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Of the coups d'etat of Honduras and Paraguay

First of all, I begin by stating that I am calling it a coup d'état because after months of investigation, the report of the Truth Commission is the name as it was called in the case of Honduras and it is the name that the international controversy will lead to two years of suffering to the Paraguayan people.

The similarities are many, in both cases it is a social and ideological litigation between a conservative capitalist current against ideas of socialist court. The interests of a class that has been dominating power for years against the threat of reforms that undermine its status. The ignorance of other models and stubbornness to keep processes wrong copied from other contexts.

It differs, that in the case of Paraguay, the procedure exists tacitly in the figure of Political Trial and that has already been applied in several occasions; the controversy is the urgency in which it has been executed. At case of Honduras It must have been invented by twisting the arm of the law in a trick of a foxy lawyer that nobody managed to digest under the name of "Automatic cessation of functions" and later "Constitutional Succession". The report of the Truth Commission finally suggested that the Political Trial should be implemented in Honduras and after the crisis in Paraguay we will surely have it in a couple of years.

There is also a great difference between the acceptance of Lugo in a public way and his supposed decision to remain in Paraguay. In the Honduras case was taken out of the country in pajamas and was placed in Costa Rica, of course in the pajama bag all his credit cards. In both cases, beyond the folkloric, the two publicly manifest an irregularity, an attack on democracy and the world gave them. The social upheaval of Honduras led to a year of revolts, which I do not think is so extreme in Paraguay; the gain in this was for the nascent party Freedom and Refoundation that takes to the socialist movement to a level of participation that does not stop to worry the two traditional parties; not because they are afraid of him but because his deteriorated political management provoked him.

Similarly, the state pods continued in their place, the military on the sidelines in their barracks and the media playing an invaluable role as one who sells the peanuts in the stands of the circus. Offered at their convenience instead of maintaining neutrality.

And then international diplomacy with the same game, leftist countries do not recognize him, the rest is called silence waiting for comedy scene. It reminds me of the tin-Tin in America, where it shows how the countries of the Nordic context see us in the midst of coups and clowns.

CONCLUSIONS

Definitively, international politics requires a more valid update in the face of new inventions "made in Latin America" ​​with rules and a less bland role of the OAS in clearly identified patterns:

  1. The new model of coups d'état. This already constitutes a pattern and political judgment seems to lend itself to it. Although we had seen self-coups against other powers, the "constitutional blow" to the executive with legal support will occur every time the other two powers agree.
  2. The new model of dictatorships. Nor do we ignore that what the populist phenomenon has been doing with the theme of perpetual reelection in the Hugo Chávez style is far from what was a classic military dictatorship. With many social benefits, the pattern is too dangerous to be believed only the cherry. Who stops him?
  3. International intervention. While the OAS is no longer able to send blue helmets to overthrow a de facto government, the democratic charter allows them to play with the weak side of these countries that focuses on their sad economies, cut cooperation funds, limit multilateral lending, and close borders. In the case of Honduras it is recognized that the OAS could have prevented the crisis or at least be more aware of what was happening. If the OAS is not updated, the risk of intervention is dangerous.

And in our case, if we want the Europeans to stop seeing us on top, we should stop using them. Tremendo reto!

Our problem is no longer coups or dictatorships, but our weak participation to demand that those who choose to fulfill their campaign promises, continue the long-term plans and make greater investments in education, health, housing and security Social. Greater education will make us more careful when choosing and it will also give us better ideas to participate in such a way that the law is applied and reduce the corruption vices that currently exist because of us and not the politicians.

We must fall into the consciousness that no one will come to us to move forward, that any solution must come out of ourselves. Of course, that with the contribution of seeing what has worked for others. There's nothing wrong with going to see how the Nordic countries have done, what it does -and does- Spain, what the United States does, what Chile did, what Peru, Costa Rica does; see other scenarios opens the vision and gives us more arguments. Do not copy / paste and adapt to the context long-term policies that are not dropped every four years and strengthen citizen participation, which is the greatest guarantor of continuity.

Of course, it could be a lot to ask. But towards there we must aim and in the measure of our reach we must contribute from our spaces. With realism but without losing optimism.

If there is a gain from these crises, it is that every day we are more aware of things that we may have always known. That irreversible damage be done to the bipartisanship, that the rulers know that we will be watching them and that each day we seek more participation ... even if we have to throw them away through political judgment.

A negative point is whether this judgment really obeys the restraint of abuse and not the litigation of powers that does not add to the flaming independence. It would be interesting to see a blow to the Legislative Branch for being usurping the work of the executive with a budget for subsidies in projects, for using the funds of Parliament to campaign politically despite the law prevents it. It is also disastrous that the most affected after a political crisis is the population as the deterioration of the economy and social stability requires years to recover.

In two years, the report of the truth commission of Paraguay will say:

  • What was a coup
  • That they are all guilty
  • That the amnesty covers them all

In conclusion, nothing happened.

Golgi Alvarez

Writer, researcher, specialist in Land Management Models. He has participated in the conceptualization and implementation of models such as: National Property Administration System SINAP in Honduras, Management Model of Joint Municipalities in Honduras, Integrated Cadastre-Registry Management Model in Nicaragua, Territory Administration System SAT in Colombia . Editor of the Geofumadas knowledge blog since 2007 and creator of the AulaGEO Academy that includes more than 100 courses on GIS - CAD - BIM - Digital Twins topics.

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One Comment

  1. Excellent article, I am Honduran writing from Nicaragua. It forces the people of Paraguay who, beyond that, whether or not it was a coup d'état, is the one that suffers most from the bad decisions of politicians.

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