Hugo Get 'Em: Chavez Stands to be the Big Winner in the Honduran Coup

This past Sunday, Hugo Chavez‘ weekly television broadcast featured a delightful condemnation of a coup that had unfolded against his ally, the now-former (or still current, depending on one’s perspective) President of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya. “There are some old troglodytes behind the troops, using them,” he said (according to one blogger, whose translation came from a post on Venezuelan National Radio’s web site). “You don’t see a single general in the streets. They’re in the barracks, well-protected….Now these soldiers are going to find out what a people is [sic]…the people have started coming out on to the streets. They (the coup leaders) made their move in the early hours of the morning, in a cowardly manner.”

Okay. So it’s pretty hard to put aside the revolutionary bluster. Not only is the stuff reminiscent of the best in really-it’s-cool denialism, but it’s totally fun for outsiders to bask in the glory of the words of a perturbed rhetorical master: “You know, they call us coupmongers for the military action of February 4th, which was a patriotic military action against the bourgeois.”

And so on.

Thing is that, as amusing as Chavez can be when he engages in his wonderful red-top-heaviness, he can, from time to time, bury some real gems in his bullshit. And this weekend he dropped what will certainly rank among the finer examples of his genius. “The Yankee Empire has a lot to do with this,” he told his audience, reminding them of what is widely perceived south of the Rio Grande as at least five decades’ worth of bad North American policy. “I will call the U.S. President so that he speaks on this issue in the same way as we do from the depths of our soul.”

Will Chavez call Obama? Probably. Will he demand a a strong U.S. response to the recent events in Honduras? Maybe. Will Obama issue some kind of statement condemning what’s unfolded there? He already has. But even if his reaction didn’t come thanks to pressure from a Socialist leader whose very handshake seems anathema to a big chunk of the U.S. voting population, still Chavez has here created the illusion that the U.S. President reacted to his demands — positively, no less. For even casual observers of the past five decades’ worth of inter-American politics, this is something more than a little bit remarkable; who did what thanks to who now?

And it gets better. Sunday morning, Reuters was reporting that Zelaya “told Spain’s El Pais that a planned attempt to wrest power [from] him was thwarted after the United States declined to back the move.” The quote? “Everything was in place for the coup and if the U.S. embassy had approved it, it would have happened. But they did not … I’m only still here in office thanks to the United States….” If true, this statement would represent a major policy decision on the part of the Obama White House: Faced with the opportunity to counteract a left-leaning Latin American leader, the United States seems to have said no thank you — a fact which would seem to signal reluctance on the part of the administration to get directly involved in Latin American politics.

If Obama did (and does) indeed keep his nose out of South America, and the Honduran coup is indeed — as Chavez and at least one english-language source claim (grain of salt here, sports fans; after all, Zelaya did engage in his very own Chavezian attempt to achieve less-limited power) — a move by the right to put a dent in the steadily growing Latin American leftist movement, then its leaders could be alone. Very alone. And their failure — which would presumably be brought about by resistance from the leftist populists that they threw out (though the Honduran Congress quickly appointed a new president, and elections there are still scheduled for November 29, it remains to be seen if the military will remain cooperative) — would lead by way of popular rejection to a crowning endorsement of the region’s political track.

And its most vital symbol. No wonder Chavez is so excited.

Update: As of Monday morning, the Honduran Coup leaders seem to be operating without much in the way of international assistance or recognition. We’ll see what happens next…