Drug Trafficking Ties a Factor in Zelaya Overthrow

While it is true that the number of narcoavionetas flying into Honduras nearly doubled during the year after the coup, the numbers had already begun to climb significantly in 2006 -- the first year of the Zelaya administration. By the 2008 (Zelaya's third year), the number of these planes had doubled.

Honduras Weekly
The idea that the huge growth in illegal drug trafficking in Honduras -- and the associated increase in drug-related homicides and violence -- is a recent phenomenon, largely attributed to the overthrow of President Manuel Zelaya in mid-2009 and the instability that it created, is a convenient one that may serve a very narrow political agenda. But it stretches the truth to the point of inaccuracy if you look at the available data for the number of Venezuelan aircraft (the so-called narcoavionetas) landing on remote airstrips in Honduras with shipments of cocaine. According to an annual report published by the Honduran Public Ministry, 55 kilograms of cocaine from these small Cessna-type planes was seized in 2005; 2,714 kgs in 2006; 1,704 kgs in 2007; 6,764 kgs in 2008; and 49,000 kg in 2009. No more than a handful of these planes were indentified in 2005. The numbers grew to between 5-10 in each of the following two years.

A total of 16 planes were identified in 2008 (although many more are believed to have gone undetected), followed by 49 in 2009 (21 of them in the first half of the year, before the Zelaya coup), 94 in 2010, and at least 99 in 2011.

While it is true that the number of narcoavionetas flying into Honduras nearly doubled during the year after the coup due to the suspension of foreign military and financial cooperation and the increased security responsibilities for both the National Police and Armed Forces as a result of mass protests in towns and cities throughout the country, the number of narcoavionetas flights had already begun to climb significantly in 2006 -- the first year of the Zelaya administration.

By the 2008 (Zelaya's third year), the number of these planes had doubled. In fact, it was precisely the concern about Mr. Zelaya's connections to those believed to be behind the flights of the narcoavionetas from Venezuela that helped fuel support for his overthrow within both his administration and his Liberal Party.

To argue that the ousting of Mr. Zelaya was the cause of the drug trafficking crisis in Honduras is not only a disingenuous attempt to rewrite history, it is false. It would be more accurate to state that this crisis and the fear that it generated was one of the factors that led to Mr. Zelaya's removal. (1/31/12) (photo of Manuel Zelaya and Hugo Chávez courtesy Internet)