An opinion article on Honduras shows that much of the talk about President Zelaya being too ambitious as to want to extend his term are not true. Calvin Tucker tells his story and analyses of the events in the Guardian website:
“...The coup was timed to prevent a consultative referendum scheduled for the same day. The military regime has falsely claimed that this proposed ballot was an unconstitutional attempt by Zelaya to extend his term in office. This allegation has been taken up – naively or otherwise – by much of the international media.
The question on the ballot papers for 28 June refutes this lie. It was as follows:
Do you agree with the installation of a fourth ballot box during the 2009 general elections so that the people can decide on the calling of a national constituent assembly? Yes or No.
No mention of allowing the president to run again for office. Had the consultative poll been allowed to take place and the population voted yes, the Honduran Congress would have been under pressure to agree to a second (this time binding) referendum on the same day as presidential elections in November. Irrespective of the referendum result, Zelaya could not have been a presidential candidate.
During the Zelaya presidency, measures were implemented that improved the position of the poor majority. These included the doubling of the minimum wage, free school meals (a hugely important step in a country where 50% of children suffer from malnutrition) and agricultural machinery for impoverished farmers. As the rural social leader Rafael Alegria told me, the effect of these measures went far beyond the practical improvements in people's daily lives. "It gave people hope," he said.
Under Zelaya, the majority – including the indigenous and black populations and the urban working class – were beginning to take centre stage. The elite was afraid that the convocation of a constituent assembly would have made this process unstoppable.
At a state-sponsored pro-coup demonstration attended mainly by business owners and employees who were instructed and paid to attend, the placards and banners denounced the presidents of the other Latin American countries, both leftwing and "moderate", along with Oscar Arias of Costa Rica, who is chairing the mediation talks. The coup leaders and their backers regard their actions as an attempt to halt and reverse the "red tide" engulfing the continent.
by Calvin Tucker guardian.co.uk, Monday 3 August 2009 21.30 BST
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