The Coup d’état in Honduras - The return of the “gorillas” or a policy of attrition.

international | worker & community struggles and protests | opinion/analysis Thursday July 09, 2009 17:31 by Sean Edwards - Communist Party of Ireland cpoi at eircom dot net James Connolly House, 43 East Essex Street, Temple Bar, Dublin 2: 01 - 6708707 or 0879733414

With the coup d’état in Honduras, the spectre of the military dictatorship appeared again in Latin America. The entire continent, which remembers well its history of rule by “gorillas”, reacted with horror, especially the member states of ALBA (Bolivarian Alliance for America) led by Venezuela and Cuba.

9th July 09
The Coup d’état in Honduras -
The return of the “gorillas” or a policy of attrition.

Sean Edwards.

With the coup d’état in Honduras, the spectre of the military dictatorship appeared again in Latin America. The entire continent, which remembers well its history of rule by “gorillas”, reacted with horror, especially the member states of ALBA (Bolivarian Alliance for America) led by Venezuela and Cuba. All the Latin American states of the Rio Group, condemned the coup and demanded the immediate reinstatement of President Zelaya. The call was backed by the General Assembly of the United Nations and the Organisation of American States, which suspended Honduras from membership.

Honduras, has a long history of military rule, and has been the main base for American foreign adventures. It was from Honduras that the CIA organised the overthrow of President Jacobo Arbenz of Guatamala in 1954; the force which landed in the Bay of Pigs in Cuba sailed from Honduras; Reagan’s Ten year dirty “contra” war against Sandinista Nicaragua was run from Honduras. The Honduran military has a history of total subservience to the USA, and, of course, its senior military officers are graduates of the School of the Americas, and totally imbued with the ideology of “national security”.

The wealthy oligarchy of Honduras has a colonial mentality, and is fearful of any threat to its privileges. Even the modest proposal of President Zelaya to hold a national non-binding poll on the question of whether to change the constitution was not acceptable to them. On the day when the poll was due to take place, the military moved in, kidnapped the president and dumped him in Costa Rica.

It may be that the Honduran coup is aimed at restoring the military rule of most of the 20th century, which is, by now, an anachronism in the hemisphere. There is another model – the first coup against Aristide in Haiti. President Clinton sent in the Marines to reinstate Aristide, but only after enforcing a deal whereby Aristide implemented neo-liberal economic policies favourable to United States interests. Aristide was restored to office, but only in a weakened condition. Bush was not content with this deal and Aristide was overthrown a second time in 2004. If Zelaya returns under similar conditions, it will be a victory for the oligarchy and the imperialists.

The United States has expressed its disapproval of the coup, but in a very mealy mouthed fashion. President Obama, in his first statement, and Secretary of State Clinton, called for discussions, for the President and the coup leaders to resolve their differences. A spokesperson for the State Department said that only Zelaya was recognised as President. It is clear that the coup has caused great difficulty for President Obama – with the American right, and the right wing press, attacking Zelaya. It is probable that U.S. agents were indeed involved in the coup – the ambassador is the one who served under Bush, and the officer commanding the US army base, Col. Richard A. Jurgens, was the one who directed the kidnap of President Aristide. Prior to the coup “NGOs” funded by the National Endowment for Democracy were active in the campaign against President Zelaya. According to President Chavez of Venezuela, “the horrendous military, industrial, financial, terrorist and drug smuggling complex is supporting the coup leaders and challenging Obama” “It is possible,” he adds, “that Obama did not even know”

Since the coup, there have been massive demonstrations in support of President Zelaya. Thousands of people converged on the capital Tegucigalpa. When the military shot out the tyres of their buses they continued on foot. Huge crowds came to the airport to welcome the return of the President. The Military prevented the aircraft from landing and fired on the crowd, killing at least three people.

Zelaya is due to meet with the coup leader, referred to as the de facto President, with the mediation of President Arias of Costa Rica. He has stated that he will not negotiate, only the withdrawal of the coup leaders and his return to office. The fact that this meeting is taking place shows that the United States has not given an ultimatum to the coup leaders to withdraw, for they cannot remain without the permission of the United States. US policy is clearly to take advantage of the situation to pressurise Zelaya, whether it was part of the original plan or not, whether or not it was involved in the coup or not. If they succeeds it will be a Clinton coup.

It may not succeed, of course. The balance of forces has changed, both in Honduras, where there is massive popular resistance, and in the continent as a whole. The National Front against the Coup d’État in Honduras in a statement on July 8th demands that its position be taken into consideration in the planned talks in Costa Rica between president Zelaya and Roberto Micheletti (head of the coup leaders), especially its demand for the convocation of a National Constitutional Assembly. It demands the right to participate in these talks.

The mobilisation of the people, the international solidarity, has the potential to totally defeat the coup leaders and their allies, and advance towards a new , more democratic constitution.