Knee-Jerkin´!

Not surprisingly, the self-proclaimed revolutionaries ready to fight for Latin America at any time (i.e., wealthy white liberals on college campuses who usually know little about actual conditions in Latin America) have jumped on my Zelaya post from yesterday.

Why? Mostly because I claimed that the precedent of not letting the right-wing coup stand is more important than this particular situation in Honduras.

This doesn´t seem too difficult to me. But then, you have bunches of people who have knee-jerk reactions to even the mildest criticism of Chavez or Castro. Given that, I should not find this surprising.

So for those who can´t figure out what I was saying originally, here it is. If the world allows the Honduran coup to suceed, then right-wingers across Latin America will be emboldened to attempt coups of their own. Nicaragua, Bolivia, Venezuela, Paraguay, and other nations--all of whom have democratically elected left-wing governments--will likely face right-wing attempts to eliminate those leaders through violent action. Why? Because conservatives and militaries wouldn´t have any reason to fear that the international community will do anything to stop them.

Despite what some writers want to believe, Zelaya is not some sort of revolutionary leader who is the next Castro or Chavez. He´s pretty much an opportunist. Mind you, I actually wish he was a real progressive leader. But let´s be realistic here. Where´s the evidence?

Honduras is just a small impoverished Central American nation. What happens there does not really affect the rest of the world much. But right-wing coups throughout Latin America would have a profound and chilling effect on the rest of the world.