President Obama, Do The Right Thing in Honduras!
As those of you who follow the news may know, Honduran President Manuel Zalaya was ousted in a military coup. He was flown to Costa Rica and Roberto Michelettti was sworn in as interim President until January 27, 2010, the end of Zelaya's term.
Obama called the action a "coup", and said "We believe that the coup was not legal and that President Zelaya remains the President of Honduras".
Later, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the administration was not formally designating the ouster as a military coup. If the administration were to call the "coup", a "coup", it would demand by law that the U.S. cut off military aid to Honduras. We heavily finance the Honduran military and have trained many of its leaders at the infamous School of the Americas in Georgia. The State Department will ask for $68 million in aid for the Honduran military in the upcoming fiscal year.
It doesn't take the proverbial "rocket scientist" to figure a few things out here very quickly. The first is of course, it was a military coup. The whole world and the President Obama are calling it a military coup. But in a very obvious spin, Secretary Clinton is not calling it a coup, so military funding won't be cut off.
What gives? What gives is Zalaya has been heading in the direction of the rest of Latin America and trying to break free of America's iron grip. In 2008 Zalaya signed on with ALBA, in English, the Bolivarian Alternative of the Americas, a political and economic bloc led by Hugo Chavez.
Needless, to say we don't like our de facto economic colonies cozying up to the likes of people like Hugo Chavez, democracy or no democracy. We like Latin American countries that do as they are told to do and put the profits of American based multi-nationals before the welfare of their own people.
Are we about profit and profit only? Or do our actions match our rhetoric and we are all about truth, freedom, and justice ? Does it really matter to America if countries are totalitarian and repressive, as are our good friends and trading partners, Communist China and Saudi Arabia., as long as they cooperate with our international economic interests, as they do ? Or is freedom and democracy our chief concern in the world?
We shall see if President Obama will be different from other American Presidents in the past. In the past we have supported dictators over democracy and profits over people in Latin America. These policies have led to Latin American leaders like Castro and Chavez. Freedom is burning the hearts of Latin Americans as country after country rejects American interference and joins the "pink" revolution.
Do the right thing, President Obama, support democracy in Honduras, call a "coup" a "coup', cut off all military aid to Honduras until the rightful elected president of Honduras is restored, and show Latin America that the U.S. is headed in a new direction in Latin America and we support Latin America in its quest for freedom and democracy.
Latin America will quickly know your true colors by how you react to this situation. Are you too, like the American Presidents before you, about the profits of the multi-nationals, or are you about democracy? They are looking for hope, Mr. President, will you offer it?
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