What for CNN seems merely as a “forced succession” provoked by the actions of the deposed president of Honduras Jose Manuel Zelaya. For the rest of the hemisphere and the world it is fairly clear that what we have witnessed is a vile and illegal coup in Honduras, promoted by a military-civilian grouping willing to do anything to stop Honduras from taking a more progressive turn like much of the rest of Latin America.
Sadly our own Minister of State for Foreign Affairs (Americas) Peter Kent, during a special meeting of the Organization of American States (OAS) recommended that ousted President Manuel Zelaya delay his planned return to the country.
Kent said the “time is not right,” prompting Zelaya to respond with sarcasm “I could delay until January 27 (2010)” when his term ends. Kent had previously escalated this further by earlier attacking Zelaya and his attempt to add a non-binding public poll on the possibility of holding consultations to modify the constitution.
This may all seem surprising to some readers, as Canada is not well known for supporting military coups around the world. But let’s be honest, it’s no secret the Harper administration has absolutely no love lost for any of the left-leaning governments in the Americas. This position, which further isolates Canada from mainstream world opinion, is based on ideology and false information. On top of that Canada is the only country in the hemisphere that did not explicitly call for Belaya’s return to power.
Some may wonder about Ottawa’s hostility towards Belaya, but a closer look reveals that is more than likely related to the specific corporate interests and the danger the social policie; like a 60% raise on the minimum wage would have on Canadian corporate investments in Honduras. Canada is one of Honduras’s biggest investors and these forces and the current Harper government never saw with good eyes the closeness that Zelaya had with left-wing governments like Hugo Chavez in Venezuela or Rafael Correa in Ecuador.
Fair thinking Canadians pray for a return to previous Canadian policies which at least on paper were never unclear about military coups in Latin America; as was the case with the Chilean military coup of 1973 and the unequivocal support Canadian authorities then had for a return to democracy. It is time for the Canadian government to once again take a leading role, a principled role in denouncing the overthrow of democratically elected governments by the powerful and their military gorillas. The ambiguity and outright hostility demonstrated by our current government towards the democratically elected leader of Honduras should be denounced at every turn.
I have only recently been enlightened of the Hondurans’ recent plight and am glad to see there is already much local support for their cause. Keep it up!
Thank you Jim, sadly it seems a disturbing echo of the 1970’s when the military with the not so secret help of the CIA made it a point to overthrow any governments that did not follow the line of submission to Washington, let us hope this is but an echo and not a concerted effort to destroy democracy in Latin America.