No to the Fraud, Yes to the Constituent

Honduras

No to the Fraud, Yes to the Constituent

Marco A. Gandasegui, h.

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In defending their democracy against U.S. interference and rejecting a grossly overdue oligarchy, the Honduran people showed the world last Sunday to overcome all the obstacles necessary to respect their dignity and right to self determination. Washington was stunned by the heroism of the peoples but with the club in hand, without giving an inch with their usual arrogance. The Honduran oligarchy tries to minimize the loss at the polls guarded by the military coup.

Worse, a few puppet governments - like the Panamanian - celebrated the farce staged by the U.S. State Department and his ambassador in Tegucigalpa coup. The Foreign Minister, Juan C. Varela, returning from Honduras felt confident that their ideological allies would go ahead with voter fraud. The 15 members of the newly established National Council for Foreign Affairs of Panama newly appointed yet to decide on the demise of democracy in a Central American country.

The Honduran people have a clear and precise objective. They  must summon the constituent. On top of that demand may be the constitutional president Manuel Zelaya - ousted by the government of Barack Obama in June this year - who is a refugee in the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa. All Hondurans are organized in unions, neighborhood groups, producers and associations to demand the constituent.

Honduras showed that rejected the coup and its architects. Demands that democracy be respected and to be usurpers. The call for election of coup was stillborn. The insurgents are isolated internationally, but has the backing of a White House that has lost all credibility, despite his Nobel Prize. Obama's support means that the usurpers of Tegucigalpa will continue to receive funding for their operations spurious, that the Honduran military will remain under the protection of the Pentagon and the intelligence network of diplomatic and Washington put pressure on weaker countries to recognize the election of the coup. ( "Haiti, Israel, Marshall Islands?).

The U.S. secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, named the new style of foreign policy as "smart power" (power wise). Depending on your computer hard entrenched in the U.S. government structure, times of alternating soft power (respect for democracy, human rights and self-determination of peoples) and hard power (economic, military intervention and targeted killings) should give way to this new form:

On the one hand, sees the American military wing coup against President Zelaya (from its base at Soto Cano) and, on the other, his diplomatic team seeks to "restore democracy" through voter fraud. USA won the support of Costa Rica, Panama, Peru and, apparently, the king of Spain. However, both Mexico and Colombia - U.S. allies - have been reluctant to join the festive street band. Conversely, Brazil and its allies in the region have reported a farce and have chided Obama for his disrespect for American intelligence. There remains the option of convening a constituent assembly to decide the people of Honduras as a sovereign and democratic future.

Panama, 3 December 2009.

- Marco A. Gandasegui, Jr., is Professor at the University of Panama and research associate at the CELA. Http://marcoagandasegui.blogspot.com

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