Justifying militarization in Honduras
All of Central America is affected by drug-related violence. Nine people just died in Honduras in a Mara shootout. I can't help but connect this to the efforts on the part of those who opposed the coup to continue protesting against the government. As RAJ notes, the Lobo Sosa government has already begun militarizing the confrontation with unarmed peasants.
So at what point does drug trafficking become the perfect rationale for using more military/police force against any form of protest? On the other hand, up to this point the government has not seemed to bother with providing much legal rationale, so perhaps it is a moot point.
2 comments:
Not a moot point at all. The Lobo Sosa administration has actively tried to link the campesinos of the Bajo Aguan with drug trafficking, and the recent upsurge in murders of journalists who have reported on this conflict has also been blamed on drug trafficking. More generally, Adrienne Pine argues in her published work that portraying Honduras as inherently violent is a well-established way to justify state violence-- such as extra-judicial killings of youths.
RAJ, would you be able to explain more of what's going on with this recent spat of murdered journalists ? I understand many of them are occurring in the north - like the Ceiba area.
I hear about these murders but I haven't found a lot of reliable sources for news in Honduras...
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