Interconnect: Questions About the Crisis in Honduras

Interconnect Newsletter
September 2009, Vol. 16, No. 3
By COHA Research Associate Michaela D’Ambrosio

Following the June 28 coup d’etat in Honduras, which ousted President Manuel Zelaya, speculation arose concerning the roles played by Washington insiders. And it still remains to be understood why the Obama administration has taken a relatively benign stance to the illegitimate new government. The administration has restricted $30 million in aid to Honduras and, recently, has restricted visas for the interim president and Supreme Court but still refuses to label the ousting of the democratically elected president a “military coup,” which would automatically cut off far more aid.

Who are these U.S. officials who may be involved in the planning and execution of the coup? What other actions have they been associated with in recent months? Evidence points to Otto Reich, the policy advisor on Latin America for the McCain campaign, and Robert Carmona-Borjas, a Venezuelan lawyer, columnist, academic, and reportedly a collaborator in the coup against Venezuelan President Chavez – all of whom had significant financial ties to the U.S. telecommunications industry. John McCain chairs the International Republican Institute (IRI), which has received significant funding from AT&T. In return, the IRI has worked tirelessly against Latin American democracies that refuse to privatize their telecommunications companies. President Zelaya has been one of the chief opponents to privatization. Additionally, connections between this corporate agenda and Carmona-Borjas have been discovered. The latter is co-founder of the Arcadia Foundation, an institute that has launched fierce attacks against Zelaya accusing him of fraud involving Hondutel, the Honduran state telecommunications company that he has refused to privatize. Also a fierce opponent of Zelaya and an acquaintance of Carmona-Borjas, Otto Reich has fiercely contested the reinstatement of the Zelaya administration. Perhaps this is because his firm, Otto Reich Associates, passionately promotes the free trade ideology in Latin America.

One also may ask how much foreknowledge the U.S. administration had about the coup. Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemispheric Affairs Thomas Shannon and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Craig Kelly were in Honduras the week prior to the coup and attended meetings with persons who later participated in the ousting of the President. Dubious behavior also has been reported concerning Hugo Llorens, U.S. Ambassador in Honduras, and former Ambassador, John Negroponte. Llorens stated, “One cannot violate the constitution in order to create another constitution,” (Eva Golinger, Washington and the Coup in Honduras: Here is the Evidence). This chiding of Zelaya is based on a false inference that he was attempting to alter the constitution in order to extend his own term. His call for a referendum was to be only a consultation with the electorate in a non-binding way about holding a constitutional convention next year.

Following the coup, when asked by journalist Allan Fisher if he had previous knowledge of the events that took place on June 28, Llorens replied with a laugh, “No, no, not really” (Belén Fernández, U.S. Ambassador Hugo Llorens Discloses Secrets of the Honduran Coup). His predecessor, John Negroponte, shares Llorens’ position. Negroponte had visited Honduras prior to the coup to discuss with Zelaya his plan to turn the U.S. airbase at Palemerola into a civilian airport. He used this same trip as an opportunity to meet with future coup leader Roberto Micheletti and other opposition members. The evidence pointing to U.S. officials having prior awareness of the coup is difficult to ignore.

Finally, we are left to ponder the confusing position of the Obama administration towards the coup in general. Why did the administration wait more than two months to suspend a significant amount of aid to the interim government, all the while allowing time for the Micheletti administration to grow comfortable? And why has there still been no formal recognition that June 28 was a military coup, a blatant violation of democracy?

[This article has also run as a COHA press release]