The Honduran Coup

Trying to make sense of the attempted June 28, 2009 coup in Honduras was not an easy task in the United States and has not been much easier here. However, I am leery of anything that invokes the "leftest boogie man of south," Hugo Chavez, for the use of military force against civilians, the muzzling of a free press, and the illegal forced exile of a president. Especially, in a nation with 30 years of democratic rule. One thing is clear if you read graffiti - the coup did not have popular support. I am riding by a never ending banner of anti-golpistas graffiti. Yet, neither side seems especially popular politically. Jose Manuel Zelaya Rosales was elected President as a member of an oligarchic center right party then half way through his term became a chavista (that's the rhetoric). No matter your opinion on the politics that is a turn around bound to piss someone off! 65% of the Honduran population lives on less that 2 dollars a day, unemployment is around 28%, they have the highest rate of HIV infection in Central America, as well as the highest rates of youth violence associated with the drug trade. Meanwhile, the Honduran oligarchy holds a lock on the government and media. Just these facts alone go a long ways towards explaining the overwhelming show of force by private security in the pleasant leafy green neighborhoods of San Pedro Sula. A recipe for unrest.
I cannot recount the events of the entire coup but, briefly, President Zelaya seemed to do three things to anger established powers:
1. After a confrontation with the United States over monopolistic oil import policies Zelaya turned to Petrocaribe (Venezuela) and secured a very favorable deal for cheap gasoline.
2. Zelaya proposed and congress approved (2008) joining the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (Venezuela) as an alternative to the Free Trade Area of the Americas (USA) - the Honduran congress has since rescinded this agreement in 2010.
3. Raised the minimum wage to just under ten dollars a day (gasp).
4. Proposed a non-binding popular poll asking whether or not to have a constitutional convention that may have given voice to discontent.
The last action was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court and Congress and for this Zelaya could be impeached and removed from office. However, this did not occur because the military broke into the Presidential residence and extra-judicially deported him to Costa Rica, an action clearly illegal - hence the coup d'etat. The coup crisis was concluded with the election and inauguration of a new president Porfirio Lobo Sosa on January 26,2010.

If you want read about this on your own the Boston Globe has a photo essay called the "Big Picture." The photography is excellent and the comments following are equally interesting but not always clarifying:
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/07/the_honduran_coup_detat.html

Also I found the blog "Honduras Coup 2009" great for clarifying the constitutional issues and politics behind the coup by a variety of journalists and legal scholars:
http://hondurascoup2009.blogspot.com/2009/10/inaccurate-arguments-about.html

While looking up statistics on wealth distribution for Honduras, I tripped across some of ours . . . in terms of financial wealth the top 1% held 43% (bank accounts, stocks, bonds, etc.) and the bottom 80% had 7% . . . that is the USA . . . of course this should not be a surprise when you consider that half the USA makes $30,000 or less a year.