Those clans, who form an oligarchy in the impoverished Central American state, were unnerved by Zelaya's sharp turn to leftwing populism after he took power in 2006, the Honduran experts say.

Although the nation's supreme court authorized the president's arrest on June 28, it was the families that plotted his ouster, said one analyst, Roberto Briceno, head of the Autonomous University of Honduras's sociology department.

"The blows against the oligarchy, which was used to controlling all the governments, were the real reason for the coup d'etat," he said.

Zelaya, a wealthy rancher and lumber magnate, had been elected in late 2005 as a conservative candidate acceptable to the vested interests of the country's rich and powerful set.

But in 2008 he abruptly moved to the left, coming under the sway of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who is seeking to form an anti-US, anti-capitalist bloc in Latin America.

"Powerful groups -- the bosses of energy and pharmaceutical companies, among others -- saw that Zelaya was no longer defending their interests and noted his alliance with Chavez. And that's where you have the causes," Briceno said.

In January this year, Zelaya increased the minimum salary from 189 dollars a month to 289 dollars, sparking multiple lawsuits by furious employers.

He also undermined profits by fuel distributors in the country by turning to Chavez's Petrocaraibe scheme, under which countries buy subsidized Venezuelan oil on favorable terms, and he suspended supply contracts for the big drugs companies.

His attempt to hold an informal referendum without required congressional approval was merely one offense more, the analysts said, but one that supplied legal ammunition for Zelaya's detractors.

"The government led by Mr Zelaya has systematically violated the constitution and the laws," Honduras's Private Enterprise Council declared on June 28, using the same justification as the supreme court and military.

"He upset the interests of the big company bosses, which had never happened before here. And for that, they couldn't forgive him," said another academic, Roberto Salinas.

"The coup d'etat was born in the oligarchy's intolerance, which rejected even the smallest reform that might bring in better conditions for the people," argued a colleague of Briceno's, sociologist Marcial Urquia.

Companies and employer groups, all of which back the de facto government replacing Zelaya's, have nonetheless agreed to accept a price-freeze on basic aliments such as chicken and butter to help the poor that make up 70 percent of the population.

In Honduras is "the theater of a war between two visions of the world: the neo-liberal model... and the new vision of Latin American socialism," said Efrain Nieto, a professor in the Honduras university's literary department.

Share This Article With Planet Earth

del.icio.us	Digg	Reddit
YahooMyWeb	Google	Facebook

Related Links
Democracy in the 21st century at TerraDaily.com

Memory Foam Mattress Review

SPACE MEDIA NETWORK PROMOTIONS Solar Energy Solutions Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison ... Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News