On June 30, the NYTimes ran an op-ed by Alvaro Vargas Llosa (son of the novelist Mario Vargas Llosa), in defense of the coup in Honduras:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/30/opinion/30Vargasllosa.html That piece was thoroughly misleading. Here, then, is a sharp response by John Gerassi, a professor the Politics Department at Queens College, and author of The Great Fear in Latin America (which sold almost 200,000 copies when it came out in 1965). MCM From John Gerassi: A passing reflection: No one in the established media is going to point out that no Honduran soldier, officer or general would dare to act against a US request, ever. The Honduran military get trained at a US base 50 miles from Tegucigalpa. The US furnishes its weapons, its uniforms, lunch and travel perks by inviting every officer to come to the School of the Americas for a bit of brainwashing. But the NYTimes makes much ado about integrity, honesty, fairness, etc. Today (June 30), the Times ran an op-ed by Alvaro Vargas Llosa, a "fellow of the Independent Institute." That op-ed is a tissue of bald lies. Now, everyone has the right to be against Honduras President Manuel Zelaya. But not to reveal that Honduras is run by a tight little oligarchy (which includes its parliament and Supreme Court) which kills labor organizers just for pleasure is to be genuinely dishonest. When I visited the farm of such an oligarch, while reseaching my book The Great Fear in Latin America, I asked him why he paid his peons so little. "They're pigs," he answered. "The only thing they respect is power. They have to know that I have life and death power over them. Only then will they work." Stupidly, I asked: "Do they know that?" He laughed, called over one of the peons, took out his pistol and shot him in the head. When I reported it to the Tegulcipaga chief of police, he quipped: "Yeah, but he owns that estancia." Now this "fellow" Vargas Llosa writes that President Zelaya is trying to become a dictator like Venezuela's Hugo Chavez by holding "a referendum with the ultimate aim of allowing him to seek re-election." You're supposed to think that the referendum is that change, and that it's illegal because "the electoral court, the Supreme Court, Congress and members of his own party declared Mr. Zelaya's intention unlawful." What Varga Llosa doesn't tell you--and the Times would never say it either--is that all those bastards are the same as that oligarch who shot the peon just to prove a point. Nor would the Times tell you that that referendum merely put the question: "Hey, folks, should I try to get the constitution changed legally so I can run for re-election?" Nor would the Times tell you that Zelaya ran at first with a reactionary party, but changed on seeing how his country's oligarchy, in partnership with US businesses, and abetted by the US-created death squad (set up by then- Ambassador Negroponte?), kept his people among the continent's poorest. His Liberal Party was the party of the oligarchy. Nor would the Times ever run my corrections, even if written politely without such insulting words as "bastard." It never has. Because it believes in integrity, honesty, fairness, etc. = An Excellent Credit Score is 750. <http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100126575x1222585087x1201462804/aol?redir=http://www.freecreditreport.com/pm/default.aspx?sc=668072%26hmpgID=62%26bcd=JulyExcfooterNO62>See Yours in Just 2 Easy Steps! --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's "News From Underground" newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the "Unsubscribe or change membership" link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the "Unsubscribe" button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
