"Democracy" Honduras Style  |
Honduras politicians go to great lengths to present the Republica de Honduras
as an honest-to-God, fully functional, DEMOCRACY. As evidence, they confidently
point out that Honduras holds elections, as if holding elections proves their case.
Lots of other countries that nobody would call democracies hold elections. Cuba holds
elections, which just makes it a dictatorship that holds elections. By the same line of
reasoning, Saudi Arabia is a dynasty that holds elections. Thailand is a monarchy that
holds elections. So it goes.
Politically, Honduras is neither a Democracy nor a Republic, and calling it so doesn't
make it so. Abraham Lincoln once spoke out on the matter of political labeling. "I
have a cat named Tom, " Mr. Lincoln declared.
"He's my cat, so I can call him anything I want. I can even call him a dog. But
calling him a dog isn't going to make him a dog." This is how it is with democracy.
There are functional requirements to be met before the "Democracy" label can be
honestly claimed, and Honduras doesn't measure up to them.
A Political Democracy and a Political Republic share some crucial characteristics:
First, both systems of government must be conducted by the people, and carried out
directly by the people or through their elected representatives; and, Second, both
political arrangements must adhere to the principles of full social equality. Respect for
the individual must prevail throughout the body politic, regardless of ethnic
origin, skin color, religious preference, etc.
As anyone who knows Honduras will quickly see, Honduras fails both tests. Functionally,
as well as by definition, Honduras is a serial-oligarchy.
It's "serial" because the reins of government regularly get passed back
and forth between the Nacionales and the Liberales, (with an occasional
"golpe" by the army, to keep both of the "Red" and the
"Blue" political parties reminded of who is really in charge). It's an
"oligarchy" because Honduras meets the textbook definition of "Government
by a few, especially by a small faction of persons or families."
Note the absence of any reference to either direct intervention or a continuing role in
decision-making on the part of the citizens of the country. Oligarchs don't feel any need
for "outside" help in governing, and, needing it or not, they don't tolerate it.
They justify this attitude as the basis for their "firm hand." More of ten than
not, the firm hand amounts to an "iron fist."
Official population figures for 1996, reveal that Honduras is comprised of the
following ethnic fractions:
Mestizos - (mixed Indian and European) 90%
Indians - 7%
Blacks - 2%
Whites - 1%
Nearly all of the top Honduras officials are drawn from the "white" 1% of the
population. Such exceptions as do infrequently occur, tend to be limited to Mestizos who
are extremely well-placed in the military establishment.
That Honduras holds elections must be seen as more of a public relations gesture than a
defining element in determining the type of government it has. In recent years, however,
the ruling clique has turned the election process into an important tool for the
protection of active elected officials, as well as their family members and cronies.
More of this later.
On November 30, 1997, Honduras will conduct a national election. According to the law
of the land, every Honduran who has attained his or her eighteenth birthday is required to
vote, under pain of a twenty-Lempira multa should they fail to do so. The multas have
seldom been collected, but whether collected or not, they could be because that is the
law.
It's an unfortunate demographic fact that a large segment of the Honduras population is
illiterate; totally illiterate; can't read or write anything! Nevertheless, the Honduras
voting law says everybody who has reached voting age must vote. It is only under close
examination that this requirement comes into useful focus as part of the electoral
"numbers game."
From a qualitative standpoint, the larger the proportion of illiterate (unqualified)
voters who mark a ballot, the less reliable and more random the results of the election
will necessarily be. An election vote in a democracy is supposed to represent the best,
most informed, most intelligent, collective judgment of the nation. Regardless of
whatever other human qualities they might reflect, illiterate voters are not
equipped to contribute to the quality of national decision-making.
Quite the contrary, the more illiterate and politically/economically un-informed voters
who mark ballots in a national election, the less validity the polling results will have.
How could it be otherwise?
Sheer numbers of voters (quantity) is not an acceptable substitute for individual voter
qualifications (quality) in collective decision-making. If it were, then the interests of
the political society would be best served by extending the voting privilege/obligation to
every citizen from the cradle to the grave. If voter qualifications are deemed
unimportant, and only numbers of voters count, then why not have everyone mark a ballot.
That would surely produce a larger number of votes to brag about in the press releases.
Nations conduct elections for a variety of reasons, beside the obvious one of
determining public attitudes as an input to the framing of national policies. The most
obvious reason for holding elections (in nations that pay little if any attention to
balloting results after the exercise is over) is to maintain the illusion on the part of
the citizens that they are "participating" in their government.
Perhaps, therefor, holding an election once in a while reduces the tendency of
disenfranchised citizens to rise up in revolt against an unfeeling and unresponsive
political power structure. Of equal and perhaps even greater moment, an election is a
magnificent image-building device for authoritarian regimes.
Josef Stalin, arguably the most iron-fisted dictator in the modern era, understood and
appreciated the usefulness of holding an election once in a while - even when there was
only one set of candidates (hence, no choice whatsoever) on the ballot!
Nikolai Lenin called religion "the opium of the people." Josef Stalin called
elections "tranquilizers for the people." They still are.
But however useful an election might be deemed as a palliative for an otherwise restive
population, an election can also serves as coin of the realm in buying international
respectability for an otherwise authoritarian, tyrannical and abusive regime. The mere
charade of an election, however it might parody the real meaning of the term, conjures up
a vision of political permissiveness on the part of the political bosses. An election,
even in places like Burma, Somali and Zaire, softens the hard edge of international
judgments, and prompts thoughts or statements like, "Well, that Burmese, Cuban,
Somali, or Zaire - or (you fill in the blank) government can,t be too bad, because they
allow their people to vote!"
An international attitude like this makes it easier to arrange government-to-government
loans, bi-lateral military protection treaties, grants in aid, non-governmental grants
from private foundations, and low-interest - or no-interest - loans from multi-national
sources like the International Monetary Fund, the International Development Bank, etc.
Viewed in the light of pure pragmatism, having elections can be very good business,
regardless of the underlying government philosophy and the de-facto governmental system in
force.
In the case of Honduras, the election function has an additional benefit in sustaining
and strengthening the corrupt political and economic status-quo.
A great many federal governments and their political systems can be described as
corrupted, in which case corruption stands as an exception to the rule of usually honest
and responsible federal administration.What makes Honduras different is that, unlike a
system that is merely occasionally corrupted, in Honduras, corruption is the system.
Hence, instead of an aberration, in Honduras, corruption is the modus vivendi; the
accepted way of national political life.
In view of this fact, it should not be surprising to discover that the election
processes have, themselves, been turned to the direct service of those who make a
continuing practice of avoiding, evading, breaking and using the nations laws, courts and
legal processes to shield themselves from having to answer for criminal conduct.
Most Hondurans, according to recently-conducted rank-and-file interviews, are unaware
that all of their public officials are totally immune from laws that apply to everyone
else in the country. Most Hondurans are unaware that the most notorious criminals in
Honduras can find immunity from the law by just having their names placed on the ballot
for an upcoming election!
When a Honduras politician talks about "a nation of laws", he's talking about
laws for everybody except himself and the rest of the politicians, all of whom are
shielded from legal liabilities of every kind, by virtue of being either elected or
appointed officials, or candidates running for office.
Former President Callejas recently admitted in a La Tribuna report that the National
Party has included persons accused of corruption on its slate of political candidates in
order to grant them immunity. According to Honduran law, candidates as well as
congressmen, substitute congressmen, elected and appointed officials receive legal
immunity and therefore cannot be charged with any kind of crime.
Callejas specifically referred to the case of Mauricio Kattan, brother of
congressman Carlos Kattan, and whom the "Red" Attorney General's office
has accused of corruption. By including him as a candidate for Cortes department, he
(Callejas) said, Kattan avoided going to jail for a crime he didn't commit and in this way
he will be able defend himself against political persecution."
Callejas plays very loosely with both law and language in this statement. First, he
seems to have already tried the case and rendered his own private decision that Kattan is
innocent. He did this without need for a Court hearing of any kind. Second, with the
immunity conferred on Kattan by virtue of his being listed as a "candidate" on
the ballot, there will be no reason for him to "defend himself against political
persecution." since nobody can even place a charge against him!
Note that whenever a crook with political "connections" gets caught breaking
the law, any attempt to hold him responsible in a court of law is always labeled
"political persecution." Always! It is only members of the "other"
political party who are described as "criminals."
Jorge Zelaya, a current member of the Honduras Chamber of Deputies who is running for
reelection, put the case far more dramatically. In accordance with your author's solid
conviction that absolutely everything is for sale in Honduras, Congressman Zelaya has
offered to sell his legal immunity for one million Lempiras. This is how Reuters News
Service reported the story:
__________________________________________________________________
Honduran Offers $76,000 Gamble On Legal Immunity
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (Reuters) September 18, 1997-
In a swipe at government corruption, a Honduran politician Thursday offered to sell his
nomination to Congress -- and the immunity from prosecution that success at the polls
would bring.
``There are people who need immunity, people who are on the outside and want in, people
who will offer any amount of money, so here is (a nomination) for sale,'' Jorge Zelaya, a
legislator for the opposition National Party who is seeking re-election, told reporters.
``Candidates for Congress include people who have killed, people who have stolen
from the public purse, or have other problems with the law,'' Zelaya said. ``For a million
lempiras ($76,500), I'll step down, buy another seat and rent it out.''
``I don't need immunity,'' he added. ``I don't owe money to anybody. I'm not breaking
the law. I'm not planning to kill anybody. I'm not behind in my taxes.''
In Honduras, parliamentary immunity is used to avoid prosecution for crimes, debts, non-payment
of alimony or child support, and corruption, according to politicians and analysts.
In Zelaya's own party, former President Rafael Callejas is running for Congress despite
a host of corruption allegations against him stemming from his 1990-94 term. Candidates
for the ruling Liberal Party have also been stained by corruption charges.
A National Party official later said none of the party's nominations would be for sale.
The party has said it will seek to amend the immunity law during the next Congress.
Honduras will hold general elections Nov. 30 to select a president, three vice
presidents, 128 legislators, 20 members of the Central American Parliament and 296 mayors.
(Reuters NewsWire)
_________________________________________________________________
With this as first-person testimony, what more could possibly be needed to identity the
Honduras election procedures as just another tool of corruption? Yet the fact that
Honduras holds elections is regularly cited by Honduras politicians as a reason the nation
deserves respect from the rest of the international community. This is tantamount to
Chicago,s once-famous gangster, Al Capone, seeking community acceptance because he always
attended mass during Semana Santa.
In the case of Honduras elections, however, they lose whatever mitigating effect they
might otherwise have on the Honduras image as a rogue nation, because the election laws
have been specifically designed to shield known "political" criminals from laws
that have been passed to capture and punish all other criminals!
A Nacionalista official is quoted in the story as saying that his political party will
"seek to amend the immunity law during the next congress."
The immunity law doesn't need to be amended. It needs to be repealed. Until it is,
everyone who allows his or her name to appear on the ballot, as a candidate for anything,
is publicly announcing his or her membership in the "lawless society" that the
immunity law creates. Anyone with an iota of self-respect would not allow his or her good
name to be sullied by public association with such a confederation of known murderers,
thieves, family deserters, tax-evaders and lesser criminal types.
Honduras will have its election on November 30, 1997. The occasion will be trumpeted
far and wide as an event of great significance for Honduras, for Central America, and the
"free world" in general. The election will be offered up globally as
"proof" that Honduras comes down solidly on the side of candidates of DEMOCRATIC
ideals and government of the people, by the people and for the people.
U. S. Ambassador James F. Creagan might even go so far as to repeat his earlier
declaration that the election - regardless of how it turns out - adds to the Honduras
"Democratic tradition."
But anybody who knows anything about Honduras politics will not be fooled by the
political fuss and publicity fanfare. A Honduras election is all sham, pretense, and
elaborately arranged window-trimming. Necessarily so, since the system it represents
is rotten to the core.
It will take much more than a quadrennial election charade to effect any lasting
changes in this poverty-stricken, socially abandoned, malnourished, ill-educated and
vastly exploited land.
It probably makes no difference which party wins, be it "Blue" or
"Red" - although it is the "Blue's" turn at bat. None of the
previous changes in administrations that this reporter has been observing and
writing about for three decades, have brought any kind of discernible improvement into the
lives of ordinary Hondurans. One more change isn't likely to produce a different result.
This, because a Honduras election isn't about the people, or the needs of the people.
A Honduras election is about power. Political control. Illicit enrichment. Immunity for
the privileged criminals walking free among us. Perpetuation of private power domains, at
the cost of national stature and sovereign honor. It's about the continuation of corrupt
schemes that enrich the political elite, while further impoverishing the nation, itself,
and the unfortunates that populate it.
It's about "DEMOCRACY", Honduras style.
So remember! Election Day is November 30. DON'T FORGET TO VOTE!
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