It’s sad that I find myself in Honduras — the country where half of my family is from — covering this coup or whatever the state department lawyers want to call it. To see these kinds of schemes that harken back to the days of the cold war and John Foster Dulles/CIA running roughshod over any and all sovereignty and democratic inconveniences I thought were only things I had read about in books written by CIA agents with guilty consciences (Philip Agee anyone?). For all intents and purposes the new government has carried out an usurping action that could potentially destabilize a democratically elected government. Period.
On the ground in San Pedro Sula — the industrial center — most things seem calm. There is a slight tension in the air about how this will all end but people are not staying locked up in their houses. Small business are open except for parts of downtown where successive demonstrations have prevented much commerce. The demonstrators supporting Zelaya — mostly darker skin and poorer — are a third delinquents who just want to break and burn things and the others are people who truly believe in him and want him to return. The attend rallies and volunteer to help organize donning red for the most part and making signs mostly in Spanish but some pathetically drawn in English for the small contingent of international media that is here.
The other side isn’t necessarily pro-Micheletti, the new military-backed president. In fact, they don’t like him either but they are willing to take one more year of him than ten more years of Zelaya as one of my conservative cousins told me. These supporters or “pro-democracy” groups (as they call themselves) don white polos, wear designer sunglasses and have nicely made signs in English for the international media. I think the point is no one will be satisfied with whichever solution is reached.
Here’s our story on that: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxbIhg_bL5Y&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fuser%2FAlJazeeraEnglish&feature=player_profilepage