Ministers Challenge Military In Supreme Court

A group of Evangelical ministers have challenged the military to explain to the court why they were denied permission to visit President Manuel Zelaya even though they had completed all the paperwork and obtained all the required permissions. Today the Supreme Court accepted the case brought against Romeo Vasquez Velasquez, Jorge Alberto Rodas Gamero, and Mario Hung Pacheco. Justice Omar Galeano Mejia was assigned the case. In addition to getting an explanation from the three accused gentlemen, the judge will rule on the human rights claims made by the evangelical ministers.

Romeo Cleared

The Supreme Court has just cleared Romeo Vásquez Velásquez of charges that he was trafficking in stolen cars, a case when had remained frozen since 1993. Romeo was cleared, along with the 12 other defendants who had been charged in the case. The Supreme Court unfroze the case and dismissed it for "lack of evidence".

Inadvertent truth? When generals merge with politicians...

A BBC report on the interpretive aftermath of the signing of the Tegucigalpa (Guaymuras) Accord rehearses the main points of disagreement between the two sides.

The Zelaya administration insisting that the Congressional vote on return of the Executive Power to its state prior to June 28 logically has to precede establishing a reconciliation government (or else we face the bizarre prospect of Zelaya, as a supposed "private citizen", negotiating half the cabinet posts based on-- what?).

The Micheletti group, meanwhile, continue to ignore the fact that what is at issue is timing of the Congressional vote-- not the outcome-- in favor of emphasizing that Zelaya has accepted whatever outcome comes from this vote-- which they will not commit to having before the supposed reconciliation government takes form.

And then there are those rumors of behind the scenes deals between Pepe Lobo and the US State Department, to ensure that if the Congress ever convenes, the vote will be for reinstatement of Zelaya.

But what is most interesting to me about this brief article is something else: the concluding sentences that read

In these last few precarious hours, many politicians are reluctant to declare themselves. And some, like Gen Romeo Vasquez have taken refuge in absolute silence.

As a reminder: General Vasquez and his Armed Forces are supposed to be apolitical and non-deliberative. He cannot even vote in the election, according the the Constitution. He isn't supposed to be a politician.

But this is one of the enduring legacies of the coup d'etat, come what may: the military has emerged from behind the scenes, newly empowered to make and break governments.

That should worry us all.

Unclear On The Concept

It was the Day of the Armed Forces earlier this week. The day celebrates events of October 21, 1956 when the Armed Forces of Honduras overthrew President Julio Lozano Diaz in a military coup. There was a very long article celebrating their role in this on Armed Forces website, but they have since removed it, substituting a shorter piece about the 1956 coup. The relevance? The military alleged that Lozano Diaz was trying to fraudulently prolong his time in office. This coup ushered in a cyle of coups, some bloody, and governments, mostly military, that continued until 1982 when the current constitution was written in a consitutional assembly, ironically with Roberto Micheletti a minor participant. It ended with the coup on June 28.

The Armed Forces of Honduras didn't celebrate on October 21 this year with the usual public parades; rather they kept to their bases, said mass, and reviewed the troops. Today, however, they choose to go more public. General Romeo Vasquez Velasquez ordered a general deployment of the troops and that they show their might in parades within their bases, for which the public will be charged a $20 lempira entrance fee. The money will allegedly go to charity. This, they assert, will bring them closer to the people.

I wanted to write about that longer piece up on the Armed Forces website, the one that outlined their constitutional role and then, without segue went in to a celbration of their role in the 1956 coup. I wanted to write about the irony, the sadness that this represented, but they apparently rethought what they were doing and removed it, substituting a series of smaller, less celbratory articles on the same topics. Instead I'll leave you with this.

When asked how it felt to celebrate their day four months after removing Zelaya from power, Ramiro Archaga, spokesperson for the military said:

"We feel good, secure in what we are doing and what we have done. We need to be content and proud to be living in a situation like this, a situation in which we have never lived before.... The institution has given a real demonstration of its role in defending the Constitution of the Republic. We are very proud to be members of the Armed Forces. I tell my companions...that there will never be another moment like this. This is a special moment for the institution....We don't regret anything."

General Vasquez Velasquez sees end soon

General Romeo Vasquez Velasquez says the crisis will end soon. "I see that we are rapidly coming to a solution, which is what we all want," he said in a local television interview. He noted that the solution is being promoted by different sectors of Honduran society, and that "it will be achieved when the parties have the disposition to sit down and talk." He also noted that he perceives the will in various sectors that are looking for an exit, that "What we have to do now is begin to create levels of appropriate confidence" to make an accord possible.