"The Honduran military is effectively a subsidiary of the United States government. Honduras, as a whole, if any Latin American country is fully owned by the United States, it’s Honduras. Its economy is wholly based on trade, foreign aid and remittances. So if the U.S. is opposed to this coup going forward, it won’t go forward. Zelaya will return..." Greg Grandin, professor of History, NYU.
The imperial wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have been a enormous blessing for Latin America. With the United States bogged down struggling for control of Middle East and Central Asian oil our neighbors to the south have finally had the breathing room to begin to resuscitate their strangled democracies.
Honduras' President Zelaya may have overplayed his hand by underestimating the elite's complete contempt for the Honduran people.
A little background:
Honduras is distinguished from it's neighbors by the totality of the banana companies' control. In contrast to El Salvedor, Costa Rica,and Guatemala, no native groups or companies rose to make fortunes in coffee exports. Instead, the U.S. companies controlled the government, financing political parties which conspired against each other. The U.S. also began training a Honduran army and air force which were commanded by the U.S. officers and seven primarily to protect the interests of the banana companies.
The banana companies cultivated only about one-third of their lands,meaning that mich of the best land lay idle. In addition, corrupt officials frequently would appropriate large tracts of land, either keeping it for themselves or selling it to foreign companies. One example occurred in Trujillo, where a local military commander, Col. Gustavo Alvarez, expropriated 2,000 hectares of land belonging to the Garifuna and distributed them amongst wealthy landowners over the Garifunas' protests.
But the genie is out of bottle. At least in Latin America, the days of the Anglo/American imperialist are clearly numbered. It will be a treat to watch our "neocon advocates for freedom and democracy" try to spin this desperate strike against the Honduran people.
So far it seems the Dems are not much better...
While Obama and Clinton have called for a restoration of the constitutional order, they have not yet called for Zelaya to be returned to office. Some in Washington are actually calling for negotiations with the coup plotters to "restore constitutional order" - no doubt hoping to stall by keeping Zelaya out of office (and away from his people) until the November elections.
A report on the coup from Al Jazeera
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