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NOT EVEN PRESIDENT WANTS TO LIVE IN HONDURAS

June 28 2009

Tegucigalpa, Honduras – Awaking to gunfire in his home, Honduran President Jose Manuel Zelaya was forced in his pyjamas out of the country and onto a plane to Costa Rica. The ouster marked the first move in a military coup against the president which
has now installed Roberto Micheletti as the acting president. Initial reports indicate the coup is in response to a referendum by Zelaya to potentially allow him to run for re-election next year.

“This was a brutal kidnapping of me with no justification,. There is no way to justify an interruption of democracy, a coup d’état,” said Zelaya. “This kidnapping is an extortion of the Honduran democratic system. This coup is an attack on Honduran democracy. There are ways to protest without arms.”

Despite his protests, it is widely believed that Zelaya had been deliberately provoking more radical elements of the Honduran politico and military in order to organize his
own ouster. On Wednesday the President threatened to fire the country’s top military commander Gen. Romeo Vasquez Velasquez. The constitution of the country allows for a president to serve only one term.

“The concern is palpable here as many Hondurans start to realize exactly what has taken place. Public protests are already beginning and the military is starting to crack down, brutally in some areas. The Presidential palace has been surrounded. This appears to be a full-fledged coup d’état,” said South American Field Correspondent Javier Salazar. “People are starting to pour into the streets. Military blockades are going up all over the city. This is an orchestrated and organized coup if there ever was one.”

At issue is Zelaya’s insistence on changing the constitution and his continued provocation of the powerful military. Also at issue are hotel reservations and plane tickets in the President’s name for the Costa Rican travel destination Playa Nicuesa, a world renowned rainforest lodge.

“There had been a lot of chatter in recent months that President Zelaya was growing less and less fond of living in Honduras. The pressures of Presidency as well as the mandatory retirement coming just next year were
contributing to a sense of ennui in him that was being felt throughout all levels of government. Many suspect that this was the only way that he would be able to maintain respectability and get out of the country,” continued Salazar. “The President has been making many trips to island destinations since he took office but he has returned again and again to Costa Rica and it now appears that that is what he has settled upon. The country will likely continue in chaos for some time to come but it is unlikely that his protests will see him return to the Presidency.”

Until 1982 Honduras was run by a military leadership. The country is one of the poorest in the Americas with more than 50 per cent of the population living below the poverty line and an unemployment rate of nearly 30 per cent. It is believed that very few citizens in the country like living there very much but few have the opportunity or resources to launch coup attempts against themselves.

“The sheer poverty that exists in Honduras makes it next to impossible for people to take trips abroad to locations like Costa Rica. That poverty also makes it even more difficult for the average person to launch complex plots against themselves so when something like this happens it makes it all the more likely to succeed. People simply aren’t used to the concept of coups, plots, and travel,” said Scrape TV South American analyst Walter Pereira. “The best way for the President to get out of the country and secure his reputation was
organize this plot. Now he can look like the victim of an assault against him and the Presidency while he sits back drinking margaritas. The military gets what they want by taking back power and he gets what he wants. Really it’s a win-win situation for everyone but the 7 million people that live in the country. Since they are so poor though it almost doesn’t matter what they think.”

Reportedly President Álvaro Colom of neighbouring Guatemala is ‘furious’ at President Zelaya for ‘stealing his idea’.

Emil Uliya, International Correspondent

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