The illegal coup against President Manuel Zelaya of Honduras may be in its final hours as the exiled president announces he will attempt to cross into his country from Nicaragua tomorrow, Friday June 24.
Hundreds of thousands of Hondurans have mobilized, the police have called a national strike, and local and international journalists will be following the deposed President as he marches northward tomorrow.
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Since the first days of the coup, its claims of legality seemed specious. The coup was condemned by the UN, the OAS, and by heads of state from both ends of the political spectrum.
The only non-Hondurans to support the coup, it seems, are Republican politicians in the United States. How very interesting! Knowing what we do about the recent history of Latin America, this should really be no surprise, and should prompt us to, once again, start casting light into the dank corners of right-wing imperialism.
The first three words I thought of after learning of the coup were: Economic Hit Men.
But I try to never let politics get in the way of finding out the truth. I never let my suspicions or hunches dissuade me from hearing out all sides of an argument. Even if it seems to be a matter of playing devil's advocate, I force myself to look take my opponents claims at face value and consider them on their merits.
I spent two weeks giving the coup the benefit of the doubt, and every day it was harder to continue. The evidence against their claims is overwhelming.
Coups never happen because of legal disagreements. It's silly to even think so. Coups happen because of power. And one fact that is certainly clear is that Zelaya was getting a little too populist for the liking of the internationally-backed business elites.
We have witnessed, since the coup, an unprecedented and peaceful grassroots movement against the coup. Even if they don't succeed in getting Zelaya back into power, I think the nation, and the perception of it, have fundamentally changed.