Aug
International Meddling, Politics, Protecting Sovereignty
Visits from Honduran Leaders spark Controversy, July 2010
Visits in June and July from leaders representing the Honduran coup d’etat and resistance movement surrounded Honduras’s reincorporation to the Integration System of Central America (SICA) and sparked controversy among Salvadorans.
Coup Mastermind Comes to San Salvador
On June 22, coup mastermind Roberto Micheletti visited El Salvador, reportedly saying his presence “was not to divide, it’s to unite, like I have tried to do in my country.”[1] Micheletti was invited by Samuel Quirós and the right wing organization La Cruzada por la Paz. While in San Salvador, Micheletti met with many prominent Salvadoran businessmen, and was very warmly received by Norman Quijano, the ARENA mayor of San Salvador. Quijano recognized Micheletti as an “honorable visitor” and said “I gave him a big hug and I congratulated him. I had the good fortune and privilege to personally greet him. I admire that he is a man of values that restored Honduras’s dignity.”[2]
Micheletti’s visit did not go without opposition. President Funes refused to meet with him and said “When I see that amongst us there are those who recognize and compliment a coup organizer I can do no more than express my energetic repudiation.”
[3] The FMLN issued a press statement saying: “for [his] anti-democratic trajectory of violating human rights and disrespecting international organizations, the FMLN declares Roberto Micheletti a persona non grata in El Salvador.”[4] Also, during his visit dozens of protesters gathered outside of his hotel to show their opposition.
For more information see here.
Ex-First Lady of Honduras Follows Suit
Almost a month after Micheletti’s visit the Honduras’s ex-first lady, Xiomara Castro de Zelaya, also made a four day visit to El Salvador. She was invited by the Solidarity Network with the Honduran Resistance and visited San Marcos, Santa Ana, as well as some historic sites in San Salvador.
Castro was the keynote speaker at an event organized by the Forum for the Defense of the Constitution. At the event she spoke about the conditions that lead up to the coup, the current situation in Honduras and the Truth Commission that has been installed. During her presentation she spoke to the reason that the coup has generated so much organizing and resistance. There have been numerous coups thorough out the history of Honduras, but as Castro pointed out there has never been such an organized response as there has been with this one. She claimed that this is because the people have never felt involved in the way the country was governed, but with Zelaya’s presidency the people began to feel ownership over the government and Zelaya’s programs.
Castro brought with her a letter from ousted-President Zelaya that lamented Honduras’s incorporation into the SICA, saying that the decision didn’t take the lack of respect for human rights in Honduras into consideration.
For more information see here.
Honduras Returns to the SICA
In the midst of the visits of Micheletti and Castro all the Central American presidents or their representatives, except Daniel Ortega from Nicaragua, met in San Salvador and approved the return of Honduras to the Integration System of Central America (SICA). According to President Funes, this group should measure the results “before and after” the process of unifying the Central American counties, as to allow for “solutions” to “the most urgent demands” of the Central American societies.[1] The participants in the meeting also agreed to petition the Organization of American States for Honduras’s reincorporation.
However, the day after the decision was announced, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega made a statement disputing the validity of the agreement. He said, “There has to unanimity, if there is not unanimity, decisions simply can not be made.”[2]
The decision for Honduras’s return was announced to the dismay of the social movement in El Salvador and the resistance movement in Honduras. Rosa Valle, the President of The Association for the Development of El Salvador CRIPDES, said “This type of recognition for countries that promote coups in order to stifle the transformations and changes brought about by the struggles of the people is a risk. International organizations should not recognize governments instated by any type of fraud or force. We find the lack of respect and consideration for the will of the Honduran people shocking.”
