An Independent Foreign Policy

By now you have all heard about Israel's attack agaisnt the aid flotilla, killing at least 19 people, and injuring scores more. So while virtually the entire world has been extremely vocal condemning the attack, the US has been conspicuously quiet. One region not scared to speak up and condemn Israel...the new power bloc of Latin America. So while we got a statement like this about the US:

"We'd like to express our thanks to the United States that worked behind the scenes to water down the [statement] at the United Nations," said Mark Regev, an Israeli government spokesman.

We get this from Brazil (via Xinhua):

The Brazilian Foreign Ministry in a statement said that "Brazil strongly condemns the Israeli attack, because there was no justification for the military intervention against a pacific convoy with strictly humanitarian character. The event is worsened, according to the available information, because it occurred in international waters."

"The event must be investigated independently to make completely clear the event based on Humanitarian and International Laws," the ministry said.

Brazil added that this event "once more shows the need of immediate lifting the embargo in Gaza, in order to guarantee people's freedom of transit and their free access to food, medicines and consumption goods in that region."

The article contains statements from Argentina, Chile, and Mexico in addition to Brazil. Venezuela was also quick to offer their condemnation. Nothing really to add here, just pointing out the latest example of one of the most profound changes in the region over the last decade, an independent foreign policy.

On a separate note, the fact that the US is working behind the scenes to dilute the UN statement reminds me a lot of the Honduran coup. The forum then was the OAS, but the US ambassador worked hard to dilute or block anything that the OAS tried to do. Good ol' U.S. of A, using their relative power to protect their right-wing "allies" since....well I don't know, always?

(image is a poster from a Brazilian cartoonist Carlos Latuff, via Canadian Dimension.)

Judiciary shadiness in Honduras

The AP reports that the Honduran Supreme Court has just dismissed 4 judges and a public defender who were critical of the coup against Zelaya. That's right, this is the same Supreme Court that ruled that storming the presidential palace and kidnapping the president while still in his pajamas constituted a legal constitutional succession.

In any case, head on over to Honduras Culture and Politics for its usual great coverage and analysis of the situation. With no value-added to contribute, I urge you to click on the link.

The Whitewash Commission

So today Pepe "reconciliation" Lobo and the rest of the golpistas unveiled their latest attempt to whitewash the coup. While the US, UN, and OAS were all holding hands and singing kumbaya, patting themselves on the back for a job well done...Honduran human rights organizations, and South American leaders were taking a stand. Bertha Oliva, head of the prominent rights organization COFADEH, wrote:

Now the Lobo government, in an effort to regain international legitimacy, is creating a Truth Commission, an initiative that is being applauded by the United States administration. Yet COFADEH and the other Honduran human rights defenders who have spent much of our lives calling for a truth commission to investigate past political violence are not applauding. We are protesting.

The fact is, Lobo's proposal in no way resembles our idea of a truth commission, or indeed any other truth commission that has played a role in healing the wounds provoked by repressive regimes, such as those of El Salvador, Argentina or South Africa. If we were not dealing with such a tragic situation, the Lobo proposal could be considered laughable.

To begin with, this so-called Truth Commission has been given no mandate to examine the human rights violations that have taken place since the coup. The presidential decree that establishes the commission does not even recognize that a coup took place on June 28th and makes no mention of the victims of the subsequent repression.

And that's certainly just the surface of it all. Honduras Culture and Politics notes that more so than truth, what it's really about is business; the coup cost Honduras a cool 6.6 percent of GDP. Not exactly disproving the theory, Rights Action reported a few days back that one of the members of the commission is a Canadian lawyer who also represents Canadian mining interests. If you remember, mining companies weren't exactly the biggest "Zelayistas".

Meanwhile, UNASUR was holding a meeting today, where among other things, several countries pledged not to attend the EU-Latin America & the Caribbean Summit in Madrid if Lobo is invited. A pretty clear stand against the US' position, also coming as the regional grouping picked their first Secretary General, Nestor Kirchner. In case you needed more evidence of the waning influence of the US in the region.

Oh and for good measure, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued a statement today about a string of death threats against Honduran journalists...who happened to be reporting on the killings of other journalists...ya know, since there has been at least six of 'em murdered since good ol' Lobo took office...how's that for "reconciliation"?

(photo of May Day celebration in Honduras, via Quotha, via Mario Ardón Mejía...check it out)

Obama speaks with Pepe "national reconciliation" Lobo

Why am I not surprised. Today Obama spoke for the first time with all around asshole Pepe "national reconciliation" Lobo. You see, although Obama is concerned about those recent "suspicious" murders of journalists (you know, the ones Lobo and his supporters couldn't possibly be involved with), he's nevertheless pleased with Lobo's great job promoting national reconciliation and all that democracy stuff. From the whitehouse press statement, via politico:

"The President commended President Lobo for his leadership in his first months in office in promoting national reconciliation and restoring democratic and constitutional order in Honduras. The President took particular note of the Truth Commission agreed to as part of the Tegucigalpa-San Jose Accord and championed by President Lobo that is set to begin its work in the coming days.

President Obama expressed his concern with the human rights situation in Honduras, particularly the recent suspicious killings of a number of journalists and civic activists. The President welcomed President Lobo’s plan to fully and transparently investigate these cases as well as his commitment to improve the overall human rights situation."

The Real News on Honduras

The Real News brings us more great coverage on the situation in Honduras, this time focusing on a standoff between the coup government and a movement of landless farmers in the region of Aguán. The Lobo regime has gone to great lengths to demonize the peasant movement and intimidate them into accepting a watered down land redistribution deal. To this end, Lobo has militarized the region, mobilizing 2,000 soldiers into the area. Also, since last December six members of the farmers movement have been murdered.

But don't listen to me, watch the video below for the full scoop...

Some REAL News on Honduras

Excellent job, as always, from Jesse Freeston at The Real News Network. The State Department is trying to get everyone to believe that things are all hunky-dory in Honduras, but the REAL news can see through the bullshit, check it out:

The Count

7...

...is the number of selective killings in Honduras since the country supposedly returned to democracy a couple months ago.

A delegation of Honduran human rights lawyers was in Washington, DC this last week to testify before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) about the grim climate of repression and impunity that continues to this day despite the election of president Pepe "national reconciliation" Lobo.

That's right, elections were held and the international media moved on but the repression and political murders continued. The delegation of lawyers reports that the pattern of selective killings under dictator Micheletti's rule has been normalized under Lobo's government. The killings continue to target journalists, academics, opposition organizers and, disturbingly, their family members as well.

Three of those killed were journalists, including a Nahúm Palacios, who was supposed to be under special protection by order of the IACHR. Just this last Tuesday, a vocal professor critical of the coup was murdered at his university in front of his students.

During their testimony at the IACHR, the delegation highlighted the impunity with which obvious human rights violations have been met by the Honduran legal system. They also pointed to the hypocrisy surrounding the application of the Amnesty Law, which was supposed to promote national reconciliation and dialogue. Indeed, it appears as though only golpista scum are receiving amnesty in Honduras as 111 people still face terrorism charges (terrorism!) for protesting against the dictatorship while no one associated with the coup has been brought to justice.

This is what whitewashing a dictatorship through phony elections and a hypocritical discourse of national reconciliation begets. The repression can continue as before, if not more deeply entrenched, and the international community can move on and feel good about the triumph of diplomacy.