In the early morning of June 28 the Honduran army staged a coup against its democratically-elected president, Manual Zelaya, by barging into his bedroom, plucking him out of bed and flying him out to neighbouring Costa Rica in his pyjamas. Then the ‘coupists’ went on to proclaim another leader of his party as the new president!

Zelaya, legally elected as the president of Honduras in 2006, was originally a rich conservative farmer but after rubbing shoulders with such leftist leaders like Ortega of Nicaragua, Chavez of Venezuela, Correa of Ecuador and Morales of Bolivia he, like them, had begun to get another vision for his country. So, like them, he realised the need to change the constitution of his country, make it more democratic, use Honduras’s natural resources for developing his country and try and remove the neo-colonial label that Honduras has vis-a-vis the US. Like them, he was planning a referendum so that in the elections to be held in November 2009 people would also vote for a new constitution which, among other things, would allow him to stand again for elections, which he is barred from doing under the present dispensation. His new-found leftist leanings, pro-people and anti-US proclivities sent alarm bells ringing among the Honduran pro-US, anti-people ruling classes. Hence, the abduction.

This tiny state (smaller than the state of Karnataka with a total population less than the city of Kolkata) lies in Central America. Derogatorily referred to as the original ‘banana republic’, if any country deserves the appellation of being a neo-colonial ‘lackey of US Imperialism’ or ‘its backyard’, this little country has been forced to earn it.

It is totally dependent on the US for its trade, exports, and over 80% of FDIs are from the US. All its natural wealth is owned and controlled mainly by American multinationals. It has a small ruling class who reap the profits for selling their country. Over 60% of Hondurans are below the poverty line. It has loyally supported the US in every UN resolution, every embargo and sanction and even sent 370 soldiers to fight in the US invasion of Iraq! The Honduran armed forces is trained and equipped by the US and holds regular joint exercises with it, its ports are used by the US with impunity, the US armed forces have permanent bases on Honduran soil which it uses to launch its anti-drug and anti-terrorist offensive in south America and for years Honduras was used for the anti-communist Contra offensive against the Marxist Sandinistas in Nicaragua.

Now, one would have to be incredibly naive to imagine that this tiny country could do anything without Big Brother’s permission. So, no matter how Obama and Hilary Clinton might profess (belated) horror and ignorance regarding the military coup that has unseated a legally elected president, it is hard to believe that their protests are genuine. The US is also deeply concerned by their waning influence as anti-imperialist governments come to power in one country after another in Latin America. While the Obama regime has declared the coup illegal and stopped some military aid it seems to be happy to drag its feet and still maintains not just diplomatic relations with the rogue government but has not made any move to close its military bases in Palmerolo and Soto Cano even though the UN General Assembly on 30 June declared the coup illegal and have backed Zelaya as the legitimate head of Honduras. Even the tame Organisation of American States (OAS) has unanimously denounced the coup on 4 July, refuses to recognise its interim government and is firmly behind the reinstatement of Zelaya while the EU has broken diplomatic ties with the coupist government and also cut off billions in aid.

The coup took place after the Supreme Court ruled that President Zelaya’s move to sack army chief Romeo Velasquez (the army had refused to perform duties for holding the referendum) was illegal. Velasquez and the Honduran air force chief – chief architects of the coup – are products of the notorious ‘School of the Americas’ – the military training school on US soil that has produced generations of dictators, torturers and killers deployed against any anti-imperialist, democratic or revolutionary forces in Latin America.

Since the three weeks after the coup, Zelaya has tried repeatedly to return. On one hand, there are talks going on with Costa Rica mediating between the coupists and Zelaya. But these talks seem to be going nowhere as the coupists are adamant that Zelaya should not come back or hold his referendum. On the other hand protests within Honduras in favour of Zelaya continue as farmers, workers, teachers, tribal groups, students, women etc. have come out in hundreds on the streets and are opposing the coupists. There have been police firings, killings, assassinations of peoples’ leaders by the military while factories are closed and schools are shut as life in Honduras comes to a complete standstill. World pressure on the rogue government is increasing with its diplomatic isolation growing. Zelaya has promised to go back to Honduras and lead the protests. Many predict that this could lead to civil war.

Fidel Castro has demanded that “the US ends its intervention, stops lending military support to the coup perpetrators and withdraws in military from Honduras”. Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, argues that it is imperative that the White House take a clear position and that this represents a test of Obama who has promised a shift away from Bush’s interventionist foreign policy approach. “Don’t deceive the world with a discourse that contradicts your actions”, he has warned Obama, “Demonstrate that you are disposed to confront the imperialist hawks, if not, it’s better that you go away, because you will end up worse than Bush”!