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Read or listen to the mainstream media these days and you get the impression that Sunday’s coup in Honduras was all about a simple disagreement over the constitutionality of presidential term limits. But as the coup unfolds it’s becoming clear that the authorities want something more: the restoration of Honduras’s conservative political order and an end to President Manuel Zelaya’s independent foreign policy which had reached out to leftist countries like Cuba and Venezuela.

As part of their effort to consolidate power officials have moved quickly to restrain the free flow of information, in particular by cracking down on progressive leaning media. Only TV stations sympathetic to the newly installed coup regime have been left alone while others have been shut down. The climate of repression is similar to what we have seen elsewhere in Latin America in recent years. Specifically, there are eerie parallels to the April, 2002 coup in Venezuela when the briefly installed right wing government imposed a media blackout to further its own political ends.

Perhaps somewhat tellingly, the Honduran army cut off local broadcasts of the Telesur news network which is sponsored by leftist governments including Venezuela, Uruguay, Argentina and Cuba. Adriana Sivori, Telesur’s correspondent in Tegucigalpa, was in her hotel room speaking on the telephone to her network when ten soldiers arrived with rifles drawn. The men unplugged Telesur’s editing equipment in an effort to halt the network’s coverage of protests in support of ousted President Manuel Zelaya.

Oct. 21 (Bloomberg) — The world financial crisis will lead to an important relocation of wealth across the globe. Not all emerging markets are poised to take advantage of it.

Latin America’s historic economic deficiencies, such as overdependence on commodity exports and severe budget constraints, are now combining with the rebirth of a flawed pro-government, anti-market mentality. If translated into economic policies, these weaknesses will hurt productivity, foster corruption and jeopardize the chances of Latin America strengthening its role in the global economy.

From 1970 through 2007, Latin America’s share of worldwide gross domestic product remained unchanged at a 5.7 percent, while Asia boosted its share from 18 percent to 29 percent, according to United Nations data.

In three decades, China increased its participation in the global economy sixfold, from less than 1 percent in 1980 to 5.9 percent in 2007, while India’s share more than doubled, to 2.6 percent. Latin America wasn’t nearly as successful. As a share of the world’s economy, Brazil fell from a peak of 2.4 percent in 1980 to 2.1 percent last year, Mexico from 1.4 percent to 1.2 percent, and Argentina from 0.94 percent to 0.77 percent.

These figures should be a wake-up call to Latin Americans. Between 2003 and 2007, the region was beguiled by what I like to call the four C’s: Commodities, Commerce, Currency and Credit.