VivirLatino

Maegan already posted about the coup in Honduras earlier–but I saw this article in the New York Times and felt it did a really good job of examining what the situation is.

from the New York Times:

Leaders across the hemisphere, however, denounced the coup, which American officials on Sunday said they had been working for several days to avert.

President Obama said he was deeply concerned and in a statement called on Honduran officials “to respect democratic norms, the rule of law and the tenets of the Inter-American Democratic charter.

“Any existing tensions and disputes must be resolved peacefully through dialogue free from any outside interference,” he said. His quick condemnation offered a sharp contrast with the actions of the Bush administration, which in 2002 offered a rapid, tacit endorsement of a short-lived coup against Mr. Chávez.

The Organization of American States issued a statement calling for Mr. Zelaya’s return and said it would not recognize any other government. The organization’s secretary general, José Miguel Insulza, called an emergency meeting of the group to weigh further actions.

The arrest of Mr. Zelaya was the culmination of a battle that had been simmering for weeks over a referendum, which was to have taken place Sunday, that he hoped would lead to a revision of the Constitution. Critics said it was part of an illegal attempt by Mr. Zelaya to defy the Constitution’s limit of a single four-year term for the president.

I’m already nervous with the role the U.S. has in this. As mamita pointed out, Venezuela and the U.S. seem to be agreeing about the over wrongness of the coup–which is scary enough. But the U.S. has a long history of encouraging chaos in Latin America–so why on earth does the U.S. seem to think the coup is wrong? Usually, the U.S. *supports* coups!

It makes me think that Zelaya must be a murdering genocidal scum (which is why the U.S. is supporting him?)–but Venezuela is agreeing with the U.S.–and if Hugo Chavez is anything (and you know he is and more), he has never been scared to call the U.S. out. The U.S. supporting a genocidal scum would be the thing that he would love to use against the U.S., normally. What the hell is going on here?

As somebody who is fully aware of how politics in Latin America usually involves a good 25 different political groups and a 500 year history of violent interactions between those 25 political organizations–all I can say right now is that I am keeping my eyes open, my thoughts very critical, and I am attempting to ask the right questions. Like where at the indigenous peoples in this coup? What is their position and what role do they have if any?