Comments on: Voices of the Poor Lost in Honduras’ Power Struggle

By: emd24

emd24 — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 00:51:44 +0000

Thanks for the post. It's great to hear from somebody in Honduras living among the marginalized who are probably the most hurt in the current political situation. I spent a little time studying in Honduras last year and got to know an organization called Association for a More Just Society; I think they're doing good work to promote justice for the poor in Honduras. I've found that they have quality,balanced coverage of the current political crisis on their website, http://www.ajs-us.org/honduras_political_crisis..., and bring up some points I haven't seen reported on in too many other places. Definitely worth a look if you want to begin to make sense of what's going on!

By: emd24

emd24 — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 22:51:44 +0000

By: jonabark

jonabark — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 02:47:12 +0000

The word “hardly”does not constitute a valid argument or present evidence against what I said . You have said exactly nothing, which is pretty much the sum and substance of your argument, what you have brought to the table is empty name calling. Democracy rests on the rule of law. A society cannot remain democratic and ignore the constitutional and electoral decisions and laws it enacts. The coup in Honduras was unlawful and the nature of the coup leaders was made evident when they murdered peaceful protesters. There are free internationally monitored elections in Venezuela, with a high voter turnout, and there is an active opposition press.

By: jonabark

jonabark — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 02:44:18 +0000

The word "hardly"does not constitute a valid argument or present
evidence against what I said . You have said exactly nothing, which
is pretty much the sum and substance of your argument, what you
have brought to the table is empty name calling. Democracy rests on
the rule of law. A society cannot remain democratic and ignore the
constitutional and electoral decisions and laws it enacts. The coup
in Honduras was unlawful and the nature of the coup leaders was made
evident when they murdered peaceful protesters. There are free
internationally monitored elections in Venezuela, with a high voter
turnout, and there is an active opposition press.

By: luispadilla

luispadilla — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 19:17:41 +0000

ok give me the name and nationality of those dead journalists…please I was not born yesterday! the only reporter I know has nothing to do with the situation…I never failed

By: peacesps

peacesps — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 19:06:09 +0000

How clean and simple. If only life were that simple. The only problem with your article is that you have not taken the time to express the fact that Honduras is not at war, that we do not have thousands of injured in the hospitals or dead journalists. You failed this beautiful country which has welcomed you with open arms, by not saying that we are peaceful people, that we bow our heads or turn away when being misthreated. You did no good with your lame comment. I am sorry but you should rewrite it and this time tell the truth. Do you feel threatened, abused or harassed?? tell the world.

By: bhaack

bhaack — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 13:30:18 +0000

The only true statement in your post is that Chavez is the president whether I like it or not.

Democratically elected? Hardly. And Venezuala is not longer a democracy. Democracy requires a free press and free elections. Elections and democracy are two very different things. This is true ragardless of how much you like Chavez's and Zelaya's politics.

By: luispadilla

luispadilla — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 13:49:55 +0000

I was born in Honduras. For the comment about impeachment…I think people should learn about a country costitution before start making their own asumptions. Honduras contitution does not have an impeachment process. USA and Honduras constitution are different. Please learn about Honduras constitution before you share something that you dont know about it.

By: luispadilla

luispadilla — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 13:45:55 +0000

This Luis Padilla. I was born in Honduras but I've lived in the US now. to repond to this statement…we dont have the impeachment process in Honduras and I think before you share something you should learn the differences in constitution from each country…again we dont have the impreachment process…learn about Hondurans constitution and goverment before you say something.

By: hermanojuancito

hermanojuancito — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 19:14:17 +0000

Thank you, Amanda, from another missionary in Honduras. The situation here is complicated and merely arguing about the law is not enough, since the constitution, many would argue, favors those in power, economically and politically. The poor do not have much participation in the decisions of their nation. In the current crisis the poor are suffering and will continue to suffer until there are deep changes in the culture, economics, and politics of Honduras.
Many of the poor see the current events as more efforts to prevent the sharing of power.
I pray that peace with justice will come for the people I know in places without clean water, electricity, decent roads.
They have their faith, though, and so let's pray to the God of justice for them.
“Rescue the lowly and poor; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.” (Psalm 82:4)

By: jonabark

jonabark — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 23:27:08 +0000

Courts don't have he power to call for or carry out a military coup. There is a process for impeachment and it was not followed. Zelaya did not gun down opposition voices. Chavez is an elected president whether you like his politics or not.

By: holdenskinner

holdenskinner — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 19:03:10 +0000

Well written article, about your experience and chiding to have us look into what is really happening in Honduras, beyond all the mess.

Thank you.

By: bhaack

bhaack — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 06:13:52 +0000

Ms. Lind says:

"In this case it’s really not that simple. Zelaya is not, by any stretch of the imagination, a good guy. He made a lot of empty promises in order to gain the support of the poor. Micheletti is no better."

Indeed it is not that simple and your very framing of the issue is itself a gross simplification. This is not and should not be about who the good guy is and who the bad guy is its about upholding the law. The point here is that even if Zelaya was a "good guy", as soon as he broke the law he needed to be removed.

By framing this as a simple power struggle between Zelaya and Micheletti you have, intentionally or not, taken sides with Zelaya. Zelaya was removed by a court order not as a result of a power play by Micheletti.

The poor in Honduras, above all, need the rule of law to be upheld. They can ill-afford a Chavez-like dictator - they haven't the oil money to paper over his disasterous policies.

By: ando

ando — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 01:14:56 +0000

Thank you, Amanda, for not taking sides in this battle. My take is that neither side can be considered trustworthy, but for the sake of the patria it would be best to let Zelaya come back, finish out his presidency and let him slip away into political oblivion.

I lived in Honduras just after it installed its first president — Suazo Cordova — in many decades. It was a very violent period throughout Central America and the US used Honduras as its military post to train and arm the Contras and make sure that the country didn't have the armed conflict like others around them. Honduras was relatively peaceful, but on more than one occasion I was on a bus where everyone was told to get off and show their ids. A few time some passengers were left back. Scary.

But it's also a country where people show much hospitality, giving up their last tortilla for their guests. (Have to go, children calling…