Gen. Romeo Vasquez, who runs the armed forces in the Central American nation of Honduras and is apparently at the center of yesterday's coup that deposed the nation's democratically elected president Jose Manuel Zelaya, comes from a rich tradition that has long produced a string of military dictatorships in the region, a tradition that is unfortunately born in the USA. Vasquez is reportedly the latest Latin American coup leader trained at the U.S. military's School of the Americas:
Vasquez, however, refused to step down, bolstered by support in Congress and a Supreme Court ruling that reinstated him. Vasquez remains in control of the armed forces.
Vasquez, along with other military leaders, graduated from the United States' infamous School of the Americas (SOA). According to a School of the Americas Watch database compiled from information obtained from the US government, Vasquez studied in the SOA at least twice: once in 1976 and again in 1984.
The head of the Air Force, Gen. Luis Javier Prince Suazo, studied in the School of the Americas in 1996. The Air Force has been a central protagonist in the Honduran crisis.
Indeed, there was a time when there would be little question that the United States would have supported -- tacitly if not overtly -- a coup like the one being led by Vasquez, aimed at toppling a left-leaning government in a region where the U.S. has vast influence. In the 1980s, when Ronald Reagan was president, the U.S. was alleged to have supported and even trained right-wing death squads in Honduras, which was seen as a key base for fighting the leftist Sandanistas in Nicaragua:
[John] Negroponte’s confirmation to the United Nations post was delayed a half-year mostly because of criticism of his record as the U.S. ambassador to Honduras from 1981 to 1985. In Honduras, he played a prominent role in assisting the Contras in Nicaragua in their war with the left-wing Sandinista government.
Human rights groups alleged that Negroponte acquiesced in human rights abuses by Honduran death squads funded and partly trained by the CIA. Negroponte testified during the hearings for the U.N. post that he did not believe death squads were operating in Honduras.
But that was then. Under President Barack Obama, the U.S. appears to be activly engaged in seeking the return of Zelaya to power, despite his political leanings and his ties with Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, America's bete noire in the region:
By Sunday night, officials in Washington said they had spoken with Mr. Zelaya and were working for his return to power in Honduras, despite relations with Mr. Zelaya that had recently turned colder because of the inclusion of Honduras in the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, or ALBA, a leftist political alliance led by Venezuela.
The effort to engage Mr. Zelaya differed from Washington’s initial response to Venezuela’s brief coup in April 2002, when the Bush administration blamed Mr. Chávez for his own downfall and denied knowing about the planning of the coup, despite the revelation later that the Central Intelligence Agency knew developments about the plot in Caracas on the eve of its execution.
Historically, the policy of the United States has been to foster democracy -- except when democracy leads to rulers that we can't do business with. Obama's new direction here carries a certain amount of risk but also a great deal of potential reward in the region, if he can make U.S. policy seem a bit less hypocritical. It will be interesting to see how the American politicians who decided that democracy was the reason that we're in Iraq -- after there were no weapons of mass destruction -- will judge Obama on this move in a part of the workl that's a lot closer to home.
Comment removed.
"Historically, the policy of the United States has been to foster democracy -- except when democracy leads to rulers that we can't do business with." Boy, Will, you really think that has been our primary foreign policy goal? Seriously? We supported regimes that were more within our sphere of influence and to move countries out of our ideological opponents sphere of influence. You fail to mention any of the human rights abuses that these Leftist countries perform. Look at all of the journalists the leftists in Cuba, Venezuela and North Korea. No big deal, as long as they're Leftists and they promise to liberate the means of production. Of course, this means that their infrastructures and economy tank, but at least there aren't any rich folks, right?- Comment removed.
"right wing death squads" blah blah blah, "right wing death squads" blah blah blah, "right wing death squads" blah blah blah. A days work at the Daily News. Not only did the AP leave out what SBVFT pointed out so cogently, so did our insipid "journalist"/"blogger"/"author".— WriteWinger- Comment removed.
- Will is a one man left wing death squad- he'll bore you to death with this lopsided "journalism". I guess he never heard of the Shining Path guerillas in Peru-LOOK IT UP!— Tom813
- I don't doubt that Obama is a big fan of Zelaya. They have the same political DNA.— The Science
- Wow! Apparently, our Attytood "conservatives" are deeply offended by Zelaya's move to put a referendum on the ballot that the public would vote on. Seems they're offended because Zelaya's move was in violation of the Honduran supreme court. See - our "conservatives" oppose such an un-democratic move. That's why instead, THEY SUPPORT A MILITARY COUP TO PUT THE ELECTED LEADER INTO EXILE. I mean, what could be more democratic than a military coup? And besides, it's not like supporting the overthrow of democratically-elected leaders has had negative effects in the past in places like Iran, or anything like that. And what's wrong with right-wing death squads, anyway? The only kill leftists and innocent women and children, right?— Talking point sleuth
- See, Zelaya should have shut down TV stations critical of him, just like Hugo Chavez has. BTW, still waiting for that story. Well, maybe we'll get it when Globovision is gone. Maybe.— Paul B
- Then again - how do you define "military coup?" http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124623220955866301.html— Talking point sleuth
- I love the white house logic that we need to back Zelaya because we don't want to give Chavez a reason to blame the US. hahahahahahahhahahah! what a joke, and a lie. Even Barry must know that Chavez will blame the US anyway and making policy decisions based on the expected reactions of Hugo Chavez is pure insanity. Why doesn't barry just come clean that he wants to be in the cool club with Hugo, and Fidel so they can compare Che t-shirt collections— taxmemore
Will, you really blew this one. The Honduran Supreme Court ordered the military to arrest the President for not following a court order. This is not a coup, this IS democracy in action. You lefties are so dense...can't see the forest for the trees.— rudytbone
Gee, enacting Kennedy's neutral nations policy only 46 years after his brutal murder. I’m sure the National Security State won’t mind, Mr. President.— Hamlet
Breaking through the obligatory "school of Americas- TORTURE TORTURE TORTURE" left-wing noise (from the Wall Street Journal): "That Mr. Zelaya acted as if he were above the law, there is no doubt. While Honduran law allows for a constitutional rewrite, the power to open that door does not lie with the president. A constituent assembly can only be called through a national referendum approved by its Congress. But Mr. Zelaya declared the vote on his own and had Mr. Chávez ship him the necessary ballots from Venezuela. The Supreme Court ruled his referendum unconstitutional, and it instructed the military not to carry out the logistics of the vote as it normally would do. The top military commander, Gen. Romeo Vásquez Velásquez, told the president that he would have to comply. Mr. Zelaya promptly fired him. The Supreme Court ordered him reinstated. Mr. Zelaya refused. Calculating that some critical mass of Hondurans would take his side, the president decided he would run the referendum himself. So on Thursday he led a mob that broke into the military installation where the ballots from Venezuela were being stored and then had his supporters distribute them in defiance of the Supreme Court's order." (No doubt his supporters are the equivalent of the US ACORN) So the Honduran President wanted to hold a referendum to without it being initiated (per their constitution) by the legislative body to consolidate his power as an authoritarian and minimize that of the legislature and judiciary, and they checked his power. Will, you're a total freakin hypocrite. This wasn't about democracy, it's about authoritarian government. I guess that's ok when it's a leftist "decider". What do you think Zelaya will do when he consolidates power? Oh yeah, he'll shut down or takeover any media who disagrees with his policies like Chavez has done and won't cheerlead for him. You're not just the president of reporters without ethics, you're the founder.- You make a very good point, taxmemore. I mean, it's not like Chavez was able to capitalize of the Bush administration's favorable reaction to the coup against him in Venezuela - and as a result, consolidate his power even further, and even further foment anti-Americanism in Latin America. Clearly, this is all part of his larger plan (along with all those Marxists in the MSM) to turn the entire Western Hemisphere into a Stalinist state. Conspiracy lunatics? What conspiracy lunatics?— Talking point sleuth
Will Bunch, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, blogs about his obsessions, including national and local politics and world affairs, the media, pop music, the Philadelphia Phillies, soccer and other sports, not necessarily in that order.
E-mail Will by clicking here.
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