On June 28, 2009 the world heard from their radios, televisions, and newspapers that the president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, had been forcibly removed from the elected position. Most of the discussion in the United States media was monopolized by an argument on whether or not this was technically a coup. Those who supported the coup government argued that law in Honduras allowed and even demanded that other political forces in Honduras (the Supreme Court and the Army) remove Zelaya from power, legitimizing the military action that was taken. Those who support the Honduran resistance agree to debate within the framework the coup supporters established, failing to bring the core issue into the debate. The laws of Honduras, as the coup supporters cite them, are undemocratic safeguards put in place by those who have come to power by force and exploitation. They are the very thing the movement that had been in the streets after the coup wanted to change and has been denied.

Some would argue that those who deposed Manuel Zelaya were protecting democracy in Honduras, keeping presidents from having more power than they should by preventing the president from violating the constitution. A Wall Street Journal opinion piece claimed that in response to President Zelaya’s “heavy-handed tactics” “Honduras is fighting back by strictly following the constitution” in an attempt to demonize the populist leader and justify force against him and his supporters.

The current system has its roots in colonization. There are great economic disparities in Honduras as a result of economic and political exploitation. Europeans used force to gain power and establish Western governments throughout the Americas. The alliance that developed between politicians and business people in Honduras resulted in policies to force labor from the indigenous and working class populations and concentrate ‘legal’ control of land into the hands of a few (i.e. United Fruit Company). In Honduras majority rule favors the oppressed but the Constitution from 1982 restricts the options of Honduran Citizens and does not require the government to frequently consult the people through elections.

The coup plotters prioritized the constitution over the will of the people. The constitution was created immediately before the end of a ten year coup government. The problems with this constitution were the very issues that President Zelaya’s referendum was intended to allow the people of Honduras to vote on. Zelaya supporters and the movement to change the constitution wanted to make changes to protect their rights and increase the decision making power of the majority. It was this same questionable document that other branches of the government used as an excuse to prevent the Honduran people from deciding whether or not they should be allowed to vote to change the constitution. Zelaya intended to carry out this referendum without the permission of Congress, the Supreme Court, or the Military. He was removed from office, to the dismay of many Hondurans, because he threatened the established economic and political powers. The Interim government declared a state of emergency. In the name of protecting democracy from the will of the Honduran people, they suspended the rights ensured by the very constitution they claimed to be protecting, for 45 days.

Repression of media and demonstrators opposed to the interim government made fair presidential elections impossible last year. Media that criticized the interim government was shut down as a result of the suspension. Radio Globo is a major case of this; the radio station was taken off the air from September 28 until October 19. Demonstrators are being met with tear gas and riot police and the wealthy have hired infamous right-wing Colombian paramilitaries to protect their assets from those who want to dismantle the power structure in Honduras. A lack of free speech and political violence, which is said to have worsened after the elections, has made elections extremely unfair. National Part candidate Porfirio ”Pepe” Lobo Sosa had an advantage over all other canidates because of his support for the coup government and because the many people who would have supported Liberal or opposition candidates in another situation are choosing instead to boycott the elections. They decided instead to use their bodies as their ballots, showing up every day of the so-called interim government, and on special occasions during the new administration of Porfirio Pepe Lobo. On May Day hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated around the country in opposition to the current state.

The international focus on the crisis in Honduras had been correct in opposing the coup. However supporters of the overthrow of President Zelaya often argue that because Zelaya was violating Honduran law, his overthrow was permitted by the Supreme Court, congress and military. Reasonable people know that what happened was still wrong and they will recognize that because Honduran law has not been subject to the people it is not a legitimate argument in support of the continued path that those Hondurans with power have chosen. Recently there have been attempts to make the world think the problems in Honduras are over, as Hillary Clinton puts it, that “now it is time for the hemisphere as a whole to move forward and welcome Honduras back into the Inter-American community”. We need to remember why Zeleya was not allowed to remain president. We need to remember that the coup wasn’t about him, it was about sending a message to the left of Honduras. A message that says the poor are the slaves of business and the military.

It is tempting to call the new administration of Honduras a scab, hiding a neocolonial wound, but scabs are a part of a healing process. The so-called reconciliation happening in Honduras is not healing, but a cover-up of a worsening wound. Until the constitution and the government is subject to majority rule it will only be a perverted farce of democracy that shows the true nature of the republics that rule the Americas.