But it is not extinct.
Honduras’ leftist president was ousted and exiled today after military leaders were angered by his bid to amend the country’s constitution to allow for another run for reelection. A nonbinding referendum was to be held today. The ballots have been seized by the military.
So far it’s reportedly bloodless, but protests are underway.
The photo comes from the above-linked article.
Addendum: Lots of information here, with periodic updates.
Here’s a Spanish language news report. Not sure where it’s from as I can’t make out the logo.
And from Lenin’s Tomb.
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June 28, 2009 at 10:32 am
milt
Pro-government protesters burned tires in front of the presidential palace in the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa, and two fighter jets screamed through the sky over the city.
Apparently, the presidential palace is a McDonald’s stand. How cool is that!
June 28, 2009 at 2:05 pm
Joe Blow
How easy it is — What about the coup going on right here in America?
A la: Obama contemplates Executive Order for detention without charges
June 29, 2009 at 6:57 am
ecumenik
Obama has repeated the betrayal of Clinton. and even Carter, to some extant. They were elected by those of us who wanted things to be more centered on people in this country and not on business only. which is what we have now. They used the “American Reform Movement” (my term) to get elected, and once they’re in the mansion, they cozy up to the Aristocracy, and it’s all over for those of us who expected a real change in direction. no, instead all we get is another dupe of wealthy. only difference is this one gives better speeches.
June 29, 2009 at 7:30 am
Eric Kirk
On the other hand, he is in opposition to the coup in Honduras. The last president wouldn’t have been.
June 29, 2009 at 1:31 pm
Mr. Nice
To ensure democracy in Honduras, a socialist leader seeking to extend his rule indefinitely must be returned to power.
June 29, 2009 at 2:32 pm
Eric Kirk
That’s not the issue. His term ends in November. What the military prevented was a nonbinding referendum which would have given the legislature some indication of the will of the electorate. Or not. Point is, he wasn’t impeached. He was removed by force.
June 29, 2009 at 3:26 pm
Mr. Nice
I don’t get this. It was my understanding that the U.S. liked ruthless government control in Central America. Isn’t that what all the cocaine smuggling in the 80s was over?
Since when did the US change its policy? Obama? Could have saved a lot of ducats supplying El Salvador with murder weapons with this type of policy.
June 29, 2009 at 4:19 pm
Skippy
I was shocked to hear how quickly and completely the military was able to shut down almost all channels of information into and out of the country. Why is it that in the Iran situation, information seemed to be pouring out of the country and solidarilty pouring in? Don’t they have cell phones / access to Twitter, etc., in Honduras, or did the military shut the cell networks down, too?
Apparently the coupsters announced in the legislature that the President had “resigned” (which he, speaking from exile, made it very clear that he hadn’t and wouldn’t) and they immediately replaced him with the Speaker of the legislature. There were some protests in the capitol, but apparently most of the country didn’t even realize that something so dramatic had taken place.
It will be interesting to see what happens as information starts to ripple out across the country…will the Honduran people allow this coup to stand? Will the U.S. and other countries that have loudly denounced the coup hang tough, or will we move to accomodate and recognize the “new President?”
I remember the attempted coup against Chavez in Venezuela a few years ago; he was actually out of power for a few days, but popular support forced the would-be coup leaders to bring him back — and that was despite the Bush Administration’s embarassing embrace of the coup, which it soon had to backpedal on as events on the ground went the other way.
Perhaps (hopefully) the Honduran people will be able to stand up and resist this coup-d’etat. Otherwise the coming election in that country won’t mean much — if the military doesn’t like the winner, what’s to stop them from just removing that person, too. Once you start down the road of the military exercising the final say on who leads, it’s a long, hard slog to get back to real democracy.
June 30, 2009 at 12:08 pm
Skippy
Ruthless *right-wing* dictatorships were always popular with Washington during the Cold War, but never the left-wing ones. Predictably, that helped push the people of that area to embrace left-wing governments, some ruthless ones, but mostly democratically-elected ones.
June 30, 2009 at 12:55 pm
Anonymous
True enough Skippy. Remember Jeanne Kirkpatrick’s phrase “moderately repressive regimes?” That meant right wing allies in the cold war.
Or to quote some senator about Samoza, “he may be a son of a bitch but he’s our son of a bitch.”
June 30, 2009 at 1:06 pm
Skippy
Exactly!
June 30, 2009 at 1:20 pm
Eric Kirk
Actually, that quote has been attributed to FDR, John Foster Dulles, and others, but no hard evidence. Snopes has an article about it. It’s a derivative of a statement pattern which apparently dates back to 19th century politics.
But whether anybody actually said it, the sentiment is certainly reflected in decades of policy.
I’m struggling to remember his name, but there’s a radical folk singer who wrote a song about Kirkpatrick’s Moderately Repressive Regimes. I know he was at the Mateel some time within the past decade.