End of the U.S./Canadian-backed Narco-regime in Honduras 

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December 4, 2021
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“A triumphant day. A day of many tears”
End of the U.S./Canadian-backed Narco-regime in Honduras
By Grahame Russell, Rights Action, December 4, 2021
[link removed]

12 years / 5 months after a U.S. and Canadian-backed military coup ousted Honduras’ last democratic government, actual democratic elections took place. The U.S. / Canadian-backed, drug-trafficking, military-backed candidate did NOT win.

It is hard to overstate the joy of most Hondurans, after enduring 12 years / 5 months of systemic repression and corruption, human rights violations and exploitation under a narco-trafficking, military-backed regime supported and ‘legitimized’ by the U.S., Canada, other governments and actors in the so-called “international community”.

It is hard to overstate the amount of death and suffering, destruction and loss caused by this regime from the day of the military coup (June 28, 2009) through to the November 28, 2021 election of incoming President Xiomara Castro of the LIBRE party.

“How citizen observers saved Honduran democracy from violence” ([link removed])
by Anna-Catherine Brigida, December 3, 2021
It is impossible to know exactly how many 100s of 1000s of Hondurans were forced to flee into exile, trying to find safe haven in Mexico or the U.S. from the ravages of this government, since the 2009 coup.

Not a “failed state”
As things went from bad to worse in Honduras, as ever more people fled into exile, commentators began concluding Honduras had become a “failed state”. Not so.

For 12 years / 5 months, the government – corrupt, repressive, anti-democratic – has done exactly what the Honduran military, economic and political elites (that carried out the 2009 coup) wanted it to do, aggressively and oft-times violently promoting the economic interests of the elites, global companies and investors.

The regime has been using the State to do what the U.S., Canada and “international community” wanted it to do, keeping Honduras ‘open-for-global-business’, keeping Honduras a trustworthy “democratic allie” in international political forums.

It is hard to overstate the complicity and responsibility of the U.S., Canada, Spain and the EU, the World Bank, IADB and IMF, and numerous global companies.

There is no plausible way this regime would have remained in power without the ‘legitimization’ of the 2009 coup, without 12 years / 5 months of economic, military and political support from this “international community” that was doing nothing less than propping up a narco-trafficking, military-backed, ‘open-for-global-business’ regime.

Shout out to supporters and activists
Rights Action thanks our donors and supporters who, for 12 years and 5 months, kept on funding the work and struggle of our Honduran community partner groups, as they suffered repression, corruption and human rights violations, as they kept fighting for the restoration of their democracy and rule of law, for the well-being of their communities and country, for Honduras’ self-determination.

Rights Action gives a shout out to grassroots NGOs and organizations across the U.S. and Canada working since 2009 to pressure the U.S. and Canada to stop supporting and ‘legitimizing’ this regime.

Shout out to Honduran people
Mostly, Rights Action gives a shout out to the majority Honduran population, to community-based organizations and NGOs, to courageous community leaders and the LIBRE party for persevering, despite 12 years / 5 months of repression and political persecution.

The March 2016 assassination of Berta Caceres and the killing of thousands more for political reasons since the 2009 coup, are the direct results of U.S. and Canadian policy decisions and actions.
Like most of our Honduran friends and partner groups, Rights Action feared the worst on election day. We feared that once again the Honduran regime, with carte blanche support from the U.S., Canada and “international community”, would again fraudulently steal the elections, as they did in 2009, 2013, 2017.

But the clarity of vision, courage and strength of the Honduran majority won out. President elect Xiomara Castro – first women president in Honduran history – won a resounding victory.

Her LIBRE party, that grew out of years of peaceful resistance to the 2009 military coup, is on the verge of also winning majority control in Congress, even as the National party of the current drug-trafficking President is corruptly trying to secure more seats in Congress.

LIBRE candidates won the mayors’ offices of the most important cities in the country.

Nothing will be easy
The incoming government inherits a treasury, a government, State and judiciary hollowed out and/or corrupted by the regime headed by narco-trafficking President Juan Orlando Hernandez and the National Party. Organized crime infiltrated most branches of the government and State, including the military and police.

The incoming government will receive little real support from Honduras’ traditional economic elites that were, in their majority, fully in support of the 2009 military coup.

President Xiomara’s government will receive little real support from the U.S., Canada and “international community”.

Rhetoric aside about respecting the sovereignty of other countries, this cabal of wealthy, powerful nations and international actors will continue to pressure the new government to try and ensure Honduras remains ‘open-for-global-business’. Translated: ensuring unfettered access to Honduran resources and exploitable labour by global companies, banks and investors.

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Now the Honduran majority population somberly – and happily – have already begun the hard work to take their country back, to start re-building their communities, local economies and governing institutions.

It remains an urgent and timeworn challenge for the people and institutions of the cabal of rich, powerful countries – primarily the U.S. and Canada in this case – to start to hold our governments, companies and banks politically and legally accountable each and every time they intervene in, ‘legitimize’ and do ‘business-as-usual’ with corrupt, repressive, anti-democratic regimes in Honduras, and beyond.

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Recommended information source
www.hondurasnow.org / F: @HondurasNow / T: @HondurasNow / IG: @HondurasNow

Other solidarity/NGO groups doing work related to Honduras
School of Americas Watch: www.soaw.org
Honduras Solidarity Network: www.hondurassolidarity.org
Witness for Peace Solidarity Collective: www.solidaritycollective.org
Friendship Office of the Americas: [link removed] ([link removed])
Alliance for Global Justice: www.afgj.org
CODEPINK: www.codepink.org

Tax-Deductible Donations (Canada & U.S.)
To support land, human rights and environmental defender groups, and democracy and justice activists in Honduras and Guatemala, make check to "Rights Action" and mail to:
* U.S.: Box 50887, Washington DC, 20091-0887
* Canada: (Box 552) 351 Queen St. E, Toronto ON, M5A-1T8

Credit-Card Donations: [link removed]
Donations of securities in Canada and the U.S.? Write to: [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])

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