My Turn: U.S. policy in Honduras misdirected

[Judi Lynn]

My Turn: U.S. policy in Honduras misdirected
By John Lamperti • Friday, July 9, 2010

The Obama administration's record includes some notable achievements, but also some serious disappointments. One of the worst is its betrayal of the people of Honduras and the cause of democracy in the months following the military coup of June 28, 2009.

Initially, President Barack Obama denounced the coup and called for the return of the elected president, Manuel Zelaya. Sadly, our government soon retreated from this correct position and began to appease the coup regime. The surrender was completed when the U.S. accepted the results of November's fraudulent election and returned to business as usual. It is difficult to understand this policy and impossible to justify it. We are now supporting allies of the same criminals we denounced less than a year ago.

Widespread popular protests in Honduras against the coup regime, followed by violent police and military repression, were very similar to events in Iran after its dubious election last year. Demonstrators were beaten, jailed and sometimes tortured. By the end of 2009, at least 28 opponents of the coup had been killed. Independent news media were suppressed. But the U.S. government and media, rightly outraged by the brutality in Iran, fell largely silent when the Honduran people were the victims. And yet Honduras is in our "backyard," and U.S. influence there is far greater than in Iran.

The coup should provide two important lessons for U.S. policy. First, the U.S. military's School of the Americas (now renamed Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation) has long been known in Latin America as the "School of Coups." Honduras showed that the name still fits, for the top coup leaders were SOA graduates. It is long past time to close this Cold War relic for good. Massachusetts Rep. Jim McGovern has introduced legislation to do just that (HR. 2567); it has more than 100 co-sponsors and ought to pass promptly.

Second, at least since the 1980s, the U.S. military has maintained very close ties with the Honduran armed forces. This too is a Cold War relic dating from the Reagan administration's "contra" war against Nicaragua, and it serves no useful purpose for either country. These ties are certainly not in the interest of the Honduran people, who badly need the resources now wasted on militarism. This kind of alliance helps to finance and legitimate the politically powerful Honduran military institution and to make real reform much more difficult. The United States should end its cozy relation with the Honduran military, terminate "Joint Task Force Bravo" and convert all U.S. aid to civilian and humanitarian development.

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