Obama Administration Isolated on Sunday’s Fraudulent Honduran Elections

Opponents of the coup that threw out democratically-elected President Manuel Zelaya in June are denouncing the November 29 Honduras elections as illegitimate. The national resistance movement in Honduras, as well as most governments in the region and international supporters, including labor and human rights groups in the U.S., have rejected the validity of elections convened by a coup government that has engaged in wide-spread repression and denial of basic rights, including freedom of expression, freedom of association, and the right to assembly.   

The one notable exception is the US government which, in a stunning reversal, essentially sabotaged an agreement it had itself brokered in early November that seemed to pave the way for reinstatement of President Zelaya. The Obama Administration’s statement on November 5 that it would accept the November 29 elections for a new president as legitimate even if President Zelaya were not reinstated, effectively took pressure off the coup government and allowed the coup to stand.  

For a suggested action and recent report from the ground, see the Latin America Working Group.  For an excellent recent opinion piece, see the Huffington Post.

President Zelaya’s efforts in June to push forward a non-binding referendum on whether or not to convene a constituent assembly to consider a new constitution challenged the ruling powers in Honduras, prompting the coup. Murders, disappearances, arrests, and beatings have plagued the country since the June 28 coup ousted President Zelaya and flew him into exile before he slipped back into the country and took up residency in the Brazilian embassy on September 21.