*Honduran leader 'could step down'
Interim Honduran leader, Roberto Micheletti, says he is willing to step down, but only if ousted President, Manuel Zelaya, does not return.
*Ousted Zelaya issues 'ultimatum'
Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya has issued an "ultimatum" to the interim government in Tegucigalpa.
*Why Honduras matters to Chavez
As the situation unfolds at pace in Honduras, state television in Venezuela is not letting up on its coverage.
I haven't been too "hip" to Wallerstein's analyses recently, but I DO believe (as unfortunate as it may be) he is correct when he states:
ReplyDeleteThe Honduran coup has to be placed in the larger context of what is happening throughout Latin America. It is quite possible that the right will win the elections this year and next year in Argentina and Brazil, maybe in Uruguay as well, and most likely in Chile. Three leading analysts from the Southern Cone have published their explanations. The least pessimistic, Argentine political scientist Atilio Boron, speaks of "the futility of the coup." Brazilian sociologist Emir Sader says that Latin America faces a choice: "the deepening of antineoliberalism or conservative restoration." Uruguayan journalist Raúl Zibechi entitles his analysis "the irresistible decadence of progressivism." Zibechi in effect thinks it may be too late for Sader's alternative. The weak economic policies of Presidents Lula, Vazquez, Kirchner, and Bachelet (of Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, and Chile) have strengthened the right (which he sees adopting a Berlusconi style) and split the left. Myself, I think there's a more straightforward explanation. The left came to power in Latin America because of U.S. distraction and good economic times. Now it faces continued distraction but bad economic times. And it's getting blamed because it's in power, even though in fact there's little the left-of-center governments can do about the world-economy.
Well perhaps they want more death squads and oppression, eh?
ReplyDeleteI mean it makes complete sense to run into the arms of those who created this debacle...in other words, I disagree on this point Mara
ReplyDeleteDeprived of that old, faithful narrative of the all-controlling Bushista-CIA-gone-wild, Chávez has struggled mightily to try to implicate the US credibly in the coup. And stripped of the US as foil, what has come to the foreground, instead, is a new clarity on Chávez's outsized ambitions and destabilizing influence in the region. With the crisis on its third week and Chávez still devoting "48 hours a day" to Honduras, he has unwittingly cast himself as puppetmaster. Nobody can seriously doubt, any longer, that Chávez is the real power behind Zelaya, his only true power resource.
ReplyDeleteBecause, when you think about it, Zelaya's entire post-coup strategy has depended on Venezuelan resources: Venezuelan airplanes, Venezuelan TV stations, Venezuelan diplomacy and Venezuelan money. This fact - which has been lost on absolutely no one who follows hemispheric affairs - has managed to transform the Honduran soap opera into a kind of proxy coup: a conflict that is about, first and foremost, Chávez's idiosyncratic understanding of democratic legitimacy.
Joaquín Villalobos, the former FMLN guerrilla leader from El Salvador and current Central American pundit savant, writes a mordant analysis of the Honduran coup that exemplifies the way the crisis has recast Chávez's role in the region. The piece got picked up today in <span style="font-style: italic;">Tal Cual.</span> This is my translation of key bits:
http://www.caracaschronicles.com/2009/07/joaquin-villalobos-and-legacy-of.html
<h3 class="post-title entry-title">Joaquín Villalobos and the Legacy of the Honduran Crisis</h3>
ReplyDeletehttp://www.caracaschronicles.com/2009/07/joaquin-villalobos-and-legacy-of.html
Joaquín Villalobos and the Legacy of the Honduran Crisis
ReplyDeletehttp://www.caracaschronicles.com/2009/07/joaquin-villalobos-and-legacy-of.html
I guess I should have not expected much more from you vza, than a puveyor of bullshit - he reminds me in some ways of Hitchens lol
ReplyDeleteI guess I should have not expected much more from you vza, than a purveyor of bullshit - he reminds me in some ways of Hitchens lol
ReplyDeleteWhat happened to the Hirsi Ali link in the above post vza?
ReplyDeleteWell then, V. It is time for you to compile the definitive list of acceptable sources. Give it to Tgia and perhaps he will post it for you with the appropriate warning: All ye who enter here, be forewarned! We don't do deviations from the party line.
ReplyDeleteHitchens is sublime. I love his wiritng.
ReplyDeleteHitchens is sublime. I recently read a review he wrote of a book about Byron. One of the greats!
ReplyDeleteNo one says Hitchens does not do a good job in some fields, he is just a lackey for empire like you, and worse a traitor to the truth he knows so well. That is why he is going to drink himself to death.
ReplyDeleteI hope you're right, but electoral politics are notoriously fickle. I made that point the other day on some thread here. During bad economic times, the incumbent is exchanged for the opposition regardless of who they are. Did you notice how PRI is the phoenix arising from the ashes in Mexico?
ReplyDeletechange the choices
ReplyDeletePart of the problem in Honduras is that the overwhelming majority of the Congress opposes Zelaya. What percent, I am still uncertain of.
ReplyDeleteThe Congress voted 124 out of 128 that Zelaya broke the law, including every member of his own party. The Supreme Cout voted 15 to 0 to authorize the coup including all 8 members of Zelaya's own party.
Even if the international community is able to force Honduras to allow Zelaya to serve out his term (a few more months), he will find passing any legislation out of Congress to be extremely difficult.
Can the Congress in Honduras vote to remove a sitting elected president (question for the legal scholars)? If not, then Zelaya has to be allowed to complete his term. If the Congress wants to pass legislation, let them do so over Zelaya's veto.
What would one do if confronted with a US Congressional vote to suspend the Constitution? ... or to intern all Arab or Muslim citizens in concentration camps? ...or worse?
ReplyDeleteMy point - Congress isn't always right (Ipersonally think they should have impeached GWB, but that is a topic for another day...)
We have laws for a reason. As for the Honduran case, I side with this person because in a ship of fools, I want the captain to have intelligence.
I'm not Honduran, ...
ReplyDeletebut do you know who the candidates are?