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Honduras vote

By The World ⋅ November 24, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment
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zelaya150Honduran President Manuel Zelaya (pictured) was ousted in a coup five months ago and it now seems unlikely that he’ll be returned to power before his term ends in January. On Sunday, Hondurans will go to the polls to elect Zelaya’s successor. Many Latin American countries are refusing to recognize the elections which are being organized by the de facto government of Roberto Micheletti. Yet some Hondurans consider choosing a new president the first step toward ending the country’s political crisis. From Tegucigalpa, John Otis reports.

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MARCO WERMAN: I’m Marco Werman and this is The World, a co-production of the BBC World Service, PRI, and WGBH Boston. Honduras’ strange political saga comes to a head this weekend. That’s Hondurans elect a new president. Their last elected leader, Manuel Zelaya, was ousted five months ago but he remains in limbo at the Brazilian embassy there. Many Latin American countries are refusing to recognize the elections organized by the defacto government of Roberto Micheletti. Yet some Hondurans say this weekend’s election could be the first step towards ending the country’s political crisis. John Otis reports from the capital Tegucigalpa.

PORFIRIO LOBO: [SPEAKING SPANISH]

JOHN OTIS: During a televised debate presidential front runner, Porfirio Lobo, pledges to attack corruption and reduce poverty in Honduras. Lobo’s main challenger, Elvin Santos, offers a similar message in his campaign speeches.

ELVIN SANTOS: [SPEAKING SPANISH]

OTIS: But the issue neither candidate mentions is what to do about deposed president Manuel Zelaya, a leftist with close ties to Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez. Zelaya was removed from office by the Honduran military on June 28th amid fears he would try to change the constitution to remain in power. He was flown into exile. But he later snuck back in to Honduras and now remains holed up in the heavily guarded Brazilian embassy. Last month US diplomats announced they had brokered a deal to reinstate Zelaya for the remainder of his term. But the agreement hinged on the approval of the Honduran congress and most legislatures opposed Zelaya. They were also busy campaigning for re-election and have postponed their decision on Zelaya’s fate until next month. Miguel Gutierres is Honduran newspaper publisher claims congress is simply trying to run out the clock.

MIGUEL GUTIERRES: This has been a delay and a delay and a delay. I don’t personally believe that they will reinstate Zelaya back. Meanwhile Roberto Micheletti, Honduras’ provisional president is pushing ahead with the elections.

ROBERTO MICHELETTI: [SPEAKING SPANISH]

OTIS: To appease the international community Micheletti last week announced he would assume a low profile and make no more public appearances until after the voting. Still the elections are going forward under a cloud of suspicion. The organization of American states has refused to send electoral observes to Honduras. Brazil, Argentina, and other Latin American nations say they will not recognize the results. One presidential hopeful and dozens of pro-Zelaya legislative candidates have withdrawn saying their participation would only legitimize the coup.

[PROTESTORS CHANTING]

Anti-government marches have been banned in the capital Tegucigalpa but everyday Zelaya supporters meet in front of congress. They’re calling on Hondurans to stay home on election day and protest. Juan Barahona is one of the main opposition leaders.

JUAN BARAHONA: [SPEAING SPANISH]

TRANSLATOR: This is a coup regime. One that’s illegal and illegitimate therefore the electoral is illegal and illegitimate.

OTIS: Micheletti as well as the two leading presidential candidates are betting that relatively clean elections will make people forget about Zelaya. Daniel O’Connor is an American business man and a member of the Democratic Civic Union, a group that strongly backs Micheletti.

DANIEL O’CONNOR: I think there’s a strong expectation that the elections will be free, fair, and transparent. That the results will be ultimately recognized.

OTIS: The US government has cut off military and other non-emergency aid to Honduras yet critics say Washington could have taken a tougher stance. Instead American diplomats have hinted they will recognize the elections whether or not Zelaya is reinstated and that may have stiffened the resolve of the Micheletti government. US Ambassador Hugo Llorens says there’s still time for Zelaya to return to the presidency. He insists voters have the right to go to the polls next week and the condemning the elections would be akin to blaming the entire Honduran population for the coup.

HUGO LLORENS: We’ve worked very hard. We’ll continue very hard to restore the democratic order. But certainly free, fair, and transparent elections will be a part of the solution in Honduras.

OTIS: The next president will be sworn in on January 27th. On that day all eyes will be on the figure handing over the presidential sash to the new Honduran leader. Lisa Haugaard of the Washington-based Latin America Working Group says that if Micheletti rather than Zelaya presides over the ceremony it will send a dangerous message to the rest of the region.

LISA HAUGAARD: We have thought that coups were things of the past and it’s very disturbing that there can be a coup that is more or less successful.

OTIS: For The World I’m John Otis in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

[MUSIC]


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Discussion

7 comments for “Honduras vote”

  • http://www.lookingforhope.net Matt O’Brien

    I’m afraid John Otis is repeating the lie promoted by the coup perpetrators and their corporate allies– that the referendum which Zelaya wanted to carry out had the purpose of extending his term of office. THIS IS A LIE. Shame on John Otis and “The World” for repeating this propaganda and for lazy reporting. Weeks ago there was a program on FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting)’s program “Counterspin” which debunked this myth and pointed out that the same false allegation had been used to justify a coup in Brazil. Check out the article: http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3893

    If The World wants respect, it must demonstrate that it is prepared to do more than repeat establishment propaganda.

    • Franklyn

      Thank you, Mr. O’Brien, for bringing out the truth! I am tired of the lies being spread by the elite families in Honduras, who control the country and wish to keep the masses misinformed and under control.

  • LCSS

    I heard this report with great dismay. I am particularly troubled by the following statement: “… the elections organized by the de facto government of Roberto Micheletti.” This type of statement is absolutely misleading, it makes it sound as though the Micheletti government is pulling elections out of nowhere. This is an election year in Honduras, the electoral process has been in place long before the events from June 28th. We had primaries in 2008, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal is an independent entity that has continued working on our electoral process. This is not the “de facto goverment” elections, these are the elections mandated in our constitution. I find it absolutely unbelievable that you would leave out a “small” but significant detail like that.

    Additionally, has anyone who prepared this new report actually READ the actual resolutions from the Tegucigalpa-Guaymuras accord? The stated objective on the accord was to put an end to the crisis and it especifically mandated that the decision to restore Zelaya to power rested in the hands of the Honduran Congress. Nowhere in it is it stated in black and white that the congress will restitute Zelaya, but rather it is up to the congress to decide. Everyone jumped to the conclusion that our Congress would do so, but it is not actually on paper.

    Zelaya has repeatedly violated the terms of the accord, retracted on his word, but that of course get no international coverage whatsoever. If it were not for the fact that my entire family lives in Honduras and I have countless friends from all sides of the political spectrum, I would not even begin to comprehend what is going on in my homeland. I am tired of incomplete, inaccurate reporting with careless statements.

    If you doubt my words, here you have the actual accord signed in Spanish:
    http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B08-H8hU7cI_YjhhY2EzZWQtOGU4Zi00ZjQyLThjOGItNzlhNmQ2ODExMzYw&hl=en

    Excerpts in English of the accord:
    http://lagringasblogicito.blogspot.com/2009/10/highlights-of-honduras-accord.html

    I intend to go voting on Sunday to the local voting center here in Los Angeles and I would invite you to go to any of the cities where voting is to take place for you to report the sentiment of those of us overseas.

  • banelly

    Above all thanks to the the world for maintaing this tragic story alive. The US state Dpt. and the extreme right of US congress once again are showing their power over president Obama. Since they haven’t been able to get rid of Castro and Chavez, they went after the “weakest link” president Zelaya. And yes, Honduras is a weak link in this web of deception, however by supporting this coup, the US is opening a door to other coups in Latin America. Recent history shows that whenever the US supports political disruptions in what they called “third world counttries” always come back to hunt them. One doesn’t have to be a genius to forsee other legitimate presidents taken out of office by military, and thousands of people crossing borders to get to the US territory. Every action has a reaction.

  • Don

    Zelaya is a nut, he has crushed investment in Honduras. The link to his good friend the dictator and trouble maker Chavez, is clear and unavoidable.

    Under his presidency, this white hatted lunatic has made a fool of Honduras and chased away investors that brought jobs and food to this impoverished country and the people suffer.

  • River

    So… The Constitution of Honduras contains 379 articles of which 372 can be legally reformed. The non-reformable articles deal with Voting fraud, Extradition, Territorial Borders, Administrative Succession, and TERM LIMITS.

    The only way to skirt any one of these is to rewrite the constitution. And…. that’s exactly what Zelaya’s 4 ballot box initiative was intended to address (he has said so himself).

    So was he pushing for
    - Legal extradition of Honduran citizens?
    - Changing the boundaries of HN?
    - Legalizing voting fraud?
    - Restructuring of the Government?
    - A lift on Term Limits?

    In so many words, the Constitution states “Don’t even go there”, and he did. Consequence = game over.

    It should also be understood (if you take time to really read the Constitution) that it is the responsibility of the Military to execute arrests in Constitutional matters. Not the police. A great provision considering that all the police forces are administered under a Presidential Cabinet member.

    So, if you’re one of those people calling this a “millitary coup”, much less a coup, then please tell me the name and rank of the armed forces individual that is now the head of the Honduran Government.

    There has now been enough of a track record to see that Zelaya’s only interests are in himself and being in power. The tragedy here is that his followers believe that they can vote themselves more money. What they don’t realize is that it works only till you run out of other peoples money….

  • http://www.lookingforhope.net Matt O’Brien

    Are we going to get an apology or at least an acknowledgment from John Otis and from “The World” about the errors and inaccuracies in Mr. Otis’ report? Are we going to get some sort of statement from “The World” about how they will try in the future to not repeat talking points (propaganda) proffered by corporations, lobbying groups, and governments, especially illegitimate governments who came to power through a violent kidnapping of a democratically elected president and pass them off as ‘reporting’? C’mon bosses of “The World”, are you going to hold yourselves and your reporter accountable for the misinformation you have spread?

    Mr. Otis exhibited not only utter laziness by merely parroting talking points and not doing the most basic of actual reporting, like reading the referendum proposed by Zelaya, and exploring what other reporters had revealed about the coup and the propaganda surrounding the coup, but he also is supporting the coup by disseminating the misinformation created by the coup. And “The World,” by allowing this shoddy reporting to be broadcast on the program is guilty as well. What have you to say for yourselves, Mr. Otis, and “The World”?

    Here is a link to an article which puts the lie to Mr. Otis’ mediocre reporting and propaganda mongering: http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3893

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