Launch a Military Coup, Hire a High-Power PR Firm and Represent Democracy!

I notice the major papers are now referring to the perpetrators of the military coup in Honduras as the "de facto" government. Quite a benign frame.

Contrary to the prevailing narrative, right-wing elements in Honduras and the United States -- including, according to reports swirling around Latin America, bloody veteran hands from Reagan's dirty wars, like Otto Reich -- had been laying the groundwork for deposing President Manuel Zelaya for several years.

Roberto Micheletti's coup government has done a fine job spinning away the fact that this was the kind of military coup that has been anything but par-for-the-course in recent years in an overwhelmingly democratic Latin America. They've done it with savvy lobbying and PR. Historian Greg Grandin wrote about debating former Clinton confidant Lanny Davis, now a lobbyist representing the coup government, among others:

The Honduras coup occurred on June 28, when soldiers working on behalf of a the small group of business and political elites who now control the country, kidnapped democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya and sent him into exile.

Since then, the military-backed regime of Roberto Micheletti has argued to the world that it was acting constitutionally, even though nearly every country in Latin America, along with the European Union, isn't buying it.

Only in the U.S. is there a debate as to whether the Micheletti government is legal -- largely thanks to the lobbying efforts of Davis.

Not only is there debate in the U.S., it is surreal; consider right-wing lunatic Dana Rohrbacher's recent post on The Hill's blog arguing that through a right-wing military coup a "crisis was averted and the constitutional democracy in Honduras was preserved."

Expect much more of the same kind of nonsense in the immediate future:

The de facto government of Honduras that ousted President Manuel Zelaya has hired a well-known public relations firm to bolster its image in Washington.

According to Justice Department documents, the Honduran government signed Chlopak, Leonard, Schechter & Associates to a four-month contract worth more than $290,000. Filed on Sept. 18 with Justice by the public relations firm, the documents say the company will “advance the level of communication, awareness and media/policy maker attention about the political situation in Honduras.”

The contract comes as the crisis in the Central American country has flared up again. Zelaya, who was exiled to Costa Rica by the Honduran military, has slipped back into the country to try to reclaim his position as president. He has taken shelter with family members in the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital, threatened with arrest if he leaves its grounds.

And how's that "democracy" working out? Well ...

The de facto government shut down two broadcasters on Monday and prevented a demonstration in support of the deposed president, Manuel Zelaya, as sweeping restrictions on civil liberties took effect.

Masked police agents were perched from the windows of a television station, and soldiers formed a barricade around the headquarters of a radio station here after the government shut them down indefinitely.

The police closed off both sides of the street where several hundred demonstrators gathered Monday morning, effectively preventing them from starting their march. The protesters drifted away as it became clear that the march would not take place.

The other government measures, announced late Sunday, prohibit unauthorized public meetings and allow the police to arrest anyone deemed to be a threat.