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The Honduran Coup: A Graphic History

If you’re not a fan of comics where you might learn something, you had better move on on to something lighter.  There are plenty of options to choose from on this site, as very few comic creators bother to write about important political and military happenings around the world.  Editorial cartoonists like Tom Tomorrow and Lloyd Dangle, sure, but they’re not telling a lengthy story and they’re restricted to telling things that they can either explain in their weekly strips or are already common knowledge.  Dan has managed to tell the story of this coup from start to finish, and if you just see the word “coup” and think it must be ancient history, nope: this covers the period from 6/28/o9 to as close to present day as publishing this comic allowed.  Dan also gets in the history of the place, as the U.S. and its various corporations have determined the course of history in that country for a very long time.  Manual Zelaya took a few steps to make things better for the common people and was deposed in a military coup for his troubles, and wait’ll you see what happened to the people responsible for the coup.  Here’s a hint: jack shit.  As always Dan’s work is meticulously sourced, so if you have a moment or two when you have a “wait, did that really happen/did they really say that?” moment, it’s easy as can be to check it out for yourself.  In between the mealy-mouthed Democrats who don’t seem to take much of a stand on anything and the lone current crazy Republican sourced, it’s hard to escape the conclusion that this was a bipartisan avoidance of responsibility, which is the way of the world here in the U.S.  Fun fact: torture never had a majority of Americans support it (according to polls), even through all the Bush years, until very recently.  After Obama gave it his tacit endorsement (and that’s what it was when he closed the door on ever prosecuting the war criminals who tortured, a tacit endorsement), suddenly the people who don’t follow the news thought that it must not be that bad if both sides let it go at best and fully approved it at worst.  I don’t mention politics on this site often because that’s not the point of the site, but comics like this bring it out of me.  Anyway, there’s not much point of me spoiling the story.  The end was still a mystery to me, as the media lost interest here after the successful “elections” and I never did hear what happened to all the people who supported the democratically elected guy, not to mention what happened to Zelaya himself.  OK, here’s one spoiler alert: the good guys didn’t win this one.  Then again, that never seems to happen, does it?  I can see why people ignore the news altogether, that’s for sure.  Oh, and this is also a flip book, but it’s the same book twice, just one half in English and one half in Spanish.  I would think two different versions would have made more sense, but I could see where this would be a handy tool in multicultural classrooms… assuming kids are ever allowed to be taught about this shameful episode.  $5