Thursday, November 26, 2009

CAN YOU TELL THE DIFFERENCE?


Terrorism



Collateral Damage

HONDURAS: THE SLIDE TOWARDS TYRANNY


In 1983 American Jesuit priest James Carney was brutally tortured and thrown to his death from a helicopter on the orders of Honduran Gen. Gustavo Alvarez Martinez, founding commander of the elite Battalion 3-16 death squad. The same year Ronald Reagan presented the General, whose portrait adorns the School of the Americas, the Legion of Merit for "encouraging the success of democratic processes in Honduras," raising suspicion that the killing was sanctioned by then U.S ambassador John Negroponte.

Even if that was not the case, which seems unlikely, Negroponte presided over the largest CIA station in the world and one of the darkest periods in the tortured U.S-Honduran relationship. "[I]ntelligence collection and reporting requirements on human rights abuses," euphemistically reported a subsequent CIA review "were subordinated to higher priorities," namely the interests of American corporations. Summarizing declassified documents the National Security Archive comments that "reporting on human rights atrocities" committed by Battalion 3-16 is "conspicuously absent from the cable traffic" and that "Negroponte's cables reflect no protest, or even discussion of these issues during his many meetings with General Alvarez, his deputies and Honduran President Robert Suazo. Nor do the released cables contain any reporting to Washington on the human rights abuses that were taking place." In his stint as ambassador Negroponte, dubbed "the proconsul", worked to undermine regional peace initiatives, provide logistical support to the Nicaraguan Contras, who were based in Honduras, and worked closely with the leading Generals who were torturing their country on behalf of powerful American and local business interests.

That history makes the current situation in Honduras and Washington extremely concerning. The response to the June coup deposing democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya was initially positive. State Department officials described the situation as a military coup, the U.S funded Freedom House called for the restoration of the elected government, as did the Obama administration. However, the U.S offered unwavering, if tacit, support of the de facto government, without which it would not be able to retain power.

As the coup government has grown more secure in its position it has become increasingly repressive. The post-coup period has been followed by forced closures of media outlets, extrajudicial killings, assassinations and kidnapping of opposition leaders by members of the security forces, torture, bans on political expression, forced disappearances, and a nationwide curfew. Though an unelected government that rules through terror is hostile to civilized opinion, it is highly laudable from the perspective of the wealthy local elites and foreign corporations that control the economy.

The U.S has broken from the rest of the world in refusing to recall its ambassador and pledging to recognize the results of Sunday's ballot, which is being boycotted by the opposition. President Obama has even suggested it was hypocritical to suggest the U.S should exert its leverage to restore democratic rule while opposing U.S subversion in foreign nations.

As the business community is obliged to offer cash discounts to individuals with stained fingers on election day in hopes of raising voter turnout to levels sufficient to give the election a veneer of legitimacy the U.S has pledged to recognize the results of the contest, which features no opposition candidates. The position of the American government, reminiscent of the policies of death squads and dictators that characterized the last five decades of interaction between the region and the global hegemon, is a dangerous step backwards in U.S-Latin American relations.


Wednesday, November 25, 2009

BAN ANTI-PERSONAL MINES


The Obama administration drew the ire of human rights groups following an announcement Tuesday by State Department spokesman Ian Kelly concerning the U.S policy of not signing the Ottowa Convention banning the use, stockpiling, production, and transfer of antipersonnel mines. Kelly indicated President Obama intends to maintain the Bush administration's stance of refusing to sign the agreement. 5,200 deaths are attributed to uncleared mines in eighty-four countries last year by The International Campaign to Ban Landmines. The 1997 agreement resulted in the destruction of seventy-seven national stockpiles and 80 million weapons. Kelly cited a previously undisclosed government review which indicated signing the treaty would harm U.S interests. The U.S's participation in the Cartagena, Colombia conference reviewing the treaty next week will be limited to an observer role, according to Kelly's initial comments. The State Department, however, quickly backtracked. A subsequent statement by Kelly, who fumbled reporters' questions on the treaty, claimed the review was only partially complete.

Whatever the administration's actual feelings on the topic are, it is important for the U.S, which holds 10 million mines, to move ahead with signing and implementing the treaty. Last year 5,200 people died, according to the International Campaign to Ban Land Mines, from uncleared weapons. More than 200,000 kilometers in over eight nations contain mines. Though the U.S has not used anti-personal mines since the First Gulf War it has historically insisted on sharing the position rouge states such as Libya, North Korea, Iran, Somalia, and Burma in refusing to joining the 156 nations already party to the agreement.

Momentum for the ban began in 1992 with the formation of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. in 1997 the group and its spokeswoman jointly received the Nobel Peace Prize. That same year 122 nations became signatories to the Ottawa Convention, pledging never to use, acquire, stockpile, or transfer anti-personal mines, to destroy their national stockpiles within six years, to clear all mines in their territory in ten, and to provide care and education to populations living in affected areas.