Repubs Meet Honduran Coup Leader

#18 | POSTED BY CAPT_OF_URANUS

The Captain is right on the money.

Some hear the words "Supreme Court", "Constitution", etc., and assume that they have the same meaning in Honduras that they do state-side. However, there's much more to the situation than that.

The Honduran constitution under discussion now is basically the 1982 version that gives the military almost total control over the country's political and economic affairs. It was the dictate of General Plicarpo Paz Garcia who was President of Honduras from August 7, 1978 until January 27, 1982. The military had ruled Honduras almost continuously since 1963, and Paz was the last of the generals of the ruling junta to hold Honduras's Presidency. To this day, the senior leadership of the Honduran Army, The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, basically chooses its own members from within (the Honduran congress receives a list of candidates from the leadership of the military and chooses the military leaderships new members from that list).

Honduran politics is almost impossible to understand from an American perspective. We hear the terms "constitution" and "representative democracy" and think of something quite different from what the Honduran system actually is - which is not democracy at all. At least not the way American's understand democracy.

In Honduras seven party bosses controlled by 10 or so wealthy families determine who the people may choose to vote for. This includes the country's president, the congress and all local officials. No one can participate without the patronage of the junta that rules from behind the scenes.

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Under Honduras's constitution, for instance, indigenous groups and African descendants have no land rights. The land that they occupy and work for their meager livings belongs to the nation (military).

Any call for redress of grievance against the government must be brought through government employed attorneys. Citizens do not have the right to privately petition their government; all complaints must only be brought through the government operated apparatus - there is no other way.

Much has been made by the coup's supporters of the fact that the Honduran Supreme Court ordered the military to proceed with the coup and that the Honduran congress was acting under a legal decree from the court to elect and install the replacement president. Its choice, Roberto Micheletti, has been a Honduran political kingpin for more than thirty years (that's a catchy Spanish surname, "Micheletti").

To put this in context; the Honduran congress, which is hand-chosen by the Honduran military, selects the members of the Honduran Supreme Court. All power is vested in one continuum.

The history in Honduras' closet...