[First, sorry for the delay today. I’m on the road right now, and will be until Tuesday, with internet access that is a bit limited so my apologies…now onto the news…]. The focus today turns to the proposed plan forwarded by some in the Honduran business community which, according to the New York Times, for the “first time suggests Mel Zelaya’s return as president” while at the same time demanding the ousted President face trial on charges that he stole money while in office. “What we’re trying to do is break the ice,” business leader Adolfo Facusse said Wednesday, adding that the U.S. and others were “deteriorating” the Honduran election process, “the most destructive thing they can do in a democracy.” However, the Honduran business association which Facusse heads distanced itself from his plan proposed this week, saying this was Facusse’s own personal initiative rather than that of the business council. In La Tribuna, the president of the Cámara de Comercio e Industrias de Cortés (CCIC), Luis Larach, said Wednesday that determining whether or not Mr. Zelaya should be reinstated are decisions for the National Congress and Supreme Court to make. Moreover, advisers to Mr. Zelaya are of course very skeptical of the Facussé plan, with one economic adviser calling it a plan that was “born dead.” Meanwhile, the AP reports that six Brazilian lawmakers visited Tegucigalpa Thursday. After “denouncing the use of tear gas on their mission and saying the country “had no choice but to allow Zelaya to take refuge there because he is the country's legally recognized president,” the representatives also met with Supreme Court officials and various Honduran politicians in an attempt to “contribute” to resolving the crisis. [Also see Time and El Pais for two takes, here and here, on Brazil’s role in attempting to resolve the Honduran crisis.] The AP also reports that other civic groups, including the Catholic Church are stepping into the “negotiating process.” Specifically, Bishop Juan Jose Pineda has said he has a plan that would “broaden talks to include civic groups that have led street protests both in support of and against Zelaya, with the process guided by one Honduran and one foreign mediator.”
On the U.S. end of things, the Times also writes that Sen. Jim DeMint now has plans to visit Tegucigalpa, as does Rep. Ileana Ros-Lhetinen. Both have been critical of the Obama administration’s handling of the situation in Honduras. For its part, the Obama administration said this week that the June 28 coup “deeply offended the core principles of the Americas.” This is according to top administration aide, Dan Restrepo, who spoke with the Miami Herald. “Ghosts of the past, when democratically elected governments of the Americas were driven from office at the result of armed forces, have been sadly resurrected in Honduras,” says Restrepo. There is also news today that the OAS will make yet another return attempt to Honduras Friday. The delegation will be headed by Victor Rico, secretary of political affairs for the inter-American body. Four of five OAS officials were not allowed entrance to Honduras last Sunday. And the UN’s Human Rights Council became the latest to condemn rights abuses that have followed the June 28 coup.
In Honduras, itself, the Micheletti regime has yet to restore constitutional guarantees, after announcing earlier in the week it would “as soon as possible.” La Tribuna reports that Micheletti reiterated again today that his plan is to “undo the initiative approved by his Council of Ministers in the opportune moment, when all the sectors have come to agreement.” The paper says the de facto leader is still waiting on the opinion of the Supreme Court and a Honduran lawyer’s association with respect to the suspension of rights. Also, a major raid of the National Agrarian Institute by state security forces led to more than questionable detainment of some 50 Zelaya backers yesterday.
And in opinions today, Andres Oppenheimer argues that the Honduran presidential candidates hold the key to resolving the crisis. After interviewing Oscar Arias, Oppenheimer writes, “If Micheletti thinks that Honduras will overcome its crisis by holding elections under the current circumstances, he's dreaming. The winner of the elections will remain an international pariah, and Honduras will become increasingly poorer. If Zelaya thinks that he can be restored to power and continue his unconstitutional effort to be reelected, following the Venezuelan script, he's dreaming, too.Until now, I paid zero attention to the Honduran candidates, in the belief that they played secondary roles in this tragicomedy. But after listening to Arias, I'm wondering: perhaps they should become the leading actors.”
In other major news, a conflict between indigenous groups and the Ecuadoran government exploded into violence yesterday. At least one indigenous protestor was killed in the confrontation and 40 others, both indigenous activists and police, are said to have been injured. The AP writes: “The Indians accused President Rafael Correa of "declaring a civil war" against them, while Correa said the Indians are putting the country at risk. Indian groups in Ecuador have been protesting proposed laws that would allow mining on their lands without their consent and put water resources under state control, and Correa stoked their anger earlier this year by calling them "infantile" for objecting to the legislation.”
And one last opinion today in the LA Times on violence against trade union activists in Colombia. In an editorial today, the paper writes: “Colombia is the most dangerous place in the world to be a union organizer. In the last 17 years, more than 2,700 teachers, farmworkers, coal miners and other laborers have paid with their lives for seeking rights that Americans have long taken for granted, such as safe working conditions. During that same period, there were more than 4,000 reported death threats against labor leaders, 350 disappearances and kidnappings, and 75 cases of torture.” From this, the paper argues that a recent decision by the Colombian judiciary to investigate top executives at Alabama-based Drummond Co. for their possible collaboration with Colombian paramilitaries who killed three trade union leaders in 2001 is significant.
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