Reply #6: Yeah, but who's going to restore the four months of his term lost in exile,

[Peace Patriot]

while the junta purged the government of anyone loyal to the rule of law, the elected president and the Constitution (and of course any leftists); and who's going to be running the election; and what about the deaths, tortures, rapes, beatings and unjust imprisonment that many Zelaya supporters have suffered; and how can an entire country cut off from the outside world by the shutdown of all but pro-coup media, and living under martial law, possibly be ready to vote in an election; and, and, and....

...well, I'm sure that Zelaya and his cabinet and advisors are more acutely aware of these issues than anybody, and will do their best, under the circumstances, not to negotiate away the rights of the Honduran people. I hope it is true that this fascist junta has decided to stand down, but there is still more than the possibility of further treachery. It is a perilous moment.

Oscar Arias--quoted in The Nation by Greg Grandin--recently said that the Honduran Constitution is "the worst in the world," and that, if a fair election cannot be arranged, then the "only solution" would be a Constituent Assembly (constitutional convention), to rewrite Honduras' fundamental law. This was possibly just a veiled threat aimed at the coupsters: if you don't stand down now, you and the "ten families" you represent will lose yet more of your untoward power in Honduras. OR, was he actually proposing this solution (what Zelaya and the unions and grass roots groups have wanted all along), since it is pretty obvious that a fair election in Honduras will be very hard to come by? And, is this a new US position, that Arias is "floating" for Obama/Clinton? I was surprised--and felt new hope--when I read it, that the US government might actually do something right in Latin America, for once--and not only oust these brutal fascists but advocate for real democracy in Honduras.

"Hope is a thing with feathers..."--Emily Dickinson wrote.