Broken: Honduras. Quits the OAS

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Friday July 03, 2009 · 11:48 PM PDT

2009/07/03 · 23:48

Reuters is now reporting (in Spanish, sorry) that Honduras is going to resign from the OAS. This is huge folks.

[update: The Miami Herald just picked up the story in English]

I hope you realize how radical this is. The last time a state in the hemisphere left the OAS was 1962, when, at the behest of the U.S., the OAS expelled Cuba.

Ironically, this past May, at a meeting in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, the OAS voted to readmit Cuba, even though Cuba itself wasn't interested in that (revealing that it was really an effort to pressure the Obama Administration about the embargo).

Now it's Honduras' turn to be the hemisphere's pariah.

[UPDATE: OAS not recognizing the withdrawlbecause it doesn't recognize the government. So, maybe it will kick Honduras out anyway to the same effect]

To make a long story short, today, the President of the OAS, Jose Miguel Insulza, went to Honduras to try to convince the golpista President Michelletti to restore the Zelaya presidency (indirectly, through other officials, so as not to give Michelletti any legitimacy).

Outcome: Michelletti decided to anticipate a probable OAS action tomorrow and has announced its decision to resign from the OAS. What the hell was that, some kind of twisted effort to save face before being expelled?

By the way, Nobel Prize laureate Rigoberta Menchu also arrived in Honduras today to lend support (and probably some good press cover) to human rights groups.

If you're not up to speed on this, for the past few days a number of us have been writing diaries. Starting with yours truly, and then with a huge diary by cadejo04 , and then The Field, Litho El Cid, Turkana and DavidSeth, among others. Do a search and you'll find more.

We figured out that Zelaya hadn't done anything illegal in pushing the Cuarta Urna. Supicious to many in Honduras, but not illegal. But as we've been getting a handle on all of this over here, things have been spiraling out of control in Honduras.

The golpista government has suspended basic constitutional rights, repressed dissent and demonstrations, and gone on house to house intimidation sprees. If you just go to YouTube and search Coup or golpe and Honduras you will see people witnessing this. The Internet again is becoming a valuable tool against disinformation.

Leaving the OAS means that Honduras will lose a huge amount of international aid, among other things.

Things are going to get even hotter folks. Civil society is mobilizing protests, all European countries have recalled their ambassadors, businesses will suffer, and some batallions are refusing to repress the population.

Stay tuned for some real-life fireworks.

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