Zelaya Standoff Costing Impoverished Hondurans $50 Million a Day
Honduras’s interim government has taken some steps over the past few weeks which, if not reversed, could mean severe damage to the political and economic infrastructure in the country.
Since former president Manuel Zelaya snuck into the country last week, taking refuge at the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa, the Honduran government has closed two pro-Zelaya radio stations, declared a state of emergency which costs Hondurans $50 million a day, and allowed security forces to get into frequent clashes with protesters.
After legitimately but forcefully removing Zelaya from power, Honduras’ interim government has been deluged by crises. Zelaya has been a constant thorn in the side of Roberto Micheletti’s interim government, rallying supporters to his cause and refusing to back down from demands to resume his term in office. For his part, Micheletti has refused to agree to any concessions which might allow Zelaya to return as president, a stance that leaves the negotiations, led by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, in a deadlock.
The real victim of the ongoing crisis is the Honduran people, who have to deal with nightly curfews, retracted democratic freedoms, and an economy stuck in idle. To his credit, President Micheletti told the press yesterday that he wanted to “ask the Honduran people for forgiveness” for the crackdown on democratic freedoms, and promised to lift the measures soon. One can only hope that his policy reversals will be forthcoming.
In the irony of the day, China's Xinhua news agency, the Communist party's official mouthpiece, is the outlet with the best coverage of the radio station censorship story. Xinhua, of course, is the news agency which Reporters without Borders has called “the world’s biggest propaganda agency... [with] hand-picked journalists who are regularly indoctrinated.” The National Post’s Neil Hrab investigates the fascinating Xinhua-Honduras connection here.