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Future of Honduras hangs in the balance: As nightly bombs rock the capital, Hondurans are facing Sunday's critical elections with an air of trepidation, with many threatening to stay home.
Nov 29, 2009 (The Miami Herald - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras -- TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras -- Bombs go off nearly every night in the capital here, sending a distinct warning to all who hear the loud booms: Vote at your own risk.
Hondurans take to the polls Sunday to choose a president -- and to end a crisis. But as three top candidates vie to become the leader of this Central American nation of 7.3 million people, the nighttime explosions serve as a treacherous reminder that the last man who was elected president is still holed up at the Brazilian embassy demanding answers.
"The future of this country is at stake," said Luisa Willingham, director of the Tegucigalpa Chamber of Commerce. "The country is at a standstill. We have never had so many protests, and people don't want to leave their houses. We are obligated as Hondurans to have the best elections in history -- under the worst conditions."
Sunday's election is taking place exactly five months after a coup that forced President Manuel "Mel" Zelaya out of the country before dawn. One candidate withdrew, Zelaya's supporters are boycotting, while other members of what has been dubbed the "Resistance Movement" have taken to placing small explosive devices at courthouses and media outlets to menace voters, but not injure them.
"Why should I vote, if the one I chose last time did not get to finish his term?" said teachers union leader Eulogio Chavez. "Does that make sense?"
As thousands threaten to stay home and others vow to turn in blank votes, three men are hoping they will be the one to bring Honduras back together again. Elections, they say, are the first step toward mending a deeply polarized society.
"They did it in Northern Ireland," candidate Elvin Santos said in an interview with The Miami Herald. "I don't see why we would not be able to do it here."
Santos, 46, like Zelaya and his nemesis, de facto president Roberto Micheletti, is a member of the Liberal Party. A constructive company executive who served as Zelaya's vice president, he is running second in the polls to former congressman Porfirio "Pepe" Lobo, a member of the University of Miami's class of 1970.
A third candidate, socialist Cesar Ham, is not expected to win.
Santos and Lobo are in a peculiar bind: They are running for president during one of the worst political crises here in decades, trying hard not to alienate traditional parties that support Zelaya's ouster or the lower income communities that demand his return. They need international recognition, but risk too many votes if they take the international community's position that Zelaya's ouster was illegal.
Their platforms are largely about peace, the future and reconciliation.
"I insist: what's most important is not to talk about the past," said Santos, who graduated from the University of Texas. "It's to bring back peace and tranquility to Honduras, and that's done with elections."
Santos said he does not believe Zelaya's ouster amounted to a coup, but acknowledged that "there could have been elements of lack of defense and expatriation that violated constitutional rights."
But that's someone else's call, he said.
"The behavior of Zelaya and then Micheletti will be judged by history and their consciences," Santos said. "I want to be president of Honduras -- not the judge."
Santos insisted that that way out of Honduran crisis is by fighting poverty.
"Seven out of 10 Honduras are facing a stressful situation: They don't have food. They don't have income," Santos said. "They are receiving less than $2 a day."
His plan is to transfer half the national budget to municipalities so that poor people have more direct access to government spending.
"The events of June 28 divided Honduran families. Some people think there was a coup and some think there was a constitutional succession. The fact is, we have to be above what one sector or another perceives," Santos said. "What can heal the wounds is the application of the law. If something bad was done, it has to be corrected and people have to be found guilty. But it's not fair to condemn a country and its democracy because of the superficial evaluation of third parties."
Zelaya faces criminal treason charges for his attempt to hold a referendum that could have changed the country's constitution. The congress will vote Wednesday on whether to let Zelaya finish the last two months of his term, but neither top candidate will say how they would vote if they were legislators.
"What's important for me are the people," Lobo said in an interview with The Herald. "They are interested in peace. They want investment that generate jobs. They want public safety. They want medicine in their hospitals, and they want a government that's efficient.
"The people do not want fights."
Lobo, who is widely expected to win, has remained so neutral that even he noted that some news articles about him were headlined: "Pepe has no position." In a press conference with the foreign press Friday, Lobo dodged any inquiry about the mess the country finds itself in.
"Look, I'm a member of the opposition party," said Lobo, the National Party candidate. "I want both Micheletti and Zelaya out of there."
The former president of congress, Lobo said his main objective as president-elect would be to launch a national dialogue with all sides -- the church and even Zelaya -- at the table. He refused to mention any proposals, saying his chief job will be to listen to the people.
As a member of congress, his success came in "mobile units" he dispatched to hear people's concerns, Lobo said.
"My presidency will be mobile -- very mobile," he said. "It's not legal decisions or congress that will heal wounds. It's the reconciliation that will take place."
Lobo, 61, is a rancher and farmer who served three terms in Congress. A longtime member of Honduras' political establishment, he lost the 2005 race to Zelaya, a loss he attributed to electoral fraud.
He said he will try hard to repair Honduras' battered international reputation, even if to mend ties with Spain, he has to knock on the King of Spain's door himself.
Under his presidency, issues such as Zelaya's future will be decided by a "national plan" drafted by the dialogue team, he said. It'll be a Honduran Plan, he said, not a National Party plan.
"While we politicians are fighting -- who's coming, who's going, What do I know, the people of Honduras are all washed up," Lobo said. "...My only aspiration is to be president to all of Honduras, to preside over the table where all sectors are seated. We are all Hondurans and we understand that we have to live here, so we have to live in peace and lower tensions."
Lobo's message seemed to resonate with many voters. Some polls show him 15 points ahead.
"The way I see it, you should vote for the one who offers the least, because you know he is going to keep his promises," said Elias Varela, a 48-year-old bus driver from Tegucigalpa. "I'm voting for Pepe. If he promised too much, then he would probably let me down."
Some residents admitted that they would face the polls with trepidation, unsure whether zealots on either side would cause violence on election day.
"I am going to vote if they let me," said Lazaro Paguada, a 64-year-old father of 13 who lives in Olancho, three hours from the capital. "I'm not really worried about the resistance people, but who knows what the police will do on Sunday. They are the ones in charge.
"If I am going to die, I am going to die right there at the poll, giving my vote to Pepe."
Several people interviewed said they planned to turn in blank ballots.
Vilma Casares, an elderly grandmother from Olancho, said although she was sure elections were the only way to end the five-month crisis, she still had not decided who to support.
"These elections are like a tamale. You go to a restaurant and order one, but you don't know if it's going to have meat inside or be empty," she said. "You have to at least give it a try. You're not going to stop eating tamales.
"When I get to the poll, at that moment, God will tell me: 'vote for this one.' "
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