US Backs Honduran Far-Right, Seemingly Forgetting 2009
Polls open in Honduras with fraud claims, and Al Jazeera acknowledges the 'US backing' the right-wing candidate. What the report politely sidesteps is the uncomfortable history of what happens when the US 'backs' candidates or 'democracy' in Honduras. Rewind to 2009: a democratically elected president, Manuel Zelaya, was forcibly removed by a military coup, an act condemned globally (including by
the UN) but tacitly accepted, then actively supported, by the US under then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The 'fraud accusations' today ring hollow when compared to the actual coup the US helped cement, facilitating years of right-wing rule and instability. It appears Washington's playbook for 'stability' in its 'backyard' hasn't quite evolved beyond cultivating regimes amenable to specific
interests, regardless of local sentiment or democratic principles.