There are two competing narratives out there about the [2009] Honduras coup, and everything I have ever learned about Latin America tells me that both of them are unbelievable.Read more.
Narrative A--let's call it the "epiphany narrative", is being promulgated by U.S. lefties like Al Giordano and Caracas-based Chavez-ista Eva Golinger. In this version, Manuel Zelaya, scion of landed aristocracy, runs for President of Honduras on a center-right platform, and wins. Halfway into his term, overwhelmed by the injustice and poverty he now realizes exist in Honduras, he turns his back on his class origins, becomes a populist, allies with Hugo Chavez. Soon the military (backed, of course, by unnamed powerful oligarchs [of primarily Palestinian origin] and the CIA) kidnaps the brave new populist in a vicious coup d'etat.
Narrative B--let's call it the "pajama democracy narrative" comes from the right, and it's even more incredible. In this one, Zelaya is a foaming, power-hungry leftist who falls under the thrall of Hugo Chavez, then tries to force a referendum in order to ensure he can be President for as long as he likes. The legislature and supreme court, horrified by this flaunting of Honduran law, pass a resolution to oust Zelaya for his illegal acts, then unleash some S.O.A.-trained generals to keep Honduras safe for democracy. They uphold the rule of law by grabbing the pajama-clad president in the middle of the night and flying him to Costa Rica.
Neither of these narratives works for me.
So what's really going on in Honduras?
Floating placidly in the crystal-clear Caribbean Sea some 40 miles off the country's north coast, culturally-distinct Roatan and the other Bay Islands of Honduras are largely immune to the endemic governmental corruption, semi-failed-state-ness, unnerving political and judicial instability, grinding narco-criminality, and dismaying societal disfunction (the "gift that keeps giving," courtesy of a pervasive, culturally-imposed, largely unquestioned, pernicious religious dogma) our fellow countrymen on Mainland Honduras too often find themselves -- heartbreakingly -- immersed in.
Fortunately, risk-averse travelers who wish to visit the Bay Islands can easily avoid the sometimes anxiety-triggering mainland experience altogether. Direct, non-stop flights to Roatan's International Airport (RTB) from various international gateways (Houston, Atlanta, Miami, San Salvador, Milan, Toronto, etc.) make travel to the Bay Islands very similar to visiting any other politically-stable, tranquil, secure, tourist-friendly Caribbean destination.
Bound as we are to "Continental Honduras" by historic events, and -- more recently -- by brotherly love and patriotic solidarity, we Bay Islanders always keep our terra firma compatriots in our thoughts, wishing them peace, tranquility, security, and the associated superior quality of life and relative prosperity we are so fortunate to enjoy here in these truly special, exceptionally beautiful Bay Islands of Honduras.
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