With a coup regime still in power in Honduras, Latin America is not the least bit inclined to take further military threats lying down. Given the historical responsibility the US has had for supporting--if not instituting--such bloody, tyrannical regimes (including the one in Honduras today), neither should we.
This morning Democracy Now had a segment on the coup attempt in Ecuador Ecuador Declares State of Emergency as President Correa Escapes Attack from Rogue Armed Forces
JUAN GONZALEZ: In Ecuador, President Rafael Correa has denounced what he called an attempted coup against him by members of Ecuador's armed forces. Unrest erupted in the capital city, Quito, on Thursday with police and troops protesting in the streets over what they claimed were austerity measures and plans to cut benefits. A state of emergency was called after armed forces stormed Congress, blocked roads, set fires outside their barracks, and took control of Quito's international airport. Two people were killed, and dozens injured.
In an emotional speech from the main barracks in the capital, President Correa tore at his shirt and dared the troops to attack him.
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PRESIDENT RAFAEL CORREA: [translated] If you want to kill the President, here I am! Kill me! Kill me, if you are not happy! Kill me, if you are brave! But we will continue with one policy, one of justice, dignity, and we will not take one step backwards! If you want to take over the barracks, if you want to exert pressure, go for it!
JUAN GONZALEZ: Moments later, President Correa was forced to flee the barracks. A tear gas canister fired by the police exploded close to his face, and overcome by the fumes, he was taken to a nearby hospital. But once inside, he was unable to leave, as armed forces surrounded the building. Speaking by telephone, Correa said the police were hunting for him in the hospital.
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PRESIDENT RAFAEL CORREA: [translated] I am being informed that they are trying to come into my room by way of the rooftop, etc., these police in rebellion. If something happens to me, it is their responsibility. And I only want to say to you that my love for the country is infinite, and regardless of where I am, I will always love my family. I always knew that these were the risks, but they are worth it. Please, don't worry.
JUAN GONZALEZ: Meanwhile, Bolivian President Evo Morales summoned South American heads of state to an emergency meeting in Argentina. They denounced the attempted coup and expressed support for Correa. Peru and Colombia closed their countries' borders with Ecuador in solidarity with Correa.
After being trapped inside the hospital for twelve hours, army forces loyal to the President eventually stormed the hospital amid heavy gunfire and rescued him under cover of darkness. Addressing supporters after his release, the president said the uprising was not a simple police insurrection but an attempt to overthrow him and said those responsible would be punished. The President blamed the unrest on Lucio Gutiérrez, a former president who was deposed in 2005. Gutiérrez said the accusation was "totally false." Meanwhile, Correa has said he is considering dissolving Congress until new presidential and parliamentary elections can be held.
While one guest, Andres Esteban Ochoa, a Quito-based researcher for the Council on Hemispheric Affairs and Centro Latinoamericano de Estudios Políticos., said that it was a police revolt over wages that escalated because it was badly handled, the other guest, Miguel Tinker Salas, Professor of Latin American history at Pomona College, said it was a very old pattern with a public excuse hiding private machinations:
Arguably the most significant news so far--aside from the fact of the coup itself, and the fact that President is still alive, is the news that the OAS has condemned the coup. Her diary about this puts it in proper historical context, contrasting it with the strikingly similar coup in Haiti in 2004:
UPDATE 6:54PM OAS HAS JUST CONDEMNED COUP IN HONDURAS, CALLS FOR ZELAYA'S REINSTATEMENT In a major blow to the coup leaders in Honduras who just illegally installed themselves in power, the Organization of American States (OAS) has just issued a resolution condemning the coup against President Zelaya, demanding the return of Zelaya to power immediately and clarifying that the OAS will not recognize any other government other than Zelaya's in Honduras. Whew! For a minute there I thought this was going to turn out like Haiti in 2004 when coup forces kidnapped President Aristide and forced him into exile and, while the OAS "condemned" the constitutional rupture, they never called for Aristide's reinstatement, and since the US backed the coup, an illegal transitional government was installed and nothing more came of it from the international community.
This time, things seem different. Still waiting on the US Government's official position...If they say they will not recognize the coup government, then we have to see how things will play out in Honduras.
Other posts from her throughout the day make it clear that the Obama Administration has been typically vague, and still has not made its position clear. In her most recent post, she said:
Since the Obama Administration has stated the coup situation in Honduras should be resolved via the OAS, and the OAS has just condemned the coup and called for the unconditional restoration of President Zelaya to power, that should also imply that the US Government shares the same position.
You can watch Naomi Wolf interviewed here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v... on her new book "Give me Liberty: A Handbook for American Revolutionaries" and the recent materialization of the "coup" in the US.
Wolf has made a study of how democracies are subverted and ultimately "shut down". She wrote this up in "The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot"
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