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The Presidential elections slated for this Sunday November 29th are going ahead as planned despite the breaking of a US-sponsored peace accord that was meant to reinstate ousted President Manual Zelaya. The United States and Panama are the only two countries so far to support the elections. South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint announced earlier this month that he had assurance from the Obama Administration that “the US will recognize the outcome of the Honduran elections regardless of whether Manuel Zelaya is reinstated.” Meanwhile 25 countries called the Rio Group have declared that they will not recognize any government resulting from the elections if Zelaya wasn’t restored. Zelaya for his part has announced that this late in the game, he will not accept any restitution of his position as he does not want to be used to legitimize the elections. Following suit, several popular and leading candidates have withdrawn their candidacies in support of a broad-based boycott of the elections now developing on the ground. Meanwhile, repression has continued to threaten any semblance of democracy. The Michelleti regime has warned of arrests of those encouraging an election boycott, and is pressuring city mayors to profile subversives and turn over lists of people.

GUEST: Tom Louden, Co-Director of the Quixote Center