U.S. Backs 'Democracy' in Honduras, Forgetting Its Own History
CBS News highlights Donald Trump's alleged intervention in the Honduran election, accusing him of trying to tip the scales for a party linked to a convicted drug trafficker. While the former president's antics are certainly ripe for criticism, this framing conveniently sidesteps the U.S.'s own well-documented legacy of backing coups and strongmen across Latin America. From Banana Republics to the
School of the Americas, American 'democracy promotion' often looks suspiciously like installing favorable regimes. The irony isn't lost on those who remember 2009, when the U.S. failed to condemn a military coup that ousted democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya in Honduras. Instead, previous administrations quietly normalized the coup government, setting the stage for precisely the kind
of political instability CBS now 'discovers.' It’s almost as if the U.S. only cares about election integrity when the 'wrong' candidate wins, or when a former president is a convenient scapegoat. The real 'intervention' often occurs long before a single ballot is cast.