The political tepidity of Alan García Pérez when faced with Honduras

Raul Weiner

In 1989, the United States conducted a violent occupation of the territory of Panama to arrest by military means the commander general of the Armed Forces of that country, Manuel Antonio Noriega accused of drug trafficking, after having had a long collaboration with the same character for years. In Lima, the young president Alan García Pérez planted a Panamanian flag in the courtyard of the Palace of Government and entoned the anthem of that country, in protest against the imperialist intervention. And on the initiative of the Peruvian government a coalition of Latin American governments was born, known as the Rio Group.

Twenty years later, anolder, fatter and more rightwing Garcia, has experienced once again from the Palace, an act equivalent to the brutal rape of democratic principles and political intervention of a sovereign country. This time it was the military coup in Honduras, carried out with special treachery by the oligarchy in combination with the Latin American right wing and state sectors and the policy of United States. But now the president does not say anything on this very serious event.

The Peruvian government has simply regretted the interruption of democracy in Honduras and expressed their hope for a speedy return to normalcy, and has carefully avoided directly demanding the restitution of President Zelaya in his position and an end to the coup government. This tepidity has contrasted with the positions taken by other governments expressed in the OAS and the UN, where condemnation of the coup has been unanimous and decisive. None of the Peruvian spokespeople in international forums have stood out for their speech.

Meanwhile, APRA leaders who have spoken verbally or in writing to the subject, have been less ambiguous by placing the emphasis on developments on the supposed Chavista responsibility in the political crisis in Honduras, which has dragged the President Zelaya to confront sectors which are defined as "democratic" but do not hesitate to organize and carry out a coup. Formally the government deplores that the constitution has been violated, politically the ruling party blames the victim and third countries, for what happened, and the most loquacious president on the planet has lost his tongue specifically on this topic.

Translated by Kiraz Janicke. Republished from Raul Weiner's Blog