US-HONDURAS: Zelaya Urges Tougher Stance
Toward Coupmakers
By Guthrie Gray
WASHINGTON IPS) - Speaking at the Elliot
School of International Affairs, the ousted
president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya,
encouraged the Barack Obama administration
to take a harder line against the de facto
government that was set up after the
military forced him from the country in
June.
"I think [the United States] cannot put its
prestige on the line and submit to a small
group of people that are pro-coup and do not
accept the opinion of the international
community," Zelaya said Wednesday. "This is
a first snatching of democracy during the
Obama administration."
Ahead of his meeting Thursday with Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton, Zelaya said that
he wanted the State Department to denounce
violations of human rights that he believes
have been perpetrated by the de facto
government in an effort to suppress popular
support for his return.
"The armed forces were corrupted by the
elite," Zelaya said, calling his June forced
removal from office a coup d'etat and an
attack on Honduran democracy by a wealthy
elite that opposed his social and economic
reforms.
He also said that he wanted the Obama
administration to formally recognise his
overthrow as a coup d'etat.
The State Department has not referred to the
overthrow as a military coup because this
would disqualify Honduras, the third poorest
country in Latin America where 70 percent of
the population lives in poverty, from
receiving 135 million dollars in aid from
the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC).
Over a month ago, the U.S. suspended
millions in aid for defence and anti-drug
operations, and withdrew visas from several
officials in the de facto government, but
stopped short of withdrawing all aid.
While the U.S. has condemned the coup, the
Obama administration has been reluctant to
embrace Zelaya's cause of returning as
president, and, in an Aug. 4 letter to
Senator Richard Lugar clarifying the U.S.
stance on Honduras, it appeared that the
Obama administration was distancing itself
from Zelaya.
More recently, however, the State Department
seems to be stepping up pressure on the de
facto government, expanding its suspension
of visas in Tegucigalpa to include all
non-emergency, non-immigrant visas.
Last week, Reuters reported that staff at
the State Department had recommended to
Clinton that the overthrow be deemed a
military coup and that bilateral aid be
suspended.
Clinton's visit with Zelaya scheduled for
tomorrow is further indication that the
Obama administration is taking a harder line
against the de facto government.
Some right-wing commentators decry what they
see as interventionism. On Aug. 31, Mary
Anastasia O'Grady writing in the Wall Street
Journal compared the U.S. role in
negotiations to that of a "neighbourhood
thug", and complained that the Obama
administration was helping Venezuelan
president Hugo Chavez to spread his
influence in the region.
"For Mr. Chavez, Mr. Zelaya's return to
power is crucial," O'Grady wrote. "The
Venezuelan is actively spreading his Marxist
gospel around the region, and Mr. Zelaya was
his man in Tegucigalpa."
On Tuesday, however, Chavez himself
expressed doubts that Zelaya will be able to
return to office before his term runs out in
January.
According to Vicki Gass, an expert on
Honduras at the Washington Office on Latin
America, the strategy of the de facto
government is to have elections that are
massive, free, and transparent. If they can
pull that off, they're hoping the
international community will say, 'It's a
new day.'
The de facto government has scheduled
elections in November, but the Organisation
of American States (OAS) has already said
that it will not recognise a government
elected under the de facto government.
While right-wing commentators argue that
Zelaya's removal was legal and a defence of
democracy in Honduras, many human rights
observers have become increasingly critical
of the actions taken by the government to
quiet dissent.
Several human rights groups, including
Amnesty International and Human Rights
Watch, have reported violence against
demonstrators opposed to the coup as well as
media intimidation. Zelaya himself claims
that since June, 1,500 people have been
detained for political reasons, and that his
supporters have been beaten, raped, and
murdered.
Zelaya also noted the recent appointment of
Billy Joya, a former death squad leader, as
a security advisor as a setback for human
rights.
On Jun. 28, the military seized Zelaya at
his home and forced him onto a plane to
Costa Rica.
Zelaya's opponents say he was removed from
office because of his attempts to conduct a
poll to determine whether there was support
to modify the constitution. His opponents in
the de facto government allege that the poll
was an illegal attempt modify the
constitution in an effort extend
presidential term limits.
Zelaya dismisses these accusations saying
that the "poll was non-binding, and it was a
democratic exercise," and that his opponents
are "seeking to legalise the coup." |
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