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INSIDECOSTARICA
| SPECIAL
REPORTS
| Monday 04
October 2010 |
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SOUTH
AMERICA
Lessons
From
Honduras
By
Marcela
Valente
BUENOS
AIRES
(IPS) -
With the
2009
coup
d'etat
in
Honduras
still a
fresh
memory,
the
presidents
of the
Unasur
bloc
gathered
as
quickly
as they
could to
vigorously
condemn
Thursday's
attempted
coup in
Ecuador
and warn
that
they
would
not
tolerate
any such
assault
on
democracy
in the
region.
"The
rapid
response
by the
Unasur
(Union
of South
American
Nations),
which
was much
more
emphatic
and
forceful
than in
the case
of
Honduras,
was
decisive
in
preventing
the
conspiracy
from
escalating
into a
full-fledged
coup,
which
was the
ultimate
objective
of the
(police)
riot,"
Argentine
political
scientist
Atilio
Borón
told IPS.
Borón, a
professor
of
political
theory
at the
University
of
Buenos
Aires,
said
"the
tendency
toward
coups
d'etat
is
latent
in Latin
America,
and if
it
doesn't
manifest
itself,
that's
because
there is
no
correlation
of
forces
allowing
it to
come to
the
surface."
Unasur's
quick
reflexes,
along
with the
Ecuadorian
people's
defence
of
democracy
as they
poured
out onto
the
streets,
"discouraged"
the
coup-mongers
and
"knocked
the air
out of
their
plans,"
he said.
Borón
said it
was not
just the
police
riot
over
demands
for the
repeal
of a law
eliminating
bonuses
that
triggered
the
crisis,
as
demonstrated
by the
fact
that
segments
of the
air
force
shut
down
airports
and
suspended
flights,
and by
the
civilians
who
joined
the
uprising.
In an
emergency
summit
that
ended in
the
early
hours of
Friday
morning
in
Buenos
Aires,
host
President
Cristina
Fernández
and her
counterparts
Evo
Morales
of
Bolivia,
Juan
Manuel
Santos
of
Colombia,
Sebastián
Piñera
of
Chile,
Alan
García
of Peru,
José
Mujica
of
Uruguay,
and Hugo
Chávez
of
Venezuela,
as well
as
delegates
from
Brazil
and
Paraguay,
reacted
immediately
to the
police
rebellion
that
challenged
the
Ecuadorian
government.
In a
brief
statement
they
expressed
their
"strong
commitment"
to the
preservation
of
democracy,
"vigorously"
condemned
"the
attempted
coup and
the
kidnapping
of
President
Rafael
Correa,"
and
called
for
those
responsible
to be
tried
and
sentenced.
They
also
stated
that
they
"will
not
tolerate,
for any
reason,
any
further
challenge
to
constitutional
authority
nor any
attempted
coup
against
civil
power
legitimately
elected,"
and that
"in the
case of
future
crises,
will
take
immediate
concrete
measures,
such as
closing
borders
and
suspending
trade,
air
traffic
and the
provision
of
energy
and
services."
The bloc
also
decided
to send
foreign
ministers
from the
region
to Quito
Friday
to
personally
support
Correa.
Although
the
final
declaration
does not
specifically
mention
Honduras,
the
spectre
of the
Jun. 28,
2009
coup in
which
President
Manuel
Zelaya
was
removed
from his
home at
gunpoint
in his
pyjamas
and put
on a
plane
out of
the
country
was
palpable
at the
meeting,
just as
it was
present
during
the
hours of
chaos
and
tension
in
Ecuador.
Shortly
before
the
Unasur
summit,
Argentine
Foreign
Minister
Héctor
Timerman
said the
bloc's
countries
would
not let
the
crisis
escalate,
and said
that in
Buenos
Aires,
"We are
going to
draw the
line at
Honduras."
The
crisis
in
Honduras,
which is
today
governed
by
right-wing
President
Porfirio
Lobo,
who won
the
November
elections
organised
by the
de facto
regime
that
toppled
Zelaya,
was also
referred
to in
remarks
by the
presidents
of
Bolivia
and
Venezuela.
"The
case of
Honduras
was a
message
for
Latin
America,"
Morales
said at
the end
of the
summit,
while
Chávez
underscored
that
those
who
organised
the coup
in that
Central
American
country
have
never
been
brought
to
justice.
"Impunity
is a
cancer
that
threatens
democracies,"
he said.
Correa
also
referred
to the
precedent
set by
Honduras.
Just
after he
was
rescued
by army
and
police
special
forces
from the
police
hospital
in Quito
were he
was held
by rebel
police
all day
Thursday,
he said
he would
not
"allow
what
happened
in
Honduras
to
happen
here"
and
swore
that he
would
not
"forgive
or
forget"
in the
case of
those
involved
in the
mutiny.
With
regard
to the
crisis
in
Honduras,
Correa
and
Fernández
have
been the
loudest
voices
warning
that it
set a
dangerous
precedent
for the
region,
and
their
governments,
along
with the
Brazilian
administration
of Luiz
Inacio
Lula da
Silva,
are
among
those
that
have
refused
to
recognise
Lobo.
The
Unasur
as a
bloc has
not
recognised
the
Honduran
leader,
and in
South
America,
the only
countries
that
have
renewed
relations
with
Honduras
are
Colombia,
Peru and
Chile.
In an
analysis
of the
coup in
Honduras,
Argentine
political
analyst
Juan
Gabriel
Tokatlian
warned
in a
column
titled "Neogolpismo"
(roughly,
"Neo-coupism")
that the
case was
"far-reaching"
and that
"the
future
of
democracy
in Latin
America
is at
stake."
Tokatlian
warned
at the
time
that if
Zelaya
were not
reinstated
to
finish
out the
last few
months
of his
term,
"the
temptation
of 'neogolpismo'
in the
region
will
grow,"
because
those
who are
behind
that
tendency
will
learn
that
they can
overthrow
a
president,
simulate
a crisis
that
"forced"
them to
remove
him, and
"expect
that the
international
community's
policies
against
(the
coup)
will be
ineffective."
Earlier
this
week,
Ecuadorian
Foreign
Minister
Ricardo
Patiño
had
invited
his
counterparts
from the
rest of
Latin
America
to meet
to
discuss
Honduras'
return
to the
Organisation
of
American
States
(OAS),
from
which it
was
suspended
after
Zelaya
was
overthrown.
The idea
was to
discuss
the case
once
again.
But
Patiño
stated
that in
order to
accept
the
Central
American
nation's
return
to the
OAS
fold,
the
region
must
demand
that
those
responsible
for the
coup be
brought
to trial
and
punished.
"Impunity
for
those
who
undermine
democracy
is the
worst
thing we
can
leave
behind
us, for
the
future
of Latin
America.
Coups
are
lessons
from
which we
learn,
to
prevent
a
repetition,"
Patiño
said,
just
hours
before
the
police
riot
that
nearly
toppled
the
government
of which
he forms
part.
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