The Honduras Political Crisis—What's Really Going On, and What You Can Do to Help

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About This Webpage
You’ve probably come across news stories in the last few weeks about the current political crisis in Honduras. On Sunday, June 28, president Manuel “Mel” Zelaya was taken from his home by members of the military and flown into exile in Costa Rica. Since then, there has been all matter of debate in Honduras and around the world about whether “Mel” or the people who kicked him out were in the right, and what should be done. It’s hard to cut through all hype, opinions, and incomplete news briefs to get a handle on what’s really going on—and what this really means for the poor in Honduras.

We at AJS have put together the advocacy guide that you can download on this page (above right) and linked to other resources to help you understand what’s really going on—and what you can do to help Honduras come out of this as a more just society. (We think one of the best things we can do is what AJS has been doing all along—making Honduras' system of laws and government institutions, which often look great on paper, work in practice to do justice for the poor. We invite you to explore the rest of our site to find out more about these efforts.)

Please note that the opinions expressed on the external sites linked to from this page do not necessarily represent the opinion of AJS; rather, we have included these to help you further educate yourself about the situation and form your own opinion.

1 Million Signatures to Transform Honduras

The conflict between ousted president Manuel Zelaya and de facto president Roberto Micheletti, and between their followers, seems no closer to being resolved than ever. But AJS-supported justice workers in Honduras are spearheading an ecumenical movement, called "Let's Transform Honduras" (Transformemos Honduras), urging Hondurans, especially Honduran Christians, to not fall into the trap of divisions created by self-centered politicians, but rather to unite to make Honduras a more just society.

The movement, which in addition to AJS-supported justice workers brings together World Vision-Honduras, Project Global Village, leaders from the Catholic and Evangelical churches, and others, is seeking to collect 1 million signatures (digital and print) from Hondurans and friends of Honduras around the world urging whoever Honduras' next leader ends up being to make 15 important changes in areas like health, education, employment, and security.

Add your signature: scroll down to the bottom of the linked page and enter your name ("nombre"), email, and city ("ciudad"), and click "enviar mi nombre."

Zelaya's Ouster Was a Shameless Coup and Zelaya Should Be Returned to Power

With Zelaya and Micheletti, Honduras Is Between a Rock and a Hard Place

There Was No Coup; Micheletti and Co. Have Defended the Constitution

What's Really Going On? More AJS Resources on the Political Crisis

On October 5, AJS co-founder Kurt Ver Beek recently spoke about this concern and other aspects of the current situation in a recent Chicago Public Radio interview that you can listen to here.
On November 3, Kurt presented a webinar about the political crisis; you can view the recorded version here.
AJS-supported justice workers in Honduras recently published three in-depth investigations related to the political crisis:

In the days immediately following the coup, Kurt Ver Beek and Andrew Clouse, a volunteer with AJS's Honduran sister organization, wrote the following article published on the Christianity Today blog:

AJS Condemns both Zelaya and His Ouster
by Kurt Ver Beek and Andrew Clouse
Originally published on the Christianity Today blog (http://blog.christianitytoday.com/ctliveblog/archives/2009/07/honduras_coup_w.html)

Political leaders from around the world are racing to be the first and loudest to condemn this past Sunday’s coup in Honduras. Everyone from President Obama to Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, from the United Nation’s general secretary to Fidel Castro, are denouncing the coup, threatening sanctions and calling for the return to office of ousted President Manuel Zelaya. Yet why are so many Hondurans, including key evangelical leaders, so divided about the coup and Zelaya’s return?
It all starts with the constitution. The Honduran constitution has 379 articles—and all but four can be reformed. It’s one of these four non-negotiable that’s causing all the fuss. The article states that a Honduran president cannot be re-elected. Ever. One four-year term is the only shot a president can have. Nearly all Latin American countries wrote this into their constitutions during the 1970s and 1980s in an attempt to avoid their presidents’ tendency to use second terms to consolidate power and stay in office permanently.

So starting with president-turned-dictator-turned-fugitive Alberto Fujimori in Peru, and more recently including Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, Evo Morales in Bolivia, Rafael Correa in Ecuador and now a little closer to home—Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua and Zelaya in Honduras—Latin American presidents have sought to reform their constitutions to permit re-election. In the last few years Venezuelan president Chavez has been building ALBA, a block of Latin American presidents designed to challenge the U.S. hegemony in the region. His country’s oil income in the form of finance grants, loans and political advisors serves as the carrot to entice presidents to join ALBA. And predictably enough, six of the nine members of the ALBA countries have or are trying to reform their constitutions to pave the way for their possible re-election.

Honduran president Zelaya began a full-out effort to reform the constitution in March of this year by announcing a referendum to be held Sunday, June 28—the day the coup took place—to determine whether the people wanted an assembly called to rewrite the constitution before presidential elections in November. Almost immediately, the country’s political, economic and many religious leaders began lining up against this effort. The Supreme Court ruled the referendum illegal; the Congress voted to sanction the president; the attorney general’s office began investigations into possible charges; both political parties—including the president’s own—condemned his actions; and church leaders like Evelio Reyes, pastor of one of the largest evangelical churches in Honduras, began holding high-profile prayer vigils each morning in front of government offices.

Had the president done a better job during his first three years in office, his efforts may have been more popular. However his administration has been plagued by ineffectiveness and myriad accusations of corruption. During his first year in office, his administration received over $4 billion in debt forgiveness—with the chief condition that any money not spent on debt was to be invested in reducing poverty. Many organizations, including Christian NGOs, worked for over a year to define how this money could be best invested. However, Zelaya ignored their efforts and instead tried to buy votes by spending 70 percent of the money on raises for teachers and health workers, and the rest on ineffective but politically powerful “cash coupons” for the rural poor. Zelaya has also failed to deliver on promises to build houses, promote land reform, build a new international airport and fight corruption. In the meantime, he has used public funds to finance a pro-government newspaper and TV station, flashy TV and radio ads and pro-government demonstrations. Zelaya did move beyond rhetoric early this year when he impetuously hiked the minimum wage by 60 percent. The raise was desperately needed, but its overnight implementation in an already-struggling economy led to thousands of minimum-wage job losses as many businesses found it impossible to make payroll.

In short, Zelaya’s record is dismal. And that fact has led many Hondurans, including most evangelicals, to be relieved to see his ineffective and corrupt administration come to an unexpected end. Pastor Evelio Reyes, in a speech to support the new government said, “We cannot tolerate these kinds of actions. No country in the world puts up with these types of barbarities, and Honduras won’t either because we have dignity.”

But the president does have his supporters. Despite his decidedly non-leftist background, Zelaya has managed to gain the support of some of the most radical social groups in Honduras by funding their organizations and protests and promising them seats at the constitutional assembly that would have rewritten the constitution. These groups are expert mobilizers and are now returning the favor by leading the increasingly violent protests seeking Zelaya’s return to office.
But other, less radical Hondurans and church leaders also disapprove of the coup. First, the rhetoric Zelaya used during the last three months to promote a rewrite of the constitution touched a nerve for many Hondurans, including evangelicals. Zelaya’s speeches as well as very professional TV and radio ads (designed by Venezuelan advisors) argued that the 70 percent of the Honduran population who live on less than $2 a day have seen little benefit from 20 plus years of democratic rule in which a political and economic elite have run the country and everything in it for their own illicit gain. Zelaya said it was time to hear the “voice of the people” and that reforming the constitution was a good first step in getting that voice heard. This message resonated with the poor and those, including many Christians, concerned about issues of poverty and injustice. Mario Cantor, an evangelical pastor in a marginal urban community, said this:

“The majority of people who supported the cuarta urna (the “fourth ballot box”) believed that the constitution needed to be reformed to be more inclusive. According to some, the constitution excluded certain sectors of the community. So they believe that there is a need to create a constitution that allows the people to have more participation in the country´s decisions. Zelaya himself was talking about a more equitable society, where distribution of wealth is fairer, talking about the common good, as Jesus did.”

In addition, many Hondurans and Honduran Christians are uncomfortable with the military’s role in Zelaya’s ouster, fearing a return to the situation of the 1970s and 1980s when the military was clearly the power behind the president. This was an era of fear, violence and corruption that few Hondurans care to relive. They argue that like him or not, if Zelaya was breaking the law, he should have been charged and tried instead of forcibly removed from his home and flown to Costa Rica. And they are uneasy hearing reports of suspended civil liberties and protesters detained.

They want the democratic system to work the way it is supposed to. As mega church pastor Rene Peñalba stated, Zelaya’s goal “in itself was not bad, but he got the method wrong. And I would say the same about the other side. [Zelaya] deserved to go to trial, but they got the method wrong. Both sides got it wrong.”
While the fear of an oversized role of the military is understandable, it seems clear that they were an ambivalent partner in the ouster, directed by a small but powerful political and economic elite. Although initially Zelaya’s allies in carrying out the referendum, the military has shifted since there was clearly little enthusiasm for the task. Just days before the referendum, Zelaya fired the chief general and the rest of the general’s staff quit in solidarity. Zelaya and his supporters staged a dramatic showdown at a military warehouse to get the ballots while the military stood silently by. And most obviously, while the military carried out the arrest and flew Zelaya to Costa Rica, they did not seize power but immediately installed the president of Congress as President of the country.

What’s clear among all the conflict is that all the existing powers in Honduras—the ruling elite, the Zelaya administration, and the military—show by their rhetoric that they recognize what most ordinary Hondurans want—to live in a country where their voice will be heard and where true democracy and rule of law flourish.
Carlos Hernandez, president of the la Asociación para una Sociedad más Justa (AJS’s Honduran sister organization), a Christian social justice organization in Honduras, argues, “As Christians we need to make the legal systems work for everyone—from the poorest Honduran to the most powerful. So first of all, Zelaya should return to the country and there should be a full investigation into his actions. If he has broken laws, he should be tried and sentenced—not sent to Costa Rica without a trial. Second, we should also push for an investigation into who was responsible for this coup and they should also be investigated and tried. It is only then, by showing that neither side is above the law and that neither side can take the law into their own hands, that we can show the world that justice for all is possible, even in Honduras.”