In a surprising outcome, and after having kicked in the Convention of the National Party a carton box representing the fourth ballot box, Pepe Lobo, the candidate of this party, said that he now supports the consultation to amend the Constitution.

What’s eating Pepe now?

Apparently, this confirms my claim a few years ago that Pepe Lobo is an opportunistic hypocrite. However, I think we should not be so hard on him. What politician is not a hypocrite or opportunistic?

And, as the saying goes, to err is human, to forgive is divine. Sectarian critiques of the Liberal Party against Pepe Lobo are blind critiques.

The same happened to the National Party when it declared to be in a “humanist center” Some liberals bother when the National Party takes away their flags. But if they were really sincere, they should welcome this approach from their sister party to the “progressive ideas”. We must leave this stubborn dogmatism that prevailed in the past and make a debate of ideas, not a futile clash of political colors.

For my part I continue to oppose the fourth ballot box, because I think it has a clear intent of perpetuation in power. I don’t know what Mel Zelaya offered to Pepe, but I am still not convinced. By the winds blowing from the south, it is easy to see that these changes may lead to an increase in authoritarianism, which would be regrettable.

It is repeatead that people should be consulted. And who can be against that?

But the thing is that people is only consulted when it suits certain interests. This government is the least inclined to consult people. People were not consulted, for example, if they agree with Honduras joining ALBA, or even knew what the ALBA was all about.

And when the government launched ALBA, Hugo Chavez came to insult anyone who did not agree with their way of seeing things. Such attitudes do not seem very democratic. In a functional democracy, the people need to be properly informed of the decisions of government. The Transparency Law, which would promote greater openness in government activities, proved to be just a paper exercise.

The style of this government is more of enforcing its decisions. It is easy to foresee that at the end they will attempt to impose a constitution based on their clumsy whims. People will not be consulted to see what kind of constitution they want, just whether or not they want a new constitution.

More correct would be to try to draft a constitution and then let the people decide if they support it or not, but if the query is made before, it would be like handing a blank check to the ruling class who would then be able to commit all sorts of abuses.

But even in the most favorable scenario, the consultation process and the drafting of a new constitution is something that would take a long time, such a fundamental change to the nation can not be taken lightly, it would require a series of studies, and to perform many debates. Such things can not be done in a hurry, as the Executive pretends.

The haste with which the Executive wants to make things produces justified suspicion.