Latin America: how the US has allied with the forces of reaction

[flamingdem]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jun/29/latin-america-us-allied-forces-reaction

* this is the article cited by Tariq Ali

It was three years ago this week that the Honduran military launched an assault on the home of President Mel Zelaya, kidnapped him, and flew him out of the country. The Obama administration, according to its own conversations with the press, knew about the coup in advance. But the first statement from the White House – unlike those from the rest of the world – did not condemn the coup.

That sent a message to the Honduran dictatorship, and to the diplomatic community: the US government supported this coup and would do what it could to make sure it succeeded. And that is exactly what ensued. Unlike Washington and its few remaining rightwing allies in the hemisphere, most of Latin America saw the coup as a threat to democracy in the region and, indeed, to their own governments.

"It would be enough for someone to stage a civilian coup, backed by the armed forces, or simply a civilian one and later justify it by convoking elections," Argentine President Cristina Fernández told South American leaders. "And then democratic guarantees would truly be fiction."

For that reason, South America refused to recognize the Honduran "elections" held six months later under the dictatorship. But Washington wanted the coup regime legitimized. The Obama administration blocked the Organization of American States (OAS) from taking action to restore democracy before "elections" were held.

[Demeter]

1. We are an evil nation and have been for a long time

Ever since the end of WWII, when the fascists in America decided we were the Empire, heir to all the power (and colonies) that Germany, Japan, and Britain gave up. That consolidated the drive to rule, sparked by the Spanish-American War, which gave us the Latino colonies to terrorize....

Yes, there are good people in this country...they get regularly marched off to die for Corporate Greed, and they going willingly (in the past) driven by patriotism, or nowadays, by psychopathy, or unwillingly, as it's the only way they can live, for a little while, at least. And if the US is feeling generous, they might get some consideration when they are maimed or killed outright...

The bill for this karma is going to be beyond our means....

[Judi Lynn]

2. Happy to see this article, thanks to the Guardian for publishing it.

More from the statement:

Meanwhile, Honduras since the 2009 coup has turned into a nightmare, with the highest homicide rate in the world. Political repression is among the worst in the hemisphere: journalists, opposition activists, campesinos fighting for land reform, and LGBT activists have been murdered with impunity. This week, 84 members of the US Congress sent a letter to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urging US action against murders of LGBT activists and community members in Honduras. In March, 94 member of Congress asked her "to suspend US assistance to the Honduran military and police given the credible allegations of widespread, serious violations of human rights attributed to the security forces".

The Obama administration has so far ignored these pleas from Congress, and the international media has given them scant attention. Ironically, this is not so much because Honduras is unimportant, but because it is important: the US has a military base there and would like to keep the country as its property.

How decent to learn, even though they don't seem to get the appropriate response from the administration, that a lot of Congress members have gone on record about this.

We are learning now how seriously the country needed to take Eisenhowers last speech to the public, regarding the military/industrial complex's already excessive power over our government's policy positioning.

[Catherina]

3. Bookmarking this very important article. Thank you! n/t