Magical realism -- A coup in Honduras, so 20th century!

For U.S. magical realists, a coup becomes a coup after Washington defines it as such. On March 10, 1952, Cuban General Fulgencio Batista grabbed power and sought to legitimize his coup by holding fake elections. Magically, the coup makers won; Washington recognized Batista. In 1964, Brazil's military removed President João Goulart and covered naked crime with electoral fig leaves, as if coups came with routine republicanism. In 2009, few imagined military goons taking orders from a corrupt supreme court, kidnapping a President and exiling him to Costa Rica. Fewer imagined Costa Rican President Oscar Arias cooperating with kidnappers and instead of charging them with major felonies, allowed them free return in their military plane. More 21st Century Magical Realism surfaced when Arias evolved from collaborator to mediator - with U.S. and OAS blessing. Washington could have frozen the plotters' assets, or denounced the coup-supporting Honduran congressional hooligans for producing a fake resignation letter by President Manuel Zelaya, one he had not signed and with the wrong date.