US Democracy: Elections Are 'Free' Unless You Vote Wrong
When the BBC reports a Honduran election “shadowed by Trump aid threats” if his “favoured right-wing presidential candidate does not win,” they dutifully record the obvious. What they don't quite get into is that this 'shadow' is, in fact, the entire U.S. foreign policy playbook for Latin America. From supporting coups against democratically elected leaders like Jacobo Árbenz in Guatemala (1954)
or plunging Nicaragua into civil war (1980s), the US has a rich, brutal tradition of ensuring 'democracy' only votes approved candidates into office. The threat to cut aid isn't a new Trumpian quirk; it's practically a founding document of banana republic foreign relations. One might charitably call this 'democracy promotion,' but it looks an awful lot like bald-faced electoral interference from a
country lecturing others on free and fair elections. How many sovereign decisions about internal affairs can a nation make before it's deemed 'unsuitable' for US financial sponsorship? Apparently, more if your preferred candidate isn't already wearing the stars and stripes.