I was enraged when I first heard Hugo Llorens, US Ambassador to Honduras, condemn the removal of Manuel Zelaya from power, and recognize him as the one and only legitimate President of Honduras. Llorens, I thought, wasn’t well informed about the legal and constitutional process for removing a president from office and the need for sending Zelaya away to avoid bloodshed in the country. In point of fact, Llorens and the US government knew very well about the imminent threat of Zelaya’s expulsion.
Now, after almost three glorious months of the constitutional presidential succession, I understand why the United States appears to be viciously antagonistic with Honduras and its new government, but warmheartedly friendly with Hugo Chávez and his cronies: to avoid a war and to set a precedent in the Western Hemisphere.
President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are cunning. They prefer to appease the radical Latin American leftists, while aggravating a small nation like Honduras, than to confront Chávez, by smiling at Zelaya’s legitimate extradition. Obama is playing chess, not checkers. Very few people realize this, which is why there’s discomfort at the US government’s measures against Honduras.
What would happen if Obama stood his ground, followed American democratic principles, and supported freedom and the rule of law in Honduras? Well, Hugo and his Latin American Idiots would radicalize and escalate their hatred towards the Evil Empire. The polarization of the political climate would worsen and Honduras would probably be visited by Venezuelan war ships, with missiles pointed towards Tegucigalpa, and several battalions preparing to enter Honduran territory for the overthrow of President Roberto Micheletti. How would the US react to such a threat in its backyard? It would naturally defend its Central American buddy and launch an offensive against Venezuela -- with or without UN approval.
In such a serious scenario, a full-scale war would commence, pitting the US and Honduras against Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Argentina, and maybe Russia. Surely, under President G.W. Bush’s administration, this would’ve become the likely scenario.
By suspending services for new non-immigrant/non-emergency visas, halting the flow of non-humanitarian aid and revoking the visas of many Honduran government officials (and many more sanctions to come), the US is exercising its muscle against Honduras, but in the soft-politics realm.
Thankfully, by doing so, Chávez remains calm -- yet alert. He knows that the low-intensity warfare he has crafted in Honduras might destabilize the Micheletti government. Swarms of people, allegedly following Zelaya, march through the streets of Tegucigalpa every day, wreaking havoc, graffitiing anti-“coup” messages and using the few remaining pro-Zelaya news media (about 2-3) to slander the names of those who oppose them.
The internal politics in Honduras is tense, particularly in Tegucigalpa. Outside of the capital, people tend to carry out their business as usual, not being affected by what goes on between the so-called golpistas (“coup” supporters) and the Resistencia (Zelaya supporters).
The Resistencia is loud, but not strong. It is sustained primarily by monies received from the Venezuelan government, the FARC guerrilla, leftist NGOs and political parties from around the world, and many other radical organizations that feign to defend human rights, democracy, the rule of law, peace, love and a better world (?). The foreign media, too, has a leftist slant, making them favor the Resistencia.
Much to the detriment of Zelaya’s and Chávez’s plans to stop the Honduran elections, they’re coming up in November. These will take care of much of the social unrest in the country. Many nations have vowed not to recognize the outcome of the elections or the newly-elected president. How disgraceful. Nevertheless, time will take care of making these nations recant their vows.
The so-called golpistas --a misnomer for the majority of Hondurans-- stand firm in their convictions that Manuel Zelaya was a threat to Honduras’ republican and democratic system, and that this man’s ouster was necessary to prevent the expansion of socialism in our country.
The Obama administration understands what’s going in Honduras. It knows that Zelaya is a clown and potentially would hurt its interests if reinstated. Nonetheless, it prefers to “support” the return of Zelaya to power, than have Chávez prepare an attack on Honduran soil to do so.
It’s all about precedent, my friends. If the US lets Honduras get rid of a nasty leader, without being spanked for it, then the Latin American idiots would say, “Hey, if they booted out one of our guys, why can’t we do the same to one of theirs?!” If that were to happen, the Colombian and Peruvian presidents would be on Chávez’s sight. So, it’s better to impose pusillanimous sanctions on Honduras, in order to appease the radical left, than to sweep Zelaya’s ouster under the rug, maddening the Idiots -- and making them want to carry out a real coup d’état against any good Latin American president that opposes them.
I’m good. I’m happy. It might seem like the US government is against Honduras, but --alas for Chávez!-- it's covertly on our side. God and time will take care of this situation. Obama loves the rule of law, democracy, peace, order and justice. Yet, Honduras has embodied them almost to perfection.
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Written by Inti Jordán Martínez Alemán, a Honduran citizen who loves freedom, peace and democracy
If you have a problem with what I write, call me or email me so I can give you my home address and come find me: +504-9790-9360 / intimaralem85@hotmail.com / FB-Twitter-AIM-MSN: intimaralem85
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