Negotiations are under way for the return of ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya. But here in Miami, a different conflict is brewing.
On Tuesday, the Miami Herald ran an opinion piece about the removal of the mustachioed political leader. Writer Glenn Garvin described President Zelaya as "an erratic leftist who styles himself after his good pal Hugo Chávez of Venezuela."
Members of the Miami-based Party for Socialism and Liberation say they plan to protest both the Herald's news and editorial coverage of the ouster. The location: outside the newspaper's bayfront building. The group's state coordinator Emmanuel Lopez says he takes issue with more than just the opinion piece. Even the news articles are slanted too far to the right. "They're really distorting coverage," he says. "They're portraying [Zelaya] as left wing nutcase... it's clear propaganda."
Lopez said this morning he wasn't yet ready to reveal details of the demonstration.
The Herald's Executive Editor Anders Gyllenhaal defends the coverage. "Our coverage has been exhaustive," he says. "We've got a good number of staffers [in Honduras] and our goal is to tell all sides of the story...any reasonable person would think today's profile was a balanced piece of journalism."
As for the editorial? "That was one person's opinion," he says.
