02/07/09
Author Grace Livingstone responds to British Newspaper, The Independent, about its support for the coup d’etat in Honduras

On Tuesday 30th of June 2009, British newspaper The Independent published an editorial titled “Guns and Democracy” which clearly highlighted that The Independent is in support of the coup d’etat in Honduras.

Author of “America's Backyard: The United States and Latin America from the Monroe Doctrine to the War on Terror”, Grace Livingstone who is a supporter of democracy in Latin America responded to The Independent’s editorial by writing a letter disregarding its support for the military coup in Honduras, which was published by The Independent on Thursday 2nd July 2009.

Livingstone’s letter reads as follows:

I was astounded by your editorial supporting the military coup in Honduras. Anyone who knows the history of Latin America knows that the military has been an overweening presence in political life since independence and that the region has been bedevilled by coups.

Honduras has suffered brutal military rule for most of the 20th century. When civilian rule came in 1980, this young democracy was quickly turned into a garrison state by the Reagan administration, which used Honduras as a base to fight the Contra war and built military bases and mercenary training camps along the borders. Despite the return of democracy, the military were responsible for the "disappearance" of 184 people between 1980 and 1992. The victims' bodies have been exhumed in recent years.

Whatever your criticisms of President Manuel Zelaya, there is no excuse for supporting a coup in any country, but particularly not in Honduras, still a fragile democracy, where the military has an ominous history and has never been called for account for its crimes. The days of the military vetoing presidents in Honduras should be consigned to the past.

Grace Livingstone
London