A New Coup against Honduras: The 'Shock Doctrine' Conference  http://quotha.net/node/1746

On May 4th through 6th a conference titled "Honduras is Open for Business" will be held in the city of San Pedro Sula. According to the official site, this gathering "aims at re-launching Honduras as the most attractive investment destination in Latin America". The government of Honduras has invited over 1000 corporations to bid on at least 147 projects (it is unknown how many projects are being withheld from the public) with an estimated value of $14.6 Billion USD. This figure is only slightly less than what the annual Gross Domestic Product of Honduras was in 2010 ($16.3 Billion USD).

According to the official "Honduras is Open for Business" agenda, those scheduled to speak during the conference include the Under-Secretary of Commerce for International Trade at the U.S. Department of Commerce , Francisco J. Sanchez; ex-president and implementer of the "Democratic Security" policy of Colombia, Alvaro Uribe; the world’s richest individual, Mexican billionaire, Carlos Slim; Stanford Economist and promoter of so-called "Charter Cities", Paul Romer; and Shen-Chung Lin, who "currently functions as the Adjunct Minister of the Ministry of Economic Affairs of the Republic of China (Taiwan)".

This conference, with its billions in proposed private financing is a new coup aimed against the democratic right of the Honduran people to participate in the decisions that affect them most. If implemented, many of these projects would displace large amounts of Hondurans from their homes or introduce unfamiliar products that would cause untold harm to the country. "Honduras is Open for Business" is also a jolt to the conscience, considering that the U.S. government and multinational corporations are so eager to treat Honduras as an investment experiment at a time when the nation suffers from widespread social conflict and gross human rights violations.