Honduras notes

The ridiculous “la gringa’s blogicito” claims Ginger Thompson of the New York Times is lying, preferring to believe some rather unimportant Florida Congressman of no particular note, when Thompson wrote:

The head of Honduras’s de facto government, Roberto Micheletti, has expressed support for a compromise that would allow the ousted president of his country to return to power, according to officials in the de facto government and diplomats from the region.

Preferring to believe the discredited Micheletti, Mack (and “la gringa”) discount Thompson’s source who claims the “de facto” president called Costa Rican President Oscar Arias. While I often question the Times’ coverage of Latin America, Thompson knows how to quote an anonymous source, and — frankly — Micheletti has been know to detour through the suburbs of veracity on several occasions.  He’s made claims of foreign support later denied by the foreign countries in question (see Taiwan, Colombia) just for starters.   Spanish-language sources confirm Thompson’s original statement that Micheletti has approved ongoing negotiations under the original accords.

On the other hand, the self-serving 156 page document recently released by the Honduran Army was misinterpreted by the Times (and others) as seeking a way to return the legitimate government.  Because some unnamed “congressional aides” from the United States were apparently involved, reports gave the impression that the Army was negotiating with the government of the United States.  They weren’t.  They WERE negotiating with a couple of minor right-wing Republican Party officials (like Mack) trying to spin a narrative that the coup was not a coup and was a legal operation.

In short… the Honduran Army is “just following orders” (though that sounds better said with a Prussian accent):

It seemed quite clear that they had shifted to support the Arias Accord. Head of the joint chiefs Romeo Vásquez now says there were never any negotiations with the United States (which had been reported). He says the statement released by the military should be viewed only as support for Micheletti, and that the institution has no opinion about what decisions that government makes.

When asked about human rights violations, he responds that the military follows orders. Apparently doing so means they are not responsible for anything.

Worth reading is Machetera’s two part (Part I was up yesterday, Part II to come) on the probable involvement of U.S. telecommunications companies in the coup, as well as Laura Carlsen’s several recent articles on the America’s Mexico Blog site.

While all reports show growing political repression, only Hermano Juancito has noticed the real violence affecting Honduras:

One note from Wednesday in San Pedro Sula. As I walked out of the hotel I saw a man rummaging through a hole in a black plastic bag outside a restaurant, eating what remnants of food he could find. I have seen dogs eating this way, but never a person. This is the real problem of Honduras.

More later.