Democracy Now Headline Rundown

From: Democracy Now

Thousands Block Roads in Honduras
In Honduras, thousands of people blocked main roads Thursday in the ongoing protests for the return of the democratically elected president Manuel Zelaya. The blockades came amidst rumors Zelaya is making his second attempt to return to Honduras since his ouster. Earlier this month, the coup government blocked Zelaya’s plane when he tried to land at Honduras’s main airport. Speaking in Bolivia, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Zelaya had told him of his plans to return.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez: “President Zelaya is returning to Honduras. They haven’t been able to frighten him. He told me, ‘Honduras has many borders, on land, on sea. I am not going to go running around the world. I am not going to finish my time feeling bad for myself. I prefer to die in Honduran territory.’ Let’s accompany Zelaya on his path to dignity.”


Bolivia Marks 200th Anniversary of Independence
Chavez was in Bolivia to mark the 200th anniversary of Bolivian independence. On Thursday, Bolivian President Evo Morales honored the struggle of indigenous people in Bolivia’s history.

Bolivian President Evo Morales: “Today we are honoring these native leaders, mestizos and creoles, as well. But we must remember that the native people not only fought for the independence of this country, but mainly for their rights.”


US, Colombia Near Military Base Deal
The US is nearing an agreement to use three military bases inside Colombia. The Colombian government says the bases would be used for joint anti-drug operations. The ten-year deal would also extend the current arrangement allowing up to 1,400 US troops and military contractors on Colombian soil. Opposition Colombian senator Gustavo Petro called the plan a violation of sovereignty.

Gustavo Petro: “This treaty aims to allow United States troops to be in Colombia. As a sovereign country, we must respect the fact that only Colombian troops have the right to be in Colombia.”

Colombia is the largest recipient of US military aid in the Americas.

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Nicaragua's revolutionary legacy

From: BBC News
Author: Stephen Gibbs


Thirty years on, Esperanza Cisneros is as much a believer as ever.
Her small Managua home seems like a shrine to the Sandinista Revolution. Its walls are adorned with political slogans.
Article

Lowered Expectations

"The greatest threat to democracy in Latin America is Latin Americans themselves."
From: Foreign Policy
Author: Sebastian Chakel


The military coup d'état in Honduras in late June that ousted President Manuel Zelaya sent shivers down Latin America's collective spine. Remembering a dark past, when armed forces routinely ousted unpopular presidents, all the region's leaders, from Cuba's left-wing Raúl Castro to Colombia's right-wing Álvaro Uribe, swiftly condemned the move. Everyone sided with the deposed Zelaya. Everyone, that is, except a large swath of Honduras's population that, despite the military's undemocratic move, were generally happy to see him go.
Article

Rafael Correa in New York

From: The New Yorker
Author: Lauren Collins

People who like the Ecuadoran President, Rafael Correa, describe him this way: environmentalist, speaker of five languages, Ph.D. (in economics) from the University of Illinois, solidifier of a once unstable country, writer of a new constitution, corruption fighter, canceller of debt, a “young, handsome, and shrewd” reformer who—as Fenton Communications, the Washington, D.C., P.R. firm that the government of Ecuador has hired to help Correa polish his profile in America, pointed out recently—has been called “the Obama of Latin America.”
Article

US Interventionism in Latin America

Plan Colombia: Exporting the Model
From: North American Congress on Latin America
Author: Bill Weinberg

The Merida Initiative, Washington’s new security program for Mexico and Central America, was immediately dubbed “Plan Mexico” by its critics—implying it is a new version of Plan Colombia. Mexico is now poised to supersede Colombia as the hemisphere’s top recipient of U.S. security aid.

From its origins 10 years ago, the multibillion-dollar aid package and militarized anti-narcotics program known as Plan Colombia was understood by its proponents as a model to be applied elsewhere in the hemisphere, and it was—first in Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia, through the Andean Regional Initiative. More recently, Pentagon planners have been explicitly evoking Plan Colombia as a model for the war in Afghanistan, where counter-insurgency and counter-narcotics efforts have likewise become inexorably entwined.
Click here to read a great article on US policy in Latin America in the past, present, and future

Members of Cabinet Are Replaced in Argentina

From: The New York Times
Author: ALEXEI BARRIONUEVO

RIO DE JANEIRO — One week after her party suffered a sweeping defeat in national congressional elections, President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner of Argentina has shaken up her government, replacing her cabinet chief and economy minister but leaving in place two powerful ministers from her inner circle, a sign that her administration may preserve much of its direction in policy.
Article

Honduras Coverage

Costa Rica Hosts Talk Over Honduras Coup
From: Democracy Now
Talks between the ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya and the leaders of last week’s military coup began on Thursday in Costa Rica. Zelaya and the military-backed president of Honduras Roberto Micheletti met separately with Costa Rican President Oscar Arias but there were no face-to-face meetings between the two sides. Zelaya maintained his demand to be reinstated as head of state of Honduras. Micheletti argued Zelaya was lawfully ousted last month because he violated Honduras’ constitution by trying to lift presidential term limits. Dozens of Costa Ricans protested outside the Honduran embassy in San Jose in support of ousted president Manuel Zelaya.
Jorge Hernandez: “We came here to protest in a peaceful and democratic way to support President Zelaya, and also to support President Arias, asking that he not fall into the trap of the militarists and coup-plotters by recognizing Micheletti and treating him as a head of state.”Article

Honduras Conflict Talks Yield Little Movement
From: The New York Times
Author: Ginger Thompson
SAN JOSÉ, Costa Rica — The two sides of the political conflict in Honduras agreed to little more on Friday than that they would meet again “sometime soon,” after two days of talks in which there was little sign of movement toward bridging the divide between them. As the talks failed to gain traction in Costa Rica, much of Honduras was paralyzed by strikes and protests, and tiny cracks were beginning to emerge in the solidarity of the coalition of countries demanding the return of the ousted president, Manuel Zelaya. Article

Click here for the NYT's slideshow of Zelaya supporters protest in Honduras

Honduras and Constitutional Democracy
From: The New Republic
Author: David Fontana
Here in the United States, the removal of President Manuel Zelaya of Honduras has prompted disparate reactions from the political right and political left. Conservatives (fearing the influence of Hugo Chavez and his authoritarian brand of politics, with which Zelaya had aligned himself) have tended to side with the coup leaders. Liberals (fearing a return to the era of Latin American military coups) have tended to side with Zelaya.
But both sides are missing a layer of complexity, one that suggests the Honduras crisis isn't an easy case of heroes and villains. Article

Honduras lifts curfew 2 weeks after coup d'etat
From: The Associated Press
Author: Juan Zamorano
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — Honduran authorities on Sunday lifted a curfew imposed since the ousting of President Manuel Zelaya two weeks ago — a sign the interim government is trying to restore normality to life in the crisis-gripped country.
In a nationally broadcast announcement, the interim government said the curfew had reached its objective to "restore calm" and curb crime. Article

Benicio del Toro pays visit to Puerto Rico prison

From: The Associated Press


BAYAMON, Puerto Rico (AP) — Actor Benicio del Toro met with convicts inside a Puerto Rican prison Monday, offering encouragement to a jailhouse theater group and a few tips from his own Oscar-winning career.
Click here to read the article

Calderón's hatful of troubles

From: The Economist


“WE WON just about everything,” said Beatriz Paredes, the president of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), in an accurate summing-up of the mid-term election on July 5th. Not only did the PRI, which ruled Mexico for seven decades until 2000, more than double its seats in the lower house of Congress. It also won five of the six state governorships in play and many important mayoralties. Although it won only 37% of the vote (on a turnout of 45%), the PRI will now take most of the decisions that matter over the next three years.
Click here to read the article

Manuel Zelaya on Democracy Now

Click here for article and transcript

The Perils of Latin America's Oversized Militaries

From: The Washington Post
Author: Oscar Arias

Latin America is enveloped in a climate of uncertainty and turmoil that I had hoped our region would never experience again. The recent coup d'état in Honduras, which has embroiled that country in a constitutional crisis, has provided a sad reminder that despite the progress our region has made, the errors of our past are still all too close. I have been asked by the leaders of our region to serve as the mediator in this crisis. Once again, we must trust that dialogue -- so often scorned as too slow or too simple -- is the only path to peace and the light that can guide us through these dark hours.
Click here to read the article

Stalemate ahead of Honduras talks

From: BBC News
Author: Stephen Gibbs



Honduras's ousted president says he will demand the removal of the interim government within 24 hours during talks aimed at solving his country's crisis.
Click here to read the article