DeMint demurs to democracy in Central America
(HuffPo)
The president has "flouted the constitutional authority of the congress and Supreme Court, and claimed for himself extra-constitutional control of his nation’s military and political institutions...
The Supreme Court ruled that his actions were unjustified and illegal."
The Supreme Court ruled that his actions were unjustified and illegal."
—Sen. DeMint (R-S.C.)
Read: DeMint makes no specific charge of wrong-doing.
With nary a hint of irony, the GOP senator chastised someone else's president, but never George Bush, who flouted separation of powers, claimed unconstitutional authority, and lost repeatedly in case after case before the Supreme Court in his bid to run the country like he owned it.
Citing, of all things, rule of law, DeMint backs a military coup unseating a democratically elected president for promoting a non-binding referendum on the question of calling a constitutional convention.
When all is said and done, we'll see that some weirdly powerful shadow operative, some dangerously Cheney-esque character, a young acolyte of John Poindexter or Oliver North organized the military coup on behalf of some Honduran coffee oligarchy, the local millionaires and billionaires who see democracy as their right to have populist union leaders strung-up and whacked like piñatas just for being mouthy, pushy, or, God forbid, empowered by fellow laborers who strike for family-friendly wages and benefits like a share of the profits and healthcare.
Remember, even when they're not in power, the GOP is fundraising to keep right-wing death-squads awash in weapons, blow, and 'tang, while they comb the mountains for union organizers to disappear, like some Rapture of the Dark Side.
"Romeo Vasquez, a general who led the military coup in Honduras against President Manuel Zelaya, received training at the US School of the Americas. The SOA has trained more than 60,000 soldiers, many of whom have returned home and committed human rights abuses, torture, extrajudicial execution and massacres."
Interestingly enough, there is an upcoming bill, HR 2567 in Congress, the Latin America Military Training Review Act.
This bill will suspend all operations at the school, and there will be a full investigation about the school and its hundreds of graduates who have been involved in these atrocities and coups. Eleven dictators have gone through this school. Whenever there’s been a coup, like this one in Honduras, over the past decades, there has been a direct connection to this school.
To people like Dewitt, supporting democracy in Central America has never been much more than a GOP shadow government in support for the moneyed elite who own most of the produce-growing areas and mining land.
Meanwhile, "The Organisation of American States (OAS) had earlier given Honduras a 72-hour deadline to restore Zelaya to the presidency or face expulsion from the 35-nation body."
That regional condemnation of the coup came just after one passed by the UN General Assembly calling for "immediate and unconditional" return of Zelaya to the presidency.
Overthrowing an elected president, because he's promoting a non-binding referendum on the question of calling a constitutional convention, that's SO over the top that it smacks of the kind of secret, deadly operations the GOP has been gratuitously involved in, destabilizing the region for decades.
When it comes out, and everybody is scandalized, keep in mind that we already know Republicans specialize in destroying presidencies ALL the time.
Read more on the Huffington Post
No comments:
Post a Comment