Crying Wolf

El Heraldo headlined it "FONAC: Protests receive foreign influence," reporting on public statements given by the head of FONAC, the Foro Nacional de Covergencia de Honduras, Leonardo Villeda Bermudez.

Villeda Bermudez was referring to the protests by the teacher's union.

"There have been influences to sow anarchy in the country"

he said. He goes on to single out the way the protesters dress, wearing "Che" tee shirts and red and black bandanas, saying

"This is not from Hondurans, this comes from the outside"

Villeda Bermudez should have learned back in 1987 to temper his words, when his cries of "baby organ trafficking" cost him his government job.

On January 2, 1987, La Tribuna ran a story which quoted Leonardo Villeda Bermudez as indicating that there was traffic in baby organs, harvested for transplanting, in Honduras.

"Many families came forward to adopt children with physical defects. At first we thought they were decent people who loved children, but in time it was discovered that they wanted to sell them for body parts..."

(quoted in Tim Tate, "Trafficking in Children", in C. Moorhead, Ed. Betrayal: Child Exploitation in Today's World. Barrie and Jenkins, 1989, pp. 115)

He retracted the statement (El Heraldo 3 January 1987, La Tribuna 5 January 1987) and indicated he had merely heard unconfirmed rumors about such traffic, but the damage was done, and shortly thereafter President Azcona removed him. The Orlando Sentinel of January 10, 1987, quoted President Azcona's wife, Miriam de Azcona, as saying "We don't know why he said it because there's no documentation to support it."

Enough said.

Money, money money...

There, got your attention?

We have been arguing for more than a year now that the coup d'etat of June 28 and its continuing aftermath were not ideological-- unless the ideology involved is capitalism.

The forces behind the coup were shown to be a cadre of business-owners in early analyses by Leticia Salomon and other Honduran scholars. Resistance to a living wage and to union contracts was only the most visible evidence of this direction of the de facto regime, continuing in the Lobo Sosa administration. Government agencies charged with protecting the environment were converted after the coup into rubber stamps for developments damaging to sensitive ecological zones, and even to the health of the Honduran people.

The fingerprints of this shift back to favoring business interests of a small elite are also found all over concessions of rights for power generation, even if it is hard to connect the dots due to an almost total absence of real reporting in mainstream Honduran and foreign news media.

Yesterday, El Libertador published a formal statement by the Frente de Resistencia about the "harmful contracts for renewable energy" granted to "the golpista oligarchy". The contracts in question are for thermal generation of electricity. The Honduran National Congress has, according to this report, approved the concession of more than 50 watersheds for this purpose to private companies.

One of the main arguments against these contracts, advanced by the Sindicato de Trabajadores de la Empresa Nacional de Energía Eléctrica (STENEE), the union of the national electrical workers, is that the contracts for ENEE to buy the energy produced guarantee an overly high price: reportedly 12 US cents per kilowatt hour, far above the previously negotiated price of 5 US cents per kilowatt hour.

Unlikely to be a coincidence, on August 25, El Heraldo published an interview with Honduran businessman Fredy Násser of the energy development enterprise Grupo Terra. The theme of the article: there is a reason why they haven't invested in "clean energy" in Honduras, they would love to, and they have lots of investment funding from the Banco Centroamericano de Integración Económica (BCIE), the German Development Bank, and the Dutch Development Bank. Násser was among the businessmen singled out by Leticia Salomon in her analyses of the business interests behind the coup of June 28, 2009.

El Libertador claims that the concessions for energy generation rely on forged signatures of mayors of affected towns, and thus that they were "negotiated" without consultation of the citizenry. One of the hallmarks of the Zelaya administration was a push for citizen participation, and one of the counter forces against that administration was a desire to return to a system in which representatives without accountability speak for the people.

So, the Frente calls for mobilization to

defend in a permanent way our natural resources, that should be developed under public policies with participation and direct benefit for the communities. Only under this procedure can we support clean energy projects.

Rigoberto Cuellar, the Secretary of Natural Resources in the Lobo Sosa government, defended the new contracts, saying his ministry will ensure that the contracts will be the least expensive possible and environmentally sensitive. He stated firmly that the entire process of letting contracts adhered completely to the requirements of the law. The one thing absent from his public statements: any comment on how, or whether, the proposed new energy facilities have been discussed with the local communities.

But, as Fredy Násser would argue,

it is necessary to generate wealth and the spaces necessary to develop opportunities for our people. The governments have to realize that this is the only way out of poverty.

The only way out of poverty? or the only way to "generate wealth"?

Cutting Off Your Nose To Spite Your Face!

The school year in Honduras is 200 days. It began in January and is supposed to run through November. But this year and last, school has been interrupted and the instructional period shortened.

The administration of Roberto Micheletti thought nothing of ending the school year more than a month early last year to clear out the public schools so the military and police could take them over to hold their flawed election last November. This year, various days have been lost to protests and, most recently, to a two-week strike.

In this situation, the Lobo Sosa administration's Education Minister, Alejandro Ventura, just made an absurd suggestion:

It hurts us to say this, but its preferable to cancel the school year from September on, because the teachers are acting irresponsibly.

Really?! If the teachers are acting irresponsibly, how is it responsible to the students to make the irresponsible suggestion that the government just cancel the rest of the school year?

What is behind this questionable proposal is a labor dispute that the Lobo Sosa administration could settle.

A confederation of teachers' unions, the Federación de Organizaciones Magisteriales de Honduras, has been out on strike the last two weeks because the government is two years behind in its payments to their retirement fund, and is up to three months late in paying the monthly salary of 3000 teachers, among other issues.

It is not that all the teachers all over Honduras are out on strike, but there's a large contingent of them protesting in Tegucigalpa.

As a result, for the last two weeks, many, but not all, schools have been shut, children not receiving classes. The government says about 2 million students are affected.

The protesting teachers have been peaceful, but the security forces have been disproportionately violent of late. Over the weekend the Assistant Security Minister threatened more violence against the protesters if they block the streets, a common tactic in Honduras, that he said interferes with the citizen's right of free passage.

There are many other paths forward that would have better educational outcomes than canceling the school year. Suggesting canceling the rest of the school year is a political response, not one made by someone acting responsibly towards Honduras's students.

Instead, the Education Minister is considering issuing a decree declaring a state of emergency, canceling the remaining school year, and beginning procedures to fire the striking teachers. Here again the disruption of normal constitutional order last year echoes forward: having developed a habit of suspending normal constitutional protections by using the "state of emergency" claim, the Honduran government seems to see it as a solution for all problems.

Not one that will ensure students get the education they deserve. Not one that will settle the debts already owed to teachers. Just one that would allow unilateral elimination of opposition in an undemocratic manner.

August 25: Talk by Historian Dario Euraque

Based on his recently concluded book manuscript, El Golpe de Estado y su Impacto en el Patrimonio Cultural y la Identidad Nacional (The Coup d'Etat and its Impact on Cultural Patrimony and National Identity).

In Tegucigalpa, Wednesday August 25 at 5 PM.

Place: COPEMH (Colegio de Profesores de Educación Media de Honduras)

(Online sources give the address for COPEMH as Boulevard Centro América, Primera Entrada Colonia las Colinas, Tegucigalpa.)

The talk will be transmitted and viewable live on www.resistenciahonduras.net and
voselsoberano.com

Selective Prosecutions

It looks like the Bar Association of Honduras has finally noticed what we've been remarking on for months; that Public Prosecutor Luis Rubi is only selectively prosecuting corruption cases. They wrote a letter to the Secretary of Congress asking that Luis Alberto Rubi, and the prosecutor in charge of corruption cases, Henry Salgado, be fired.

The president of the Bar, José Antonio Ávila, noted in the letter that

they have not complied with the constitution nor the law of the Public Prosecutor.

The letter goes on to accuse Rubi and Salgado of having pocket-vetoed some of the accusations of corruption that the members of the Bar Association have placed.

When they took office, they promised to comply with the laws, but they are only gathering a salary without justifying the existence of their institution [the prosecutor's office],

said Avila.

He added that the lack of follow-through on cases is the reason that the head of the Legal unit of the National Anti-corruption Commission, José Raúl Suazo Lagos, to resign.

Suazo Lagos had given the evidence in the cases of corruption to both Rubi and Salgado, but they allowed them to gather dust. The head of the San Pedro Sula branch of the Public Prosecutor's office, Rafael Fletes, hinted at much the same thing when he resigned in July. His comments at the time suggested lack of support from the Public Prosecutor's office.

Andres Pavon, head of the Comité para la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos en Honduras, said yesterday that Rubi, in his role as Public Prosecutor, was acting irresponsibly in the way he charged four members of the teacher's union with "illegal demonstrations", a charge which, Pavon says, the legal code specifies is only applicable if the demonstration is for the purpose of carrying out an illegal act or part of an attempt against the government with arms or explosives.

We have noted in earlier posts that Rubi tends to have unique readings of Honduran law, as determined by the courts of Honduras. The courts have dismissed the majority of the cases he's brought since the coup. Rubi declined to even open an investigation when Lobo Sosa denounced elements who were openly plotting a coup against him.

The International Criminal Court notified Rubi in January it had documented several cases of crimes against humanity, in which he was one of those implicated as responsible.

The Honduran Bar Association has just cause to ask for Rubi's dismissal.

José Antonio Funes protests proposed move of National Archives

An open letter published today adds to the voices of concern raised about the proposal to move the National Archives from their present location. Addressed to Bernard Martinez, Secretary of Culture, Arts and Sports, it is written by the poet José Antonio Funes, who served as director of the National Library of Honduras from 2006 to 2007, and is a university faculty member. He writes:

By various means I have heard about the official communication No. OS-545-2010, in which you solicit from Sra. Rosa Maria Prats, Director of the National Gallery of Art, a space in that building to "store the National Archive, the Archive of Land Titles, and the Hall of Investigators and Analysts".

In the beginning I thought that this was a tasteless joke, or some crudeness of a functionary who could mix up one letter with another in the middle of the bureaucratic bustle. But unfortunately it was not that, your signature was there on the official letter, and, as can be seen, you continue defending the reckless content of that missive.

Sr. Minister, I don't know what idea you must have about how to treat a National Archive or what a National Gallery of Art concerns. But if it is analyzed with care it will be realized that they are two institutions that fulfill totally different functions. In what country has it been seen that a National Archive, where national and foreign investigators come, would be going to be tucked in a corner of a National Gallery of Art?

But, in addition to being absurd, your decision turns out to be from every point of view contrary to the Patrimonio Nacional-- which in your position of Minister you are the first named defender-- since it would be putting at grave risk the physical security of the former Presidential Palace by intending to convert it into the offices of the Secretariat; and, by the same step, to invade with papers and books the National Gallery of Art, would be invading a space that does not belong to the Secretariat of Culture, but rather to the University and the National Congress. That is to say, it would be incurring an abuse of power, another lamentable error that equally could one day bring you before the courts of the country.

Sr. Martinez, a Minister arrives at an institution, such as that which you direct, to construct, not to destroy; to defend the cultural patrimony of the country, not to trample on it at your whim. In these circumstances, I understand well the indignation of the ex-Minister of Culture Rodolfo Pastor Fasquelle because he worked hard to recover this building that today shelters the National Gallery of Art and to organize in the former Presidential Palace the Centro Documental de Investigaciones Históricas de Honduras (CDIHH). These achievements should be considered "of the State", since they serve to benefit the nation, to expand the opportunity to access the culture and the history of the country. There you have an example, to build with new bricks, rather than breaking the bricks of the works of others. No one has the right to destroy that which serves the Honduran people, and what you would do would be a misinterpretation, a betrayal of your office.

For the love that you might have for Honduras, don't continue the pseudofascist escalation that was let loose from the Ministry of Culture against the cultural patrimony of the country after the coup d'Etat of June 28 of last year, where over this institution flew sovereign the banners of awesome ignorance and corruption.

Closing the deal.....

Yesterday the Lobo Sosa government failed to close a deal with the International Monetary Fund for standby funding for the government of Honduras for the next 18 months. This was an important test of the government's political capital as well as its economic capital, and it failed.

So why did the deal fall through at the last minute? The newspaper El Tiempo reported today that the IMF wants to be sure the Lobo government continues sound fiscal policies into the next year by examining its budget proposal in September.

The first negotiations between the IMF and the Lobo Sosa government began in March with a visit where the IMF reviewed the fiscal plans of the government. Among their suggestions, made in a public press release, was that the government needed to contain spending, especially the spending on salaries of public employees. The IMF also recommended that the government strengthen the finances of public institutions such as ENEE and Hondutel, strengthen the government pension plan, and improve the financial situation of the cities.

In response the government passed a set of new taxes, quite unpopular with business, but supposedly designed to have minimal impact on the poor.

It also started a new program financed by government bonds, that gives 10,000 lempiras to poor families. It has had to pay these piecemeal as its cash reserves are quite low and the market for government bonds could not absorb the full cost in a single offering. A new bond offering for $26 million towards this program was being offered by the government today.

Another response, however, weakened the Instituto Nacional de Jubilaciones y Pensiones de los Empleados Publicos del Poder Ejecutivo (INJUPEMP). The Secretary of Finances determined that the fund had over 1000 million lempiras it could invest, and decided to use those funds to retire the debt of the government Electric Company (ENEE) which buys electricity from private power plants that generate electricity using bunker oil. These plants are mostly owned by Honduran businessmen.

Honduras needs the standby agreement to finance budget shortfalls and to fund emergencies. In light of its failure to secure the agreement on this visit of the IMF, the government had to try to put a good face on its failure. All it could seem to find to brag about was there was an agreement that in the next year there would be no new taxes.

The lack of an IMF agreement highlights the failure of the Lobo government to completely unlock international finances. Instead, it has had to issue bonds backed by INJUPEMP funds, and others backed by the money owed to Petrocaribe to finance normal government spending. For now, the international financial community is keeping Honduras broke.