Joyce

“deposed President Mel Zelaya’s record
was dismal. His administration has been plagued by
ineffectiveness and myriad accusations of
corruption. During his first year in office, his
administration received over $4 billion in debt
forgiveness—with the chief condition that any
money not spent on debt was to be invested in
reducing poverty. Many organizations, including
Christian NGOs, worked for over a year to define
how this money could be best invested. However,
Zelaya ignored their efforts and instead tried to buy
votes by spending 70 percent of the money on raises
for teachers and health workers, and the rest on
ineffective but politically powerful “cash coupons” for the rural poor. Zelaya
has also failed to deliver on
promises to build houses, promote land reform, build a new international airport
and fight corruption. In the
meantime, he has used public funds to finance a pro-government newspaper and TV
station, flashy TV and
radio ads, and pro-government demonstrations.
On the other hand, the military coup that left Roberto Micheletti in the
presidential palace was illegal, and has
been followed by the suspension of civil liberties, the reinstatement of
political actors from the `80s who were
known for their violent suppression of “dissidents,” the repression of news
sources, and the use of violence
against unarmed protesters. The decision to fly Zelaya out of the country
instead of arresting and trying him
has isolated Honduras from the rest of the world. It has drawn criticism from
the many countries which
withdrew their ambassadors and aid money, has led to the suspension of Honduras
from the Organization of
American States, and destroyed ties with key allied countries.
The current stalemate reveals that what this is really about is two groups of
people fighting over who gets to
use Honduras’ government for their own personal gain. This adds to the hopeless
frustration that many
Hondurans feel that the country is run by a ruling group of elite politicians
and businesspeople who do not
make decisions based on what is best for average Hondurans.
However, this crisis also provides an opportunity for the poor to be heard and
for the international
community to demand an end to the corruption that has plagued this country for
far too long.
Those of the poor (and of the middle class) who were excited by Zelaya’s plan to
rewrite the constitution and
who have protested for his return rightfully point out that democracy as it has
been practiced in Honduras
has paid scant attention to the voices and needs of the poor. Those who support
Micheletti’s interim
government (most of the middle and upper classes, but also a significant
percentage of the poor) rightfully
point out that the path to increased freedom, equality, and prosperity in
Honduras is that of strengthening
government institutions and the system of checks and balances, not consolidating
power in the executive
branch, as Zelaya seemed set on doing.”

http://www.ajs-us.org/

Joyce

I know that you know that I’ve written about corruption many times in the past. I’m not so foolish to think that everyone involved with removing Zelaya are angels. No way! But I do think that they did the right thing in removing him.

Obviously, they could have done it differently but I’m not sure that it would have made that much difference to the rest of the world. My hope is that this is the first step in change for the better for Honduras and a reduction to future corruption.

Thanks for writing about Honduras.

I hope that people will keep reading La Gringa’s Blogicito–she has more posts up today and others she posted yesterday after I linked to her blog.

I’ll check out the LA Times article. Thanks for the link.

Joyce

Dan Miller