H.E. Mr. Aristides Mejia Carranza, Vice President of the Republic of Honduras
Spoke at the UN General Assembly Meeting on Economic and Financial Crisis
NY Times and Wall Street Journal Reporting of Coup; Blame President Zelaya
The first person called on by General Assembly President Miguel d'Escoto to speak in reference to the OUTCOME DOCUMENT on Wednesday, June 24 was H.E. Mr. Aristides Mejia Garranza, Vice President of the Republic of Honduras. There was a statement by d'Escoto that solidarity was needed for that country from the General Assembly.
The Vice President said that there needs to be a new financial architecture for the world's economic and financial future. He opposed the privatization of the state government that was demanded by the monolithic organizations now in charge. He said that he had little faith in the market system. He also deplored the legal protections being given to the speculators.
He reported that growth the Honduras was 6% in 2006; 7% in 2007; 4% in 2008 and they anticipate a growth of just 2% in 2009.
The military coup took place in Honduras over the weekend; a couple of days following these statements at the United Nations. President Manuel Zelaya was militarily removed from his home, in its capital of Teguclagalpa, and taken to Costa Rica.
The NY Times lead front page story minimized the anti-democratic, militaristic actions taken and chose to emphasize Zelaya's solidarity with other newly elected, democratic forces in Latin American, most of whom are left and left center. That the Organization of American States and the European Union opposed that military action escaped the front page NY Times article. The United States voice strong opposition to the coup was like an after thought to the Times.
The commentary by Simon Romero, the NY Times reporter for Latin America started with a truthful headline, "Rare Hemispheric Unity in Assailing Honduran Coup." But, that is where fact moved into fiction. The Romero, "New Analysis" column did all but blame the coup on President Zelaya. Romero has given Times readers a constant stream of anti-progressive, anti-democratic opinion on Latin America. The NY Times and Romero should be reminded of their own rhetoric that the cold war is over.
The Times news article also failed to highlight that the military coup also forcibly removed from the Capital the ambassadors from Cuba, Venezuela and Bolivia.
The Wall Street Journal predictably attacked the solidarity that President Zelaya received from other Latin American countries, but did report that he called for unions, peoples' organization and others to protect and defend their democratic freedoms. They also warned that the coup would feed into the perception that interventionist forces would use military means to gain what it could not gain democratically; and, citing the failed coup in Venezuela where the U.S. played a major role.
Honduras is bordered on the south by Nicaragua, on the east by El Salvador and north by Guatemala.
