Responses to the Coup d'etat in Honduras on Sunday June 28, with special emphasis on producing English-language versions of commentaries by Honduran scholars and editorial writers and addressing the confusion encouraged by lack of basic knowledge about Honduras.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Congress Begins Work Tuesday

Congress will reportedly begin its work on the Tegucigalpa-San Jose accord by convening the executive council tomorrow morning at 9:30 AM . José Alfredo Saaveda called the meeting of the executive council so that they can know the text of the accord and begin contemplating how to proceed. Saavedra urged people not to put pressure on Congress at this time.

"I think that the pressure will not be applauded by anyone, what comes will come. No sector should look to this route because, I think, that a civilized society should have the norm of general dialogue, prudence, and respect and never other kinds of factors that come to alter the peaceful life of Hondurans."

Of the next steps Saavedra said, "Once we know the reach and the dynamics of this accord, and the members of the executive council know it, we will define the route to follow in this sense."

6 comments:

John (Juancito) Donaghy said...

Saravedra's remarks might help us see the difference between US politics where citizen input, via grassroots lobbying, is, at times, invited and encouraged. But here people like Saavedra want people not to pressure. Could this remark be revelatory of one of the real problems of Honduras and one of the real causes of the coup: the failure to take into account the concerns, the needs, and the voices of the poor.

RNS said...

Yes, that is the nature of Honduran politics; politicians are not responsible to an electorate. Instead they are responsible to party bosses. This is what helped make the coup "thinkable" and so contributed to it. Its also something that the flyer for the cuarta urna indicated that the constitutional convention was hoped to address; making politicians responsible to voters and giving voters a way to recall politicians.

Doug Zylstra said...

The Jornada had a report today that Zelaya's team is focused on getting back Gobernación, Finanzas, Salud and Banco Central. Does that sound right? I think they would definitely like to have Foreign Relations back as well.

RNS said...

I don't have any information about what ministries Zelaya would like to control. I know that there is a contingency plan that names candidates for pretty much every ministry so that depending on how it works out, they are ready.

The Jornada article goes on to mention that Security and the Policia Nacional are unlikely to change. Its worth noting that the Security Minister under Micheletti is the same person who was Security Minister under Zelaya, while Micheletti replaced the command structure of the Policia Nacional.

Doug Zylstra said...

Rns-

Ricardo Lagos had this to say today: "..implementar un acuerdo que significa que el presidente Zelaya tiene que ser repuesto en el poder"

Is that to be expected or do you find it at all significant that he, as OAS delegate, would say that implementation means restitution?

Thanks, as always.

RNS said...

The OAS has consistently said Zelaya must be restored...its the US that gave up on restoration. That means I don't find Lagos's statement inconsistent with the OAS position.