honduras: A Coup, not that you would know it!

international | rights, freedoms and repression | opinion/analysis Wednesday December 02, 2009 12:25 by Gerard Horgan - Freelance

The political situation in honduras and the lack of coverage in the Irish Media.

Latin America is no stranger to coups; there have been three in this new century alone and too many over the course of the 20th century to document here (for those interested, John Pilger's award-winning documentary The War on Democracy, is a must-see).

The most recent toppling of a democratically elected government in the Western Hemisphere occurred on the night of June 28th in Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital. President Manuel Zelaya was dragged from his bed, bungled on a plane and forced to seek refuge in neighbouring Costa Rica. The ignominy and illegality of this brutal act highlighted the continued instability in a region which is grappling with some of the worst levels of inequality and poverty on the planet.

President Zelaya was victim of the usual business elite-military conspiracy, a standard characteristic of Latin America over the last 100 years. The timing was interesting as it co-incided with a vote on the extension of the Presidential term and according to the Guardian's Mark Weisbrot, with the implementation of more socially orientated policies that focused on poverty alleviation. Weisbrot, an experienced analyst of Latin American affairs, commented that the coup "pitted a reform president who is supported by labour unions and social organisations against a mafia-like, drug-ridden, corrupt political elite who is accustomed to choosing not only the supreme court and the Congress, but also the president. It is a recurrent story in Latin America".

The brutality of the coup (killings and beatings of innocent protestors, closure of opposition media) has taken place with barely a word appearing in the Irish media (both print and television). It might be said this is understandable given the sheer range of issues facing the Irish State from NAMA, the banking crisis to the widespread flooding. However, the lack of coverage of major international stories such as the financial meltdown in Dubai, the instability in the Middle East, the growing popular movements in Latin America - raises serious questions about the role of the Irish media, in particular, RTÉ, when it comes to informing the public of our rapidly-changing world.

It can't be a question of limited resources when large sums are spent on 'stars' like Pat Kenny (€750,000), Ryan Tubridy (€350,000) and Gerry Ryan (€500,000) (to name but a few) with additional license fee money thrown at soaps, reality TV shows and house makeover programmes. The overly Western-centric viewpoint (RTÉ has correspondents based full-time in London, Washington and Brussels) slants the "news" in a particular way and rarely do we catch a glimpse of important events outside of this bubble -the coup in honduras is a case in point. RTÉ's correspondent in the US, the veteran reporter Charlie Bird, has rarely left the confines of Washington D.C. to report on events in the 'South' at a time of momentous change, choosing instead to focus on the Obama presidency (providing little ground-breaking insight).

The continued abuse of human rights and killings by the Honduran military in an effort to suppress popular demonstrations continue unabated but it would be difficult to know in Ireland were it not for cable news and alternative news websites. Some of the events in honduras have been highlighted by Al Jazeera, which has been consistent in its coverage of the Honduran coup and Latin America generally. Other sources such as Democracy Now! with Amy Goodman frequently touch on honduras and just this week reported on the "elections":

"Roberto Micheletti, a prominent supporter of the coup has won the nation's presidential election. Porfirio Lobo, a rich landowner, received 55 percent of the vote. The election comes five months after the Honduran military ousted the democratically-elected president Manuel Zelaya. The leaders of Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela and other Latin American countries say Sunday's presidential election is invalid because it was backed by the coup leaders and could end any hope of Zelaya returning to power and completing his term, which is due to end in January. But the United States has vowed to recognize the results. No pro-Zelaya candidate ran Sunday due to a boycott of the elections called by Zelaya. Human rights groups reported widespread abuses by the Honduran military and police ahead of Sunday's vote. In the city of San Pedro Sula, soldiers used water cannons and tear gas to break up a march by 500 unarmed protestors".

One wonders if the Irish public is aware that Latin America has been unanimous in its condemnation of the Honduran coup vis-à-vis the Organisation of American States (OAS); that the EU has been unequivocal in its opposition, removing its ambassadors and stating the "deep concern over the political crisis in honduras and the violations of the constitutional order" or that the United Nations moved quickly to condemn the Honduran military for aggressively surrounding the Brazilian Embassy where President Zelaya had taken refuge after a failed effort to return to Tegucigalpa.

We can only hope that greater public awareness and education among our students will lead to demands on our media to provide more extensive analysis of events in the 'South', such as the impact of climate change, the importance of the World Social Forums, the growing move towards global justice, the emergence of greater Latin American integration and the role of India, China and Brazil. These are the events that will shape and determine the course of the 21st century but it would hard to know judging by the Irish media's focus on petty criminality as well as saturation sports coverage at one of the most challenging times in human socio-economic development.