Reflections by Fidel Castro:
The Coup dies or constitutions die
The countries of Latin America were struggling against history's
worst financial crisis within relative institutional order.
When US President Barack Obama, while on a trip to Moscow to discuss
vital topics on the subject of nuclear weapons, was declaring that the
only constitutional President of Honduras was Manuel Zelaya, the ultra
right-wing and the hawks in Washington were making maneuvers for Zelaya
to negotiate a humiliating pardon for the illegalities attributed to him
by the perpetrators of the coup.
It was obvious that before his people and the world such an act would
be tantamount to his disappearance from the political stage.
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Fidel Castro Ruz |
It is a proven fact that when Zelaya announced he would be returning
on July 5, he had decided to fulfill his promise to share the brutal
repression of the coup with his people.
Travelling with the President was Miguel d'Escoto, the president pro
tempore of the UN General Assembly, along with Patricia Rodas, the
Honduran foreign minister, a Telesur journalist and others, a total of
nine persons. Zelaya maintained his decision to land. I know for a fact
that in mid-flight, when they were nearing Tegucigalpa, he was informed
from the ground about Telesur broadcasting the moment when the enormous
mass of people awaiting him outside of the airport was being attacked by
soldiers with tear gas and automatic rifles fire.
His immediate reaction was to request that they took up altitude in
order to denounce the events on Telesur and to demand of the commanding
officers of those troops that they ceased the repression. Then he
informed them that he would carry on with the landing. The high command
then ordered the landing strip to be blocked. In a matter of seconds,
motorized transport vehicles were obstructing the runway.
The Falcon jet made three passes, at a low altitude, over the
airport. Specialists explain that the tensest and most dangerous moment
for pilots is when fast, small planes, like the one carrying the
President, reduce speed for touchdown. That's why I think that attempt
to return to Honduras was audacious and brave.
If they wanted to put him on trial for alleged constitutional crimes,
why not allow him to land? Zelaya knows that it was not only the
Constitution of Honduras what was at stake, but also the right of the
peoples of Latin America to elect the people who govern them. Today
Honduras is not just a country occupied by a coup, but it is also a
country occupied by the armed forces of the United States.
The military base at Soto Cano, also known by its name of Palmerola,
located less than 100 kilometres from Tegucigalpa and reactivated in
1981 under the Ronald Reagan administration, was used by Colonel Oliver
North when he was running the dirty war against Nicaragua, and from
there the US government directed the attacks against the Salvadoran and
Guatemalan revolutionaries that cost tens of thousands of lives.
That is the location of the US Joint Task Force-Bravo, made up of
personnel from the three forces, that occupies 85 percent of the area of
the base. Eva Golinger reveals its role in an article published on
Rebelión web site on July 2, entitled 'The US military base in Honduras
at the centre of the coup'. She explains that 'the Constitution of
Honduras does not legally allow for foreign military presence in the
country.
A 'handshake-like' agreement between Washington and Honduras
authorizes the important and strategic presence of hundreds of US
soldiers on the base, under a 'semi-permanent' deal. The agreement was
reached in 1954 as part of the military aid the United States was
offering Hondura, the third poorest country in the hemisphere." She adds
that the agreement that allows the military presence of the United
States in the Central American country can be removed with no notice
given.
Soto Cano is also home of the Aviation Academy of Honduras. The
components of the US military task force are partly made up of Honduran
soldiers.
What is the objective of the military base, the planes, the
helicopters and the US task force in Honduras? Without any doubt they
are only adequate for use in Central America. The war on drug
trafficking does not require those weapons.
If President Zelaya is not returned to his position, a wave of coups
threatens to sweep away many Latin American Governments, or these will
be at the mercy of the ultra right-wing military, educated in the
security doctrine of the School of the Americas, an expert in torture,
psychological warfare and terror. The authority of many civilian
Governments in Central and South America will become weakened.
Those dark days are not very far back in time. The military
perpetrators of the coup would not even pay any attention to the
civilian administration of the United States. It can be very negative
for a president who wants to improve that country's image, like Barack
Obama does. The Pentagon formally obeys the civilian power. The legions
have not yet taken over control of the empire as they did in Rome.
It would not be understandable for Zelaya to now admit to stalling
maneuvers that would wear out the considerable social forces that
support him and only lead to an irreparable attrition.
The illegally overthrown president does not seek power, but he
defends a principle, and as Marti said, "One just principle from the
depths of a cave can be mightier than an army." |