VivirLatino

I think that the following is written by more conservative members of the NLC–although I may be (and probably am) wrong. Honestly, I don’t keep up too much on individual goings on of the members of Congress.

But either way, these people presented an opinion with concrete solutions–and again, I am finding myself feeling conflicted.

National Latino Congreso

June 29, 2009

Statement of the Conveners of the National Latino Congreso (NLC) on the Illegal Military Coup in Honduras,

We, the undersigned Conveners of the National Latino Congreso, commend President Barack Obama for his timely condemnation of the illegal and unconstitutional removal of the democratically elected President of the Republic of Honduras Manuel Zelaya on June 27, 2009.

We urge President Obama to instruct the State Department to officially declare that the Honduran military and its allies have staged a coup against the constitutionally elected President of Honduras (Manuel Zelaya).

Such a declaration will automatically trigger a suspension of US economic aid to the Honduran government.

We urge President Obama, and the Congressional leadership (Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, US Senate Majority Leader and U.S. Representative Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the US House of Representatives) to further undertake the following actions:

1) Suspend all US military aid to Honduras (including closing the US
military base);
2) Suspend Honduras from CAFTA membership (Central America Free Trade Agreement); and

3) Suspend Congressional funding (from the National Endowment for
Democracy*) for all Honduran civic groups that supported the coup.

We further call on the Congressional Hispanic Caucus to join with us in
opposing the military coup. Latin America has made great progress in rooting out the culture of military coups in the last 10-15 years and as US Latinos we cannot stand by silent in the face of such a brutal and illegal attempt to contravene our Hemisphere’s march towards more just and democratic societies.

Signed,

Antonio Gonzalez, President, William C. Velasquez Institute (WCVI)

Oscar Chacon, Executive Director, National Alliance of Latin American and Caribbean Communities (NALACC)

Nativo V. Lopez, National President, Mexican American Political Association
(MAPA)

Ok, so if Zelaya really was democratically elected (and especially in Latin America, we all know how contested the words “democratically elected” really are), then yeah, this coup is total bullshit.

But then–economic sanctions. Ugh. I have yet to see a case where economic sanctions have done nothing more than through a country into complete chaos while simultaneously starving and disempowering the most marginalized people in that country.

Oh, and suspending a country from one of the nafta/cafta/peruvian/globalization treaties is a punishment? Really?

Then there’s this part:

Honduran civic groups that supported the coup

And I can’t help but think, can somebody define “civic” for me? As in, what is it code word for? Indigenous peoples that are working to reclaim their own lands? Rich formerly Spaniard elites that are pissed that *they* don’t own the lands? Drug lords?

And then finally, there’s this:

Latin America has made great progress in rooting out the culture of military coups in the last 10-15 years

And we have to again go back to the question of *who* is funding and coordinating the vast majority of military coups in Latin America? It’s surely not people from within Latin America–although, of course, there are vast groups of people that *benefit* from those military interventions/coups. No, the vast majority of military coups in Latin American can be traced back to the U.S. So, why do we not want this coup to happen, then? Because now all of a sudden we’re leaders in social justice and human rights?

It’s all very confusing.