The Return of the Thugs in Honduras (and Their American Apologists!)

Yesterday, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) issued a statement denouncing a wave of attacks against those who resisted the June 2009 military coup d’etat. According to the Commission, this past month, a series of kidnappings, murders and sexual assaults have targeted leaders of the resistance movement. The hemisphere’s leading inter-governmental, human rights investigatory body wrote, “it appears that sons and daughters of leaders of the Resistance Front are being killed, kidnapped, attacked, and threatened as a strategy to silence the activists.”

What’s happening? Well, the evidence fairly clearly suggests this: now that international attention has turned away from Honduras, authoritarian politicians and their henchmen are crushing their opponents. Payback time for questioning the Honduran coup and the shady November elections. Payback time, death squad style.

Here is how the Commission described the three murders:

… on February 3, 2010, 29-year-old Vanessa Zepeda Alonzo…active in the Resistance Front … [had] her body was thrown out of a car. Likewise, on February 15, 2010, Julio Funez Benitez, an active member of the resistance who belonged to the SANAA Workers Union . . .was killed with two shots fired by unknown gunmen traveling on a motorcycle. Finally, on February 24, 2010, Claudia Maritza Brizuela, 36 years old, … the daughter of union and community leader Pedro Brizuela… was shot and killed [by unknown gunmen] in front of her children, ages 2 and 8.

Still not clear? Well, for those unfamiliar with the methods of political violence in Latin America, apologists for thuggery are now standing by to provide clarification, uh, that is, obfuscation. CNN, not satisfied to let the facts speak for themselves, consulted former Cold Warrior Otto Reich to put things in context:

"Unfortunately, Honduras has a history of violence," said Otto Reich, who served the past three Republican presidents in a number of high-level Latin American posts. Later, CNN quotes Reich again, “There's a lot of ad hoc violence…” (CNN also notes that Reich supported the coup President Micheletti and just met with now President Lobo.)

Well that clears things up! Just because a series of murders and kidnappings and rapes targets only union, community and resistance leaders and their families is no reason to jump to conclusions. No, indeed. You see, in Honduras, there’s all this violence. “Stuff,” shall we say, just happens. (The stuff just happens to be happening to supporters of ousted President Zelaya.)

But let’s give Mr. Reich his due credit. If anyone can explain away a series of targeted murders and abuses, it’s Otto Reich. After all, this is the same guy who explained away thousands of crimes by El Salvadoran military thugs and the Nicaraguan contras. According to the Council on Hemispheric Affairs, “In El Salvador, [Reich] was an assiduous apologist for the death squads, at a total cost of 85,000 lives (mostly innocent civilians that included Catholic Priests), and condoned brutal human rights violations by the Contras, a U.S.-created force for which he later to broke the law to support.”

A respectable, credible source to explain Latin American political reality to us if ever there was one. Thank you, CNN.

Here’s an interesting fact to help put the murders and other abuses into context. The first act by new President Porfirio Lobo, according to the BBC, was the signing of a decree granting amnesty to the soldiers, politicians and judges responsible for the June coup. To promote justice and reconciliation, of course.

Act two looks like a new round of violence targeted at Zelaya’s supporters.

At the rate the thugs are going in Honduras, Lobo (and Reich) will want to keep a copy of that amnesty law handy. They may just want to copy and paste it into a new law every few months. To promote justice and reconciliation, of course. You see, “Honduras has a “history of violence.”

Photo credit: bllq21