That was supposed to be a joke, a line my husband came up with on Thursday as we walked back to our hotel after the last day of work in June, knowing the next day we would be out of the country. The day before we were slated to come down in May, the 7.3 earthquake hit, providentially sparing most people's lives. While some people questioned our decision to come down anyway, and we spent two weeks living with aftershocks and water problems, our field season was extremely productive and the collegial relations we established with universities and scholars throughout the country deepened in significant ways.
So it was with a sense of the surreal that we were confronting the developments happening as we prepared to leave. Wednesday night, at 10:30, the Honduran cell phone rang, several hours after we were asleep, and by the time I answered, was in voice mail. The message was disturbing: the civil conflict between the President and Congress over a proposed national poll to be held today had led to the dismissal of the Secretary of Defense and the head of the armed forces. But, my caller said, there was no need to accelerate leaving: just watch news, read the papers.
So for hours starting that evening, the next morning, and the last evening we did that. Of course, there was no coverage on international networks, what with the governor of South Carolina admitting to an Argentine affair, and then Michael Jackson's death eating up the airwaves.
Switching between multiple Honduran stations showed the President surrounded by union members, indigenous people, cab drivers, and oh yes, politicians and political activists from a number of Honduras many parties, holding almost a vigil in the Presidential Palace waiting for a military coup.
Which was averted; and so we left the country on Friday, with plans to return in two weeks, and again two weeks later. But the coup was merely delayed, rescheduled (as one online commentator said) until the country was quiet on the weekend, resulting early this morning in the kidnapping of the democratically elected Honduran president and his forcible removal to Costa Rica. Reportedly, his cabinet is under arrest or at least ordered arrested. The head of the Honduran Congress has been declared the interim president, and we are told the November presidential election will take place as scheduled.
What was the reason for this action? if you read US media, you will be told the vote today was to allow President Zelaya to remain in office. To be sure, I think in the long-term, the goal of his call for constitutional reform may have been to allow him or others in sympathy with him to serve more than a single four-year term. But in the short run, the poll would simply have registered how many people were in favor of constitutional reform. Even though Zelaya was elected in 2005 with less than 50% majority (Honduras has multiple viable parties); even though his popularity in April was at 25% and in May at 30% according to international polls; and thus even though one would not expect a groundswell of support, this was too threatening for the Honduran powers that be.
English language media also all qualify Zelaya as "leftist President". So let's be clear here as well: elected in 2005 as a neoliberal candidate from the centrist, pro-business Liberal party, Zelaya describes his own journey toward alliance with Evo Morales, Hugo Chavez, and Fidel Castro as one of realizing that the rich in Honduras would never support economic equity. His support now comes almost exclusively from union members, rural farmers, indigenous groups, and others who have been the focus of his more recent policy moves, including a huge percentage increase (60%) in the minimum wage-- bringing it all the way up to $289 a month.
God bless Honduras. Take care of my friends and colleagues. Please, if you read this, keep pressure on the US government to condemn this unlawful action. Argue with anyone who simplifies this into Hugo Chavez vs. the US. Read widely, read the European papers, learn Spanish, be a citizen of the world.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/users/profile/HondurasExpert?action=comments&display=news&sort=newest
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment