One must admit the circumstances are highly suspicious. A democratically elected Presidente in Honduras has been overthrown by means of a military coup soon after the Presidente signalled his clear intent to move Leftward in his policies and associations. As just one example, although only 70% of the populace in Honduras live in abject poverty, Presidente Zelaya saw fit to pass a law increasing their minimum wage from "starvation," which the business elites approved of, to "ridiculously low," which enraged them. It didn't stop there. Zelaya accused the U.S. of using the "war on drugs" as a way to intervene in Latin American politics, instead of taking the more logical step of controlling the distribution and trafficking within the U.S. No demand, no drugs. Who knows where this kind of thinking could lead? We might legalize drugs to remove the crime premium from their street value. While this makes sense and is a completely rational approach to an endemic and ineradicable problem, the approach is, for the very same reasons, contrary to U.S. policy.
Tegucigalpa is important to me because it is one of the few world capitals with five syllables in its name. Others include Montevideo, Kuala Lumpur and Santo Domingo.
Manuel Zelaya was arrested yesterday by a military contingent headed up by General Romeo Vasquez, a graduate of the U.S. School of the Americas. He was taken in his pajamas to the airport and flown to Costa Rica. What I mean by that is that Zelaya was wearing his pajamas when he was driven to the airport. Hugo Chavez has warned Honduras's appointed successor, Roberto Michelleti, whom Hugo calls "Thug-etti" (Hugo's pretty good with a jibe), that if any harm should befall Zelaya, Venezuela will intervene militarily. Hugo, Zelaya, Raul Castro of Cuba, Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua and Evo Morales of Bolivia have become pretty tight in recent months, with Honduras joining the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA as the Spanish acronym) as a defiant alternative to Washington-sponsored alliances. Let's face it: they're all Left-leaning.
I can't help but think that none of this could have gotten so far out of hand when United Fruit was running Honduras and Eisenhower was our President. My guess is that the Latinos, and particularly Chavez and Castro, are testing Obama to see how much independence they can assert against a weakened and distracted United States. Maybe our first pushback has taken the form of bringing Fielding Mellish out of retirement to head up a Central American coup. It's been decades since we pulled off a successful Central American intervention. And in our complacent passivity, look what's happened. They're lining up against us, some of them are Commies, they're all pretty liberal, and most galling of all -- they're locals. What will happen to our sweatshop factories there? Will they be forced to pay a living wage? Then what's the point of locating a maquiladora there at all? Why own their land and grow bananas there?
So this coup offers the first ray of hope. It's all in the hands of "Romeo Vasquez," with or without the red beard.
I am looking for somebody to provide an analysis, with citations to the Honduran constitution, of the claim by the Honduran legislature, newly appointed president, supreme court and military that what they all did was a constitutionally authorized response to the undeniably unconstitutional referendum Zelaya was about to hold. A wall street journal opinion columnist wrote a column yesterday accepting the assertion, but not referencing the constitutional/legal authority. Similarly, Barack ad Hillary say they think the removal of Zelaya was illegal, but they don't say what constitutional provision or law of Honduras the action violates. I would have thought some pundit or Latin American scholar would have provided the definiive answer, with appropriate citations to local legal authorities by now, but I guess I will have to look it up myself when my real work schedule permits.
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