Coup to Coup

On the website “El Espejo”, the journalist writes that “the practice of military coups has an endemic character in Latin America and relies on the powerful motor of North American policies.”

I

Years ago, coups were carried out to remove governments that attempted to implement moderate democratic reforms, including agrarian and fiscal reforms to reinforce property rights over land and efforts to guarantee a fair distribution of wealth. They did not try to go much further, but local oligarchies and U.S. interests frustrated these processes so much that they resulted in fire and blood.

Some presidents, like Villarroel, Goulart, Velasco Ibarra, Arbenz, Medina Angarita and Gallegos, were not communists, nor did they desire profound changes beyond improving the living conditions of their people. However, to the powerful people who actually dominate the region, it was an unacceptable mistake for them to limit obscene profits, redistribute the land of landowners and expand access to education and health facilities.

II

The practice of coups has an endemic character in Latin America and depends on the powerful motor of North American policies. Its sustaining mechanisms are the training of officers in the School of the Americas, military bases, the National Security Doctrine and the Rio Treaty. These destabilizing actions took on new forms if any attempt was made to democratize these institutions before the coups, especially as time passed and people began to become aware of their rights. It’s not just military uprisings anymore. It has become a combination of several factors, including powerful economic groups, politicians within the system, ultra-conservative social sectors, local oligarchies eager for more privileges and the media, in addition to the voice of North America’s Pentagon channeled through embassies, military missions and elite training units. In the bloody coup against Salvador Allende in Chile, the criminal role of the armed forces established class alliances under the tutelage of the U.S. Republican administration. In the same way, the governments of Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil and Bolivia maintained clear ideologies during the most terribly repressive decades Latin America has ever witnessed. They adopted a simple and organic policy, and applied it in an implacable manner in the economy, the military, communications and in international relations.

III

At the beginning of the 21st century, a new, more elaborate style of coup was developed in Venezuela due to its possession of the world’s largest reserves of oil and its exceptional geopolitical location. The plan combined psychological elements and street protests, and took advantage of the rupture in the unity of military command while using the media as an engine of destabilization. The result was the coup on April 11, 2002, that removed Hugo Chavez from the presidency for a few hours.

However, the new style was faulty. Among its most important faults were the lack of popular support and its failure to consider the composition of the armed forces. The effect of the coup was essentially null. It was confusing at first, but the civic-military reaction that ruined the precarious usurping government soon followed. Everything subsequently known about 11-A confirms the participation of powerful media and economic groups, the Venezuelan oligarchy, conspiratorial officials, the Catholic Church and, especially, the governments of Bush and Aznar.

The attitude of the American ambassador in Caracas, Charles Shapiro, as well as the military mission, confirmed American involvement. The documented evidence rests in the hands of the Pentagon, the CIA, some dependencies of the State Department and in Venezuelan archives.

IV

The style of coup utilized in Venezuela seven years ago was repeated on Sunday, June 28, in Honduras.

Honduran oligarchs, industrialists, gangster politicians, the scabs of the corrupt, landowners, and mercenaries all participated in this new venture against a constitutional order and the mandate of a legitimate president. The combination of powers that collaborated in this coup confirms the prevailing rot within the politics of this Central American country, namely, venal judges and corrupt parliamentarians. When considering the armed forces, it is important to remember that the armed forces of Honduras is heavily influenced by the North American military establishment. The Tarea Conjunto Bravo force of the Soto Cano base in Palmerola acts as a southern sub-command base for the USA. It’s not just any base. It has the most sophisticated resources in communications and general operations, and was established to fight insurgency in the region and repress popular movement.

John Negroponte, Bush’s designated ambassador, specified Palmerola’s functions. From this base, he spread terror and gained control of the region. That is why it is absurd to think that Palmerola was not aware of the military coup planned against President Zelaya on June 28. Hondurans have long said that the base could even catch the fly in flight.

V

In Venezuela, on April 11, 2002, there was a pulse that won the revolutionary movement and guaranteed the social and political development that has taken place over the last seven years. In Honduras, a new pulse has developed. What will happen in Honduras depends on whether the process of change the region so badly needs will advance or recede. For this reason, the Venezuelan opposition supports the victory and consolidation of the new Honduran government. The illusion takes control of them. They believe they can rewind history.