Honduran dictatorship, day 64

A few more links to update the approximately weekly post:

Journalist José Alemán , a correspondent for Radio America and Tiempo collaborator, has fled Honduras after being attacked by two men. They entered his apartment, firing wildly. Not finding him in, they stalked him on the street. The police told him they couldn’t provide any security.

Peter Lackowski (Upside Down World) reports that Rafael Alegria says that on June 28th, the Resistance is going to “hold a great poll of our people which is going to express our judgment… in favor of a democratic and participatory constitutional constituent assembly in our country,”

Susan Fitzpatrick-Behrenshas has a review in NACLA of developments this year. The role of the US is most clearly seen in how it has financially sustained the bankrupt dictatorship:

On March 9, the International Monetary Fund recognized Porfirio Lobo’s regime, releasing $160 million in loans that had been frozen following the coup and providing an additional $90 million in new loans. The IMF is directing a mission to Honduras to evaluate the economy and will conclude its work on March 25. The World Bank had already recognized the Lobo government in February, restoring $270 million in loans and providing an additional $120 million in new loans. The Inter-American Development Bank was the last hold out. It restored lending just a few days ago, on March 16.

Revistazo reports that a group of businessmen warned a Congressman, Juan Orlando Hernández, that they had overthrown one president and could do the same to Lobo. He passed this on to the president and both of them took it, not surprisingly, as a threat.

Honduras Solidarity features a piece by Dr. Juan Almendares about the Military-Mining-Agroindustrial complex. He sees a connection between the militarization of the war on drugs, the growth of agribusiness as small farmers are displaced from their land, and the use of food as a means of controlling populations.

A young teacher, Denia Mejia, has received death threats and rape threats of a significant enough nature that the case has been taken on by Defensores en Linea. Her apartment was searched and sacked, and a laptop and camera stolen.

Eleven labor leaders were released from what is euphemistically called “preventive detention” (more honestly called “state-sponsored kidnapping”). They will have to sign in on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, but will face judgment as free people.

Breny Mendoza asks a very good question: what is so important about tiny Honduras that the US has staked so much on suffocating democracy there? Was it over tilapia, of which Honduras is the second-largest exporter to the US?