The Anniversary of the Honduras Coup.

A year ago on this date the Honduran military packed up President Manuel ZelayaManuel Zelaya in his pajamas and flew him to Costa Rica. Of course this was all done at the behest of the Honduran ruling elite. Now a year later that same elite of wealthy families and business owners are in control under the presidency of Porfirio Lobo who was elected last November in an election that took place under the interim coup government. The election was supported by the U.S. in spite of the fact there was considerable violence and many in the opposition refused to participate.

There is still considerable repression and many unsolved murders of activists and trade unionists. At least 14 people associated with the opposition or critical of the government have been killed since Lobo has been inaugurated. The deaths include 7 journalists and 3 trade unionists. Of course press coverage of these killings in the mainstream press is virtually nil.

Just in the last month, armed invaders shot up the offices of the bottling-plant workers' union in Tegucigalpa, the capital. A group of armed men who arrived in police and military cars shot and killed a peasant activist.

Once in office in January, Lobo reappointed generals who had launched the coup. The top leader General Romeo Vaquez was made head of the state-owned telephone company. Other top military officers also were handed good jobs in the government.

His regime he calls a Government of National Reconciliation and he launched a truth commission which is supposed to heal the nation from the trauma of the coup. But the commission does not allow victims to testify, has no enforcement powers and does not cover any incidents after Lobo took power.

As seen in the attached videos, the U.S. recognizes the new regime and supports it. It is also urging Latin American countries to recognize the government. The IMF also recognized the government in March this year at the same time as the U.S. But many Latin American countries have not yet recognized the Lobo government including Brazil, Bolivia, Venezuela, and Ecuador. The U.S. has renewed military aid to Honduras as well as other aid.

Ironically Lobo himself claims that he may be overthrown in a new coup because he has offended the elite just as happened with Zelaya. Lobo announced that he was not opposed to have a group recommend reforms to the constitution. Zelaya's proposal to have a referendum on setting up such a committee was precisely one of the reasons he was turfed out. The elite like the constitution the way it is! No reforms thanks! Lobo also negotiated with farmers and attempted to buy land to distribute to them but the price was too high so he threatened the landowner with expropriation.

The anti coup leaders think this is all smoke and mirrors to make Lobo more popular with the masses and look to be a reformer. However it is not clear that the business elites share this view. Lobo better hope that history does not repeat itself.

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