The Coup That Wasn´t a Coup... or was it?

So this time last week was a very tense time for Hondurans. President Jose Manuel "Mel" Zelaya was forcing a public poll, asking Hondurans to vote yes or no for putting to vote a formal vote to host a Constitutional Congress to attempt to amend the Constitution. The formal vote would appear on the ballots for November elections. His political enemies, including members of his own Liberal Party, most of the Congress, and the entire Supreme Court said that, according to the Honduran Constitution, if the president takes this sort of action, that it could be seen as extending his presidency over the legal limit of terms, and he or she needs to be immediately removed from power. Zelaya saw his public opionion poll as exactly that, or at least that's how he portrayed it. Others saw it as an attempt to change the Constitution, allowing him to run for president again in the future, even though his current term would end in January, and the Congress wouldn't take place until afterward.

For me, the solution was simple: excercise your democratic right to just vote no in the poll. However, just asking for the poll is against the Honduran Constitution. When the military, the traditional distributors of ballots in any voting situtation, refused to distribute the ballots, Zelaya fired the army general. In support of the general, the heads of the navy and air force resigned. The next day, the Congress overruled Zelaya to reinstate the General. They supported what they called a "golpe de estado" to override Zelaya's decisions, all in the name of democracy. Last Saturday, June 27th, Zelaya and his supporters held a peaceful march to the army base in Tegucigalpa to confiscate the ballots to make sure they'd be distributed. They handed them over to him without incident.

However, the next morning, Sunday, June 28th, we woke up to no electricity, (which also meant no internet) all Honduran tv and radio stations static or soap operas, and only Sor Vilma's $2 off-the-streets radio got the lone radio station on the air, before it was later cut off. (My American-made, and American-bought radio was no help.) In the wee hours of the morning, the military had invaded the presidencial palace and removed Zelaya at gunpoint and in his pajamas, and flew him off to Costa Rica. Luckily, the Cuban station and CNN en Espanol was also on, so we were able to find out what was going on when the power eventually came on later that day, but most of the country was in the dark, watching lots of soap operas, or bombarded with rumor after rumor.

Later that morning, the Congress produced a letter allegedly signed by Zelaya, claiming his resignation. It was dated June 25th. At a press conference in Costa Rica, Zelaya stated that he'd never written nor signed such a document and that it was forged. Since most of the reporters were in hiding, the only semi-critical question about the document was where the letter came from. The best answer they could come up with is that "it just appeared out of nowhere."

There were reports of closing the borders, Venezuelan and US invasions, and counter-coups. The military had shut down all the roads, and they instituted curfews from 9 pm to 6 am. Everyone wondered what would happen if Barack Obama or Hugo Chavez took action or didn't take action. What would happen to Honduras? Especially to the people of Honduras. The newly instated president, Roberto Micheletti, who was President of the Congress (our equivalent of Speaker of the House), took office directly afterward, prompting immediate disdain from the international community, including the nations participating in the Organization of American States (OAS), eventually resulting in the secession of Honduras from the Organization yesterday.

Throughout the week, there have been reports of protests, both for and against the new government, including one that passed by the high school here, which happened to be in favor of the old government. Since we had just come off a week-long vacation for Student's Day the Sunday of the coup, the internas had trouble coming back to school, with the last one arriving today. All the public schools were ordered not to have school this week too, but the private schools had the option of having class, which, in true Salesian "we're not going to waste any time" fashion, we were up and running Tuesday for the rest of the week.

The fate of Honduras and its people basically rests on whether the US will take action or not, and whether Venezuela will take action or not. Since President Zelaya's actions were illegal according to the Honduran Constitution, his removal of power is now not considered a coup. However, the way in which he was removed was illegal and just downright dirty. Sacking the president at gunpoint instead of some sort of trial? Shutting off all the electricity in your country so nobody will know what's going on? Turning off tv and radio news to keep everyone in the dark? Installing military forces to keep people from gathering? Revealing days-old documents of supposed resignation? And all this in the name of democracy? To me, this is a transfer of power from one to another in the same party, neither of which were thinking of the highest level of poverty in North America, and who would rather have a power grab than address the issues that really matter to Hondurans: violence, from gangs and drugs; obtaining help for victims of the swine flu, who die here because there isn't the medical attention or drugs that developed countries have; and victims of the earthquakes from last month, that destroyed homes, bridges, and roads, making it harder for people to get to work and to the cities to sell their goods - what happened to all the promised aid? Instead, they're arguing over technicalities in the Constitution and planning uprisings, not in the name of the people, but for their own personal gain. I am not for the old president or the new one. I didn't think Zelaya did a very good job of running his country, nor do I belieive that Micheletti will do any better. For me, the excitement will die down, and things will continue on in the way they were before, if not worse. Now that Honduras lacks the economic support from the OAS and other countries have stopped importing Honduran products, the poor will only get poorer and the rich, richer.

On a different note, I'd like to stress that Hondurans are very peace-minded. Civil war will most likely not break out, and violent protests are also very unlikely. They are very opposed to the intervention of other countries, and prefer to just "wait things out" until the next presidential elections, this coming November. I'm not necessarily for just leaning back and letting these things happen unattended to, but since I'm a visitor here, I'll have to let it slide. Luckily, (or unluckily from a journalist's point of view), I haven't actually seen any action. The sisters are very protective and have kept a close eyes on the news. Santa Rosa is a pretty uneventful place and although it's the most important city in western Honduras, it's pretty unimportant on the nation level (one sign of this: the absolute lack of the presence of fast food chains), and is pretty out-of-the-way. Tegucigalpa, where most of the action is, is about eight hours from here, and San Pedro Sula, the second likeliest place, about three. So here I am, safe and sound, glad to be where I am, but secretly dying to see something worthy of reporting.

If Zelaya chooses to return, Micheletti has threatened to arrest him on site and put him in prison for treason against his country. Zelaya had planned to return on this past Thursday, but delayed his return to today, and has now delayed it indefinitely. To me, this is a sign that he may not have the international support that he thought he had. His return would spark a lot of controversy, especially if he came with the aid of another country. But he wouldn't come back by himself, since his only two options are to live in exile in relative comfort or come back home to jail time. Things could change within the next few days, but both sides are using the confusion to their benefits. As time goes on, people aren't as tense and things come to light, so I'm thinking that if anything big were to happen, it would've already happened.

On that note, I hope you have a wonderful, safe Independence Day! My plans to come home later this month are still on, and my eventual move to El Salvador is also still on. Thanks to all you worriers out there who asked how we're doing. And please pray (or send out good thoughts) for Honduras, especially its people, who will suffer the most.