Deposed Honduran president’s wife leads in campaign for presidency; coup backers trail

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Deposed Honduran president’s wife leads in campaign for presidency; coup backers trail
By Associated Press, Updated: Saturday, June 22, 5:13 PM

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Manuel Zelaya was unceremoniously booted from power four years ago when Honduras’ army hustled him out of the country in his pajamas, a coup prompted by fears among Honduras’ business and political elite that he was getting too hungry for power.

Now he’s back with a new shot at the presidential palace, this time as the husband of the leading presidential candidate, Xiomara Castro.

Polls show Castro, 53, leading seven other candidates ahead of the Nov. 24 election, including the military general who conducted the coup. The country’s two traditional parties, which backed the coup, are struggling in third and fourth place, behind Castro and a popular sports TV personality.

The election of a self-proclaimed socialist could be considered a stunning change in a country where oligarchs have maintained political power over a poor, uneducated majority for at least a century. But Zelaya, too, is a wealthy landowner from the old guard, and most people see his wife as his cover in a country that bans presidential re-election. He is running for a congressional seat from his own state.


Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/deposed-honduran-presidents-wife-leads-in-campaign-for-presidency-coup-backers-trail/2013/06/22/3a514774-db58-11e2-b418-9dfa095e125d_story.html

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Xiomara Castro [/center]

[Ash_F]

1. Her husband raised the minimum wage...

...and got dragged out of the country at gunpoint. Hope she has better luck.

[Fuddnik]

2. "Business and political elite feared he was getting too hungry for power".

More like he was curbing their power, and they weren't standing for it.

[Ash_F]

4. They were forced to pay their workers 9.60$ a day. Up from 6 dollars.

OH SHIT BOYS GET YOUR GUNS!!!

[Peace Patriot]

5. Xiomara's election will not only be a victory for the Honduran people...

...who have suffered so much death and oppression since the 2009 rightwing coup, and will not only be a great boost for the leftist democracy revolution that has swept South America and parts of Central America, but also--if Michele Batchelet is elected in Chile (which is very likely)--there will be FOUR women presidents in Latin America, all leftists.

Dilma Roussseff, president of Brazil.
Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, president of Argentina.
Xiomara in Honduras.
Batchelet in Chile.

These are women who have been through the fire of U.S.-supported oppression. Rousseff was imprisoned and horribly tortured by the U.S.-supported/trained/funded fascist regime, when she was young. Fernandez was first lady to Nestor Kirchner who saved Argentina from World Bank/IMF destruction and then was elected president in her own right after her husband died. Batchelet lost her father to torture by U.S.-supported fascists in Chile and had to flee the country. And Xiomara, wife of Mel Zelaya, awoke to the U.S.-supported/trained/funded Honduran military shooting up the front of her house, saw her husband disappear into the night, and became an iconic figure while he was in exile, bravely rallying numerous protests while protest leaders were being decapitated and their headless body left in the road, or shot in the head in front of their students, by rightwing death squads.

Incredibly strong and brave women committed to social justice.

There are wonderful photos of the nut-brown faces of Hugo Chavez, Evo Morales and Rafael Correa wearing colorful Indigenous serapes--the new left as it first arrived in Latin America. I can't wait for the photo of the second wave: the women!

Morales is 100% Indigenous and the first Indigenous elected president of Bolivia, a largely Indigenous country, after decades of South Africa-type apartheid by the rich white minority. And when the U.S./Bush Junta tried to topple him, the Latin American unity movement to save Bolivia's democracy was led by none other than Michele Batchelet, in her first term as president of Chile. (She was termed out for one term, and can now run again, and is way ahead in the polls.)

Race or sex alone certainly do not determine true representation of the majority and its interests, and several "white guys" have played pivotal leadership roles in this leftist democracy revolution in Latin America (including Lula da Silva (Brazil), Nestor Kirchner (Argentina) and Jose Mujica (Uruguay)). But still, it is remarkable to see so many women and so many markedly brown faces leading Latin American countries, as the elected presidents, with big mandates and great popularity. This is a sea change for the better in Latin America and wondrous to behold.

[Judi Lynn]

7. Those early photos were absolutely inspiring to those of us watching

and hoping for Latin America to be able to create its own identity, to move ahead without being manipulated by foreign interests and interference for the first time.

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[Peace Patriot]

9. Oh, my, my, my, such beautiful photos! Such wonderful leaders! Such a revolution!

And now the women! It will be fabulous to see a photo of Fernandez, Rousseff and Batchelet with Xiomara at Xiomara's inauguration--and then all of them at Batchelet's inauguration. (I'm pretty sure that's the order in which these things will happen, but I don't know election/inauguration dates for certain.)

Brazil and Rousseff's mentor, Lula da Silva, did more than anybody to try to reverse the U.S.-supported coup in Honduras. I'm sure Rousseff will be there at Xiomara's inauguration.

And Batchelet, in her first term, did more than anybody to prevent the U.S.-supported coup in Bolivia. I don't think she could stay away from Zelaya's wife getting inaugurated!

Fernandez is equally passionate about Latin American independence. It was the chief plank of her husband's government and her own--especially throwing the U.S.-dominated World Bank/IMF out of Latin America. Fernandez and her husband, along with Chavez, were the pioneers of this movement. Fernandez is under attack. She needs a boost. Who better to turn to, than her sister presidents?

It was her husband, Nestor Kirchner, who said--when the Bush Junta sent down its dictate to Latin American leaders that they "must isolate Chavez"--"But he's my brother!"

Sisters matter, too. I remember reading that Fernandez (newly elected) and Batchelet (in her first term) got on the phone, when the U.S./Colombia bombed Ecuador, nearly starting a war between the U.S./Colombia and Ecuador/Venezuela (in early 2008), and the two women commiserated about the 'machismo' of some of their leftist brothers, who rushed troops to their borders and expressed fury at the Bush Junta's mafia don, Alvaro Uribe. I suspect that that was Batchelet calming Fernandez down, by invoking sisterhood against war (cuz I have rarely seen such anger as Fernandez's glare at Uribe during the Rio Group meeting). In any case, a new sisterhood is as important as a new brotherhood in Latin America. There is a lot of liberating yet to be done, especially on women's issues.

I want to see that photo! And, of course, the photo of all these leaders, men and women, who have courageously led this leftist democracy movement. The U.S. government is "whistling in the dark" in its obvious desire to smash this movement, now that its most iconic leader, Chavez, is dead. They are doing their best to "divide and conquer" but it won't succeed. This movement has MANY great leaders and is ultimately about the people of Latin America and their devotion to social justice, and their passionate embrace of democracy. It is an unkillable movement--one of the few true democracy movements in the world. It is sad beyond words that the U.S. government is on the wrong side of history, again.

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"I should like to be able to love my country and still love justice. I don't want just any greatness for it, particularly a greatness born of blood and falsehood. I want to keep it alive by keeping justice alive." --Albert Camus, from Resistance, Rebellion and Death

[roody]

6. Knr for democracy

[Judi Lynn]

8. Guest commentary: Violence plagues Honduras

Guest commentary: Violence plagues Honduras
By HELGA FELLAY
Posted: 06/22/2013 04:45:12 PM PDT
Updated: 06/22/2013 04:45:12 PM PDT

In 2005, Honduras elected its first left-leaning president, Manuel Zelaya, thus joining other Latin American countries moving against domination by the "U.S. Empire's" capitalist system, neoliberalism and militarization.

Under Zelaya, Hondurans enjoyed free education for children, subsidies for small farmers and lower bank interest rates. The minimum wage increased 80 percent; school meals were guaranteed for 1.6 million poor children; domestic employees were integrated into the social security system, and poverty was reduced sharply. All this ended June 28, 2009, when a military coup, which was condemned worldwide, deposed the democratically elected Zelaya. Honduras has since become the most violent country with the highest murder rate in the world.

Mark Weisbrot of The Guardian Unlimited wrote in April: "Zelaya later told the press that Washington was involved in the coup itself" and &quot the) coup unleashed a wave of violence against political dissent that continues to this day."

Planning for the coup began June 2008 and involved well-established military, business and diplomatic networks, which have long shaped U.S. policy toward Latin America. The New York Times reported Llorens and Shannon spoke with military leaders before the coup. Adm. James Stavridis, then head of U.S. Southern Command, met with Honduran military and political leaders in January 2009, praising an "excellent state of cooperation between our two militaries."
It is inconceivable the Honduran military would have acted against the wishes of the U.S. military or Ambassador Llorens and risk losing millions of dollars in military support.

More:
http://www.montereyherald.com/rss/ci_23519789?source=rss