After some serious pressure from the United States, we were told on Monday that the Honduran coup's military leaders had granted some civil concessions, by restoring some of the basic civil rights which they had taken away since the country's elected president returned to the country. The 'emergency decree' was imposed when José Manuel Zelaya flew back into Honduras two weeks ago, but he remains holed up in the Brazilian embassy, with armed soldiers surrounding the compound, and the concessions granted seem to be more a case of propaganda. Zelaya spoke yesterday to let the international community know that while the military dictatorship and the western media has promoted this notion of concessions, they have not actually materialised.
THE HONDURAS COUP
When the previously right-wing Zelaya tried to hold a country-wide referendum which could, amongst other things, see him being allowed to stand for a second term as president, the country's powerful military got together and smuggled him out of the country. He was taken by soldiers in early hours of the morning of the proposed vote, on June 28th, and was flown to Costa Rica, unharmed, and told never to return to the country. The World then waited to see exactly what kind of situation would develop in the Spanish-speaking Central American nation. Zelaya made many attempts to return to the country which had to be aborted, including one comical scene on July 5th at ToncontÃn International Airport, in the Honduran capital Tegucigalpa, which saw a plane carrying Zelaya having to continually circle over the runway because the military had placed men and tanks on it to block off his landing. Thousands of Zelaya supporters had turned up at the airport to greet him, but the military opened fire on the peaceful crowd, killing one and injuring dozens, and Zelaya's supporters had to wait a little longer for his return to the country.
THE RETURN OF ZELAYA
With the help of Venezuela, Zelaya travelled an unknown pathway back into his country. Venezuela's leader, Hugo Chavez, had this to say about his return... "It was a well-planned operation and it worked. Zelaya deceived the coup mongers and went in the trunk of a car and even in a tractor". Zelaya and his wife arrived at the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa on the 21st of September, and have remained under Brazil's protection, within the building, whilst the military keep the embassy surrounded with armed guards. On the presidents return there was also an 'emergency decree' issued by the military which suspended many civil liberties - including congregating in public in groups - and shut down two media outlets which were loyal to the deposed president, Radio Globo and Channel 36. Over these troubling few months, many people around the World became worried for the country's eight million inhabitants, but thankfully carnage on a large-scale has not erupted up to this point, and this week it did actually seem that the belated United States pressure had achieved some form of basis for negotiations between both sides.
LIFTING OF THE EMERGENCY DECREE
On Monday the country's illegal leader, Roberto Micheletti, announced that the 'emergency decree' had been "completely overturned", and with House Foreign Affairs Committee member Leana Ros-Lehtinen - a Republican US Congresswoman who represents Florida - standing by his side as the announcement was being made, one would expect this to be the beginning of the end. Not so, says Mr Zelaya. Yesterday he spoke to dozens of reporters inside the now-familiar surroundings of the Brazilian embassy, and said that the media ban which was lifted is still in effect, because the military will not return the necessary broadcasting equipment which they had seized when they introduced the selective ban two weeks ago. The Channel 36 owner, Esdras Amado Lopez, said Mondays announcement by Micheletti and Ros-Lehtinen was a "lie aimed at deceiving the international community", and Micheletti seems to confirm this by stating that Radio Globo and Channel 36 would both need to "come to the courts to recover their right to be on the air".
TELL ME AGAIN, WHAT WAS LIFTED?
So, equipment is not returned, and the media outlets still do not have their usual right to broadcast. Then there is also the question about those who have been arrested and jailed on political charges by the military since they illegally took over in June. No mention of them or their release was made by Micheletti and Ros-Lehtinen yesterday. Would you call that a decree lifted? I think this is more of the usual propaganda which is generally spread by new dictatorships, designed specifically to buy some time, and to dampen the immediate passionate global opposition to their illegal move. And yet again we have a US administration standing side by side with an unelected foreign head of state, seemly incapable of securing a safe outcome for the local civilians who have become unwittingly caught up in the mess.
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