On July 24, 2009, Hillary Clinton received an email from the U.S. embassy in Honduras stating in no uncertain terms that “the military, Supreme Court and National Congress conspired on June 28 in what constituted an illegal and unconstitutional coup against the (former Honduran President Manuel Zelaya.)” Here’s some background information if you’re not familiar with the Honduras coup of 2009. President Zelaya was forcibly removed from the country by the military and deported on the private jet owned by one of the orchestrators of the coup, Honduran businessman Miguel Facusse. Thousands of Hondurans rejected the legitimacy of their new de facto leader Roberto Micheletti. However, the interim government formally militarized the police and masses of protesters were physically battered.
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| (2009 Honduras Coup Photo Indybay.org) |
As Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton tiptoed around using the exact words “military coup” when questioned by the media. In such a case, our country has laws that force our government to cut off all foreign aid. Nevertheless, a highly-questionable election took place months later that officially installed the candidate of the interim government, Porfirio “Pepe” Lobo. Amnesty International and the Center for Economic and Policy Research didn’t recognize the authenticity of the election and reported about instances of police violence and voter intimidation. However, that election provided the faux credibility needed for the Obama administration to officially re-establish relations with the government of Honduras. After Lobo had only been in office for two months, Hillary Clinton notified Congress that foreign aid would be restored to Honduras. “We believe that President Lobo and his administration have taken the steps necessary to restore democracy,” she said. She also urged the Latin American nations that didn’t recognize the authenticity of the Lobo regime to resume relations with Honduras. She said, “I don’t know what they’re waiting for, but that’s their right to wait.
Well… to name a few reasons there were the matters of numerous human rights violations, vast corruption, extrajudicial police violence, and private security death squads. The Lobo administration further militarized the police and anyone who publicly opposed the government put their lives at risk. Record numbers of journalists were killed and several leftist political activists have been murdered. Most notably, the internationally-recognized environmental activist Berta Cáceres was murdered in her home this year. She had traveled to Washington D.C. months earlier and met with Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA). Johnson read the reports of the numerous atrocities that were connected with the government of Honduras. Hence, he wrote a proposal, H.R.5474 - Berta Caceres Human Rights in Honduras Act, to stop sending money to the Honduran military and police.
Why should we stop sending money to Honduran government? You tend to picture bottled water and bags of rice when the term foreign aid is mentioned. However, most of our foreign aid is in the form of military aid, in particular, counternarcotics training. You may be thinking, “That sounds fine because the Honduran government is battling against violent gangs such as MS13 and Barrio 18.” Unfortunately, the drug war has completely corrupted the Honduran government. A recent report by Insight Crime found that 81 police officers, including high-ranking officials, were linked with MS13. The brazen nature of this corruption is out in the open. The former Honduran drug czar, Alfredo Landaverde Hernández, explained to the Miami Herald in 2012 that this issue is pervasive with every level of law enforcement in his country. For speaking out, a gang leader ordered his murder, which took place two weeks later and it was committed by a notorious police death squad.
These issues of extrajudicial killings, corruption, and human rights violations didn’t improve when Pepe Lobo’s extreme-right-wing successor, Juan Orlando Hernandez, took office in 2013. After all, the Lobo administration was accused of embezzling as much as $300 million from the country’s social security fund to directly finance his campaign. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) has been one of the few members of Congress to publicly challenge the Obama administration to stop supporting this regime. Leahy has repeatedly pointed to the connection between the top drug traffickers of Honduras and their government. Then again, those links aren’t difficult to find. Fabio Lobo, son of Pepe Lobo, pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges earlier this year after attempting to transport thousands of kilos of cocaine. Furthermore, reports surfaced on October 25th that Juan Antonio Hernandez, the brother of President Hernandez, had traveled to Miami to be questioned by authorities for an alleged role in drug trafficking. Numerous Honduran government officials are also allegedly involved.
To wrap up, why would our government support such a “narcocracy?” The answer is simple. The U.S. government is solely concerned with expanding the global reach of its military. The Soto Cano Air Base in Honduras is a key base for U.S. troops and the Honduras government has begun building more bases since the coup. The most dishonest aspect of this charade is that our military aid for Honduras is in the name of the drug war. Our government has been fully aware of the ramifications of our “counternarcotics” funds.
Hillary Clinton’s emails show that she tried to use a lobbyist connected with the Clinton family, Lanny Davis, to communicate with Roberto Micheletti, the de facto leader of Honduras coup. WikiLeaks documents also show that the State Department knew that one of main orchestrators of coup, businessman Miguel Facusse, was a major drug trafficker. As you may remember, the Honduran military illegally deported former President Zelaya on Facusse’s private jet. The airfield on Facusse’s property has been responsible for massive shipments of cocaine. In addition, his private security force, which has received training from the U.S. military, had been associated with several mass killings that were connected with acquiring land for his biofuel business. Nevertheless, our U.S. embassy officials privately met with Facusse while the de facto government was in place.
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| Businessman Miguel Facuuse passed away in 2015. (photo Gustavo Bueso/Flickr) |
The U.S. government surely can’t eliminate the atrocities that are occurring in Honduras. However, ending the drug war would obviously be a great start. At a minimum, we could start by cutting off all military aid to Honduras. Unfortunately, as of now, the Berta Caceres Human Rights in Honduras Act (H.R. 5474) hasn’t made much progress, but it’s worthy of all the support it can get.
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