Why Canada and the U.S. are on the 'Wrong Side of Democracy'
Why Canada and the U.S. are on the 'Wrong Side of Democracy'
Posted: 11/13/2013 12:16 pm
Living conditions in Honduras have gone from bad to worse since the democratically elected president Manuel Zelaya was ousted by a military coup in 2009. The rupture of democratic governance has set Honduras back decades. A study by the Washington-based "Center For Economic And Policy Research" notes "In the two years after the coup, Honduras has had the most rapid rise in inequality in Latin America, and now stands as the country with the most unequal distribution of income in the region." From 2010-2012 the extreme poverty rate has increased by 26 per cent.
Hondurans have experienced increased levels of violence since the coup and unprecedented levels of murder and criminalization of politicians, human rights advocates, labor activists, journalists and indigenous leaders. Bertha Oliva of the Committee of Relatives of the Disappeared and Detained in Honduras testified before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACH) that death squads are targeting social leaders and others just months prior to the elections.
Common Frontiers, and the Americas Policy Group, Canadian-based civil society organizations, document in "Honduras: Trade And Investment At The Expense Of Human Rights" some of the shocking statistics of a country in distress: 7,172 murders were committed in 2012 alone (a record high), and an average of 10 massacres per month were recorded in 2013.
Not surprisingly, a poll by the Center for Studies for Democracy (CESPAD) revealed widespread dissatisfaction: Only 3.2 per cent of the population felt that the current development path was to the benefit of the majority of the population; 78 per cent of the people polled were dissatisfied with the current governance; and 98 per cent of Hondurans felt that urgent change was needed.
More:
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/mark-taliano/honduras-democracy_b_4267063.html
