Profits Before Democracy

Latin American politics don't get a lot of attention in this country, unless you want to talk about the narcotics trade. Honduras, however, has had a large profile in recent months thanks to the coup that took place on June 28th. Today, representatives of ousted President Manuel Zelaya met with the interim government of Roberto Michelletti to discuss the future of the government. While neither side will comment publicly on the negotiations, there seems mostly to be wide spread agreement on all but one issue, and that is Zelaya's return to power.

Zelaya was ousted, supposedly, because he wanted to have a referendum to rewrite the constitution to allow the president to serve more than one term. In retaliation, he was abducted by the military in the middle of the night and led out of the country in his pajamas. He returned to the county on September 21st, and is taking refuge in the Brazilian embassy in the capital, Tegucigalpa. Zelaya has demanded that he be back to power before the upcoming election on November 29th, going as far as to say that he would postpone the election if he was not back in the presidency by October 15th.

There has been universal condemnation from across the world to this coup. Well, almost. The right wing in the United States continues to shock everyone with what they consider basic tenets of democracy. Witness Senator Jim DeMint's new op-ed in the Wall Street Journal. DeMint has compared Zelaya to Hugo Chavez, and said that there is more chaos in the Obama Administration than there is in Honduras. Oh, really?

There have been many instances of police brutality since the new government was installed. First, there was the curfew. Police would patrol the streets after dark, some shooting first and asking questions later. They were encouraged to break up all protest, no matter how small, and often did so with gunfire. Once, they tear-gassed a human rights office where 150 people had gathered to issue complaints about the police. At least 10 deaths have been blamed on officials since the coup. There is also a media crackdown. Two television networks that were critical of the coup were both shut down for promoting "social anarchy" and "national hatred."

So what is Senator DeMint talking about? Well, here he sees a two-for. First and foremost, he gets to criticize Obama. Remember, this is the same man that spoke publicly about his attempts for "Obama's Waterloo." Secondly, Zelaya is what you might call a liberal. In this country, he would be considered a socialist. By the right wing, a communist. DeMint sees the coup as an opportunity to have a more conservative government in Tegucigalpa, one that is more favorable to American conservatives, and more importantly, American businesses.

The good thing about Jim DeMint is that he doesn't try to hide his true colors. He is a proud corporatist. Whether it's health care for Americans or democracy for the third world, DeMint will reliably choose corporate profits instead.