Honduran dictatorship, Day 35

Partly because I have a spammer known as the US Department of State (11 e-mail alerts in one day!), I have been way too busy to do an adequate job of covering events. Thank heavens for Brother John, RAJ/RNS, and Adrienne, among others.

(Image from Quotha. Via RAJ, Tiempo says that there were 20,000 people at the march. )

The main story, besides people continuing to get slaughtered, kidnapped, threatened, etc. is the Hillary Clinton Hypocrisy Tour. She won’t visit Honduras, just Guatemala, where she’ll meet with Pretendisent Lobo. This thoughtfully-crafted, carefully calibrated bit of horse manure deceives no one, accomplishes nothing:

ASSISTANT SECRETARY VALENZUELA: And then finally on the final day of her trip, which will be next Friday, she will travel to Guatemala and meet with President Colom in Guatemala, at the same time, with several of the other presidents of the Central American countries, including President Lobo of Honduras, President Funes of El Salvador. President Fernandez is coming from Dominican Republic as well. So this – and President Arias will attend.

Department of we can’t hear youuuuu:

PRESIDENT DE KIRCHNER: (Via interpreter) I hardly talk about my CNN interview with the Secretary of State. I don’t usually talk about my interviews with the media (inaudible). It would be sort of dangerous for me to tell her what I think and for her to tell me what she says to the media. But we did talk about what triggered that question at the CNN, which was the Honduras issue, where, as you all know, both countries hold different stances. Far from turning (inaudible) into two people that cannot reach agreement, turns us into very serious (inaudible) where we can discuss our points of agreement and things on which we do not agree. …
SECRETARY CLINTON: Could I just add to the president’s comments? We had a very frank exchange of views about our different perceptions of Honduras. And as the president said, I appreciated the opportunity to explain why we believe that the free and fair elections which have elected the new president in Honduras means it’s time to turn the page. The difficult period Honduras went through, we hope is now over.

Via Adrienne, Belen Fernandez on the belated discovery by the Honduran pro-coup press of the murder of the daughter of union leader Pedro Brizuela. Another sign of radicalization: Resistance marchers ripped down a plaque in San Pedro Sula commemorating Micheletti, and replaced it with a plaque commemorating Zelaya… complete with a quote from Karl Marx, rescued from the dustbin of history by resentment over the coup.

Via Honduras Culture and Politics, Interpol has officially declared the charges against Zelaya by the dictatorship to be nothing more than political bunkum.

Brother John has an interesting report on Jesuit priest Ismael Moreno’s comments about the two-party system. He believes that there is an independent force in society which could be educated and mobilized. These are, he believes, neither the traditional left nor Zelaya supporters, but people who felt disrespected by the coup. As I commented to Brother John, I’m skeptical. Organizing is difficult work. It requires a high level of rhetorical and strategic skill, historical knowledge, and extraordinary diplomatic skill to keep coalitions together. This is why, at moments of high conflict, radicals on both sides, particularly those who have been radical over generations, tend to emerge as leaders: they have the commitment and the experience, and people know where they stand. Independents who have been tuned out of politics would require enormous training to get them up to speed. And would they stay mobilized long enough to accomplish real change, or would they stop short in order to get back to the familiar comforts? Seeing how many resistance leaders have been murdered, it’s clear that only people with the highest level of commitment are going to take on the largely thankless task of organizing.

There’s been another shooting involving journalist Carol Cabrera, who again emerged unscathed. Although Cabrera was pro-coup, she had reported on having video and details on sexual activities within the halls of government. She had been calling the wives who were being cheated on, whom she called “deer.” Twenty seven year old Joseph Antony Hernández Ochoa, a TV presenter on Channel 51, died in the attack.