Perspectives on Honduras

Weeks before the Honduran military stomped in and escorted Zelaya out of office, I had been seeing rumblings of concern from the Honduran twitterverse. When the crisis finally came I was not surprised. All through my childhood there was a political meltdown and we would move. Nicaragua and the Sandinistas, Honduras pre-democratic election… honestly I was concerned but not particularly alarmed. More than anything I was confused about the circumstances of the coup and how it was possible to summarily eject a President and still have it be constitutional. I read and read and watched and observed and remained a bit befuddled. A few things were clear.

1. Zelaya was rapidly forcing the country to the left and following in the dubious footsteps of Venezula’s Hugo Chavez.

2. This is a serious threat to the miniscule fraction of wealthy Hondurans.

3. The congress, the supreme court and his own party turned against Zelaya

4. The military went into the presidential palace and at gunpoint escorted out the duly elected President of Honduras

So, I had a conversation with my Father, who is more familiar than most with the political ins and outs of Honduras, the power of money in Honduras, and the influence that this money gives that small select few. He had no particular new information to give me… none at all, but he did give clarity to some muddy muddy waters.

In a Democracy individual political figures HAVE be sublimated to the checks and balances of the institution. No matter what I or anyone else may think of a particular elected official due process must be observed or the institution will not hold. If the man indeed broke the law, then he should have been brought up on charges and allowed to defend himself. If that basic right can not be defended, then the whole institution is a farce. No one should be escorted out at gun point unless they have committed a crime. If the constitution supports this kind of action, then it is well and truly flawed and will forever handicap the country.

I honestly believe that the path the Hugo Chavez is following for Venezuela is not healthy for Venezuela or the rest of Latin America. However the opposite is also true. Latin America cannot continue to concentrate wealth in the hands of a tiny few and the rest of the people survive on nothing. Honduras is a resource wealthy nation and has always been the poorest of the poor. It is the original Banana Republic. Yet its indigenous population continues to be hobbled by lack of opportunity, starting with education and going all the way up and down the line. Lack of sanitation, clean water, land rights and on and on. If Latin American countries continue to marginalize its people then power hungry leaders like Hugo Chavez, who bribe the local population with short term rewards the cripple the economy will continue to win the admiration of the people who suffer the most and make up the bulk of Latin America’s population.

There has to be another way. The dream of financial and education opportunity should be NOT be a dream. It is a RIGHT the every single person on this planet deserves and if it continues to be denied, crisis like the one currently playing out in the tiny nation of Honduras will continue.