The shameful silence of our mainstream press compels me to continue blogging about Central America. When I visited my nephew, Greg Landau, in the suburbs of Managua, Nicaragua in 1984, this was an empty field behind his house.
When I returned and painted this picture, a year later, it had filled with the impromptu homes of war refugees. Managua, which was wracked in 1972 by an earthquake of biblical proportions and then by years of insurrection against President Somoza, who had embezzled the international relief shipments, would never enjoy the fruits of the 1979 Sandinista victory. Instead, the United States chose to bleed the revolution dry with a proxy, terrorist army operating out of Honduras. By 1985 Managua was inundated with refugees from the terrorized countryside.
Many had hoped that President Obama would write a new, progressive chapter in our relations with Latin America. We never dreamed that we would see the iron fist of Uncle Sam closing , once more, around the throat of Central America.
Because that is what is happening.
The silence of our mainstream press and the lies of Hillary Clinton may confound the American people. The rest of the world has witnessed the military overthrow of a duly elected president with, at least, the tacit consent of Washington. Why? Because President Zelaya proposed a nonbinding referendum on revising the Honduran constitution. This constitution was written in the 80's to protect a small oligarchy that has always acted in our interests.
Hillary Clinton has declared that the United States will not take sides because President Zelaya has been 'provocative'. Since when was it provocative for a legal president to call on his people to engage in nonviolent resistance to a military coup? Hundreds of thousands continue to protest. They are being met with tear gas, batons and bullets . The nest of vipers that we nurtured in Honduras has turned on its own people.
It's curious that the last time we overthrew a president in neighboring Nicaragua his name was also Zelaya. This action precipitated the rise of the first great, anti-imperialist guerrilla leader in Latin America, Augusto Sandino.
For more extensive background information, I refer you to "Behind the Honduras Coup" by Saul Landau and Nelson Valdes.