Feint Left

Latin American leaders outraged over the Honduras coup have stood silently by as the region's other populists trod upon democracy.

By Mac Margolis | Newsweek Web Exclusive
Jul 14, 2009

« Return to Article

Discuss

Member Comments

  • Posted By: gtggtg @ 07/16/2009 2:31:35 PM

    Let's see: The military wakes up an elected President in the middle of the night, forces him at gunpoint to a plane, and exiles him. They take over the civilian government, put their own civilian figureheads in place, declare an open-ended curfew, and shoot peaceful demonstrators. But, no, no, it is not a coup, no, no, it is defense of constitutional law. Everyone knows that when a President wants to put up a vote on non-binding resolution to allow consideration of an amendment to the constitution, a poor law-loving country has no choice but to have a takeover by its military. Of course.

    Guess what? It's a coup. Duh. There's an impeachment provision in that constitution that pro-coup propagandists claim to love so much. So why not use it? Oh, right--it might be seen as a power play by Honduras's elite. So much better to have the military run your government. Fronted by "civilians" who are so confident, that they can make racist comments to the "negrito" President of the US. (Oh, right, that guy was "punished"--he's no longer the foreign minister, where racism can be a minus, he's not the interior minister, where racism against the indigenous population is a plus.)

    I must say, this coup has been handled very well. There has been a full-court propaganda operation in place from the start, denying the obvious--here in the US, I mean, where it counts. Ten years from now, or so, maybe we'll get the truth--maybe Newsweek will cover it--where the clever folks in the "intelligence community" and the PR firms and coup plotters and enablers from the permanent Washington establishment will be "exposed," except for maybe their names which are of course off the record, and there will be tut-tutting about how bad Washington *used to be*, and it'll be a shame that such bad things happened in the past, but isn't it great that the US has a free press so the story can come out, even if it's too late?.... etc.

    • Posted By: Bzavala @ 07/17/2009 10:09:55 AM

      *Says an American..... We have comfortable lives here, American citizens know little of real poliitcal corruption, and little of the situation in Honduras pre-"coup". Why would you? Before the alleged blow to democracy in Honduras, we weren't even on the radar of the average American. Well gtggtg's post may be well thought out, and not decieving in any way, it doesn't speak the truth about the situation. Hondurans are the ones who will suffer. What kind of example our the strong democratic governments of the world setting for us??? As i said before, this is the first time in the history of the country that Hondurans have fought for democracy, and they are being punished for it. As if it wasn't enough that the man the trusted enough to elect into presidential office has bleed the country finanically dry, now they face sanctions from the so-called allies who they should be able to turn to for help. So was it a "coup"? Call it whatever you like, it was the right thing to do for the Honduran people.

      ****FYI: calling someone a "negrito" in spanish, is not nearly as racially charged as you are making it out to be. Fact is we have a black president, if you anyone is uncomfortable with that they shouldn't have voted for him, but don't make Hondurans out to be something we are not.

      • Posted By: pasad @ 09/30/2009 8:34:44 AM

        Negrito is not a racist word? You are right; that is why white people say there is no racism in Latin America.

    • Posted By: Larias09 @ 07/22/2009 4:10:11 PM

      You are wasting everyone's time with your ignorant comments!!!

    • Posted By: Honduras @ 07/21/2009 5:56:03 PM

      gtggtg get the facts right please before making statements. There is no impeachment in Honduras, as there is no immunity of the president (that's what impeachment is for)
      as for the elites, it is the Supreme Court, the Congress, the State Attorney, the Supreme Electoral Court, the military, the Catholic Church, the opposition, the party from the former president, the Evangelic Church, the High Commissionner on Human rights, the Agricultor's association, and more than 70% of the people

  • Posted By: pasad @ 09/30/2009 8:30:12 AM

    As an Argentine immigrant to this country, I'm proud to see at least a timid response from our president in support of democracy in Honduras. Historically, the US supported many coups in Latin America with terrible consequences for the people of those countries. If you want to find out if this was a coup or not, look at the response from all the democracies in Latin America: overwhelming support for Zelaya (including Brazil and Chile).
    Finally a proud time for La Patria Grande that Bolivar and San Martin envisioned many years ago.

  • Posted By: truthshallprevail @ 08/01/2009 11:00:22 PM

    gtggtg.. only we , Honduran living in Honduras know the truth of the so Ignorant called " coup"....if there is someone wasting everyone's time with ignorant comments that will certainly be YOU!!! Go take a hike... and let us peacefully defend our constitutional law against monster brain washers like you, Chavez, Fidel, Ortega, Morales, etc.

  • Posted By: downsteamjim @ 07/14/2009 8:44:01 PM

    Amazing! An intelligent article in Newsweek. If Zelaya was a coup, then so was the deposing of Richard Nixon. Both went afoul of their Supreme Courts and congresses. Fortunately Nixon had the dignity to resign.

    • Posted By: gtggtg @ 07/16/2009 4:57:22 PM

      Oh, yes, that's right--generals marched from the Pentagon, broke into the White House, and put Nixon on a plane to Mexico! Then the military declared a nationwide curfew and installed a new government! Now how had I forgotten that? Thanks for reminding everyone!

      • Posted By: gtggtg @ 07/16/2009 5:15:43 PM

        In case you miss my point--the United States did *not* face a military takeover if Nixon hadn't stepped down.

        • Posted By: Honduras @ 07/21/2009 5:58:21 PM

          still the facts, there is *no* military takeover as the militaries are *not* in power

      • Posted By: Honduras @ 07/21/2009 5:57:25 PM

        well Nixon didn't insist with his behaviour as Zelaya for the last 3 months before the ousting, that's something else you can research on: what happened before...

      • Posted By: elni @ 07/20/2009 12:42:39 PM

        Just to clarify some details you have missed- the military dinñt take over and installed a new government, nor did they put the curfew. They follow order from the Supreme Court. For your information if their is a absence of the president the job falls in the presidency of the Congress(who was elected by the elections) why? because we don`t have a vice-president figure! If the was no president of Congress then the job falls in the President of the Supre Court of Justice. The new goverment impose a curfew not the military- which was a wise decision at that moment. For as the exile of mr. Zelaya- as a honduran I think the means did justify the end. I prefer to leave in isolation from the international community for 6 month periodo than 20 years of dictatorship of Chave-Zelaya. Please understand we use all the channels of discussion with Zelaya but he didn`t listen. By the way this article did`t mention that before the succession- the 28 the nation ask the intervention of OAS regarding the illegal poll Zelaya wanted to do? The response of OAS was none. This could have been avoided if the OAS had acted beforehand.

  • Posted By: Carly127inNJ @ 07/18/2009 10:36:21 AM

    Thank you Mac Margolis for your outstanding Article on the serious situation in Honduras. You did a great service in connecting all the dots in order to really see the pattern of creeping totalitarianism for many countries in Central and South American.

    The demise of democracy, freedom and liberty can be a slow and relentless process that many ignore until it is too late. Your question regarding, why the Leaders of other Latin American countries are standing silent while Zelaya violates the rule of law in Honduras is very relavent and critical. All those who care about economic freedom and individual liberties need to pay attention.

    The moment of truth for Honduras is here. Zelaya has promised bloodshed in order to now seize power and Hugo Chavez will gladly provide the weapons and resources to return his puppet Zelaya to the role of dictator in Honduras. The people of Honduras are very brave to stand up and say no to the pathological tyrants Zelaya and Chavez and may the courageous Hondurans prevail.

  • Posted By: ahonduran @ 07/16/2009 9:33:54 PM

    The hipocrasy of how Hondras has been treated does not cease to amaze me... The OAS kicked Honduras out without even investigating the allegations in regards to Zelaya's violation of the law. Meanwhile, the OAS continues to allow all kinds of attacks on democracy by Chavez in Venezuela. It allows Chavez to openly threaten biolent actions against Honduras, without ever protesting. Then Insulza (the OAS seretary general) flies with Zelaya on a venezuelan airplane in an attempt to "fix" the Honduran democracy... seems that Chavez and Insulza are a little to close... only thing that worked right here is Honduras democracy in spite of what Ortega, Evo, Chavez, and Insulza say.

  • Posted By: ahonduran @ 07/16/2009 9:33:21 PM

    The hipocrasy of how Hondras has been treated does not cease to amaze me... The OAS kicked Honduras out without even investigating the allegations in regards to Zelaya's violation of the law. Meanwhile, the OAS continues to allow all kinds of attacks on democracy by Chavez in Venezuela. It allows Chavez to openly threaten biolent actions against Honduras, without ever protesting. Then Insulza (the OAS seretary general) flies with Zelaya on a venezuelan airplane in an attempt to "fix" the Honduran democracy... seems that Chavez and Insulza are a little to close... only thing that worked right here is Honduras democracy in spite of what Ortega, Evo, Chavez, and Insulza say.

  • Posted By: jdk52 @ 07/15/2009 1:01:05 PM

    Mac Margolis's discussion of Bolivia's recent Constitutional Assembly is entirely one-sided. The opposition also engaged in violent attacks on pro-government representatives.

    • Posted By: Antonio Sosa @ 07/16/2009 4:06:24 PM

      You must believe you are "informed" because you have read all the propaganda from Castro/Chavez. Please learn the facts. Chavez and Morales are destroying Bolivia. Their strategy is based on lies, manipulation, intimidation and fraud. The scheme used in Bolivia is Castro's scheme to enslave people via "democratic" elections and referendums, the same strategy used by the rest of the Marxist thugs who are destroying Latin America.

      Fortunately for Hondurans, Zelaya had not been able to control the Legislative and Judicial branches yet, so those two branches (Congress and Supreme Court) were able to free Hondurans from the clutches of Chavez/Zelaya and Marxism.

  • Posted By: Antonio Sosa @ 07/16/2009 3:49:00 PM

    Fortunately for the cause of truth, REAL democracy and freedom, not all U.S. leaders are Marxists like Obama or lemmings brainwashed by propaganda from Castro/Chavez.

    Seventeen U.S. Senators sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Clinton urging the Obama administration to reverse its rhetoric and support the removal of Zelaya.

    They disagreed with the administration's use of the term 'coup' for the events in Honduras, and said that Zelaya was removed properly. They say Zelaya was corrupt and the U.S. should NOT seek to return him to power.

    Here's the U.S. Senators??? letter and a summary of the charges against Zelaya:
    http://www.hacer.org/pdf/LetterClinton.pdf

  • Posted By: Antonio Sosa @ 07/16/2009 3:33:05 PM

    As we can see from some of the comments, some people blindly believe the Marxist fables they have been fed for years regarding their Marxist heroes ???helping the poor.??? They believe those trying to defend themselves from Marxist thugs are the ???evil rich.??? Obviously they have NO IDEA of what???s happening in Honduras.

    They demonstrate that soviet defector Yuri Bezmenov was right when he warned Americans, that their Marxists enemies were working hard at brainwashing them -- through the media, university professors, movie makers, etc. -- and would succeed if they did not defend their principles.

    If you listen to Bezmenov, you???ll understand how brainwashed people would be unable to understand what is really happening in Honduras (or the U.S.) ??? http://www.dailymotion.com/video/k6KUDv1wzraWhwlBt1

    As per Pravda, the brainwashed are the ???dumbed down??? population. ¿Have you read the article in Pravda? http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/107459-american_capitalism-0

  • Posted By: Antonio Sosa @ 07/16/2009 12:02:01 PM

    The U.S. should be supporting Hondurans and the rule of law, NOT Zelaya, a Chavez clone desperate to enslave Hondurans! It's despicable that, rather than defending the human rights of Hondurans and Latin Americans, the Obama administration is siding with the Marxist thugs who are trampling on those human rights and working with drug cartels and Islamic terrorist to destroy the U.S!

    I guess it was to be expected from Obama. As his parents, relatives, friends and mentors, Obama is a Marxist who hates the U.S. As such, he sides with Marxist dictators and would-be dictators who seek to enslave their countries and destroy the U.S.

  • Posted By: Antonio Sosa @ 07/16/2009 11:56:32 AM

    Millions of us coming from Latin America wish we could have done what Hondurans are doing before the Marxist thugs working for Castro and Chavez enslaved our countries. Many of us were originally FOOLED by the thugs??? promises to ???help the poor,??? but now we know better!

    Wiser than other Latin Americans, Hondurans have laws that defend them from the fraudulent scheme devised by Castro to impose Marxism with ???democratic??? elections and referendums. Hondurans have seen this scheme unfold in the countries being destroyed by the Marxist thugs headed by Castro/Chavez. They don???t want the tragedy of those countries repeated in Honduras. They would rather be isolated for a few years than enslaved for more than 50 like the Cubans!

  • Posted By: Antonio Sosa @ 07/16/2009 11:53:29 AM

    There was NO coup! The "coup" is part of the propaganda from Castro/Chavez. The fact that most of the mainstream media refers to the events in Honduras as a "coup" futther demonstrates how much of the U.S. media is controlled by U.S. enemies like Castro and Chavez. Otherwise, Margolis makes some good points.

    Zelaya behaved illegally, and the country's Supreme Court ordered the military to remove Zelaya and elevate the person next in line under the Honduras Constitution. This is Constitutional Democracy in action combating illegal behavior by a sitting President.

    Zelaya was implementing in Honduras the scheme devised by Castro and implemented by Chavez and the rest of the Marxist thugs to gain absolute power. Thanks to Clinton, now Chavez and Zelaya have Oscar Arias, whom they can use as a "democratic" front to get a stronger hold of their prey, the Honduran people!

  • Posted By: Antonio Sosa @ 07/16/2009 11:50:18 AM

    There was NO Coup! Zelaya behaved illegally, and the country's Supreme Court ordered the military to remove Zelaya and elevate the person next in line under the Honduras Constitution. This is Constitutional Democracy in action combating illegal behavior by a sitting President.

    Zelaya was implementing in Honduras the scheme devised by Castro and implemented by Chavez and the rest of the Marxist thugs to gain absolute power. Thanks to Clinton, now Chavez and Zelaya have Oscar Arias, whom they can use as a "democratic" front to get a stronger hold of their prey, the Honduran people!

  • Posted By: CoastalGal @ 07/15/2009 11:16:24 AM

    Dolmance you are so on point! Considering what went on in the U.S. for the last 8 yrs., blatant , outright in your face corruption, illegal war mongering, corporate and governmental fraud, fraudulant bailouts [ can you say legal embezzlement boys and girls] , corrupting the constitution, bankrupting the bill of rights and on and on, do we really have room to talk?Mexico a stable democracy, is that a joke?!?

    • Posted By: John Dough @ 07/16/2009 10:57:28 AM

      Move to Cuba if you don't like it here and take a bunch of liberal dems with you too. The Hoinduran military did not seize control they wrestled it from a man planning on becoming the next Chavez re-writing the constitution and making himself a self-appointed dictator.

    • Posted By: zz333 @ 07/16/2009 8:45:01 AM

      If you really hate this country, you are more than welcome to join the banana republic

  • Posted By: Marifer09 @ 07/16/2009 9:58:48 AM

    Thanks Mac for writting the truth of what really is going on in Latinamerica! As a Honduran, I have been stunned of how media and world leaders condem Zelaya ousting, without acknowledging all the event that preceded it, without taking a look at our constitution, and without hearing what Hondurans have to say. Could the majority of Hondurans(institutions and people) be wrong, and Mel be right? Reinstating him will send the wrong message to all leaders(Do as you please, we'll take care of you) while not allowing him back will send the right message (Democracy is not for sale, fight for it, because we are not going back to dictatorships!)

  • Posted By: zz333 @ 07/16/2009 8:41:46 AM

    Wow, Another thoughtful newsweek article. I am impressed. I hope Americans finally realise what a beautiful country this is.

  • Posted By: saintlouie @ 07/15/2009 6:28:41 PM

    Thank goodness this is finally being written. I've watched, mouth agape, over the past few weeks as the U.S. media totally misrepresented the story. It wasn't even balanced or nuanced coverage, but simply a violent, illegal military coup, when in reality the president's military arrest was totally legal and happened in defense of democracy.

  • Posted By: Bzavala @ 07/15/2009 5:33:45 PM

    This wasn't a coup. The only illegal actions taken throughout the whole situation were those of Zelaya preceding his departure. The Honduran courts and Congress had rights to remove Zelaya (Do your research guys). The idea that exiling Zelaya is a failure of democracy is ridiculous. Zelaya no long supported or represented democracy or, for that matter, the honduran people. The only thing he accomplised during his presidency was "hiding" enough of the poverish-ridden country's funds to maintain his lavish lifestyle for years to come. Ask any Honduran. The Zelaya época was nothing new to us. Similar men have taken power and abused it for decades. This was the first time in the history of the nation that Hondurans stood up for Democracy. we should not be punished.

Reply

Report Abuse

Enter comments if any for reporting abuse