Coup: US Regresses, Hondurans March

As the coup regime in Honduras continues to cling to power, attacks on Hondurans' human rights continue to mount.  Meanwhile, the U.S. response remains sluggish and two-faced.  In late July, the State Department finally revoked the diplomatic visas of four coup-plotters.  But just one week later, the same State Department sent a contradictory letter to Senator Lugar.  After "energetically condemning" the coup against Honduran President Zelaya, the letter incredibly named Zelaya, not the coup-plotters, as responsible for his own ouster.  The U.S. response to the coup should not be a matter of supporting or rejecting the prior actions of Manuel Zelaya; it’s a matter of supporting or rejecting the flagrant usurpation of Hondurans’ right to exercise their democratic will. 

The illegitimate coup merits clear, consistent condemnation from the U.S., not the schizophrenic response seen thus far.  To demonstrate unequivocal (if not expedient) support for Hondurans’ self-determination, the U.S. should revoke U.S. visas for the many untouched coup-plotters, freeze their U.S.-held assets, and cease U.S. military operations at the still-active Palmerola base near the Honduran capital.

In August, while attending a summit in Mexico, President Obama called groups like WFP “hypocritical” for levying such critiques.  He stated, “The same critics who say that the United States has not intervened enough in Honduras are the same people who say that we're always intervening and the Yankees need to get out of Latin America.” 

It appears our message has been distorted.  Let it be clear: calling for the U.S. to cease support for a coup regime is not calling for the U.S. to “intervene.”  Indeed, quite the opposite.  Maintaining U.S. support for an unelected coup regime would constitute true intervention in Hondurans’ sovereign affairs.  We are calling on the U.S. to not so intervene. 

While the U.S. delays and equivocates, Hondurans are suffering a level of repression not seen since the death squads of the 1980’s.  One week after the coup, the military fired 160 rounds of live ammo into a nonviolent crowd, killing a teenager.  Since then, the coup regime has overseen nine politically-motivated murders, countless military attacks on peaceful protesters, the arbitrary arrest of over 1,300 people, and the systematic military occupation and shutdown of most independent media outlets.  (Has this been reported in your local papers?  Send a quick letter to the editor today.) 

Yet, such repression has failed to silence Honduran social movements.  Indeed, those movements are actually gaining strength, according to on-the-ground sources.  Ceaseless road blockades have prevented business as usual since the day the coup usurped power. Honduras’s social movements are calling on us to act in solidarity with their efforts to restore democracy and dignity to their country. 

How can you demonstrate your solidarity?  Here are three ways:

1. Write a letter to the editor that exposes the violations in Honduras and dispels myths about the coup.  Mainstream media coverage of the coup has been laden with misinformation, while human rights violations have gone largely unreported.  Get the truth out in your community by submitting a quick letter to the editor.  Click here to review our sample letter and easily send it to your local papers.  And check out the suggested talking points below. 
   
   
2. Join us on a delegation to Honduras.  From September 5-12, we took a delegation to Honduras to bear witness to the alarming human rights situation, show international solidarity with the Honduran social movements, and push the U.S. government to fully revoke support for the coup-plotters.  To sign up or get more information about future delegations, please contact Ken Crowley: ken@witnessforpeace.org, 773-564-9535, 202-423-3402.
   
   
3. Ask your representative to condemn the coup.  House Resolution 630, currently with 44 cosponsors, echoes the resounding demands of thousands of Hondurans, the international community, and organizations like Witness for Peace: that President Zelaya be immediately reinstated as Honduras’s legitimate leader.  Ask your rep to cosponsor this resolution--click here for more info and a suggestion of what to say when you call your representative. 

Thanks in advance for acting at this critical moment to support Hondurans' demands for democracy.

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Latin America recently emerged from a dark era when power was often seized, not transferred.  If the coup maintains its illegitimate grip on power, it will not only prove a blow to democracy in Honduras, but a signal to would-be coup-plotters throughout the region that military ousters are once again a viable means of attaining power.

Some have tried to claim that Zelaya’s ouster was not a coup.  When the military captures a democratically-elected President in his pajamas and whisks him out of the country, it’s a coup.

Perhaps the most common and least accurate justification for Zelaya’s military ouster is that he was pushing a referendum to get re-elected.  First, it wasn’t a referendum: it was a non-binding survey merely asking Hondurans whether they’d support a Constitutional referendum during the scheduled November elections.  Second, even if the referendum would happen during the elections, Hondurans would at that point still elect a new President—not Zelaya—for 2010.  An attempted opinion poll cannot justify a military coup.

Some commentators have implied that the coup was justified because a number of Hondurans did not support President Zelaya. Legitimacy should not be confused with popularity. Former U.S. President Bush’s popularity hit historically low levels during his second term—should the Marines have invaded the White House one morning, captured Bush, sent him to Canada, and installed a new President? No, of course not.

The U.S. needs to move swiftly to more meaningful responses. While revoking four diplomatic visas is a first step, its significance is eclipsed by the many coup-plotters who still hold U.S. visas. While cutting off $16.5 million in military aid is a welcome move, it is overshadowed by the continued operation of Palmerola, a U.S. military base in Honduras that remains active amidst an active coup. To levy the sort of pressure that could actually hasten the coup’s end, the U.S. should revoke visas and freeze U.S.-held assets for the full list of coup-plotters and cease all operations at the Palmerola military base. The U.S. cannot afford to delay further—with every day that passes, the coup regime grows more intransigent and its human rights violations grow increasingly flagrant.