Not only is this not timely-- it is something that the principal actor involved has been criticized for by no less an authority than the official, US supported "Truth Commission".
In a letter dated July 19th of this year, US Representative Connie Mack wrote to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to ask that the US restore the visas of Roberto Micheletti Bain and others, revoked as part of US pressure on Honduras after the coup in Honduras in 2009.
Mack invited Micheletti to testify before Congress. Micheletti had to decline because his visa was revoked, testifying by video conference instead. So now he wants to reach back and remove the taint over Micheletti. But he does more: he argues in his letter that Micheletti and others whose visas were removed are patriots whose actions should be treated positively.
The letter is signed by Mack, 11 other Republican Congressmen, and one Democrat. It calls on the US to "immediately cease the political punishment of the Honduran visas taken in 2009."
"We believe that the United States should not continue penalizing Honduran citizens based on their efforts to support the constitution and and the law of Honduras,"
the letter states.
Really?
Even the official Truth Commission appointed by the successor government of Porfirio Lobo Sosa found the people whose visas were lifted acted illegally, and that they had legal means open to them. They chose to ignore the law, and caused a breach of constitutional order that is still affecting Hondurans today.
The Truth Commission report singled out the visits to Honduras in 2009 by US Congress members, including Connie Mack, as having prolonged the crisis, and as having muddied the perception of US government response to the coup in 2009.
Rep. Mack has a lot to answer for. Continuing to ignore the reality on the ground, a reality recognized even by a Truth Commission viewed as compromised by the Honduran resistance, doesn't suggest he understands what he did. He should try reading that report and stop trying to replay US policy moves from 2009. He has already done enough damage.
RAJ are you planning to do a commentary about the Truth Commission Report? Can't wait for it.
ReplyDeleteWe are carefully reading and analyzing the report-- something no one else seems to have thought necessary before leaping to assessment. While progressive forces in Honduras universally rejected the official Truth Commission due to the way it was constituted, and we have pointed to the mismatch between conditions in Honduras and those the UN guidelines suggest should exist before such an undertaking, the report will frame emerging developments. So, as we see things that resonate with the report-- as in the present post-- we will continue piecemeal to comment on them. But we are working toward a series of posts on the report.
ReplyDelete