Post-Coup Honduras: Latin America’s Corridor of Reaction
In: Historical MaterialismSearch for other papers by Todd Gordon in
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Abstract
This article offers an historical-materialist account of the coup in Honduras on 28 June 2009, which ousted democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya. It draws on over two dozen interviews with members of the Frente Nacional de la Resistencia Popular [National Front of Popular Resistance, FNRP], and participation in numerous marches and assemblies over two periods of fieldwork – January 2010, and June–July 2011. The paper steps back in time to provide an historical cartography of the basic material structures of the Honduran economy and its integration into the world market, as well as the geopolitical role it played as a launching pad for Ronald Reagan’s counter-insurgency campaigns against guerrilla forces elsewhere in the region during the 1980s. We show how the defeat of mass guerrilla insurgencies in Guatemala and El Salvador, as well as the triumph over the Sandinista government in Nicaragua by 1990, allowed for the neoliberal pacification of Central America as a whole, including Honduras. We further demonstrate how the centre-leftist Manuel Zelaya, elected to the Honduran presidency in 2006, modestly encroached upon neoliberal orthodoxy and forged geopolitical alliances with left and centre-left governments elsewhere in the region, laying the bases for his violent overthrow. Finally, the paper traces the origins, trajectory, and heterogeneity of the resistance that emerged almost immediately after the coup had been carried out.
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2.
Salomón 2012, p. 58.
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5.
Grandin 2011.
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6.
Littell 2012; Paley 2012, p. 22; Stokes 2005.
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7.
Bird 2012a, p. 35.
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8.
ECLAC 2012.
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9.
Bulmer-Thomas 1991, pp. 193, 196.
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10.
Robinson 2003, pp. 118–19.
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12.
LaFeber 1993, p. 179.
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13.
Bulmer-Thomas 1991, pp. 223–4.
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14.
Booth 1991, p. 48.
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15.
See, for example, Corr 1999, pp. 30–50.
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16.
Brockett 1991, pp. 259–60.
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17.
Brockett 1991, p. 259.
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18.
Booth 1991, p. 54.
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19.
LaFeber 1993, p. 182.
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20.
Robinson 2003, p. 124.
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21.
LaFeber 1993, p. 264.
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22.
Gill 2004, p. 83.
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23.
Grandin 2006, p. 114.
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24.
Robinson 2003, p. 124. See also Chomsky 1987, pp. 128–9.
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25.
Flynn 1984, p. 113.
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26.
Robinson 2003, p. 121.
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27.
Robinson 2003, p. 123, emphasis in original.
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28.
Flynn 1984, p. 111.
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29.
Chomsky 1987, pp. 128–9.
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30.
LaFeber 1993, pp. 310–11.
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32.
Gill 2004, p. 83.
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33.
LaFeber 1993, pp. 312, 331–2.
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34.
Robinson 2003, p. 124.
-
35.
Grandin 2004, p. 14.
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36.
Dunkerley 1994.
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37.
Robinson 2003, p. 127.
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38.
See Robinson 2003, pp. 127–32, for details on the political expressions of these externally-oriented fractions of Honduran capital in the form of New Right clusters within both the National and Liberal parties.
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39.
Booth, Wade and Walker 2006, p. 144; Robinson 2003, p. 129.
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40.
Booth, Wade and Walker 2006, p. 145.
-
42.
Ruben and van den Berg 2001, p. 109.
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43.
Kerssen 2011.
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44.
Robinson 2003, p. 131.
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45.
Edelman 2008, pp. 239–40.
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46.
CEPAL 2009a, p. 33.
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47.
Boucher, Barham and Carter 2005, p. 108.
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48.
Ruben and van den Berg 2001, p. 550.
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49.
Ruben and van den Berg 2001, p. 551. For some basic detail on this matter, see also Kok 2004, pp. 73–89.
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50.
Kerssen 2011.
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51.
Robinson 2008, p. 120.
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52.
EIU 2008, pp. 15–16. This report also points to the rise since the mid-1990s of non-traditional exports such as shrimp, tilapias, melons and African palm oil. In the traditional agricultural sector it charts the renewal of high prices in coffee since 2004 and the increased production that has consequently arisen, whereas bananas have suffered from increases in tariffs in the European Union. One of the areas it highlights will be of great interest to foreign investors in mining of zinc, silver, lead and gold. Honduras is thought to have large unexploited mineral deposits that could become available for foreign investors if controversial environmental legislation can be passed.
-
53.
EIU 2008, p. 24.
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54.
Ocampo 2009, p. 704.
-
56.
ECLAC 2006, p. 129.
-
57.
EIU 2008, p. 17.
-
58.
ECLAC 2009, p. 113. See also Mapstone 2009.
-
59.
UNDP 2009.
-
60.
UNDP 2011.
-
61.
CEPAL 2000b, p. 269.
-
62.
CEPAL 2009b, p. 16.
-
63.
CEPAL 2011a, pp. 16–17.
-
64.
EIU 2008, p. 13.
-
65.
EIU 2008, p. 11.
-
67.
Frank 2005, p. 58. Hurricane Mitch, which struck in October 1998, left more than 11,000 dead and an astonishing 2 million people homeless (of a total population of 7.1 million). Among the worst hit were the rural-to-urban migrants ‘who had settled on the crowded hillsides surrounding Tegucigalpa, which were washed away’. Booth, Wade and Walker 2006, p. 145.
-
68.
Robinson 2003, p. 132.
-
69.
Booth, Wade and Walker 2006, p. 147.
-
70.
Portes and Hoffman 2003, pp. 66–70.
-
71.
Edelman 2008, p. 247.
-
72.
Grandin 2006, p. 207.
-
73.
Wolseth 2008, p. 99.
-
74.
Mejía 2007, p. 27.
-
76.
Mejía 2007, p. 28.
-
77.
Booth, Wade and Walker 2006, p. 147.
-
78.
Booth, Wade and Walker 2006, p. 146.
-
79.
Bracken 2008. Two other MAO activists, Heraldo Zúñiga and Roger Ivan Cartagena, were assassinated by national police agents in 2006.
-
81.
Webber and Carr 2013.
-
82.
EIU 2008.
-
83.
Grandin 2009a.
-
84.
EIU 2008, p. 12.
-
85.
EIU 2009.
-
86.
Romero 2009, pp. 129–38.
-
87.
EIU 2008, p. 10.
-
88.
EIU 2008, p. 10.
-
89.
Navarro 2009.
-
95.
Grandin 2009b.
-
96.
Gobierno de Unidad Nacional de Honduras 2011.
-
97.
Gobierno de Unidad Nacional de Honduras 2011, p. 1.
-
98.
EIU 2012, p. 3.
-
99.
EIU 2012, p. 6.
-
103.
Associated Press 2012.
-
104.
Rojas Bolaños 2010, p. 111; Sáenz 2009a, pp. 139–45; Sáenz 2009b, pp. 147–54.
-
106.
Cano 2009.
-
107.
Cálix 2010, p. 44.
-
108.
Frank 2010.
-
111.
Libertad y Refundación 2012.
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Post-Coup Honduras: Latin America’s Corridor of Reaction
In: Historical MaterialismSearch for other papers by Todd Gordon in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Search for other papers by Jeffery R. Webber in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Abstract
This article offers an historical-materialist account of the coup in Honduras on 28 June 2009, which ousted democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya. It draws on over two dozen interviews with members of the Frente Nacional de la Resistencia Popular [National Front of Popular Resistance, FNRP], and participation in numerous marches and assemblies over two periods of fieldwork – January 2010, and June–July 2011. The paper steps back in time to provide an historical cartography of the basic material structures of the Honduran economy and its integration into the world market, as well as the geopolitical role it played as a launching pad for Ronald Reagan’s counter-insurgency campaigns against guerrilla forces elsewhere in the region during the 1980s. We show how the defeat of mass guerrilla insurgencies in Guatemala and El Salvador, as well as the triumph over the Sandinista government in Nicaragua by 1990, allowed for the neoliberal pacification of Central America as a whole, including Honduras. We further demonstrate how the centre-leftist Manuel Zelaya, elected to the Honduran presidency in 2006, modestly encroached upon neoliberal orthodoxy and forged geopolitical alliances with left and centre-left governments elsewhere in the region, laying the bases for his violent overthrow. Finally, the paper traces the origins, trajectory, and heterogeneity of the resistance that emerged almost immediately after the coup had been carried out.
| All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 971 | 111 | 31 |
| Full Text Views | 297 | 12 | 3 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 184 | 14 | 4 |