The Great Mind F***

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras – I don’t know what’s more amazing about this conflict: the fact that both sides are so hypocritical, or that it's hard to find anyone here who will admit it.

Hyperpartisanship seems to be a big part of the culture here in “Tegus.” One either supports the ousted president Manuel Zelaya or the interim president Roberto Micheletti, and being open to any criticism of the side one supports is taken on par with letting someone badmouth their mother. The attitude, especially on the side of Micheletti, is one mainly sparked by all the criticism that has rained down on the country from the international community. They see it as a violation of their sovereignty, as if the world is telling Honduras that it’s not smart enough to handle its own affairs.

And believe me, I know exactly how these people feel where it regards that angle. I am from the South, after all.

But the fact is that Mel Zelaya was a corrupt president known for rampant cronyism and violated direct orders from the Honduran Supreme Court to not move forward with his plan for a constitutional referendum. But instead of putting Zelaya on trial, the coup leaders removed him from office (when the Honduran constitution says a president cannot be removed from office) and then expatriated him and exiled him to Costa Rica (even though the constitution says no Honduran citizen may be expatriated.)

Despite all that Zelaya is at fault for, Micheletti’s interim government has made one mistake after another since taking power and is looking more and more like a dictatorship following his executive order this week severely limiting freedom of speech, the press and assembly. The order, which has been condemned by various human rights groups as well as the National Congress here, grants broad powers to the national police and military in controlling those sympathetic to Zelaya.

At least one radio station and one TV station sympathetic to Zelaya have been shut down this week following the decree. Radio Globo was shut down Monday following a call from Zelaya that all his sympathizers flock to Tegucigalpa for “one final struggle.” Even though he was clearly talking about more protests, the government took that as a call to insurrection and the military was sent in to shut the station down.

As for the news stations that have stayed open, their allegiances are also clear, and none more so than the official government-run TV station. The only commercials they air are a series of maybe five anti-Zelaya, pro-Micheletti that outline the various crimes committed by Zelaya during his tenure. There’s another one that features a prayer for the country and the president that the people can recite at home. Another one assures the Honduran people that the police and military are here to protect them.

Tell that to the protestors and journalists who were herded like sheep, tear-gassed and beaten without warning Wednesday during a protest in front of Radio Globo. I spoke with Micheletti spokesman Cesar Caceres who said the protest hadn’t been registered with the national police, and thus under the decree they had every right to disperse the crowd.

Military-enforced censorship, extreme nationalism and a countrywide call to prayer for the new government; are you noticing a creepy trend here?

Micheletti has gone to very dangerous lengths to suppress the resistance here, and the sad part is that his methods are working. Fewer people turn out to protest, their means of communication have all been shut down and Manuel Zelaya isn’t getting any closer to being reinstated despite demands from the U.N. and Organization of American States.

Micheletti is banking on the elections to save Honduras in the eye of the international community, but even now various countries are saying they won’t recognize the elections. It could become an issue of who gives first, or ultimately there could be a compromise where Zelaya is reinstated for a very small period of time after the elections and the coup leaders are granted immunity from any retribution he might seek. But those are just a few ideas from the endless list of possibilities facing this country caught up in Central America’s worst political crisis in decades. It’s all a waiting game.

As for me, it looks like I’ll be here at least until the middle of next week. I’ve come into a little money from my freelancing but it’s become clear I can’t afford to hang around here indefinitely, plus I have previous obligations coming up in Nicaragua, unless I call off the internship and rename the blog “Bamaduras” or "Tegucialabama." From now on I’ll be making a combination of blog entries and direct posts of the news stories I write from here. Pierre is still somewhere in El Salvador I believe, since he’s not much for politics, but I imagine you can expect to hear from him soon enough as well.