“Hard Choices” The Overthrow of an Elected Government and the Murder of Berta Caceres--

[eridani]

--Shows History Repeating in Central America

http://www.nationofchange.org/news/2016/04/07/hard-choices-overthrow-elected-government-murder-berta-caceres-shows-history-repeating-central-america/

By most accounts former President Manuel Zelaya was no fire breathing radical, he was the leader of the one of the country’s oldest political parties, the Liberals, but his attempts at land reform, like those of Arbenz in Guatemala long before, are rumored to have angered wealthy interests like the Atala family and the recently deceased palm oil king, Miguel Facusse.

Zelaya was taken from his bed at gunpoint and put on a plane to Costa Rica on June 28th, 2009. He was kept in exile while the coup government, led by former Speaker of the Congress, Roberto Michelatti, ran out the clock to a new election. During the ensuing outcry, the country was temporarily banned from regional organizations including the OAS (Organization of American States).

The US State Department’s role in this is important because the person in charge at the time of the coup is now running for President. As reported by the Huffington Post, the newly released US paperback version of Hillary Clinton’s book “Hard Choices” no longer contains the section on the former Secretary’s reaction to the removal of Manuel Zelaya. While Bernie Sanders was grilled at the debate in Miami for comments made about Cuba and Nicaragua more than 30 years ago, Clinton has yet to be asked about the coup in Honduras under her watch.

Before her death, Berta Caceres said that the former Secretary of State should bear some of the responsibility for the worsening conditions in Honduras, “The same Hillary Clinton, in her book… practically said what was was going to happen in Honduras. This demonstrates the meddling of the North Americans in our country.”

Caceres was referring to Clinton’s comments from the now excised portion of the book, where she wrote that at the time of Zelaya’s removal she spoke to her counterparts throughout the region and, “We strategized on a plan to restore order in Honduras and ensure that free and fair elections could be held quickly and legitimately, which would render the question of Zelaya moot.” Not exactly a call for his immediate return or for the suspension of aid that should follow such a coup under US law, more likely a way to ensure an “orderly transition” to a new president. A hard choice, indeed.