The difficulties of Lobo, Micheletti-ism without Micheletti

(This is a translation of a June 4 editorial on Radio Progreso, printed in the original Spanish on Vos el Soberano)

For a president who wanted to stay on the sidelines and neutral during the time that the coup lasted, it is complicating things and these months it signifies a heavy inheritance. This has been corroborated most recently in the gestures by President Porfirio Lobo Sosa for the return of Mel Zelaya and the the official firing from their jobs of the opposition judges by the Supreme Court. It gives the impression that Roberto Micheletti Bain continues in power, as both his approaches and the groups that made him "the de facto president" continue to dominate the political life of the country.

It is the case that in the exterior and interior Pepe Lobo is blocked. From the outside the pressure for international recognition hinges on the unconditional return of Mel Zelaya. And, from inside, the same forces and powers that were behind the coup, the businessmen and the Unión Cívica Democratica, among others, control and neutralize the national political life to the point that they impede our getting out of the "legalistic and constitutional" parameters which Roberto Micheletti pushed.

Its not a surprise that the president of the International Federation of Human Rights pressured that they maintain the political and diplomatic sanctions on Honduras; and this still has not reestablished democracy, the independence of the powers of state and respect for civil and political rights. It denounced the violations of human rights by those rendered immune, the military accused of participating in the coup, firing the opposition judges or the persecution of the press and citizens opposed to the new government.

According to the same institution, "with the arrival of Pepe Lobo, the promoters of the coup have incremented their power in the core of key institutions in addition to maintaining control of those which they had under Micheletti."

The businessmen, the organized civil society, the Unión Cívica Democratica and the Chamber of Commerce for Cortés by their declarations and paid advertisements have made their power felt to President Lobo Sosa, the judicial-democratic institutions of the country, and the National party. The message is very clear: it has the autonomy and independence of powers, adherence to the law, the Constitution....to prevent the return of Mel Zelaya to the country. "The ultra-right, as signaled by a national magazine, considers itself victorious with the expulsion of Mel Zelaya and control of public power; it also is afraid of a democracy which is not elections every four years under their proper rules and a public power exclusively at the service of big private business."

For all this, it is evident that the "difficulties of the president" signifies in this moment a paralysis of political life and on the first anniversary of the coup d'etat, we have, as a form of government, Micheletti-ism without Micheletti.