In a 111-14 vote the Honduran Congress rejected the reinstatement of Mel Zelaya to the presidency late last night in Tegucigalpa. The extraordinary congressional session began with a screening of a video produced by the Micheletti government, explaining what Spain’s El País calls the de facto regime’s “version of the facts that preceded the coup” of June 28. The session ended with the singing of the Honduran national anthem. The New York Times quotes Congressman José Simón Azcona who said voting against Zelaya’s restoration to power would be the best way for his country “to turn the page and start anew.” In the AP’s reporting, another National Party deputy proclaimed Wednesday: “My vote is (a lesson) for anyone who pretends to perpetuate himself in power. My vote is so that my son can look at me and say, ‘Dad you defended democracy.’” More statements by deputies as they cast their votes can be found at the anti-Zelaya El Heraldo here.
The vote, stipulated as part of the now failed Tegucigalpa-San Jose Accord, adds a new set of questions about the future of Honduras within the international community generally, and the personal future of Mel Zelaya, more specifically. However, even before Wednesday’s vote, Zelaya indicated he had no plans to return to office even if the Congress voted in his favor, arguing his restoration should have come before Sunday’s presidential election.
Meanwhile, outside Congress Wednesday, hundreds of Zelaya supporters took to the streets in protest, says Reuters. And Zelaya himself went on Radio Globo, saying, “This decision ratifies a coup and condemns Honduras to continue living in illegality.” Cesar Ham, a presidential candidate for the UD in Sunday’s vote, added that democracy in Honduras is “in intensive care.” For their parts, de facto president, Roberto Micheletti, and the recently elected Pepe Lobo both called Zelaya “history” as the Congress prepared to vote last night. Micheletti returned from his “leave of absence” yesterday, just in time for the Congress’s deliberations. Speaking to his supporters, Micheletti seemed well-rested, but unchanged: “Although Mr. Lobo has not even wanted to call me president, many people that voted for him have a feeling of respect for what we have done,” referring to the ouster of Mr. Zelaya in June.
Finally, on the still-circulating doubts about voter turnout, Hagamos Democracia, the independent group that partnered with the NDI to conduct an assessment of Sunday’s vote, has explained one reason why their figures are so different from the Honduran Electoral Tribunal (TSE). The two have apparently used differing methods for analyzing the voter registry. Rolando Bú of Hagamos Democracia tells Honduras’s Tiempo that the organization’s abstention rate was based on the national voter registry – some 4.6 million eligible voters while the TSE has measured abstention on an electoral census that excluded many Hondurans for reasons like emigration. Thus, the TSE reports an abstention rate of 38.5 percent while Hagamos Democracia said it was at least 52.4 percent. For the full Hagamos Democracia-NDI assessment, click here.
In other news around the region this morning:
· The Wall Street Journal reports that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez may be willing to nationalize the country’s entire banking system. Two days after the government closed two small banks and nationalized two others, Chavez said his government was investigating problems at other private banks as well. “We have our radar fixed on another group of banks and yesterday I spent nearly 10 hours studying” them, Chavez said Wednesday. “You can be sure that if I have to nationalize all of Venezuela's private banks, I will.”
· The AP writes that Mexican President Felipe Calderon said Wednesday that Mexican drug cartels are pouring money into political campaigns as in an attempt to control territory within the country. Calderon called for electoral reform as one measure to fight such activities and make local officials more accountable. Among the possible reforms: allowing politicians to stand for re-election, which the president believes would give elected officials more reason to answer to constituents. He also said new regulations must be created to monitor cash spending by candidates.
· An interesting piece at the North American Congress on Latin America looks at a regressive constitutional reform process going forward in the Dominican Republic. The changes to the DR’s constitution—including writing a ban on all forms of abortion, a ban on gay marriage, new immigration laws, and new private property laws on public beaches into the constitution—are expected to be approved by President Leonel Fernandez sometime this month.
· And two opinions this morning in the LA Times. In one editorial, the paper comes out against the U.S. embargo on Cuba.
“It would be best if the U.S. and the EU forged a common policy pushing for the release of political prisoners and other human rights improvements, while making clear they do not seek regime change. Frequent contact between peoples and the free flow of goods and ideas are the best means to create pressure for change. As Human Rights Watch notes, the U.S. embargo has too long served the Castros as a pretext for cracking down on dissidents. Try something else.”
· In another editorial, the paper looks at the possibility of renewing trade preferences with Ecuador—something opposed by the controversial Chevron Corporation who remains embroiled in a fight with the Ecuadorean government. The LAT disagrees. “Halting the trade agreement at Chevron's behest would harm broader U.S. interests. It would throw farmers out of legitimate business ventures and into the arms of cocaine traffickers. It would create needless ill will in a region where President Obama has promised to end North American bullying and begin a new era of rapprochement,” says the paper.
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