tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338612245455097792.post1505979420870958762..comments2023-09-11T10:45:49.957-07:00Comments on Honduras Culture and Politics: Corruption and Anticorruption in HondurasRAJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00097415587406899236noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338612245455097792.post-83581064889960079922010-02-23T09:11:43.481-08:002010-02-23T09:11:43.481-08:00Thanks very much for the comment which I find extr...Thanks very much for the comment which I find extremely helpful.<br /><br />To clarify, I originally found the Zelaya piece re-posted in a context that used it to justify the coup.<br /><br />So I am extremely glad to have the opportunity to clarify ASJ Honduras' position clearly here, in my comment above and through this additional comment.<br /><br />My original post on CNA <i>is</i> extremely skeptical about <i>that</i> organization and what it became -- and that history makes me cautious about other movements. Even the Frente de Resistencia-- rely on me to call the Frente out when it stops organizing as a collective organization with clear commitments to broadly-based rights including those of women, sexual minorities, ethnic and racial minorities, and secular and minority religious group members.<br /><br />I do respect religious-based civil organizations that are clear about the impact their religious basis has on their policy. Raised Roman Catholic and with a brother who is a Methodist minister (long story), I know that Christianity can be a positive basis from which to fight for social justice. But that makes me even more wary of the times when, as in Honduras in recent years, Christian religious themes are injected where they should not be: the Armed Forces, for example, or the rhetoric of Cardinal Rodriguez.<br /><br />But I do want to believe there can be broad grass-roots movements, including those with religious foundations, even those receiving funding from UNDP (imagine a smiling emoticon here), which is not the kind of funding source I do worry about. US foreign aid, I regret to say, does make me worry-- but European aid programs, in my experience, have been much more likely to allow local people to create local agendas. All governmental aid, of course, is premised on performances of certain kinds. But I live in the real world and I have taken plenty of funding from government sources.<br /><br />And I will take you up on the offer to meet in person when I next make it to Tegucigalpa. With current commitments, not likely to be until late summer. Meanwhile, thanks for the clarifications and I, and I hope others here, will watch with interest to see how your role unfolds.RAJhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00097415587406899236noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338612245455097792.post-91230128644408393782010-02-23T08:52:51.824-08:002010-02-23T08:52:51.824-08:00RAJ, I read your blogs regularly and find them to ...RAJ, I read your blogs regularly and find them to insightful—so it’s cool for me to see Association for a More Just Society and Transformemos Honduras showing up in your discussions, even if in a somewhat skeptical light. I’d like to try and allay some of that skepticism. Next time you’re in Tegucigalpa, we’d love to have you by our office to talk more over a cup of coffee!<br /><br />Abram Huyser Honig<br />Director of Operations<br />Association for a More Just Society<br />(I’m the liason between ASJ in Honduras and the folks abroad who give $5 or $10 a month to enable our Honduran staff do legal, psychological, and journalistic work on behalf of very poor people).<br /><br />1) ASJ Stance on the Coups<br />Thanks to RAJ and Andrew for posting additional information about ASJ’s stance on the coup. I’d like to add a few more points to that discussion, if I may: <br />-ASJ's online news magazine, www.revistazo.com, has consistently covered human rights violations that have occurred as a result of the coup, doing its own reporting as well as re-publishing reports from Radio Progreso and others. <br />- ASJ’s criticism of Zelaya had little to do with what rules he did or didn’t break in the week before June 28 (as RAJ implies), and very much to do with the fact that while he used rhetoric and enacted changes on behalf of the poor that no previous president had, during his presidency he had it in his power to do much, much more—but didn’t. For example, instead of investing $4 billion in Poverty Reduction Funds to execute plans that had painstakingly been prepared by thousands of grassroots organizations, he instead used almost all of it to give salary raises to a few blocs of government workers—who, while not growing wealthy, are also far from poor. Claiming that an honest look at the many ways Mel failed and sought to manipulate the poor equals support for the coup is poor reasoning and simply misleading.<br /><br />2) TH Funding<br />-The first $20 - $30,000 came out of the personal savings of ASJ board members Kurt Ver Beek and Jo Ann Van Engen, and from a handful of individuals and congregations in the U.S. Ver Beek and Van Engen are professors at Calvin College—and have no interests business, political, or otherwise, at all in this. They spent their own money because they believe in what they're doing.<br />-TH has now received about $18,000 from UNDP. Some might choose to see this as a shadowy plot to promote UN interests...but our perspective is that finally UNDP is funding something that's actually worthwhile and, hopefully, effective. Many of the NGOs formally aligned with the Resistance also receive foreign, especially European, funding. RAJ doesn't seem to be questioning how that affects their integrity. <br /><br />3) TH: "Grassroots" vs. "Institutional"<br />RAJ’s and Juancito's points are interesting and well worth taking into account. Let's let history be the judge. We've organized the movement in such a way that it will only succeed if we do enjoy lots of grassroots support--there is no other way to get anywhere close to a million signatures unless the movement really does go "viral." If you browse through the promotional videos up on Transformemos Honduras you’ll see that a wide range of people (none of whom were paid a cent to support the movement, by the way), from Human Rights Prosecutor Sandra Ponce to Honduran Christian musicians to Afro-Honduran track athletes, feel TH’s 15 points are a pretty good summary of what Honduran government and society should focus on in the coming years. <br /><br />I think the whole “Grassroots” versus “Institutional” conversation could take up a long post and conversation on its own, but what seems clear to me is that work at both levels is important—we need to get institutions more in tune with what ordinary people want, which is what TH is trying to do.Abram Huyser Honighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17288355545835802841noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338612245455097792.post-45258699749262478492010-02-22T23:47:32.735-08:002010-02-22T23:47:32.735-08:00In an analysis of the MCC data published on Novemb...In an <a href="http://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/bill-conroy/2009/11/honduran-president-zelaya-earns-high-marks-governance-us-agency-scoreca" rel="nofollow">analysis</a> of the MCC data published on November 21, 2009, Bill Conroy concluded that<br /><br /><i>The other failing grade...was in the measure of “control of corruption” — which, according to MCC, is an 'index of surveys and expert assessments that rates countries on the frequency of "additional payments to get things done"; the effects of corruption on the business environment; "grand corruption" in the political arena; and the tendency of elites to engage in "state capture"' — the latter a term essentially equivalent to crony capitalism.<br /><br />For the sake of context, it is worth pointing out that although Honduras received a failing grade in the “control of corruption” measure on the current scorecard (covering the year 2008), the nation actually made progress in that area between 2006 and 2007 — moving from a failing to a passing score. The fact that the score slid back to failing in 2008 demonstrates the resiliency of the “grand corruption” and “state capture” in Honduras.</i><br /><br />To underline this point: during the first two years of the Zelaya administration Honduras made progress in combating corruption, before sliding backwards; and the measure of "corruption" monitors both business and governmental corruption, which in Honduras includes the kind of insider deals for contracts that Congress manages, not just executive branch actions.RAJhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00097415587406899236noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338612245455097792.post-85581559958660829222010-02-22T23:16:30.007-08:002010-02-22T23:16:30.007-08:00In the Millenium Challenge Corporation graph, the ...In the Millenium Challenge Corporation graph, the last full year to which it refers is 2008. So, this is not inconsistent with the story line put out by the coup. Not that you said differently, just that it represents a trend whose cause is unclear, and therefore is a little confusing.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338612245455097792.post-25258921047573029752010-02-22T20:22:53.550-08:002010-02-22T20:22:53.550-08:00The link provided by Andrew leads to one of a seri...The <a href="http://asjhonduras.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=86:golpe-de-estado-iconstitucional-o-no-una-pregunta-con-consecuencias-futuras&catid=31:golpe-de-estado&Itemid=88" rel="nofollow">link</a> provided by Andrew leads to one of a series of posts by ASJ Honduras concerning the coup d'etat and the two protagonists. <br /><br />The <a href="http://asjhonduras.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=92:manuel-zelaya-idefensor-de-los-pobres&catid=31:golpe-de-estado&Itemid=88" rel="nofollow">post</a> about Zelaya is the original of the one to which I linked in my commentary about, which I had found reposted elsewhere (I have replaced the link with the direct one). The ASJ <a href="http://asjhonduras.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=91:roberto-micheletti-idefensor-de-la-constitucion&catid=31:golpe-de-estado&Itemid=88" rel="nofollow">post</a> about Micheletti is equally negative, ending that "to him, neither the poor nor democracy matter".<br /><br />ASJ <a href="http://asjhonduras.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=93:iqueremos-pazpero-no-impunidad&catid=31:golpe-de-estado&Itemid=88" rel="nofollow">came out</a> against amnesty because of the potential it provides to allow human rights abuses to remain unpunished. <br /><br />All the posts by ASJ Honduras emphasize that the issues raised are complex; while I do not agree with every conclusion they draw, they provide an extraordinary discussion of the issues.<br /><br />So I think we can say they maintained independence from the de facto regime itself. But-- and this is a big caution for me-- their attempt to be balanced ends up having to place equal blame with these two protagonists. They do not have similar commentaries on all the parties other than Micheletti who subverted public discourse, which would have to include organized religion, the media, and the court system, as well as factions in both major parties.<br /><br />Any approach that treats Zelaya's ignoring lower court findings with the coup authors' illegally expatriating a sitting president, lying about a resignation letter, perverting the constitution to allow a dictatorial regime to take power, and carrying out violent repression leading to beatings and deaths, opens the way for others to diminish the criminal nature of the coup and the de facto regime. So I continue to be troubled by aspects of the ASJ's posts.RAJhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00097415587406899236noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338612245455097792.post-87589487801416387232010-02-22T08:19:12.123-08:002010-02-22T08:19:12.123-08:00Great discussion.
ASJ also published this article...Great discussion.<br /><br />ASJ also published this article clearly condemning the coup as, well, a coup: http://asjhonduras.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=86:golpe-de-estado-iconstitucional-o-no-una-pregunta-con-consecuencias-futuras&catid=31:golpe-de-estado&Itemid=88Andrewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08538017721084759101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338612245455097792.post-32448176156524952832010-02-21T10:36:58.732-08:002010-02-21T10:36:58.732-08:00Thank you for raising these issues. For me, the la...Thank you for raising these issues. For me, the lack of information about where the funding comes from for a national-level organization with a website that is quite professionally done is a clear danger signal. (The existence of the glossy website, even ignoring where the funding comes from, is itself a sign of heavy institutionalization).<br /><br />And <i>Transformemos a Honduras</i> is operating like a strongly institutionalized group. It has posted news about meetings with G16 leaders, facilitated by USAID. Explicitly mentioned: Spain, Sweden, Germany, France, UN, World Bank, and International Development Bank representatives; the World Bank; and the UN's Development Program (PNUD). PNUD and USAID are said to be supporting the group, although it is not clear whether this is solely logistic or also financial.<br /><br />But equally important, your comment allows me to pursue one of the issues raised by review of the CNA and what I think we can say is its failure. That is the role of religious <i>leadership</i>, not just in this campaign, but in Honduran society in general. Sociologist Isbella Orellana objected to the current CNA report as inappropriately injecting religion into a nation founded on a secular basis. She is right about the constitutional treatment of religion, and it is deeply disturbing to see the coup leaders wrapping themselves not just in "patriotism" but also in claims of divine support.<br /><br />But we need to differentiate between the leadership of institutionalized religion and the way that churches and religious entities on a local level may work. Your comments on Caritas at the Santa Rosa de Copán level-- and indeed, the example of the principled stand of the bishop of that diocese-- demonstrate this point.<br /><br />Grassroots efforts will never gain the same visibility as a national-level group composed by people with deep ties to centers of power. But without grassroots efforts, nothing really can change.<br /><br />As for legitimating the coup d'etat: I continue to wait for organizations in Honduras claiming to want to move civil society forward to openly and publicly disclaim that violation of constitutional order. Until they does that, all participants in national politics <i>are</i> legitimating the coup. The "Truth Commission" is such an artificial exercise that I cannot imagine it coming to grips with this reality. So it matters seeing where the participants are coming from. It would be very easy to adopt the "blame both sides" rhetoric of AJS (which was really the message of the US State Department). Any report that fails to acknowledge that the coup was illegal will be whitewash, and nothing so far suggests we will see such an acknowledgment.RAJhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00097415587406899236noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338612245455097792.post-18354029938679271152010-02-21T06:24:33.898-08:002010-02-21T06:24:33.898-08:00A note about Transformemos Honduras.
The project i...A note about Transformemos Honduras.<br />The project is trying to get 1 million signatures for its platform.<br /><br />The national office of Caritas Honduras is actively supporting this effort, but Caritas of the diocese of Santa Rosa de Copán is NOT supporting this effort. There is concern that it legitimates the coup d'etat. <br /><br />There is concern about this effort among other sectors of the church in Honduras but it has not become a major public issue. I think it is more ignored than promoted. <br /><br />A serious question for some is the source of funding for Transformemos Honduras. I do not have any information on this.<br /><br />The issue of corruption is significant and ongoing. There are grassroots efforts, some being promoted by the Caritas offices of the separate dioceses of Honduras to strengthen the Transparency Commissions in the municipalities, but this is a long-term effort at the grassroots.John (Juancito) Donaghyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12711543214465586727noreply@blogger.com