Clinton: It was a coup, just not a military coup (maybe)
I can't say that it is going to hurt her campaign, but Hillary Clinton sure makes no friends when discussing the 2009 Honduras coup. Here is Tracy Wilkinson in the Los Angeles Times.
On June 1, Mauricio Funes was inaugurated president of El Salvador. Funes, of course, represented the former guerrilla turned-political party, Farabundo Marti para la Liberacion Nacional (FMLN). We all remember who led the delegation to his inauguration, right? Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Neglect wouldn't be the right word. The US was putting its non-ideological approach to Latin America, at least Central America, into practice. Four weeks later, the Honduran coup happened.
Clinton and the White House condemned the June 2009 coup against Zelaya and then moved far more quickly than most other people in the region to look for a political solution that would call for new elections and leave the question of Zelaya's return to office "moot." The US was receiving pressure from its Honduran allies, their lobbyists in DC, and from Republicans. It's possible that Clinton and the Obama administration were influenced by Lanny Davis and other friends of the Clintons but I don't know.
I always thought that the administration was more interested in stability which meant supporting those with power in Honduras. I heard that they tried to broker a compromise between Zelaya and those who removed him but that after weeks/months of negotiations, they were losing patience with Zelaya. It's not really who they should have lost patience with but they did.
Guatemala was in a very difficult situation. The Salvadoran right was threatening a coup if the new FMLN-Funes government considered going down the same path that Zelaya had brought Honduras (whatever that means).
Attacking Clinton over Honduras hasn't really helped the Sanders campaign. I can't imagine that Republicans are going to criticize her for supporting a right-wing military coup that overthrew a government supportive of Hugo Chavez's 21st century socialism project. However, stranger things have happened.
The June 28, 2009, coup in Honduras — the first in Central America in nearly two decades — revived an ignominious practice that promoters of democracy in the region thought was dead.
It also highlighted the then-new Obama administration's seeming neglect of Latin America as the White House focused on other priorities.
The fallout threatened to drive a wedge between Washington and Latin American countries that wanted to see more unequivocal U.S. support for democracy.
The Clinton campaign last week denied that she changed her position on the coup, and argued that she helped isolate the post-Zelaya government in Honduras to force democratic reforms.
“Hillary Clinton immediately and consistently denounced the removal of President Zelaya,” Jesse Lehrich, a campaign spokesman, said Thursday.
Clinton “helped lead an international charge to isolate the coup government, revoke the visas of those responsible, and slash foreign aid.”
Her stance and work with regional allies “helped pave the way for a political resolution that quickly led to a democratic election and the end of the coup government,” Lehrich added.I can't remember whether the Obama administration was neglecting Latin America at the time. It was only six months into office and very involved in Central America. Rodrigo Rosenberg committed suicide on May 10. His murder/suicide almost led to the overthrow of the Colom government in Guatemala. The US was deeply involved in trying to figure out what was going on and preventing the country from descending into anarchy (okay, what everyone feared a failed state).
On June 1, Mauricio Funes was inaugurated president of El Salvador. Funes, of course, represented the former guerrilla turned-political party, Farabundo Marti para la Liberacion Nacional (FMLN). We all remember who led the delegation to his inauguration, right? Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Neglect wouldn't be the right word. The US was putting its non-ideological approach to Latin America, at least Central America, into practice. Four weeks later, the Honduran coup happened.
Clinton and the White House condemned the June 2009 coup against Zelaya and then moved far more quickly than most other people in the region to look for a political solution that would call for new elections and leave the question of Zelaya's return to office "moot." The US was receiving pressure from its Honduran allies, their lobbyists in DC, and from Republicans. It's possible that Clinton and the Obama administration were influenced by Lanny Davis and other friends of the Clintons but I don't know.
I always thought that the administration was more interested in stability which meant supporting those with power in Honduras. I heard that they tried to broker a compromise between Zelaya and those who removed him but that after weeks/months of negotiations, they were losing patience with Zelaya. It's not really who they should have lost patience with but they did.
Guatemala was in a very difficult situation. The Salvadoran right was threatening a coup if the new FMLN-Funes government considered going down the same path that Zelaya had brought Honduras (whatever that means).
Attacking Clinton over Honduras hasn't really helped the Sanders campaign. I can't imagine that Republicans are going to criticize her for supporting a right-wing military coup that overthrew a government supportive of Hugo Chavez's 21st century socialism project. However, stranger things have happened.
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