president that his initiative is outside
constitutional bounds, and have issued an order banning the
referendum.
Nevertheless Zelaya was adamant that "with or without an
order the referendum will be held, and it will be on Sunday
Jun. 28. Everything is ready and we are going ahead because
it is what the people are calling for, and we have collected
signatures to legitimate it; and rather than legality, this
is about legitimacy," he said.
The Honduran constitution and other laws state that
convening a referendum is the prerogative of Congress and
the Supreme Electoral Court. Both these institutions have
declared that the government's purpose in seeking the
referendum is to remain in office.
Referendums and plebiscites were incorporated in the last
constitutional reform, approved in 2002.
Today the government is supported in parliament only by the
five UD lawmakers, after Zelaya broke with the Liberal
Party. But even among these left-wing allies there was one
vote against the referendum. Doris Gutiérrez is against her
party's decision to support the referendum because, she
says, "it is illegal."
Gutiérrez told IPS "although we have supported the
government in other worthwhile initiatives, this time we are
not going to do so because those within the government who
are calling for the referendum are under investigation for
alleged acts of corruption, and that is against my
principles and those of my party."
For the last three years, Zelaya has been at loggerheads
with powerful elites linked to economic, industrial,
financial, tourism and media vested interests. He has called
the media "oligarchs," "kidnappers of freedom of
expression," and "spokespersons for capitalism and
neoliberalism."
Honduras is one of the poorest countries in Latin America,
with 52 percent of its 7.5 million people living under the
poverty line, according to official figures, although many
observers put it at closer to 70 percent. Since the 1970s it
suffered a series of military coups, but democracy finally
prevailed and has persisted for 28 years. |
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