Honduras Oye!
Recommended by both commies and capitalist tools, HONDURAS OYE! is providing up to date coverage of the coup, and resistance to the coup, in English.
As of Wednesday (when I actually wrote this), Honduras Oye! was reporting that protests were growing, as was repression. There were unconfirmed reports of live rounds being fired at demonstrators, and talk of death squads are making the rounds in Tegacigalpa and elsewhere.
Hemano Juancito says there was less violence than reported, and brings an update on the irrepressible (and very brave) Padre Fausto:
He is a very gentle and affectionate man, who has a history of opposition to injustice. He also has an organization that promotes natural medicine, organic agriculture and healthy diets. He at times preaches against Coca Cola and chips – which too many people eat here, ignoring the great fruits and vegetables.
Padre Fausto suffered in the 1980s for his prophetic stances; he was jailed and after released he went into exile in Mexico for a few years.
He’s also, at 81, absolutely fearless, ending a sermon given Tuesday (and reported in the newspapers) thusly:
Where there is inequality, freedom does not exist. This people is not fighting a fratricidal war between two sympathizers from two political parties. This people is struggling to achieve that equality, brought about by those oppressors who have now stolen that which we has the most right to have: sovereignty. They are the criminals and I don’t say this; Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution say this: The people is the sovereign; whoever steals this sovereignty is a traitor to the country, a criminal!
Some who worked on the writing of the Constitution have now told me that they regret (repent) having written article 3, because article 3 calls for insurrection, brothers and sisters, to return to the people the sovereignty which has been stolen from them here in Honduras.
I know, it’s only rock n roll…
We should have seen this one coming.
Via The Latin Americanist, where I also first learned of the great Juanes-Clinton Summit of 2009 comes an essay in the Miami Herald by some guy named Joe Cardona (described as an “independent film maker”) claiming that Rock n Roll aids and abets commies. Really!
Juanes likely will share the stage with Silvio Rodríguez and Los Van Van, singers who have spent their entire careers hailing the comandante. Some American acts are being considered. His publicist revealed Juanes spoke with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about relaxing the embargo so that American artists could join in.
The concert promises to be nothing more than a shameless, thoughtless and heartless appearance by the 36-year-old singer and his fellow performers. It will be one more tacit legitimization of the hemisphere’s most oppressive 50-year-old dictatorship.
Juanes (Juan Esteban Aristizábal) apparently plans on strumming his guitar at the Plaza de la Revolución, which has hosted hundreds of Fidel Castro’s vitriolic harangues over the last half century. The descarga (jam) won’t question Cubans’ lack of freedom of speech and self determination.
Complaining both that Cubans might enjoy the event AND at the same time, complaining that musicians who are not interested in attending won’t attend, It’s not “lack of freedom of speech” that Cardona is complaining about, but that it’s only a music festival and not a political event, like he wants.
Besides, given that the Cuban government is paying for the thing, it’s bad manners to insist on being admitted to someone’s home in order to insult them. Sort of like the commentator who I’m spamming out from now on.If you want to insult people, do it on your own dime (or website) or music venue.
Disappearing act… life imitates art and vice-versa
The plot of any number of stories (the best twist on which being in Joseph Hansen’s “Steps Going Down“) — guy fakes his death to live a “simple life” in Mexico — has made a small appearance in the “real” news (er, the gossip columns).
Some guy named Patrick McDermott had his fifteen minutes of fame several years ago as the boyfriend of then-famous pop singer Olivia Newton-John. McDermott supposedly fell off a boat while fishing off the California coast in 2005 and his body was never recovered.
Weeeeelllll… a few details surface later. Like a lot of people in the film industry “Patrick McDermott” was an assumed name, and the guy had a second passport in his original name. And he’d cleaned out his bank accounts shortly before his “accident.” And he had a shitload of debt.
According to the New York Daily News:
In the most recent fax, McDermott’s supposed rep wrote, “Pat has asked that I portray to you his innocence. Pat has committed no crime. Pat simply wishes to be left alone. Let him live his life in peace and harmony. He is safe and has started anew again in a new place both physically and mentally. Stop this search immediately.”
The investigators believe McDermott is currently working as a deckhand in the small Mexican fishing town of Sayulita.
Nothin’ wrong with that.
Although now and again there’s a tendency to lump all disappearing U.S. citizens with foul play (or with the narcotics trade, as Clinton era “Drug Czar” General Barry McCaffrey did as late as March 2009) the truth is a lot of people come to Mexico to be left alone, for any number of reasons.
There’s an estimated million plus residents of just the United States in Mexico, and an unknown number of other “first world” types. Not all by any means are the folks who write blogs about their life in Fulanititlan, or query local message boards looking for English-speaking plumbers.
It used to be kind of a given that most of us were some kind of rogue, or liked to think we were. I am just enough of an old-timer to have once been asked directions by a slightly disoriented tourist from Minnesota, who — when he figured out I lived in Mexico City — didn’t ask “what DO you do?” in the sense of my life in Mexico, but “What DID you DO?” that I had to live in Mexico. It was soooo tempting to say something about … oh… machine guns, the Contras and a pesky federal indictment.
The tale of past wrong-doing isn’t all that unusual among those who have semi-disappeared. Unlike the folks who take a “border promotion” along the lines of transforming the article they wrote for a church magazine about their mission trip to Juarez into a career as a former international correspondent, seeking to make themselves better than they were “at home”, there are those who seek to make themselves worse. Better to be thought in some kind of witness protection plan than skipping out on bills. They are unlikely to be extradicted, but friends don’t like to see even slighly odd compatriates end up in cement overshoes, and won’t press the issue.
I once got an e-mail from a woman claiming to be an old high school flame of some guy who had a short story published in some U.S. literary magazine. The lady said she knew he worked at a pool hall in Mexico City and wanted to see if I’d track him down (I need to be more anonymous myself!). Anyone who lives in Mexico City knows what a daunting task that would be, and it was more than a simple matter of looking up telephone numbers in the yellow pages… besides which, I had no way of knowing if she was a high school sweetheart — or a sweetheart with years of back child support, or an IRS agent, or a private eye. Hell, maybe he’s got a boyfriend. Besides, he’s a writer, and a semi-recluse by definition. It’s not my place to intervene.
People like the pool-hall literati are not really “disappeared”, but they came to Mexico for a reason, and — if they want a break with their past — are entitled to it. He probably is a lot like I am: not in hiding (and no real reason to be hidden), but having made a radical break with my old life, able to chose whom I stay in contact with.
Most of the disappeared, of course, are alcoholics (as in Hansen’s novel) or guys fleeing a dysfunctional family, or a bad relationship (or seeking a good one) or bad debts. Some just want to be “off the radar” (former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura lives over near Cabo somewhere, jealously guarding his privacy). Its difficult to completely disappear, as “Patrick McDermott” did (having two passports, and two names certainly helped), but not all that rare… nor necessarily sinister.
Sayulita — where the guy formerly known as Patrick McDermott supposedly lives — isn’t the dark side of the moon, exactly. It’s just down the road from Puerto Vallerta — one of the major resort communities on the planet, with shopping malls, and neon lights and chain stores galore. There’s buses and roads and all the other accourtrements of modern life.
And — in our increasingly complicated society — where every transaction seems to require you provide some third-party proof you are who you are, there needs to be a place for those who are not who they are. Maybe it’s even admirable that a modern country like Mexico is still a place where one can have pretty much everything one has in the United States — but still live off the grid, or even disappear. And be who they want to be.
Kicking gringo “buts”
With the United States team (the best money can buy) likely to lose against the Mexican National Team (which mostly includes guys born in Mexico), credit to the foresight of the U.S. press in preparing pre-need excuses:
Wednesday’s crucial qualifying match at Azteca has been shifted from an accustomed evening kickoff to midafternoon. This is to lessen chances of a downpour in the rainy season, said Mexican soccer officials, who also would not mind seeing the hypoxic Americans flail in moderate heat and soupy pollution.
Dave Brockington, at Lawyers, Guns and Money (and sports) gives some credit to Azteca Stadium’s altitude, but sees the U.S. defeat for what it is… inevitable:
While Mexico are uncharacteristically struggling in the qualifiers for 2010, the 5-0 stomping of the USA in the Gold Cup final doesn’t matter, and their FIFA ranking is a near historic low 30th (the USA is 12th), the USA do not win this match. Sorry.
Why? Sure, the USA beat Spain, and played respectably against Brazil. However, in their last 23 matches in Mexico City, they are 0-22-1. No wins, one draw, and 22 defeats. Additionally, I tend to put more faith in the Elo rankings over the FIFA rankings. For example, the USA were ranked something silly like 4th for a while according to FIFA. Indeed this is true: 4th in May of 2006. And didn’t the USA look just great in Germany that summer? Elo have the USA 16th, Mexico 11th, though it should be said that this, too, is not 100% reliable, as I think Elo was overly affected by the Gold Cup performance; the previous month the USA were 9th according to Elo.
Borderline insanity
Gee, I wonder why people in Mexico think guns are easy to get in the United States? And, whether or not downtown Phoenix is really so dangerous that folks need to walk around with pistols. Well, there was a threat on the streets of Phoenix last Friday… little girls dressed as butterflies.
Children … and their mothers… protested last Friday against Maricopa County Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s immigration sweeps. Arpaio has been focusing country law enforcement on “illegal” immigrants (rather, than like county sheriff’s everywhere else in the United States, on local criminals within his country, leaving immigration to immigration agents… who don’t respond to burglary calls in Phoenix).
The local gun-toting nativists showed up, armed and ready. For??? Well, as a middle aged woman told the Phoenix New Times‘ Stephen Lemmons, “There could be killers in that crowd.”
Yeah, probably one carrying a gun. Not dressed as a butterfly.
Honduran hit and run
One of my commentators seems to think I have nothing to do all day but answer their specific comments. I spend more time than is healthy (or economically prudent) on this site, but try — within reason — to at least read the comments.
As to lingering questions of whether or not the U.S. has recognized the coup in Honduras, and responded appropriately, “El Duderino” (Abiding in Bolivia) has the best response:
Obama spilled some real idiocy the other day about Honduras and how pro-democracy, pro-Zelaya critics of US policy are “hypocritical”.
The same critics who say that the United States has not intervened enough in Honduras are the same people who say that we’re always intervening and the Yankees need to get out of Latin America. You can’t have it both ways…If these critics think that it’s appropriate for us to suddenly act in ways that in every other context they consider inappropriate, then I think what that indicates is, is that maybe there’s some hypocrisy involved in their approach to US-Latin America relations that certainly is not going to guide my administration’s policies.
First of all, this statement assumes the US is currently not involved in Honduras and that the military coup is not supported by powerful interests in the United States, which of course it is. Believing otherwise would require total ignorance of the modern history of US involvement in Latin America. Someone needs to read their copy of The Open Veins of Latin America.
Second, when we say “the Yankees need to get out of Latin America” the prejorative yankuí is specifically used, that is the “ugly American”. I am a gringo living happily in Latin America and no one has ever told me to go home, but I also don’t go around overthrowing democratic constitutions, training mass murders, or giving covert support to fascists. Maybe, just maybe if you respected your neighbors democracies, they wouldn’t mind inviting you over now and again.
Third, if we are “hypocrites” then so is US Law which requires the United States to cease economic and political relations with countries after a military coup, but of course the United States is the only government in the world which has refused to label the “defacto government” a military coup.
Lastly, remember that the “hypocritcal critics” Obama is refering to does not just include me and my unwashed hippy friends, those critics include President Zelaya himself and nearly every other government in Latin America, including Brazil- remember, the gaint of the south.
Read a book dumbass.
Business and history
Empire has its consequences.
In John Le Carré’s A Most Wanted Man English banker, Tommy Brue, consults an Egyptian scholar (and suspected terrorist financier), Dr. Abdallah, on a business matter. The truth is never pure and never simple in Le Carré’s world, nor, in our world, is history (Quotation © David Cornwell, 2008):
‘That’s one of the great problems of of modern world, you know. Forgetting. The victim never forgets. Ask an Irishman what the English did to him in 1920 and hel’ll tell you the day of the month and the time and the name of every man they killed. Ask an Iranian what the English did to him in 1953 and he’ll tell you. His child will tell you. His grandchild will tell you. And when he has one, his great-grandchild will tell you too. But ask an Englishman –? ‘ He flung up his hands in mock ignorance. ‘If he ever knew, he has forgotten. Move on! you tell us. Move on! Forget what we’ve done to you. Tomorrow’s another day! But it isn’t, Mr. Brue.’ He still had Brue’s hand. ‘Tomorrow was created yesterday, you see. That is the point I was making to you. And by the day before yesterday, too. To ignore history is to ignore the wolf at the door. Please. Take a seat. You had a safe journey, I hope?’
Substitute the United States for English, and Latin America for the Arabs and Iranians and Irish, and the Dr. Abdallah could be anyone those trying to do business in Latin America might encounter. Your customer, or advisor, or host will be perfectly polite, but — no matter what you want — he or she is going to remember the past. Anyone doing business in Latin America should be reading the Latin America’s own history (or at least a foreigner’s guide to that history).
Honduras, bottom line
Conn Hallinan in Counterpunch synthesizes much of what’s been written about Honduras over the last month (and more) to clarify the United States based backing of this coup, and the reasons behind the Obama administration’s dithering over definitions accepted as a given by the rest of the world.
Robert White, former U.S. ambassador to El Salvador and current president of the Center for International Policy… says the coup had more to do with profits than law.
“Coups happen because very wealthy people want them and help to make them happen, people who are used to seeing the country as a money machine and suddenly see social legislation on behalf of the poor as a threat to their interests,” says White. “The average wage of a worker in free trade zones is 77 cents per hour.”
…
The U.S. is also involved in the coup through a network of agencies that funnel money and training to anti-government groups. The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) contribute to right-wing organizations that supported the coup, including the Peace and Democracy Movement and the Civil Democratic Union. Many of the officers that bundled Zelaya off to San Jose were trained at the Western Hemispheric Institute for Security Cooperation, the former “School for the Americas’ that has seen torturers and coup leaders from all over Latin America pass through its doors. Reich served on the Institute’s board.
Et tu, “alternative news”?
Oh cripes!
Raw Story — which I usually check before going to any newspapers or U.S. media sites — claims it is written for ” an audience seeking news underplayed by the mainstream media.” Certainly, it’s less obnoxious than sites like “Huffington Post” (which thinks articles written by movie starlets and P.R. hacks is “cutting edge journalism” I guess) and more in-depth than the superficial “The Daily Beast” (short on news, long on entertainment coverage) or the plethora of “alternative” news sites that are more focused on how news is presented than what happened (“Crooks and Liars,” “Firedoglake,” etc.)– but it isn’t writing anything that I can’t find in the “mainstream media” about Latin America, or Mexico specifically.
US President Barack Obama began his first summit of North American leaders in Mexico, with the economic crisis and swine flu on an agenda overshadowed by Mexican drug violence. Hours before the summit began on Sunday, an armed commando shot dead a lawyer known for her work defending suspected drug smugglers in north Mexico…
WTF??? I’m not sure what a narco-lawyer being bumped off in Monterrey has to do with the event being covered. We have to read seven paragraphs before we find that out:
“The purpose of this summit is for the president to have an opportunity to speak with his counterparts about issues of mutual concern, like H1N1 (flu) preparedness, economic competitiveness, security and also global climate change,” White House deputy press secretary Bill Burton told reporters on Air Force One.
If this is the “alternative” then what’s “mainstream”?
What he said
Being Presidente Legitimo means never having to say you’re sorry, but it does mean that — unlike United States Congressional Representatives — when you’re out doing the August meet the people thing, the intimidation level is a lot more than just shouting and subtle threats of violence. Lopez Obrador is meeting with the 418 Mixtec communes in Oaxaca which are governed by “uso y costumbre”.
In Santa María Tepalcatepec local state police commander Andrés Melchor Hernández sent out a dozen officers armed with high caliber weapons to “convince” locals not to attend the speech. Lopez Obrador gave it anyway. He pretty much said what he wrote to Messers. Calderon, Obama and Harper this weekend:
Respectable leaders:
There is still time to correct the defects in the origin of the North America Free Trade Agreement; a model that was designed to benefit large corporations rather than people.
Without a doubt, the fifteen years of this treaty have seen the worst this country has suffered. Throughout this period there has been virtually no economic growth, no support for producers, the manufacturing sector has lost 15 percent of the jobs that were available before 1994, we import more than half the food we eat, and have become a major exporter of laborers.
In large measure, due to the absurd policies imposed during the fifteen years of NAFTA, six million Mexicans have been forced to emigrate, risking everything, to suffer from discrimination and violation of their human rights, to find something to quench their hunger and their poverty.
Despite this, the governments of the three countries have not undertaken any agreements to build a more efficient, equitable, fair and mutually beneficial relationship. By contrast, in 2005, they supported the Alliance for Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP), which presupposes that cooperative military actions are the means to foster development.
It is incredible that in addressing the migration issue and the problems of insecurity and violence, you consider only coercive measures, without understanding that these problems are rooted the lack of economic growth, unemployment and the welfare crisis in our country.
Hence, we respectfully urge you review reconsider the terms of our relationship in terms of cooperative development, which will improve the working and living conditions of our peoples, and recognize that security and peace are the fruits of justice.
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador
Whether I agree with Lopez Obrador or not is beside the point. He articulates a common sentiment about NAFTA that is widely held in Mexico. Statistically, he received as much of the vote in the last presidential election as Felipe Calderon, and he has by no means gone away. Even if he is not a candidate for office, or only a candidate for a minor party, his constituency — mostly rural and working class — will matter very much and are ignored by foreign commentators at their own peril.
Cash for clunkers
Among Mexico City’s unique qualities among North American communities, its dependence on privately run public transportation has a bigger impact than most cities. Although the thinking in city transportation planning since the 1950s was focused on getting cars from point A to B and back again, Mexico City is one of the few North American communities where the majority of commuters do not own a car.
The Metro and trolleys don’t go everywhere people need to get, and even some major corridors (like Reforma) were serviced by the private sector. It wasn’t a perfect system, but balancing competing needs — for jobs and business contracts for drivers and vehicle owners, commuter needs and public health and safety concerns — has been a balancing act, and changes had to come slowly.
One solution was a “Cash for Clunkers” program for PUBLIC transit. This was as much about safety and controlling air pollution as anything, but it had the side-benefit of stimulating Mexican manufacturing. Stricter and stricter air pollution and safely regulations meant older vehicles no longer passed inspection. The Federal District used a “carrot and stick” approach. If the clunkers were taken off the road, the District gave low interest (or zero interest) loans to owners groups to buy new vehicles, in return for the owners’ accepting the new regulations. Volkswagen de Mexico worked out a deal with the Capital to provide taxis, which kept demand high enough to justify keeping the old beetle in production here long after it had been discontinued everywhere else. When, in 2005, advances in the Mexican auto industry meant that four-door cars with better fuel efficiency (and a lot more safety features) were available, and the other auto manufactures realized what a sweetheart deal the City had given VW, the “bug” was history. There was a big city “corral” for old public vehicles behind what’s now the Vasconcellos Library in 2005, and it was somewhat sad to see old volkswagens being towed off to their final resting place. They were cute and funky, but a Nissan’s got more leg room and isn’t nearly as noisy. And cost about the same.
Sure, I sort of found the peseros — or, as I liked to call them, “bread trucks” — an adventure at first, but really, all I wanted from a bus was to get from X to Y. This is only the latest in the on-going replacement program:
Commuters who use Paseo de la Reforma may notice less traffic and cleaner air this week.
About 370 busses, some as many as 30 years old, that used one of the city’s principal thoroughfares, were replaced yesterday with 173 larger, more fuel-efficient and safer busses.
…
The hodpodge of about 300 microbuses (often called peseros) and about 70 larger busses, the majority of them in poor condition and long past their useful life, charged passengers between 3 and 4.50 pesos for often crowded, dangerous rides. Those busses will be used for scrap metal or relocated to other routes in the city.
The new busses cost 4.50 pesos for the “plus service” and 5 pesos for the “executive” ride, but passengers can ride free today, said Route 2 President Jeús Padilla. The service operates between 5 a.m. until midnight and there are between 69 and 79 stops on each side of the route at intervals of 300 to 500 meters.
Each bus costs 1.8 million pesos, can seat 37 passengers and is equipped with security cameras, air conditioning and screens to display information.
(From The [Mexico City] News).
A more radical solution is coming for taxis. Mexico City will soon join London as the only urban communities with their own specially designed taxis. While the London taxi has changed over the years, it is still just a big car. The Mexico City “Chapuline” (grasshopper) benefits from being designed in the post automobile era. Designer Juan Antonio Islas Muñoz (a STUDENT — not an automotive engineer) wasn’t thinking “outside the box”, he and his fellow designers were thinking “inside the car”:
“We didn’t want to make just a cool-looking taxi, but one that would meet people’s needs.”
…
“Almost no taxi in the world, except for the London Taxi Cab, was ever designed to be a taxi. They’re all domestic cars adapted for that function,” Islas explains. “Therefore, they get dirty quite quickly, the passengers’ luggage is never in their sight, and tall and handicapped people have problems loading and unloading. Safety considerations for children or pregnant women don’t even figure in typical cabs. There’s also no security barrier between passenger and driver.”
And, oh yeah… be built in Mexico and reduce fuel consumption needs — and the space needed to park the thing. Shorter than a Ford Festiva, the Chapulin:
“… operates on a hybrid diesel-electric system, so it cuts out street-level exhaust. What is particularly unique for this hybrid is that the diesel engine acts mainly as an electric generator for the batteries, rather than a traction aid. This allows us to keep the mechanics very compact. If you look at some of the renderings, it would appear we forgot about the engine, but no, it’s under the driver’s seat.”
All of which is great, but what about the losses to the Mexican auto manufacturers?
According to El Universal a new Mexican federal government iniative:
“will grant 15,000 mexican pesos [about $1,000] towards the purchase of a new car. The clunker must be 10 years old at minimum. Initial budget will be 500 million pesos, expandable to 1,000 million. The cost of the new car should not exceed 160,000 pesos. Also: The car must be assembled in Mexico [or another NAFTA country] or imported by one of the seven brands that have a car factory in Mexican territory.”
Don’t get the idea though, that you can drive in an old beater, turn it in, and leave with a new Mexican auto. The cars have to be Mexican plated and registered, and “chocolates” (as those beaters are called) don’t qualify. And, yes, there are several decent cars available for under 160,000 pesos. Not big honkin’ SUVs or something to cart your closest 42 relatives (there’s always a place for pickup trucks), but something that’ll get you and a few passengers from point A to B. A little bigger than a Chapuline.
mexfiles.net 