Army take street in Honduras - whiffs of Coup d'Etat

by ogi Sat Jun 27, 2009 01:59

nice article, thought id just inform readers that;

it's not a referendum he's/ the government is/are proposing... its more of an opinion poll,
this might seem strange to european readers, and also to most south american's too, but the government decided to have a non-binding kind of referendum on whether or not the people would like to have a referendum on the issue of reelection... meaning a president can be elected as many times as the people decide... much like european countries,, such as eire and spain.. germany, italy....etc... strange stuff.. but as you say .. even a non-binding referendum can cause havok in small american countries, especially if they're within the ambit of capital city......
all i can say at this point is good luck to them and i hope that ALBA's disposition to help honduras is a strong enough threat to detter the would-be 'golpistas'

by iosaf Sat Jun 27, 2009 13:28

I feel a bit guilty for not balancing my report and giving the "other side". The army under General Romeo Vasquez refused to distribute the ballot boxes arguing that was political and therefore non-constitutional behaviour, once the president fired the General, the supreme court ruled he should be re-instated and the parliament moved to pass a law disallowing referenda within a certain time limit before or after elections. The president sent his party members into the barracks to get the ballot papers and distribute them whilst defying the supreme court ruling with the words "they do not serve democracy but only the rich".

I admit the bias in my reporting above - it is a prejudice which comes from a profound & educated mistrust of the imbalance of powers exercised actively or held implicitly by the various estates which make up any society. Of all the estates, executive, legislative, judicial, media, military, academic, labour etc., the sector which is most obviously capable of substituting the machinery and apparata of the state but inately incapable of guaranteeing the freedoms and liberties which are the responsibility of the state is the military. It is my opinion, belief and passionate position which sometimes causes prejudiced reporting of news such as the "Honduran crises" that the military must never be understood to take a political position & that to argue that they have only taken a political position with real social repercussions (such as deployment on civilian streets) because of their respect for the constitution and noble duty not to be political is trickery, intimidation, sabre-rattling and as I wrote in the title - whiffs of coup d'etat .

In which vein I find it very hard to sympathise with the sentiments offered by General Vazquez in an interview justifying his behaviour granted to TeleSur.

We in the international community can not tolerate even the merest hint of military intervention to overturn, maintain or correct Latin American legislatures or executives. It is a sad fact that to my knowledge (correct me if I'm wrong) no army has ever gone to the street to topple overturn, uphold or correct a Latin American judicial ruling.

& so the "popular consulation" which might, as the last commentator rightfully points out, fall short of what we may understand as a referendum in Ireland (????) tomorrow will be held in an air of decreasing tensions and heightened interest across the hispanic world with an institutuional declaration of support from the OAS.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organization_of_American_State
spanish language "non-biased" BBC report
http://www.bbc.co.uk/mundo/america_latina/2009/06/09062...shtml
less updated BBC report in English
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8120161.stm
Telesur feature (most of the articles of which are to be frank just as biased as my reports but there is the interview with General Vazquez)
http://www.telesurtv.net/noticias/afondo/especiales/Gol...uras/

by iosaf Sun Jun 28, 2009 17:45

Seemingly he got all confident as soon as the OAS and specifically the USA voiced support for him and decided to go out of the presidential palace for the first time in a week. Whereupon he was bagged by soldiers ("brutally" he says) & flown to Costa Rica. From his new home he has called for pacific civil disobedience to the new military regime.

This is not Pinochet - Allende sort of stuff but nor is it Michael Jackson king of pop. As is usual with coup'detats there are certain signs, signs indeed which are so usual in fact that you should learn to recognise them before going on holliers.

* the TV isn't working.
*the radio isn't working either except for one channel which plays repetitve military ditties. (not Michael)
*the public transport isn't working
*there are lots of tanks on the streets.
*there are helicopters in the air.

It shall be interesting to see when the military give a new interview to Telesur - or who they want to replace Zelaya, unless of couse they're going to be really oldfashioned and just do the job themselves junta style.

by iosaf Sun Jun 28, 2009 19:48

de jure Roberto Micheletti as the head of Congress or Honduran equivalent to the more familiar banana republic title chean chomhairle he automatically assumes constitutional power in the absence of the president.

But this is where & exactly when it gets interesting - the first days of a coup d'etat generally carry the longest nights. English language sources such as wikipedia will tell us Micheletti has proclaimed himself president and is expected to be sworn in hours. Spanish language sources (and they speak Spanish in Honduras) such as wikipedia aren't so quick to give Micheletti that job description. Indeed other Spanish language sources outside of the encyclopedias which we can write ourselves - tell us that Micheletti is either

* a plotter (damned by his previous disagreements with the currently exiled legitimate president even though they are fellow party members and perhaps piqued by his failure to win the nomination for the next presidential election)

* a hostage of the army who is being held in an un-disclosed location.

__________________________________________________________________________

The Honduran army are being really cocky folks. The ambassadors of Venezuela, Cuba & Nicaragua were held hostage in the first stages of the coup & their respective diplomatic legations violated

Now that's either bad manners and a breach of the Vienna protocols or it's a declaration of war.

At that same stage Patricia Isabel Rodas Baca who is the chairperson of the political party which legitimately rules Honduras and to which the deposed president and by some proposed acting presidential dude belongs was taken hostage.

* she is an undisclosed location.

___________________________________________________________________________

Now if ever there is a coup d'etat in Ireland or as I would prefer Italy, I will be sure to go online and tell you about it and give hours of my free time to monitoring tweets and Bebo accounts & I'm sure you'll appreciate how good I have become over the years in predicting, monitoring and assessing coup d'etats. Sure, I might do one myself some day just to see it from another angle, any reader is welcome to contact me with suggestions of where and when.

But I won't really care about VIP's too much. The real people to worry about are those ordinary little Hondurans and perhaps Irish tourists or Irish mercenaries who at this moment have to deal with curfew and no telly.

updates later.

perhaps the military will install a monarchy with french fries guaranteed for all.

by iosaf Sun Jun 28, 2009 20:57

As I wrote in the last update the first days of coup d'etats have the longest nights, they also see attempts to legitimise and justify. For example Thailand where coup d'etats happen pretty much all the time see declarations of support for the king issued within hours of sex tourists noticing they've no local telly or flights home. Now the good news for us is that ordinary people are defying the curfew and manifesting in support of democratic institutions.

* Saúl Escobar is the head of the judiciary and a member of the christian democrat party of opposition. He signed an order allowing the military to depose the president.

* It appears that the new regime which now casts itself as both judicial and military will allow elections in November. It is not clear who will be the caretaker chief of state until then. If this were Italy, we should now know the caretaker when Mr B. is finally pushed will be the chief of the Bank of Italy, alas, Honduras doesn't really have a bank worthy of someone with such good rightwing geopolitical credentials.

* a US TV channel has broadcast a letter supposedly signed by the deposed president in which he formally resigns and renounces his constitutional position. Zelaya immediately denied signing the "instrument of abdication" and fair play to the US channel they phoned him up in Costa Rica immediately afterwards and told their viewers this was the case. That's very balanced reporting....................... "Fair and Balanced".

* I haven't seen any reports of ordinary people dying yet. On average 12 people die every day in Honduras so unless the army shoot more than a baker's dozen of the usual suspects of looters, malcontents and twitter heads, I doubt this will be meriting an Irish Times editorial soon.

* The Irish foreign affairs department has not updated its travel advice pages for Irish backpackers, tourists, entrepeneurs or mercenaries on the Honduran situation. But like hey! this ought not be surprising they haven't mentioned Iran either. Remember you read it here first : don't go on holliers to Iran or Honduras.

by bastet Mon Jun 29, 2009 06:11

I'm from Honduras. I'm in Honduras now. All I can say is that I'm 28, have never lived a dictatorship, Coup d'Etat or any other political uprising of any kind. Hondurans are generall peaceful, too peaceful. Something changed, a uniting of all entities against socialism. Please view images of the March for Peace that took place on June 23rd 2009, it was amazing! The Supreme Court and Congress tried by all means possible to convince Mel Zelaya not to continue his plans to expand his term. The "public opinion poll" was deemed illegal by the Supreme Court. He wanted to change the constitution without really explaining what parts. The Supreme Court and Congress have acted in favor of the Democratic order of Honduras and its Constitution, in favor of the people. Hondurans are happy that Mel is finally gone. Maybe we won't have so many deaths and so many planes crashing with venezuelan flags and cocaine! I hope that the International community recognizes that what was done is legal!

by iosaf Mon Jun 29, 2009 09:53

The Trade unions of a central American state which has only reduced its excessively high death rate and poverty in the last three years under a democratically elected and legitimate and internationally legal constitutional socialist government have called a general strike.

The party chief of the ruling party who was held hostage at the same time as three ambassadors contrary to international law on Sunday morning has now been exiled to Mexico.

the legitimate president of Honduras is now in Nicaragua and readers of the Irish Times might appreciate his photo being hugged by Hugo the man Chavez.

I beg to disagree with the last commentator who tells us Hondurans united to oppose socialism, and would merely ask why the names being floated for the caretaker cabinet positions are from the same party. I would also point to the hard facts of Honduran economics, one of the poorest states on earth which actually managed to get into the "make poverty history" list of 37 developing countries "with high levels of poverty and debt overhang which are eligible for special assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank". c/f http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavily_Indebted_Poor_Coun...tries

As I wrote succintly and unusually lucidly and short of sarcasm above -the first days of coup d'etats have the longest nights That last night a commentator writes "as a Honduran" to justify the first overt coup d'etat in Latin America in decades speaks volumes - volumes which are echoed in the rewrites and vandalism which have been suffered by the wikipedia entries relevant to the coup d'etat in both the Spanish and English languages. Furthermore it amazes me that in a state with one of the lowest internet traffic rates in the world where at present no international television is being broadcast and essential telecommunications are interrupted that someone felt the need to comment on an iosaf article on indymedia ireland. Not even the Iranians, Belorussians, Bolivians or UVF did that.

by iosaf Mon Jun 29, 2009 11:32

As I wrote in my penultimate comment there has been a clear casus belli or justification for military retaliation and thus intervention following the treatment of diplomats in Honduras. The world sort of expected Hugo Chavez to say what he said on his telly show yesterday as reported in the English Telegraph http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/centralameric....html & Venezuelan source http://www.eluniversal.com/2009/06/29/int_art_chavez-am...shtml

but since then the temperature hasn't gone down.

Indeed the last time there was possibility of a war in Latin America (that I can remember - correct me if I'm wrong) was after the assassination of FARC leader Tirofijo in Ecuador by Colombia. But in that instance the temperature quickly went down. ( c/f http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/05/399496.html )

The temperature is not going down folks. & we're not just talking about Hugo's Venezuelan army being on alert to protect his ambassador to Honduras, his excellency Armando Laguna.

* El Salvador has just mobilised on its Honduran border.

Now overthrowing governments is one thing - you can do it many ways.

But leaving the legitimate leadership alive whilst also getting up the noses of neighbours with a toilet brush moves into other territory. For those who don't understand latin - casus belli is a justification for war, and it could be quite legal internationally under the Vienna conventions or casus foederis also comes into play. On which note the states of the ALBA alliance are presently in one of the many emergency sessions being held today and are as I speak discussing intervention.

Meanwhile far from the lawyer's tables the first reports of panic buying and shortages emerge from Honduras where the vast majority of citizens have absolutely no idea what's happening in their own state.

Here's links to real time coverage & Nicaraguan telly stream http://www.ustream.tv/channel/100-Noticias here's twitter since it's so popular with the young hipsters these days.
http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23honduras

by bastet Mon Jun 29, 2009 16:45

To the previous commentator:

There was only one political party that agreed with Mel Zelaya. It was not his own.
There have been vast demonstrations in the thousands by people opossed to Manuel Zelaya's "poll". See a march held on June 23rd where the second largest city in Honduras got together to defend our Constitution and protest against the illegal actions taken by Mel Zelaya.

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.radio...m%3D1

Why isn't there an equal uprising to such a "catastrophe"? Because most Hondurans understand why it happened and are glad it did.

He is now planning to invade Honduras with Chavez and Daniel Ortega from Nicaragua! My only hope is that the Supreme Court order an arrest if the decides to enter the country again.

We do not want blood shed. This is why I write here, because Hondurans are peaceful people and we are deeply concerned that what happened yesterday isn't being understood completely by those abroad!

There are people in important positions, that I know personally, that are socialist and are twisting the news to their liking. It was NOT A COUP!!! He was legally replaced, taken out of his powers because he BROKE THE LAW!!! Two out of the three government powers agreed.

by calizze Mon Jun 29, 2009 19:03

I'm also a Honduran and i can say that for the most part we are all glad he is gone. We don't want him here. What happened yesterday is not illegal. How can it be when the military forces acted upon orders of our Supreme Court and the National Congress? I'm posting the link to a video in youtube that shows the march that occurred last Tuesday in San Pedro Sula, the second biggest city in Honduras and it's industrial capital.

by iosaf Mon Jun 29, 2009 19:07

Let's get this straight -

Here is a map of the world where you can see every state which has made a declaration.
All of Latin America, the USA, Spain, France, Germany & Iran condemn unequivocally an illegal act.
http://graficos.lainformacion.com/2009/06/reacciones-al...uras/

The OAS in its formal declaration has refused to recognise any government which is not led by the legitimately elected democratic head of state, President Zelaya.
http://www.oas.org
http://www.oas.org/OASpage/eng/latestnews/latestnews.asp

The 3rd article of the Honduran Constitution & I quote its Spanish text & you can argue with the accuracy of gist summary in English translation :-

Nadie debe obediencia a un gobierno usurpador ni a quienes asuman funciones o empleos públicos por la fuerza de las armas o usando medios o procedimientos que quebranten o desconozcan lo que esta Constitución y las leyes establecen. Los actos verificados por tales autoridades son nulos. el pueblo tiene derecho a recurrir a la insurrección en defensa del orden constitucional.

=

Nobody must obey an usurping government nor those who assume functions of public office by force of arms or using means and processes which breach or undermine that which is establised by the Constitution and its laws. The acts by such authorities are void. The people has the right to insurrection in defense of constitiutional order.



http://pdba.georgetown.edu/Constitutions/Honduras/hondu....html

Now tell me young 28 year old supposedly in Honduras, who has never seen a coup d'etat, and seems to approve of his first one without realising what an example it sends to the region -

considering the position of the international community & what is written in your constitution .......

How does it feel being a traitor?

by iosaf mac diarmada - (freeland analyst) Mon Jun 29, 2009 20:05

Leaving aside our young tweet-twit-barely out of tweenie Hondurans who are happily telling their new global audience how thrilled they are the military arrested a president in his pyjamas, flew him out of the state, roughed up diplomats, turned off media & let's be clear here - disappeared a politician for 25 hours -

Let us wonder who wins with a coup d'etat which a rudimentary examination of statements from the USA, Spain, OAS, EU and others holds the standard line that this new government is not recognised.

I will now progressively ask you to consider a number of questions which include :-

* who wants to demonstrate a leftist boliviarian alligned presidency can be overthrown?

* who doesn't want Honduras to have IMF / World Bank assistance?

But for the moment the much less likely kneejerker -

who really wants to make a packet in a rogue state Honduras?

I'll make it simple for you - it comes down to drugs. It often does. But not the drugs you or our young Honduran tweeters think of.

ALBA membership meant Hondurans had for the first time access to generic drug and pharmaceutical products made in Cuba which are cheaper than the patented pills, potions and sorceries made by such global pharmo-giants as :-

Glaxo, Sanofi & Smith Kline in sunny neighbouring Panama,

Pfizer and Stein just a short kidnapped president flight away in Costa Rica.

Just over the mountains in Guatemala we find Novartis, Bristol Myers and Aventis.

every drug from viagra to prozac to valium to AIDS treatments to the as of yet not worth making malaria cure is made within a 900km radius of the capital city of Honduras.

& so we ought not be surprised that amongst the corporations who have welcomed the usurping regime of Honduras this evening our time were found the Central American representatives of the pharmo-corps.

by bastet Tue Jun 30, 2009 02:24

Nobody must obey an usurping government nor those who assume functions of public office by force of arms or using means and processes which breach or undermine that which is establised by the Constitution and its laws. The acts by such authorities are void. The people has the right to insurrection in defense of constitiutional order.

The people has the right to insurrection in defense of constitiutional order. (That is what happened. Mel Zelaya BROKE THE LAW!!!)

The world is very different where you are, I know, to fully understand the situation you would have to have lived here, grown up here. But, I can see that we want the same thing, for the Constitution to be respected. In that I can say we agree. And the people of Honduras have ensured that Mel Zelaya will not change the Constitution to his liking!

by zzzz Tue Jun 30, 2009 02:50

http://www.moonofalabama.org/2009/06/coup-in-honduras-....ments

by xcxc Tue Jun 30, 2009 03:18

if the quality of their spammers in the english language is anything to go by. they come across as stupid fascists without clever psyops advisers

oh and according to via campesina some of the army are turning
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/al-giordano/2...egime

by iosaf Tue Jun 30, 2009 10:46

Bastet, you have no idea what the world is like where I am. But I'll help you out, one of my neighbours is editor of the largest distribution Hispanic / Latin American newspaper in Europe. We've talked over coffee about our local problems with how the "latin king" association youth members are currently being scapegoated by the rightwing press (Recognised as such in my city but illegalised as an armed gang in many others) & then we went piece by piece through the Honduran constitution

Guess what?

We found no reason to disagree with the US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, nor the EU, nor Spain nor OEA.

* We found ample reasons in the constitution to justify the reaction of ALBA.

* We find no legal reason to allow Saúl Escobar's order of military detention without charge or due legal process - of either the acting and recognised head of state or any other individual.

* We find de jure justification of public consultations.

* We find no instrument of abdication or resignation which mentions pyjamas and soldiers at dawn.

So, will you stop bleating away like a fan of the shower of ghouls who stand to profit most from this appaling vista.

Let's presume you will not exercise your constitutional right to oppose an usurping regime for the rather wane reason that you like it. However I suppose you want to continue recieving development aid, IMF and WB assistance & competing for commercial contracts and see your corruption and democracy index improve. Hey you'd probably like a credit rating and reserves in hard currency this side of Nostradamus.

So what can you and your illegitimate rogue government do?
_________________________________________________________________

* End the curfew & Release all political prisoners.
* Acknowledge your constitutional head of state & sort out your differences and problems according to your constitution and the provisions of international law.

I suppose you're too young to really do that kind of stuff. so tell me where else do you think needs a coup d'etat next?

by iosaf - (freelance analyst) Tue Jun 30, 2009 12:06

The latest person to add their list to those condemning the coup d'etat in Honduras did so in his uniform as top general. He likes wearing uniforms and King Juan Carlos of Spain's rotund condemnation made at a passing out ceremony of 123 mostly latin american born officers in his army this afternoon will get coverage amongst those who like soldiering stuff and put it in a bag right next to the heart with patria writtin in big letters. Increasingly since the 1990's Latin Americans seeking a military officer career have adopted Spanish state training in a system which arguably promotes values of democracy of more worth than the previous US sponsored torture and coup "School of the Americas". http://www.elpais.com/articulo/internacional/Todos/esta...6/Tes

Obama has now insisted the coup [sic] end and Zelaya be restored He spoke of the appaling precedent which would be set in this 21st century if the coup d'etat is not reversed. It's felt by analysts that the Obama adminstration is keen to continue the new start which the Americas summit seemed to promise earlier this year whilst also balancing the long term geopolitical containment strategy of Chavez's Venezuela. Obama has indeed been enjoying review meetings of the Republican era agreements with Colombia with that state's head of state Mr Uribe this week.

It has been learnt that so far all contact made by the US government in Washington and from the US ambassador to Honduras with the Honduran military have been left unanswered. This might be noted in connection with the last interview granted by Zelaya before his summary detention and exile in which he spoke of an highly organised coup d'etat plot which had been known to the US but had not won its support. Oh, yep - it might just be possible that this "coup d'etat" we are all recognising hasn't actually been planned out the way the other theoretical or suspected one would have, with or without US support.


The OAS has reported widespread disruption of media including TeleSUR and the initially sympathetic CNN and has described this as a breach of fundamental human rights to freedom of expression.

The UN Secretary General has declared he will only recognise the legitimate president of Honduras who he has invited to adress the assembly and offer an report on what has occured.

Zelaya for his part has asked Honduran soldiers to not attack their fellow Hondurans on a broadcast made on Nicaraguan TV. http://www.telesurtv.net/noticias/afondo/especiales/Gol...c=132

He also announced his intention to accompany the secretary general of the Organisation of American States on his trip to Honduras which is expected to take place later this week.

The President of Costa Rica, the Nobel Peace Prize winner (for his work on investigating the military abuses of South America & their subsequent resolution processes in the 1980's) Oscar Arias, was the man to whom the exiled Zelaya was brought after being woken in his pyjamas at gunpoint. His words are thought provoking, "Lo que nos demuestra este golpe es que para lo único que sirven los ejércitos es para dar golpes de Estado" = What this coup demonstrates is that the only thing armies are useful for is to overthrow the state

Dr Arias argues for a completely demilitarised Central America rather than just sending them to different schools.

by ec Tue Jun 30, 2009 14:23

Madam making a military coup sound like the most reasonable thing in the world.

by democracy now! Tue Jun 30, 2009 18:57

Summing up of the situation on democracy now:

Coup in Honduras: Military Ousts President Manuel Zelaya, Supporters Defy Curfew and Take to the Streets (June 29, 2009)
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/6/29/coup_in_honduras_...ident

+ summing up from today:
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/6/30/headlines#4

Zelaya Vows Return to Honduras as Crowds Protest Coup

In Honduras, large crowds continue to take to the streets to protest the ouster of President Manuel Zelaya. On Monday, police fired tear gas at demonstrators gathered outside the presidential palace. At least ten demonstrators were hospitalized and scores arrested. The coup government has ordered a statewide curfew, while private television networks have refused to carry any news. On Monday, workers gathered outside the headquarters of the state-owned telecommunications company to protest the takeover.

Protester: “Is this democracy? Only Channel 5 is working. The people, the Honduran population, want democracy, and this is not democracy. They want to gag us, and we will not allow that. Hondutel will not close.”

Zelaya says he plans to return to Honduras on Thursday after addressing the United Nations later today.
Obama Condemns Honduran Coup, But Won’t Suspend Aid

Meanwhile at the White House, President Obama condemned Zelaya’s ouster.

President Obama: “President Zelaya was democratically elected. He had not yet completed his term. We believe that the coup was not legal and that President Zelaya remains the president of Honduras, the democratically elected president there. In that, we have joined all the countries in the region, including Colombia and the Organization of American States. I think it would be a terrible precedent if we start moving backwards into the era in which we are seeing military coups as a means of political transition, rather than democratic elections.”

Despite Obama’s comments, the US is refusing to apply any tangible pressure on Honduras. After Obama spoke, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the US isn’t ready to formally declare the ouster a military coup, which would force a cutoff of millions of dollars in aid. Clinton also refused to explicitly commit to seeking the democratically elected Zelaya’s return, saying only the US wants to restore what she called “full democratic and constitutional order.”

Latin American Leaders Back Zeyala

In contrast to the US response, the Honduran coup has been roundly condemned across Latin America and much of the world. In Nicaragua, leaders from countries including Mexico, Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia gathered in a show of solidarity with Zelaya. In what they called a “first step” in punitive action, Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua jointly announced the temporary suspension of overland trade with Honduras. Meanwhile at the United Nations, General Assembly President Miguel D’Escoto of Nicaragua condemned the coup.

UN General Assembly President Miguel D’Escoto: “As a Nicaraguan, I am ashamed that this coup has taken place in Central America during my presidency here at the General Assembly. This is a throwback to another era that we had hoped was now a distant nightmare.”

by iosaf mac diarmada - (freelance analyst) Tue Jun 30, 2009 19:06

On EC's cue ("the mealey mouthed editorial from madame Editor of the Irish Times today which tellingly was titled "Honduran Crises" rather than "honduran military coup" was snuggly printed up to a piece arguing that "combat poverty" has left us Irish a rich legacy. http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2009/0630/1....html However, on reading it this morning and noting its first & core speculative mistake ["The resulting political crisis has rapidly become a regional one galvanising radicals in support of the president against more conservative leaders and suspected United States interference"] I decided to reassure my aforementioned( in my penultimate comment) friend, neighbour and editor of the largest distribution Latin American newspaper in Europe over our morning coffee chat that the "Irish Times" comment piece illustrates one of the diplomatic routes which is being taken to resolve this crises and return Honduras to constitutionality.

Enough of that. Now let's tackle another reason from our international perspective why this whole thing is happening, & I hope readers note I still haven't touched the usual illegal drug trade, yearning for anti-Bolivarian coups. The last explanation was about the pharmocorp drug trade. Now we're going to talk about Bananas.

________________________________________________________

There was a time, when De Valera was in Aras an Uachtaran, and Haughey was as young and virile as his contemporary manuel Fraga, when Irish people would joke with each other on receiving a migrants letter using the phrase "banana republic". Curious for Ireland has not yet cultivated the banana successfully even though samples of John Trevelyn's famous pineapples brought to the capitals of the British Empire in the early 18th century were brought to flower during the unusually warm weather enjoyed at that period in both Dublin and London.

The Banana or plantain fruit ( "Musa acuminata Colla"), originated in the Indo-Malaysian region of Asia reaching to northern Australia. They are now cultivated throughout the tropical humid zones of the planet.

They need ten to fifteen months to flower in frost free conditions (ideally over 12º Centigrade or 53º Farenheit). Which is why they don't grow on the blaskets. The banana grows best in acidic soil with Ph between 5.5 and 6.5, the plant becomes very "top heavy" at the eight month, and can be blown over very easily and therefore requires wind shielding outlying crops. Bananas are generally harvested in march or April before the tropical windy season. Bananas are very like other cashcrops in many regards. You can't grow them on the blaskets, you can't grow them in Skerries, but Irish people and all their first world chums like buying them and give little thought to the peculiarities of their cultivation, or indeed how a careful gardener would surround them with trees, hemp plants and so on.

Yes Irish people and their chums really like to eat them, concentrate them into flavouring, add them as crunchy bits to meusli and choke on them.

& all as cheaply as possible.

in 1998 (important year that) Houricane Mitch destroyed the banana crops of Central South America, this almost led to the creation of a standard global banana price, but as bananas are also cultivated further north (in California) and in Asia (from Malaysia and Philippines to Australia) {let's have a jargon-esque economist qoute}
"Demand from banana consumers would depend on income growth and economic evolution in the different countries, population growth, consumer preferences, banana import regimes, etc. Although the banana market presents an oligopolistic structure, this does not actually mean that transnational marketing companies have a great power to set selling prices for bananas, particularly during the nineties with increasing competition exiting among them. Their position as price makers was not so clear."
http://r0.unctad.org/infocomm/anglais/banana/prices.htm

Quite.
They just grow them - they didn't get to decide how much they were worth or how much the land dedicated to their cultivation could be worth if for example they grew ostriches for delicatessens or angora lambs for handknit jumpers.

Back in CJ Haughey and Eamon De Valera's day of proud self-sufficiency, the Irish nana came through the British supply lines and was grown in Jamaica and the Windward islands. At that time the French relied likewise on their ex-colonies and overseas territories of Guadeloupe and Martinique and some African countries such as Côte d´Ivoire or Cameroon), Portugal (Madeira), Spain (bananas were provided mainly by local producers of the Canary Islands) and Italy (Somalia). But the bright amongst ye will remember the Eire/Dole deal, which provided us as children with non british commonwealth bananas grown in South america as part of the remaining 20% quota of banana imports allocated to other EEC members on an equal tarrif level. Mr Dole the US nana man, you remember was a US presidential candidate. There was enough money and power in bananas to almost bring him into the White House with George Bush senior on his team.

The "european banana regime" has been in place thus since Feb. 13 of 1993. And was adjusted to increase importation (for the new 25 state union) to 600,000 tons of nanas from May to December 2004, and stayed at that level until tariffs alone were set instead of quotas in 2006.

The 2005 round of Banana pricing with the €U and NAFTA through the World Trade Organsation the main banana producing nations of Equador, Colombia, Philippines, Jamaica and Costa Rica & Honduras offered to pay a tariff of 33.06€ (=39$) for every ton of bananas they exported. But our great economies and leaderships didn't think that was a fair tariff to pay and protect our European banana producers who farm mostly in the Spanish Canary archipelago off of Africa or the French overseas territories in the Carribean.

Accordingly the 2006 round of banana pricing bollox celebrated in Geneva where you couldn't even grow a tomato without steroids and hydroponic lamps came up with a tariff of 230€ (=270$) on every ton.

Let me assure you since those figures the central Americans mostly gave up asking us Europeans to lower our tariffs because it left a really bad taste in their mouth akin to smoking the skins looking for a high.

But then the Canarian millionaires tired of having to recruit their banana workers from the ranks of paperless migrants who risk death making the crossing from Africa decided to move their farms to Senegal. You can see how that was very kind of them. But some European politicans complained that was cheating & the poor central Americans recovering from the Hurricane damage and enjoying the possibility of buying new GM modified banana strains from US producers decided to ask us to buy their nanas again.

Ah but! you'd be missing something important here.

You see when I talk about central Americans or Hondurans wanting or not wanting to grow nanas for us - I'm not really talking about little ordinary people. Just as the Canarian banana lark is a millionaire entity like Donegal fish fingers - Honduran cash crops are too. & the same motivations for what "TIME" called "A Genuine Banana Coup" in 1975 A Genuine Banana Coup http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,913028....html & which is explained away by the same company in its propaganda here http://www.laceiba.com/laceiba/banana-trade/index.html is the same interest groups who have real power in Honduras now.

Sure our friend from Honduras who approves of the coup d'etat and comes back every 12 hours to leave the same comment - probably has most of his family savings, college fund or dentistry paid for my bananas or something similar - like being a lawyer or a dentist or accountant to a banana chap.

I hope if you are a reader of the Irish Times you see the liberal free trade issue in all this.

Quite.

Bananas just aint free.

As of the global economic crises of 2009 and following on from the Latin American food crises of 2008, in January 2009 Central Americans have seen the tariff reduced to 148 Euros on every ton because a nice politician in Canaries lobbied on their behalf.

"Hello Mr nanaman and nanawoman, nanacampesin@s indeed, in the few centuries since we discovered the nana and grew them in your lands, we have come to like them so much, that we think you deserve most of what we pay for them in the local shop, and we're not asking you for anything in return, except to go on growing nanas, and not that coca stuff except of course if its for your own religious purposes which we hope to see as tourists next year on holidays coz you're so cute & we just want you to restore your constitutional head of state till at least November and not realise your ruling classes major mistake was not having the guts to simply shoot him old style."

if only they were cheaper to produce - there's a crisis on.

by iosaf Tue Jun 30, 2009 19:36

The States co-proposing the resolution were in alphabetical order : Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Bosnia & Hercegovina, Canada, Cabo Verde, Cuba, Dominica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Nicaragua, República Dominicana, San Vicente & las Granadinas, Brazil, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Peru, Mexico, Chile, Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay, Syria, and the USA.

The UN developments and respect for international law build upon Secretary General Ban's initial words when he “urged the reinstatement of the democratically elected representatives of the country and full respect for human rights, including safeguards for the security of President Zelaya, members of his family and his government,” He also urged all Hondurans to resolve their difference peacefully and “in the spirit of reconciliation.”.......“He trusts that international and domestic efforts will succeed in the promotion of a peaceful solution to the crisis through democratic means,” it said. The statement noted that the Secretary-General welcomes the prompt diplomatic efforts undertaken by the Organization of American States (OAS), whose Permanent Council has held a special meeting on the matter.

The OAS is also working in close co-operation with the Spanish Government who have sent a diplomatic taskforce under agreed protocols of the Ibero-American summit organisations.

For his part, General Assembly President Miguel D’Escoto has already said that he is deeply outraged by the military’s ousting of Mr. Zelaya. Speaking at the start of the extraordinary Assembly session convened to discuss the matter, Mr. D’Escoto called on the 192-member Assembly to “add its voice to underscore the universal rejection of this crime........ Let us denounce the perpetrators with such unanimity that no military-backed regime in Honduras will be able to withstand the criticism and rejection of the world,” he added, calling for those responsible to be brought to justice".

O........................(€ / $) = (.:./+)

just in case our pro-coup friend comes back - as I warned and predicted, the World Bank has now made its statement.

World Bank president Robert Zoellick said the institution has "put a pause" on its lending to Honduras. Mr Zoellick said the bank was "working closely with the OAS and looking to the OAS to deal with its handling of the crisis under its democratic charter".

so unless you release all political prisoners and end the curfew you're getting no hard currency this side of Nostradamus. Oooops. We might not have got the clear yet.

Our International interest in this is not my previously explained concerns about pharmocorps or bananas - it ought be the immediate mobilisation of social movements to ensure an amnesty of all political prisoners since the coup 'detat.

by dunk Wed Jul 01, 2009 15:24

AMY GOODMAN: Who is behind this (the coup), Greg?

GREG GRANDIN: Well, I think it’s fairly clearly, who is behind it is the military, sectors of the military, if not the whole military, and sectors of the old political establishment, who see the changes in South America, and they’re doing their best to make sure they don’t arrive in Central America.

AMY GOODMAN: And the connection to the School of the Americas at Fort Benning, Georgia?

GREG GRANDIN: Well, a number of the leaders of the Honduran military were trained in the School of the Americas, both during the Cold War and after, at the end of the Cold War.

AMY GOODMAN: Like who?

GREG GRANDIN: Well, Romeo Vasquez, the head of the armed forces, who Zelaya removed from office just a few days ago, because he refused to support the referendum, non-binding referendum. He’s obviously behind it, as well as the head of the navy and other high-ranking officials.

The Honduran military is effectively a subsidiary of the United States government. Honduras, as a whole, if any Latin American country is fully owned by the United States, it’s Honduras. Its economy is wholly based on trade, foreign aid and remittances. So if the US is opposed to this coup going forward, it won’t go forward. Zelaya will return, if the United States—if Obama and Hillary Clinton are sincere in their statements about returning Zelaya to power.

(Greg Grandin, professor of Latin American history at NYU, New York University. His latest book is called Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford’s Forgotten Jungle City.)

____________________________________________________________

Meanwhile:

Spain, France recalling ambassador from Honduras

MADRID (AP) - Spain and France are recalling their ambassadors from Honduras after President Manuel Zelaya was ousted in a coup, the two countries' foreign ministries said Wednesday.

Spain's Foreign Ministry said it was acting as part of international efforts to reinstate Zelaya. It did not say when the ambassador would return to Spain.

Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos called Tuesday for European Union countries to withdraw their ambassadors from the Central American country as a way to exert pressure on the new ruling authorities there to restore Zelaya to power.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said France "firmly condemns the overturning of the constitutional order in Honduras."

He said in a statement that "I decided to recall our ambassador for consultations," and that the decision was made "in liaison with France's European partners present in Honduras."

The United Nations, the Organization of American States, the Obama administration and other leaders have condemned the military coup that ousted Zelaya on Sunday.
http://noticias.aol.com/articulos/_a/spain-france-recal...90005

by iosaf Wed Jul 01, 2009 16:19

he Organization of American States (OAS) has given the current leaders of Honduras three days to restore exiled President Manuel Zelaya to power. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8127867.stm

_____________________________________________________________________________

IT's very simplistic to say "the military are behind" any military coup - also the SOA connection has been a bit simplified too. Here's a little list of some of the more notorious graduates of SOA which has long been in the public domain. It is by no means conclusive. The format shows Name, Courses completed with certificate and / or internationally recognised qualification if not something pretty to on the mammy's wall.

If you pay close attention you will see that several lower ranking officers were involved in conspiring against higher officers who were also graduates of SOA. Which is why in the article I suggested lower ranking officers would act by Sunday evening. Since then in the comments I touched upon the real hypothesis that there have been more than one coup plot.


On which note, the BBC asked on Tuesday "'Mistimed coup' in Honduras?" http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8125726.stm

*Hector Aguilar Claros 1966, Radio Operator
1972, Officer Basic Combat Arms Abuse of authority: Rafael Nodarse, owner of a local television station accused Aguilar Claros of abuse of authority when Aguilar ordered his troops to surround the station after allegations of his involvement with human rights abuses were made on the air. (ET)

GEN Gustavo Alvarez Martínez 1976, Joint Operations Course Battalion 3-16, brutal human rights abuses: His tenure as Armed Forces Commander in the early to mid 1980's was marked by brutal human rights abuses by the Honduran military and the formation - with the help of the CIA and Argentine advisors - of death squad Battalion 3-16. (AW:HRH) Alvarez Martínez was forced (with a gun to his head) to step down in 1984. He fled to Miami, got religion, returned to Honduras and was assassinated. (Baltimore Sun, 6/11/96) In 1982, former chief of military intelligence Colonel Leonidas Torres Arias stated that Alarez Martinez ordered the disappearance of Nelson Mackay and a number of Hondurans.

*CPT Carlos Rodolfo Aleman 1956, Radio Operator Threatening a priest: Threatened Spanish priest Elias Ruiz in an attempt to make him cease his demands for an investigation into the true perpetrators of the massacre of the peasants at "El Astillero". (OMCT)

*COL Juan Ramon Alvarado 1960, Policia Militar para Alistados
1972, Irregular Warfare Operations
1981, Administracion/Recursos Cover-up in assassination case: Alvarado was one of five military officials named to a panel to investigate the murder of union leader Francisco Javier Bonilla in May of 1990. Although witnesses identified a DNI agent as the assassin, the panel never questioned the agent. Instead, it produced three suspects, all of whom stated that they had been tortured into confessing. None of the witnesses identified these suspects as responsible for the crime., and a key witness was repeatedly harassed by military personnel. When the case was brought before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Commission, the Commission concluded that the Honduran government had violated the victims' rights to judicial protection. (IACHR, Case 10.793)

MAJ Carlos Alberto Andino Benítez 1972, Cadet Course Battalion 3-16: Aided battalion members in capturing and murdering several rebels in 1983. (AW:HRH)

GEN Reinaldo Andino Flores 1974, Military Personnel Management Arbitrary detention, torture, rape: Andino Flores, current defense minister of Honduras, has been accused by Honduras' Supreme Court of crimes committed under his command of the 101st Infantry Brigade during the 1980's, when many Hondurans were "tortured, mistreated, sexually violated and arbitrarily detained" by that unit. (AP, 11/94)

*Lazaro Melanio Avila Soleno 1956, Cadet
1967, Jungle Operations
1967, Comando y Estado Mayor Accused of disappearance: Rosa Suazo Castillo has requested that the Honduran courts investigate Avila Soleno's participation in the 1988 disappearance of her son Leonel Suazo. (La Tribuna)
Cover-up in assassination case: Avila Soleno was one of five military officials named to a panel to investigate the murder of union leader Francisco Javier Bonilla in May of 1990. Although witnesses identified a DNI agent as the assassin, the panel never questioned the agent. Instead, it produced three suspects, all of whom stated that they had been tortured into confessing. None of the witnesses identified these suspects as responsible for the crime., and a key witness was repeatedly harassed by military personnel. When the case was brought before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Commission, the Commission concluded that the Honduran government had violated the victims rights to judicial protection. (IACHR, Case 10.793)

*COL Marco Tulio Ayala Vindel 1968, C-1 Arrest Warrant Pending, Sept 1997: CODEH brought charges in a Honduran court against Ayala Vindel and other Honduran officials for their involvement in the disappearance of Amado Espinoza and Adan Avilez Funes. Although the judge has issued an arrest warrant, Ayala Vindel has failed to present himself before the court. Ayala Vindel was head of Battalion 3-16 in 1984. (CAP 6-30-96)

COL Lufty Azaad Matute 1968, Irregular Warfare Course
1963, Cadet Course (Distinguished graduate) Plot to take over armed forces, 1986: One of three officers (all SOA graduates) dismissed from Honduran military in 1986 for involvement in a plot to overthrow then-chief of Armed Forces Humberto Regalado. (AW:HRH)

GEN Daniel Balí Castillo 1978, Joint Operations Course
1973, Command & General Staff College
1972, Internal Defense Battalion 3-16: A key member of Battalion 3-16, organizing death squad activity during the early and mid 1980's. (AW:HRH)

*1LT Felipe Ballesteros 1986, Basico para Oficiales de Infanteria Planting bombs: Ballesteros' wife signed a formal complaint stating that her husband admitted to planting two bombs for MCAS, a clandestine organization of Hondurans and Cubans that claimed responsibility for 10 bombings in 1994 and 1995 (MH, 9-28-97)

CPT Oscar Barahona 1982, Military Intelligence Officer Course (Distinguished graduate) Disappearance: Responsible for the disappearance of Gerardo Vega Barbosa, April 26, 1981. (AW:TFS)

COL Inocente Borjas 1971, Supply Officer Course Battalion 3-16: National commander of the battalion through 1986. (AW:TFS)
GEN José Abnego Bueso Rosa 1961, General Supply Officer Course Plot to assassinate, drug trafficking, 1984: Formerly an ally in the U.S.'s Contra operations, Bueso pled guilty in 1986 to involvement in a 1984 shipment of 760 pounds of cocaine to Florida. Oliver North strove to keep Bueso from having to serve prison time in the U.S. (WP, 5/29/94; NSN 6/12/94) The drugs were to finance the assassination of Honduran president Roberto Suarez Cordoba. Bueso Rosa was convicted in a U.S. district court in Miami in 1986. (Baltimore Sun, 6/11/95)

*COL Luis Alonso Carranza Peña 1973, O-1
1972, Military Intelligence O-11
1955, Wheeled Vehicle Mechanic Torture, 1988: Col. Carranza ordered the arrest and torture of Daniel de Jesus Sarmiento, an opposition congressional candidate. Carranza's troops have also been accused of torturing José Rafael Sánchez. (AW:HWW)

COL Andino Cesar Angel Castillo Maradiaga 1982, Joint Operations Course
1980, Command & General Staff College
1973, Combat Arms Officer Advanced Course Murder, rape (convicted): Convicted in 1993 for the rape and murder of 18-year-old student Riccy Mabel Martinez in 1991, a crime which, because of its brutality, became a high-profile human rights case in Honduras. (HRWWR94) On May 18, 1996, the First Court of Appeals upheld his 16-year sentence.

*COL Julio Cesar Chavez 1965 Military Police, Enlisted Failure to Carry Out Arrest Warrant, 1996: Chavez failed to carry out Judge Aristides Aguilera's arrest warrant for fellow military officers accused of participation in the disappearance of Adan Avilez Funes and Amado Espinoza Paz. (CAP 6/30/96)

1LT Noel Corrales 1978, Infantry Officer Basic Course Battalion 3-16: Was sub-commander of Battalion 3-16 in San Pedro Sula in the early 1980's. (AW:TFS)

MAJ Adolfo Díaz 1979, Command & General Staff College
1971, Command and Unit Staff Course Battalion 3-16 (Group of Fourteen): In 1981, commanded the Group of Fourteen, a precursor to Battalion 3-16. (AW:TFS)

*Rodolfo Raúl Díaz Velasquez 1982, Military Intelligence Attempted Kidnapping, Arms Theft, Dumping Bodies: Witnesses say that he directed the attempted kidnapping of Angel Caballero Sánchez by police agents in 1987. Caballero was killed during the incident. (EH) In 1997, Díaz was formally accused of stealing arms from the Logistical Command of the Armed Forces. (BI2/20) Díaz was also accused by Marco Tulio Gonzalez Reyes of dumping 10 bodies in the Montañita zone during the early 1980's. (LT)

GEN Luis Alonso Discua Elvir 1982, Military Intelligence Officer Course
1972, Irregular Warfare Operations

1967, Officer Cadet, Jungle Operations Battalion 3-16: Current Chief of Staff, Honduran Armed Forces. In early eighties, Discua commanded Intelligence Battalion 3-16, known for its death squad activity. (AW:TFS)

*COL Danilio Ferrara Suazo 1963, Infantry Officer
1970, Basico de capacitacion para oficiales
1973, Comando y Estado Mayor
1978, Operaciones Conjuntas Involvement with contra forces illegally operating in Honduras: According to a cable from the U. S. Embassy in Nicaragua to the U.S. Dept. of State, Ferrara was one of the Honduran army officials "accused of being involved with the contras.".(NSAN #01613)
CPT Pio Flores 1974, Military Police Officer Course
1973, "O-27"
1971, Don de Mando
1968, Wheeled Vehicle Mechanics Battalion 3-16: His house was used as a detention facility for the disappeared prior to their executions. (TFSFT, AW:TFS)

*COL Enmanuel Flores Mejía 1972, Basic Officer Qualification Course Threats against priest, 1991: Threatened the Spanish priest Elias Ruiz if he continued his demands for an investigation into the true perpetrators of the massacre in "El Asillero" (OMCT)
1LT Segundo Flores Murillo 1978, Infantry Officer Basic Course Battalion 316: Was in charge of interrogation and torture for Battalion 3-16 in the early 1980's. (AW:TFS)

*COL Oscar Fuentes 1971, Don de Mando
1972, Officer Basic Combat Arms Threats and intimidation, 1988: After Radio America reporter David Romero broadcast the names of five military officials allegedly involved in drug-trafficking, Romero was arrested without a warrant by plain-clothes police officers and taken to Col Fuentes, who threatened him and interrogated him about the source of his information. For several weeks after his release, he and his wife were repeatedly harassed by police agents under Fuente's command. (AW:HWW)

*COL Leonel Galindo 1986, Administracion de recursos Implicated in Aguas Calientes Massacre, 1991: On May 3, 1991, Felipe Huete and four other members of the National Association of Honduran Peasants were killed and eight others wounded by soldiers and armed civilians. This incident occurred on a piece of land attributed to peasants in 1975 and claimed by Galindo. One of his employees was amongst the perpetrators of the massacre. (TORT)

*COL Leonel Gutierrez Minera 1963, Cadet Suspected links to drug-trafficking: According to Juan Arancibia of the Institute for Socio-Economic Research of Honduras, Honduran newspapers have frequently linked Guitierrez Minera and other top Honduran officials to drug-trafficking. (WRH)

COL Juan López Grijalva 1991, 1992, SOA Guest Speaker
1975, Command & General Staff College
1969, Irregular Warfare Operations
1963, Officer Cadet Course Battalion 3-16: Key member of Battalion 3-16, organizedg death squad activity during the early and mid 1980s. (AW:HRH, AW:TFS)

MAJ Oscar Hernández Chavez 1973, Cadet Course Battalion 3-16: Former commander of Battalion 3-16 in San Pedro Sula, accused in 1986 of trying to assassinate the head of the Honduran Human Rights Commission. (CODEH, AW:HRH)

* COL Diego Landa Celano 1961, Counter Resistance
1970, Comando y Plana Mayor
1972, Command and General Staff Suspected links to drug-trafficking: According to Juan Arancibia of the Institute for Socio-Economic Research of Honduras, Honduran newspapers have frequently linked Landa Celano and other top Honduran officials to drug-trafficking. (WRH)

*Carlos Lara Cruz 1982, Aspirantes a Oficial Failure to cooperate with human rights investigation: In what appears to be a government cover-up of the murder of Miguel Angel Pavon, who was one of the first witnesses to testify against Honduras in the Inter-American Court, Lara Cruz and other agents who were on duty at the time have repeatedly ignored court subpoenas to present themselves for questioning. (AW:HWW)

*MAJ Marco Antonio Leiva 1978, Basico para Officiales de Infanteria
1980, Officiales de Inteligencia Militar Under Investigation for car-theft: Leiva is one of 13 officials currently under investigation by the DIC for car-theft. (BI6-27-97)

GEN Walter López Reyes 1983, Joint Operations Course Battalion 3-16: Key member of Battalion 3-16, organized death squad activity during the early and mid 1980's. (AW:HRH)

*CPT Leonel Luque Jimenez 1965, Military Police Officers
1974, Const de Vehiculos motores para oficiales Murder, 1983: According to testimony by Efren Mondragon, Cpt. Luque, while acting as the Honduran army's liaison with the contras, participated in the murder of Commanders "Suicida", "Criler", "Ebacu". The three were murdered in Tierras Coloradas, Jurisdiction Lauca, Department El Paraiso. They had previously been prisoners in the First Battalion of Infantry of the Army of Honduras. The murder took the orders of Adolfo Calero and Enrique Bermudez. (NSAN #02419)

*CPT Ernesto Martinez Paz 1974, Jefes de Comunicaiones Threats, 1987: Martinez Paz and other officers threatened Jose Lito Aguilera, who was later arrested by army intelligence agents and killed in military custody on January 4, 1988. Although the military claimed that the death was an accident, witnesses who saw the body say that it had been mutilated with the testicles cut off and the face battered. (AW:HWW)

*Marco Antonio Matute Lagos 1972, Officer Basic Combat Arms Arrest Warrant Pending, Sept 1997: CODEH brought charges in a Honduran court against Matute Lagos and other Honduran officials for their involvement in the disappearance of Amado Espinoza and Adan Avilez Funes. Although the judge has issued an arrest warrant, Matute Lagos has failed to present himself before the court. (CAP, 6/30/96)

2LT Ramón Mejia 1983, Faculty Development (OE-2) Battalion 3-16: In charge of communications and transporting kidnap victims from various parts of Honduras to Tegucigalpa (AW:HRH). Along with Marco Tulio Regalado (brother of both Regalados, above), he was one of the officers most involved in torture, interrogation and murder. (AW:TFS)

GEN Juan Melgar Castro 1962, "SOPM" Course Military dictator, 1975-78: Installed to replace former, more liberal military dictator. (WP, 5/19/94)

*COL Freddy Miranda 1970, Bascio de Capatacion para Oficiales
1970, OE-8
1972, Engineer, officer
1975, Military Intelligence Cover-up in assassination case: Miranda was one of five military officials named to a panel to investigate the murder of union leader Francisco Javier Bonilla in May of 1990. Although witnesses identified a DNI agent as the assassin, the panel never questioned the agent. Instead, it produced three suspects, all of whom stated that they had been tortured into confessing. None of the witnesses identified these suspects as responsible for the crime., and a key witness was repeatedly harassed by military personnel. When the case was brought before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Commission, the Commission concluded that the Honduran government had violated the victims rights to judicial protection. (IACHR, Case 10.793)

*CPT David Ricardo Mutillo Ateaga 1977, Infantry Officer Basic
1982 , Admin. de la Instruccion de Unidades Pequeñas Threats, 1987: Murillo Ateaga and other officers threatened Jose Lito Aguilera, who was later arrested by army intelligence agents and killed in military custody on January 4, 1988. Although the military claimed that the death was an accident, witnesses who saw the body say that it had been mutilated with the testicles cut off and the face battered. (AW:HWW)

LTC Roberto Nuñez Montes 1965, Military Intelligence
1963, Officer Cadet Course Former military intelligence chief accused, in 1987, of organizing a raid on the household of an alternate Honduran congressional deputy. (AW:HRH)

*COL Herber Munguia 1967, Cadet C-2
1967, Jungle Operations Cover-up in assassination case: Munguia was one of five military officials named to a panel to investigate the murder of union leader Francisco Javier Bonilla in May of 1990. Although witnesses identified a DNI agent as the assassin, the panel never questioned the agent. Instead, it produced three suspects, all of whom stated that they had been tortured into confessing. None of the witnesses identified these suspects as responsible for the crime., and a key witness was repeatedly harassed by military personnel. When the case was brought before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Commission, the Commission concluded that the Honduran government had violated the victims rights to judicial protection. (IMCHR, Case 10.793)

GEN Policarpo Paz García 1988, SOA "Hall of Fame"
1959, General Supply Officer Course Military dictator, 1980-82: Achieved power through military appointment (replaced Melgar Castro, above). Tenure noted for corruption, and the high level of military repression, including the startling leap of activity attributable to Battalion 3-16. (AW:TFS)
Juan Ramón Peña Paz 1965, Counterinsurgency Battalion 3-16: Executioner of Battalion 3-16. The disappeared were executed on his order. (TFSFT)

COL Guillermo Pinel Calix 1983, Command & General Staff College
1973, "0-6" Police brutality, 1987: Former head of the much- feared DNI, the investigative arm of the national police. The former Honduran ambassador to Spain, Dr. Moncada Medrano, accused Pinel Calix of threatening his life in March 1987, when Pinel Calix allegedly burst into the former ambassador's house with 6 agents. When Moncada - with machine guns pressed against his chest and back - protested, Pinel Calix. who seemed heavily under the influence of drugs, said that he was "the boss in Honduras. If you give me that bullsh- I'm going to make you disappear." (AW:HRH)

*CPT Carlos Quezada Aguilar 1984, Military Intelligence Torture, 1984: Captured and tortured Osiris Villalobos Pineda, Honduran economist and former student leader of the Jose Trinidad Reyes Institute in San Pedro Sula. This occurred just six weeks after Quezada completed his SOA course. (WOLA:HRH)

GEN Humberto Regalado Hernández 1988, SOA "Hall of Fame"
1975, Command & General Staff College
1972, Internal Defense Course
1971, Command and Unit Staff Course
1961, Infantry Weapons and Tactics Corruption, strong links to drug trafficking, 1980's: One year after being inducted into the SOA Hall of Fame, fellow officers accused Regalado Hernández of misappropriating millions of dollars in U.S. military aid. Officers contended that equipment provided through U.S. military assistance was regularly sold to unit commanders by Regalado, who then deposited the money in a "special account." Military assistance supplies sold by Regalado ranged from batteries to tires to gasoline. The New York Times article describing the unsubstantiated charges against Regalado also reported that the Reagan administration - in 1988, the year Regalado was inducted into the SOA Hall of Fame - suspected Regalado of providing protection to Colombian drug traffickers living in Honduras. Regalado's half-brother (SOA graduate Rigoberto Regalado Lara, convicted and imprisoned in the U.S. on drug trafficking charges) told authorities that his supplier was a close friend of General Regalado Hernández. (NYT, 10/15/89) On a different tack, as chief of Honduran armed forces, Regalado refused to take action against soldiers involved in Battalion 3-16 death squad activity (AW:HRH), and indeed appeared to cover-up at least some of that activity (AW:TFS).

LTC Rigoberto Regalado Lara 1971, Commando Unit Staff Course
1966, Basic Airborne and Parachute Rig.
1962, Communications Officer Course Drug Trafficking, 1988: As the Honduran ambassador to Panama, 1988, Regalado was arrested in Miami while attempting to smuggle 26 pounds of cocaine into the U.S. (AJC, 10/30/88)

*Guadalupe Reithal Caballero 1987, Curso de Administraci&ocaute;n de Recursos Links to death squads: Reithal was chief of Battalion 3-16 in 1990. CODEH has also accused him of involvement in the Triple A Death Squad. (CODEHUCA)
*LTC Alvaro Reyes Lopez 1971, Policia militar para oficiales Threats, 1987: Reyes Lopez and other officers threatened Jose Lito Aguilera, who was later arrested by army intelligence agents and killed in military custody on January 4, 1988. Although the military claimed that the death was an accident, witnesses who saw the body say that it had been mutilated with the testicles cut off and the face battered. (AW:HWW)

*COL Leonel Riera Lunati 1963, Cadet
1967, Military Intelligence
1967, Counterintelligence Suspected links to drug-trafficking: According to Juan Arancibia of the Institute for Socio-Economic Research of Honduras, Honduran newspapers have frequently linked Riera Lunati and other top Honduran officials to drug-trafficking. (WRH)

COL Thomas Said Speer 1980, Joint Operations Course
1979, Administration Review
1977, Command & General Staff College
1964, Engineer Officer Course Plot to take over armed forces: One of three officers (all SOA graduates) dismissed from Honduran military in 1986 for involvement in plot to overthrow then-chief of Armed Forces Humberto Regalado. (AW:HRH)
Subtte Juan Blas Salazar Meza 1972, Internal Defense O-7 Drug trafficking: Sentenced in October 1995 to 21 years in prison for drug trafficking. The judge said that Salazar had taken seven of 80 kilograms of cocaine that were confiscated in an anti-narcotics operation in 1994. On Dec. 5, 1995 he was ordered arrested in connection with the abduction and torture of six university students in 1982. Salazar is the former head of the Honduran Secret Police (DIN).(UPI, Jan. 3, 1996)

* GEN José Wilfredo Sanchez Valladares 1959, Policia Militar para Alistados
1965, Infantry Officer
1978, Administracion/Logistica Suspected links to drug-trafficking: According to Juan Arancibia of the Institute for Socio-Economic Research of Honduras, Honduran newspapers have frequently linked Sanchez Valladres and other top Honduran officials to drug-trafficking. (WRH)

CABO Aquilino Sorto González 1974, Jefes de Comunicaciones Torture: As director of the Comayagua penal farm (granja penal) jail in Honduras, Sorto was accused of torturing 12 children on November 12, 1995. The children ranged from 10 to 17 years old and were punched, beaten and tortured, by hanging them up by handcuffed hands. In July 1998, a Honduran judge ruled that Sorto had not violated the children's rights, despite significant evidence to the contrary. The ruling will be appealed. La Tribuna, July 25, 1998

*COL Manuel Enrique Suarez Benavides 1971, Comando y Estado Mayor Flight from Justice, 1997: When charges were brought against Suarez Benevides for the 1982 disappearance of Adan Avilez Funes and Amado Espinoza Paz, he went into hiding to avoid prosecution. He was later detained and as of September 1997 was awaiting trial. (BI9/3)

COL Guillermo Thuman Cordon 1973, Command & General Staff College
1960, Military Intelligence Course Plot to take over armed forces: One of three officers (all SOA graduates) dismissed from Honduran military in 1986 for involvement in plot to overthrow then-chief of Armed Forces Humberto Regalado. (AW:HRH)

LTC Luis Alonso Villatoro Villeda 1982, Administration
1973, "O-6" Battalion 3-16: Was head of Battalion 3-16 from 1986-1988, when that battalion disappeared, among others, Roger Samuel González Zelaya, a 24-year-old student. (AW:TFS)

COL Amílcar Zelaya 1972, Command & General Staff College
1970, Command and Unit Staff Course Battalion 3-16: His country home was used as a detention, torture, and killing center for Battalion 3-16 in the early to mid 1980's, where up to 30 prisoners could be kept at once. (TFSFT,& Baltimore Sun, 6/11/95)

by ? Wed Jul 01, 2009 16:23

If the OAS has condemned the Coup because they deem Honduras is no longer a democratic country, why then have they accepted Cuba into the OAS?
Seems contradictory. Someone please explain.

http://www.diarioinformacion.com/secciones/noticia.jsp?...spues

by - Wed Jul 01, 2009 16:48

the 1962 resolution to suspend Cuba was rescinded by the OAS - but Cuba has not rejoined nor expressed any great interest in rejoining the group. The resolution which can be read here declared marxism/leninism as incompatible. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organisation_of_American_S..._Cuba

by iosaf Thu Jul 02, 2009 12:49

A few things worth noting in no particular order :

Rogue Honduras has asked Interpol to put a warrent on legitimate president Zelaya. It is legally uncertain if Interpol may comply by the way.

Zelaya has agreed to delay his big come back drama in line with the afore mentioned 72 hour deadline given (yesterday) by the OAS.

Zapatero has launched a full scale offensive on rogue Honduras, suspending diplomatic relations, stalling aid, & insisting noisily on television rather than the usual discreet channels on the return of Zelaya to which the rogue Honduran state has said it's worried about the state of Spanish society in ways which really show the colours of this coup - "we hope the mother country will not abandon one her children".
http://www.telesurtv.net/noticias/secciones/nota/53249-...cupa/

The Honduran rogue state has today passed a package of laws which put what is known as "state of exception" into play. This means normal rights and liberties guaranteed under the constitution they supposedly did their coup(s) to protect are now suspended.
http://www.telesurtv.net/noticias/secciones/nota/53215-...uras/

Social movements who now have right to free speech, association, assembly, expression or civil protest have very bravely gathered outside the Congress.
http://www.telesurtv.net/noticias/secciones/nota/53217-...uras/

_____________________________________________

As for the big question we all might like to get answered - who apart from the dixie ku klux klan are behind the coup d'etat - & it is such a big question is remarkable we're not finding specific answers. I suggested yesterday looking beyond the grim list of "school of the americas" Honduran graduates. I mentioned very early on that the acting president of the rogue state lost his bid for a presidential nomination under the democracy but examining his cabinet appointees - I have been able to identify one portfolio and the curious "minister without portfolio" as possible key suspects.

Let's see if we can get an Interpol warrent.

I'm going to pop into the Honduran consulate to the Spanish state in Catalonia later today to see how they're feeling on the normal human level & perhaps I'll ask them what they think they can do.

Of course as the Spike Lee sponsored movie "Confederate States of America" beautifully pointed out in its "pseudo-historical mockumentary" way, the first plans to exploit and control regimes in Central America were in fact drawn up in Richmond during the American civil war.

Let's see what Obama really can do in his backyard. We're not asking for the moon, are we?

40 years on may we be glad the Americas have changed.

by iosaf mac diarmada - (freelance analyst) Thu Jul 02, 2009 22:09

On this date at 11am there were simultanous protests by the Latin American transport union known by the intials CSA (not to be confused with the confederate states of America of my last illustration) on the border crossings with Honduras from her three neighbours.

Meanwhile as we know the usurping president suspended human rights during the hours of curfew & allowed summary detention without what we'd call habeus corpus . The coup to save the constitution suspends the constitution.

And one of the new usurping cabinet revealed that if anyone will deal with them on the return of Zelaya it should be put to a referendum or public consultation first. The coup provoked by an arguably un-constitutional public consultation within a a time limit of the next presidential election would now use such a vote to decide whether or not Zelaya returns.

The irony is sickening.

But I want to tell you about Obama's back yard.

Long long ago when the USA was young and still used the pronoun "their" rather than "its", John Quincy Adams was elected the 6th president of the fledgling state. He had come to prominence as the founding father of US foreign policy being one their first envoys seeking that the powers of that time recognise the legitimacy of their states, union, give them hard cash & keep the Brits off their backs. He was one of the first presidents to live in the White House and each day he would go out in the back yard which was still a mere schematic diagram of symbolic angles of Pere L'enfant's design and go swim buck naked in the Potomac river.

If Obama looks west from the White House any morning he will no longer see the Potomac river's banks where John Quincy Adams stripped to the delight of citizens and had his constitutional bathing session. Instead he will see the solid walls of the largest office building on Earth known to us "The Pentagon". It is back yard.

There are now very good reasons to suspect that there has been long term - (before Obama's white house but still under the term of defense secretary Gates who serves Obama and served Bush) involvement from sections of the Pentagon in at least one of our coup d'etat stories

It appears amy goodman got it wrong - it aint the old timers of the school of the America's - it's the back yard within the beltway - not even as far away as Langley Virginia or Maryland.

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

http://www.telesurtv.net/noticias/entrev-reportajes/ind...l=315
http://www.telesurtv.net/noticias/contexto/1068/base-mi...itar/

& we have tactical, strategical & operational precedent - the deposal of Haitian Jean Bertrand Aristide president of Haiti which I covered in this back article : Haiti (revision and introduction to intermediate guide module 2005) http://www.indymedia.ie/article/69911

by iosaf - .:. ipsiphi Fri Jul 03, 2009 21:51

First off there is an excellent piece of analysis written in a concise and often easier to understand style of language than that with which I write, filled as mine is with too much sarcasm, silly typo mistakes and obtuse references, which reflects what is the concensus in Latin American leftist & glboal anarchosynidicalist commentator circles, available to read in English translation on this site here :- http://www.indymedia.ie/article/93002

Moving on from what has been explored and suggested in the most recent comments to this thread & is explained in Pepé's article - it is not enough to see parallels with the manner in which Haiti another of those officially poorest states along with Honduras (& Bolivia) which qualify for "make poverty history" aid and World Bank goodies. We must also see the differences; the improved fangs on the new head of the hydra, the updates to the new terminator.

I would now also suggest recalling one other coup d'etat amongst the poorest states of our planet, which though in the coup ridden and democracy parched continent of Africa did include many of the same features; potential natural resources exploitation, geopolitical strategic concerns not for its actual situation but its place on a route and conduits of trades both legal and illegal & how it's putschists let us not call them gorillas were recognised by the west (USA, EU & oddly enough Israel) in return for concessions of clearly neo-imperialist & crytpo-colonialist nature. I refer of course to Mauritania whose sad story I first explained on this newswire in the article tellingly entitled Is it a Coup d'Etat yet? = reports from Mauritania http://www.indymedia.ie/article/71288

Now news from Honduras & Latin America :-

The Secretary General of the Organisation of American States has arrived in Honduras, & stated before that he was going to neither parley nor negotiate the demands of the international community & the compliance of the UN resolution with the rogue government (thus possibly giving it legitimacy) but simply to tell them it - as it is.

Please note he's arrived a day late. & Zelaya isn't with him nor is Presidenta Kirchner of Argentina who had said she would accompany Zelaya with this plane crew of dignatories and VIP's when the idea was first raised earlier this week. Also please note Zapatero in answer to the question would he accompany the legitimate president back to Honduras appeared to rule such a possiblity out.

And so please note that the reports in many English language media describing this trip as one to hold "talks" are quite misleading tellingly the BBC has done that & I'm sure madame of the Irish Times if she felt the need to mention bananas again amidst all her ethical quandaries would probably mis-report it so too.

Rigoberta Menchú as well as being Sec.Gen. of the OAS is also a Nobel Peace Prize laureate & qualifies as being an indiginous for those who are interested in ethnic classifications. He grew up and came to human rights prominence in Guatemala one of the neighbouring of Honduras.

He arrived in an aircraft of the Brazilian air force to the Honduran airport and was then drive at high speed to the Judiciary buildings, he was escorted by a variety of security personel as well as the Honduran police who as we know just do whatever who it is that pays them tell them to do. Thanks to recent TV interest in Europe of the air france disaster (now thought by experts to be have been caused because the plane stopped flying and hit the Atlantic ocean) we might know that Brazil has a big and modern airforce which is easily the largest on the continent. Indeed despite all the attention given to the military machine of Venezuela and Mr Chavez, it is in fact Mr Lulu who heads up the most powerful army & airforce after the USA in the Americas. Very early on I linked to a world map which shows quotes and reactions to the coup d'etat in Honduras ( & Mr Lulu of Brazil made it absolutely clear he doesn't recognise the rogue regime in any legal or diplomatic sense but made it quite implicitly clear he really does recognise them for they are ). http://graficos.lainformacion.com/2009/06/reacciones-al...uras/ I can't give you exact details of which states or private security company are responsible for bodygaurding the Sec.Gen. of the OAS. But I reckon it is not our own IRMS.
http://www.telesurtv.net/noticias/secciones/nota/53347-...etti/

Meanwhile, Mr Lulu is in fact in Europe at the moment meeting with both short and regal Sarkozy and the Portuguese government Socrates who of course has just seen a key minister resign after making the "cuckold" gesture in the Lisbon parliament to the leader of the Portuguese Communist Block. (the video : http://www.libertaddigital.tv/ldtv.php/beta/videoplayer...XvBk/ the story in English - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8132413.stm

________________

Now at the beginning all those long nights ago, there were less than 40 people who assaulted twitter and both the English and Spanish language versions of wikipedia. One of them thought to include my multiple online contributions in several languages and under several names. & so it was we read the constant line that Hondurans were 100% thrilled Zelaya was gone and nobody not even his own party wanted him back.

So Significantly one of the ministers he fired (& not for doing the cuckold sign) has come out and expressed his constitutional and political wish that he be reinstated a.s.a.p.

Maenwhile - there really isn't enough commentary and bar stool wisdom coming out of the US defence blogging circles and conduits. This to my mind either indicates they're all thinking about turning Afghanistan, Pakistan, Beluchastan & Waziristan into the next Iraq - or they are falling in with the new BBC position.


You see coup d'etats really only need time. Which I've tried to explain are measured in days of statements and politicians grabbing mikes - a bit of trade union usual suspect mobilisation and then really long nights courtesy of the police, military and local secret service.

You can't really make poorer countries poorer or sadder by threatening the rich people and oligarchies who control them.

Poor people always die & never see any "make poverty history" money or get to own one of the tracks unless they swap a kidney for a pirated version on mp3.

& Rich people always keep their money in other states. Except of course for the really evil rich people who made up Smersh during the cold war years which Obama doesn't want anymore & who are now found in Quantum. They almost always keep their dosh online or in coups where it works hard for them. but you perhaps don't believe in smersh or quantum.

I can't say I blame you.
You're probably safer off.
What you don't believe in can't hurt you.

by iosaf Sat Jul 04, 2009 13:17

They're using article 143 of the constitution of the Organisation of American States to sidestep the threat of suspension or the precedent of an expulsion to announce their intention to leave which is a two year process.

Well that's a pointy little tooth on the new incarnation of the auld enemy, aint it?

Obviously whoever does the legal bit for them is much better than whoever does the internet vandalism.

Obama's back yard

by iosaf Sat Jul 04, 2009 22:13

The Church of Rome in Honduras in the form of its primate Oscar Andrés Rodríguez, has said his return may cause a blood bath. Oh I wonder do the gorilla primates have holy blessings? http://www.bbc.co.uk/mundo/america_latina/2009/07/09070...shtml

meanwhile - the Haiti parallel promoted by me in these comments and Pepe in his article http://www.indymedia.ie/article/93002 is now going really mainstream. For example this BBC Spanish edition story entitled "Zelaya another Aristide?" http://www.bbc.co.uk/mundo/america_latina/2009/07/09070...shtml

If they succeed in stealing Honduras for no more reason than nobody can go to war to take her back - then they [ You know who I'm referring to if you've a visual imagination ] really have hit big time.

Who would have thought dirt poor states were actually worth so much on the black market?

who would have thought dirt poor states could be worth so much on the black market if they go rogue?

by link Sun Jul 05, 2009 13:29

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8134699.stm

by iosaf Mon Jul 06, 2009 12:20

She had gone to the airport to welcome back the legitimate president of her country. He had boarded a plane and given a live broadcast through TeleSur speaking of the blood of Jesus Christ.

Isis Obed Murillo was not Jesus.

She didn't even have time to say her prayers.

coverage in Spanish with video http://www.elpais.com/articulo/internacional/hondureno/...6/Tes

Meanwhile the top lawyer for the army Colonel Herberth Bayardo Inestroza, who in a state of law would be involved in inquiries arising from the death of Isis and one other protester yesterday said instead that the coup was illegal but justified - so stop Honduras going commie

That old banana. "They kill people to stop them going commie coz commies don't believe in heaven and only by making hell on earth can they make sure heaven still exists", I think is how it works.

appropriately for our modern times there is also a snuff vid of this Honduran's death

by dunk Mon Jul 06, 2009 18:19

Honduras saw the blood of their children

This afternoon, our country had to see the blood of their children be spilled violently at the hands of the military under the command of the brutal and repressive government coup led by this thing that has stopped being human Roberto Michelleti.

The group of demonstrators, who were counted in over 200,000 filled the streets towards the Toncontin airport in Tegucigalpa, on their way they encountered several obstacles that prevented the police step, but they decided to give in (after the road was reported for Deputy Commissioner of Police who ordered the police to withdraw, leaving full responsibility for the army in any civil collapse that occurred ... that will not atiempo?) before the event, arrive at the end of the event (which could number in the extinguishment kilometers) to the airport this was totally militarized, was the presence of olive-green in the total area of the airport perimeter fence and a large part on the runway.

Translation (rough) from Honduras blog:

Honduras Frente al Golpe de Estado - Luchando Contra el Gobierno de Facto de Micheletti
Honduras facing the state coup - Struggling against the de facto government Micheletti
http://hondurasresistencia.blogspot.com/

Militares arrevatan vida a pueblo, Honduras vio sangre de sus hijos - http://hondurasresistencia.blogspot.com/2009/07/militar....html
- translation: http://translate.google.ie/translate?prev=hp&hl=es&js=n...ate0=

Linked from quick updates to english of latina situations:
Inca Kola news - Honduras: Snipers are in place around the airport
http://incakolanews.blogspot.com/2009/07/honduras-snipe....html

other coverage and related:

Democracy Now -
Honduras coup section
http://www.democracynow.org/features/honduras_coup

Honduran Coup Regime Blocks Ousted President Zelaya’s Return; Troops Open Fire on Supporters at Airport Killing Two
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/7/6/honduran_military_...layas

(Text via transcript not available yet, but this feature looked at media intimidation; 1 journalist already dead, many missing, many in hiding, 1 jumped 3 floors to avoid being detained by "democratic" police (he had been tortured in 80´s)

John Pilger on Honduras, Iran, Gaza, the Corporate Media, Obama’s Wars and Resisting the American Empire
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/7/6/filmmaker_journali...duras

RTE - Zelaya refused entry to Honduras
http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0706/honduras.html

Irish Times - Zelaya not allowed land in Honduras
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2009/0706/122....html

Mr Zelaya's supporters rallied at Tegucigalpa airport, where they broke through fencing near the runway to face a barrage of tear gas.

At least two people were killed as troops fended off thousands of Mr Zelaya's supporters who had converged on the airport as his plane circled overhead.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called for return of constitutional order in Honduras.

Mel el pueblo esta contigo - MEL (legit president Zelaya) the people are with you

Micheletti and your gorillas - the people are not with you

Was this the bullet that killed Isis Obed Murillo?

by dunk Mon Jul 06, 2009 18:37

For what its worth, on todays Euronews there were some nice footage of MEL playing guitar and singing away with some Latino aul lads, general having the craic, before the coup. Other footage had him wearing a fine sort of cowboy hat... This was at tale end of footage showing people setting up barracades and the like
http://es.euronews.net/2009/07/06/la-crisis-politica-en...uras/

related photo from:
Mel Zelaya (presidente de Honduras) cantó con El Torito (Mel singing with The young bull)
http://hon-line.blogspot.com/2009/05/mel-zelaya-preside....html

More footage (from the air or high up) of when the police opened fire on the crowds as they tried to pull down fences to get to the airport
http://es.euronews.net/2009/07/06/el-gobierno-interino-...laya/

As far as I know, in neighbouring Guatamala anyway, these cowboy hats are very popular, like the caps the aul lads in ireland used have 20 years ago, just different shape

Mel plays guitar with the young bull

Mel wears a fine hat...

by iosaf Tue Jul 07, 2009 21:35

Last Tuesday or a week ago I asked in one of the previous comments "How can the rogue Honduran state get out of its mess & Zelaya return?". I then observed that neither I nor one of influential neighbours could find reason to disagree with the US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, nor the EU, nor Spain nor OEA. I then specifically said We find no legal reason to allow Saúl Escobar's order of military detention without charge or due legal process - of either the acting and recognised head of state or any other individual.

& so it is noteworthy that Saul Escobar suggested today that Zelaya could return if the Congress voted him a pardon.

& more so because he made that barbed suggestion (to accept the Queen's pardon is to accept wrongdoing as any old time republican would opine) just a few minutes before Hilary Clinton got more visibly involved and Obama insisted from Moscow after meeting Putin that Zelaya was going back.

Dunk has presented us with images of a cowboy hat which put my previous images of dead 19 year old Isis in context : that of a man who comes from landed wealth. Zelaya isn't Johnny Cash, but he has been able to afford croc skin boots all his life and if we examine the OAS declaration - we see concern for his family and naturally extended financial interests in the Honduran state.

don't you know.

Now of course nobody is negotiating. Coz they don't do deals with terrorists or rogue states.

ever.

but if the hat fits...........wear it.

by iosaf mac diarmada Wed Jul 08, 2009 23:36

I take it for granted that the readership unanimously rules out the possiblity of 19 year old Isis Obed Murillo coming back from the dead on either blasphemous or rational grounds. As I wrote before - she wasn't Jesus.

But as the Nobel Peace Laureate and current president of Costa Rica, Don Señor Arias engages in discussions (which he is at pains to clarify are not negotiations) between the legitimate president Zelaya of Honduras and the usurping de facto president Michelleti - we must examine yet again what has happened and is yet to come.

There have been a lot of arrests - and notably the warrent issued to Interpol / interplod by the putschists for the arrest of Zelaya was rejected - and without a doubt the useful presidential political careers of two individuals : Zelaya and Michelleti have ended.

The next elections will plausibly see Hondurans return a right wing regime of barely chastised gorrilas.

One of whom described Obama as a negrito and has earned a rebuff from the USA condemning the racism and disrespect.

But Honduras is going to turn to the right nonetheless, democratically, constitutionally and legitimately by the end of this year - with or without the assassination of Zelaya or the resurrection of Isis Obed Murillo.

if you're interested in what is happening in Honduras and bear in mind to discuss what I have suggested is going to happen in Honduras after Zelaya returns - then go along to this gig in Dublin -
What’s happening in Honduras?

Public Talk by José Antonio Gutiérrez (Research and Development Officer of the Latin American Solidarity Centre)
Wednesday 15th July
Seomra Spraoi
10 Belvidere Court, Dublin 1 http://www.indymedia.ie/article/93092

& please - please - por favor - Release the Political prisoners!!!

by iosaf mac diarmada Sun Jul 19, 2009 16:14

these are the 7 points proposed by the president of Costa Rica who is the mediator in the ongoing Honduran crises As you can see there is a whiff of that old hispanic café con leche para todos (or milky coffee for everyone) both sides lose & really the accords would beg one to consider who wins in the longterm..,

1) Zelaya returns and continues in office till January 27th 2010.

2) The formation of a government of reconciliation with representative from the main political parties

3) the complete amnesty of all political prisoners detained before and after June 28th 2009

4) Zelaya and his supporters renounce formally their ambition of putting a fourth ballot box and offering a public consultation at the next election or organise any public consultation not specifically authorised by the constitution. ([ this means all such proposals would have to go through the supreme court] )

5) the legislative elections be brought forward from November 29th 2009 to the last Sunday in October and the election campaign accordingly be rescheduled from beginning in early September to early August. ([ this means in a fortnight Hondurans would have posters on their street asking them to vote for toothless bolivarians or toothless gorillas])

6) the transfer of supreme authority of the armed forces from the presidency to the electoral tribunal thus guaranteeing transparency and fair elections ( [ you get the whiff that the lawyers are the ones who really win?] )

7) the creation of a commission comprised of noteworthy, notable, noble and quite probably well-off Hondurans together with international people to monitor the previous 6 accords.( [ if Bono can learn to speak Spanish better than he insensitevly mouthed it off in the Catalan football stadium at the beginning of the current U2 tour earlier this summer than he might be in the running.] )

source Costa Rican Government Presidency site :: http://www.casapres.go.cr/
_____________________________________________________

* curfew was ended last week and then reimposed - seems hard to think in two weeks people will be expected to run a normal election campaign if tonight they're not allowed out their doors.

* Journalists of both TeleSur and Venezuelan media entities have been deported.

* Meanwhile on the other side of reality, Evo Morales declared last week during the bicentenial celebrations for Bolivia, that the same Pentagon office which I've mentioned in previous comments which backed this whole thing were also involved in destabilising the Santa Cruz province.

* & today's image is reportedly a photo scan of a letter written by the usurping president of Honduras to General Vazquez two days before the coup d'etat exhorting him to make his move as agreed on June 28th. That letter would have been on the way when I wrote this article - on he very same day the 26th of June.

http://www.telesurtv.net/noticias/secciones/nota/54309-...tado/

* & finally to drive home a point I have been trying to do visually, this last Moon Landing anniversary season - several opinion pieces have been appearing in Latin American media which concur with my suspicions that there is more than whiff of anti-Obama factors in all of this. What I have termed the Obama's back yard factor The tracks of evil and illegitimacy and plotting all go back to the same group of US military planners who would it seem better serve the flag of Dixie and the Confederacy if their attitudes and preconceptions of ethnicity, poverty & one's place in the world be known. & their scheme is nothing short of the continuation of human slavery, cash crops, narco-empires & that humble nana.

Michelleti wrote a letter ordering a Coup the same day that I wrote this article warning of a coup.

by iosaf mac diarmada Mon Jul 20, 2009 09:27

The 7 points proposed by President Arias of Costa Rica, Nobel Peace prize dude & negotiator acceptable to both the OAS and Hilary Clinton were accepted by Zelaya and now rejected by the usurping regime of Honduras.

You can read the 7 points in the last comment. It is important to understand what has tactically occured before reading on. In any negotiation be it of the relatively mundane types such as haggling to buy a carpet in a bazaar, bribing a police officer or purchasing drugs at weight on credit or this worldly political kind of restoring a legitimate president to his state and freeing over 2000 political prisoners :-

both sides put their cards on the table or if you will admit their bottom price. Zelaya who entered this process attempting to describe it not as a negotiation has now come out of it admitting his bottom price where as the ousting regime of gorilas have come out of it further legitimatised and entrenched. True, they may have now officially used up every last cent of World Bank aid (they were cut off as I reported up this comments page) but then again so did Mauritania after its coup d'etat (which I invited readers to remember and compare and contrast) and the Mauritanians so many years later just celebrated a sham election this weekend. The cardinal of Honduras took to the global hispanic RC media granting interviews in the last week. This one given to the Spanish rightwing "El Mundo" newspaper last weekend was typical : http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2009/07/12/internacional/....html The RC primate supported the gorilas whole heartedly, giving them his blessing, which is dandy and predicatable until one remembers that the chap was in fact the liberal progressive candidate for the papacy - the hope of catholics who felt Ratzinger was a bit of a smidgen too far to the right.....

_____________________________

We are now celebrating (?) the 30th anniversary of the Sandinista Rebolution in Nicaragua. Its leader and currently the constitutional president of Nicaragua and member of the Bolivarian family, Daniel Ortega, harshly criticised the process intiated by Costa Rican Arias. He has accused Arias in his commemoration speech of being an instrument of the Yankee empire and secretly supporting the gorillas and ousting regime.

I really insist this is the Dixie empire but anyway.

Many readers will be too young to remember how many of us felt inspired enough to go pick the then rather novel fair price - fair trade coffee in the hills of Nicaragua in the 1980's. It was for our generation a chance to catch malaria and get bitten by mosquitos which I suppose was akin to the hordes (?) of Irish lefties who trooped off to Chiapas a decade later.

But lessons are there to be learnt all the same, so I'd advise younger readers to fish out early middle aged lefties and ask them what happened to the FSLN, how it was overthrown by the IranContra thingy and a democratic election which saw the USAF drop election leaflets on jungle villages of illiterates. & to muse how its leader then eventually would be democratically elected again & then last of all.........

to ponder how the noble haggling of a fair price for a bag of coffee still leaves such a bad taste in the mouth of the wee peasant who does the growing and picking

If you sup with the devil use a long spoon & don't go haggling - coz you'll lose.

by democracy now Wed Jul 22, 2009 17:02

Coup Regime Rejects Own Negotiator’s Proposal on Zelaya Return
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/7/22/headlines#4

In Honduras, the coup regime is showing internal division over the return of the overthrown President Manuel Zelaya. On Tuesday, the de facto government rejected a proposal from its own foreign minister and lead negotiator that would have restored Zelaya to office. The foreign minister, Carlos López Contreras, drafted a plan that would let Zelaya return but bar a referendum on allowing him to run for reelection. It was the second reconciliation proposal rejected by the coup regime in less than a week following its objection to a Costa Rica-backed plan agreed to by Zelaya. Meanwhile, Zelaya spoke out from Nicaragua on Tuesday, vowing to return to Honduras within seventy-two hours.

President Manuel Zelaya: “After seventy-two hours, to return to Honduras to find solutions, a peaceful return to the right we all have to resist oppression, to join the Honduran people in resisting this repressive regime that has taken over our country.”

Zelaya’s promise to return came as hundreds of his supporters continued daily protests in the capital Tegucigalpa. Protest leader Rafael Alegria said the struggle to restore Zelaya could turn violent if the coup regime doesn’t step down.

Rafael Alegria: “No one can guarantee that there will be an outbreak of violence and that the people will get out of control. For now, we’re on the streets peacefully protesting, but no one can say whether it will turn into a violent confrontation. If it does, that will be the responsibility of the coup leaders.”

by iosaf Wed Jul 22, 2009 22:15

http://www.telesurtv.net/noticias/secciones/nota/54509-...gota/

Well golly gosh & fancy that oh my, oh my, mammy, my lord I am so afeared I never did see that a comin.

= you still think we're just talking gorilas?

If you don't see the significance of this then you need to go back to the comments or go to this back article & think who likes Mr Uribe and keeps his narcostate in existence and who doesn't want Mr Obama......

by iosaf Fri Jul 24, 2009 21:10

I've reported an "imminent return" of Zelaya a few times now & for that reason didn't want to cry wolf and explain how he set off on a slow road journey at 16H30 local time(20H30 GMT) from the Honduran embassy in the Nicaraguan capital Managua in the company of the Venezuelan chancillor (or parliamentary president equivalent to the Irish "ceann chomhairle").

Honduras is today in the second day of what appears to be a widespread functioning general strike.

Supporters of Zelaya have flocked to the border province of Paraiso to welcome the return of their legitimate president and have met with a military cordon.

In some isolated cases Honduran police have actually let them proceed (evincing splits in the regime's repression aparatus) but such news must be qualified with reports that plain clothes agent provocateurs police have also been infiltrating the crowds.

The current 2nd curfew which normally runs from 19h00 local time was adjusted today to the astonishingly early 15h00

Latest reports are supporters have broken through the cordon.

ALBA states have upped the rhetoric of military intervention and support for armed insurrection against the illegitimate regime (which is constitutionally & internationally legally justified as I pointed out on the morning after the coup d'etat in the comments on this page.

Honduran citizens under article 3 of their constitution are supposed to resist any usurping regime & any assault on the Venezuelan chancillor Nicolas Maduro travelling with Zelaya would be a casus belli for Venezuela and involve the ALBA alliance as casus foederis

______________________________________________

The OAS don't seem to want Zelaya to turn up at that border in the next few hours, and haven't really praised his latest rhetoric in which he appears to have cast a gauntlet to the military asking will they have the blood of their president on their hands.

______________________________________________

Colombia have made no official statement about the meeting between Uribe and representatives of the usurping regime which I mentioned in the last comment. That might be interpreted by some (on the right) as Colombia not giving them legitimacy or equally could be interpreted by some (like me) as another clear sign of the role being played by both the Kali cocaine cartel and the US southern command in the coup d'etat. The Pentagon & Uribe have announced polemical plans to operate more US bases in the Colombian state.

which naturally brings me to the current feature article on Miami Indymedia which tells us how activists there have protested the operational HQ of the US Southern Command
http://miami.indymedia.org/news/2009/07/13475.php

_______________________________________________

lastly I would now add a new dimension to our understanding of the Honduran crises. There appears to be concensus amongst us internationally and in Ireland in LASC circles as to who is backing the coup d'etat and what the longterm and shortterm objectives are. As we now move very close to a Haitian situation I would remind people that I've seen indications of 3 seperate coup d'etat processes overlapping. I am now minded to consider the possibility that the ghouls and spooks may also calculate including a Zelaya return in their plans.

by iosaf Fri Jul 24, 2009 21:40

To quickly follow up my last comment because to be honest this is breaking news - Zelaya is now on the border surrounded by supporters whilst on the Honduran side military are using tear gas and there are disturbances as reported by TelesurTV, BBC Mundo, Radio Globo & Nicaraguan TV.

Years ago I wrote a series of opinion & news articles for indymedia Ireland entitled "the sunday papers" which were always introduced with the same basic paragraph which varied little depending on the edition's topic. Many times I noted that it is on weekends that coup d'etats generally occur. It is a historical fact as fascinating as the tendancy in democracies such as Ireland to leak government information, scandal on a Friday or if you're into such patterns the tendency to announce controversial proposals for new legislation on a Wednesday.

It's just about evening now in Honduras and a few hours after today's curfew.

Many people didn't go to work today and at least one commercial media entity in the state is now openly defying the usurping regime (radio globo) and so far is not seeing its signals interrupted as TeleSur have been.

Indications are also that the mobile phone network is functional.

curiously the apologists who took to twitter and even left comments on this article after the coup d'etat have not felt the need to fight a new session of their supposed "media war".........

now how are we to interpret that?

:?: Is the whole world watching touchdown - "one small step over a frontier for man one gigantic leap for a president"?

:?: Is this part of the great plan of the gorilas & they are gauging how to provoke a war?

:?: Are they tired of running a impovrished state which every international aid institution ranging from the EU to the Worldbank, OAS to Mercosur has ostracised and cut funding to? (with the obvious exception of the USA on the political side and the pharmocorps on the legitimate business side and the most powerful drug cartel on the planet which has a stronger economy than Ireland had (in the good old days) and if we're into bang-bangs is better equiped than the Irish defence forces?

it's so sad that most readers will be too busy enjoying their weekend to keep abreast with the updates.

at the border crossing about to enter the "Something to Declare" channel home.

by iosaf Fri Jul 24, 2009 23:11

"Ending a sentence with a preposition is something with which I will not put up"

as I've explained in the last comment which followed so swiftly the penultimate comment - this is breaking news. So I'd ask readers to bear with me as I update what is an unfolding situation of huge importance to not only Latin America but Obama's backyard and the price of Irish consumer favourites like Viagra and Cocaine, not to mention the humble banana.

Zelaya upon lifting the metal chain which hangs over the road from "Las Manos" in the province of Paraiso on the border with Nicaragua (names which could be translated to English as "Hands and paradise") was immediately surrounded by hundreds of supporters in a human chain.

the symbolism of chains would lead any poet of the contemporary style to suggest the word "reaction" whereas others of more lyrical ditty type might go off on the fetters and bonds which the lower orders happily carry in their ignorance.

Zelaya's family have been prevented by the Nicaraguan military from meeting him.

Back in the comments you may read how the initial OAS declaration and emergency session of the UN prior to the UN resolution specifically called on that family's rights to be respected.

Zelaya has demanded a meeting with Army chief Vazquez a man who he fired one month ago as I reported in the article & the man who 26 days ago presumedly ordered the kidnap at gunpoint and deportation in pyjamas of Zelaya.

of course as you know the players whose names we know (& this is always a disadvantage for people like me who want to diffuse news - that the average reader can't cope with too many names) have not gone to the border.

However, Zelaya has met with lower ranking officers of the Honduran army, who we know have been ordered to arrest him.

He has for the moment been neither arrested nor detained. I think back to the last lines of the article I wrote 28 days ago & the importance of lower ranking military officers in such things. Often the little practical difference between a colonel and general can be summed up simply in the number of press-ups one is capable of and how close or far from a desk or action they are accustomed to be. Indeed generals rather like CEO's and other supposed leaders are often nothing more than figureheads in a chain of command who demand much loyalty but earn little.

My attention is thus now turning from the "gorilas" to "the colonels" - it's taken them a while to tread the stage.

Oh and a little titbit has come from Colombia since the third last comment : Uribe's regime unequivocally supports the return to constitutionality and the restoration of President Zelaya

the moment Zelaya lifted the chain which hangs on the Nicaraguan & Honduran border

Photographic evidence that President Zelaya has crossed the border & is in Honduras

by iosaf Fri Jul 24, 2009 23:49

Again I ask readers to bear with me as I report breaking news and understand the last hours have prompted several comments.

Zelaya is now in Nicaragua. He is within several hundred metres of the border with Honduras which he crossed as illustrated in the last comment without hindrance.

The secretary general of the OAS has issued a declaration reiterating his opposition to Zelaya's actions today, saying that though he condemns the coup d'etat and demands the return of Zelaya can only support a pacific process. He has then expressed support for the 7 point settlement proposed by Costa Rican president Arias. Readers can read those 7 points by scrolling back through the comments and reflect on how they were rejected by the Honduran usurpist regime, accepted by Zelaya and supported by the Honduran usurpist negotiator ( a case of the auld plenipotentiaries that ).
http://www.telesurtv.net/solotexto/nota/index.php?ckl=5...44-NN

It is now nightfall in Honduras as in Nicaragua. The video of Zelaya's brief return to his land of which 3 still images may be seen in the previous comments is now being reproduced throughout global commercial media.

Meanwhile some Honduran colonels have serious thinking to do.

Meanwhile over 2,000 political prisoners must be missing home perhaps more than Zelaya.

Meanwhile those who set up this situation must be thinking too, tough for them, it being a weekend & all.

If one could suggest that Zelaya for a moment lost the last return gig when his airplane was not allowed land, and also one could think he lost the 7 point settlement process by offering a bottom line which would have stripped his Bolivarian project of all potential - one must likewise now suggest he's won today's little incident.

Third time lucky? - perhaps.

Civil war? - sincerely we ought hope not, such things not only scare the kids and curdle milk but are most often only enjoyed by the most evil of men and the women they hang out with, who it is rumoured really like to be called bitch and never wear anything more substantial than high heels and suntan lotion.

updating coverage from Telesur (spanish) http://www.telesurtv.net/solotexto/nota/index.php?ckl=54645
coverage from BBC Mundo with video (from Telesur) http://www.bbc.co.uk/mundo/america_latina/2009/07/09072...shtml

good night, sleep tight & don't let the bedbugs bite.

by dunk Sat Jul 25, 2009 10:16

Thanks for updates Iosaf,

Irish Times report, via Reuters here:

Zelaya takes symbolic steps
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0725/...1.htm

Vowing to return home, ousted President Manuel Zelaya took a few symbolic steps inside Honduras today but backed away from a confrontation with Honduran security forces waiting to arrest him.

In a move described as "reckless" by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the ousted leader in his trademark cowboy hat crossed briefly into Honduras in the small town of Las Manos on the border with Nicaragua.

Pausing to give live telephone interviews and surrounded by a pack of journalists, Mr Zelaya approached the chain dividing the two Central American nations, stepped over the border and held the chain over his head in triumph for a moment.

He then touched a sign that said: "Welcome to Honduras," but with troops and police standing just yards (metres) away, he said he did not want to proceed farther out of "respect for the principles" of the military....

by iosaf Sun Jul 26, 2009 18:05

He went on Friday and negotiated those cordons and curfew at 3pm which I mentioned in my previous comments. & then he was arrested and went missing. That's how things work these days in Honduras. Oh, for the umpteenth time I say Zelaya's rhetoric and symbolism and talk of blood galls. Pedro Ezequiel's body has now been found in the Paraiso province on the border with Nicaragua, tortured, multilated.

we can rest assured his family have been notified are taking to steps to ensure that this regretable occurence never happens again and is remembered by all people everywhere as the worst thing that has happened to a Honduran protester since Isis what's-her-name got shot in the neck the last time Zelaya tried to return home.

but at least we had a video of her death.

Pedro Ezequiel walked his little steps to welcome Zelaya home & ended up tortured & dead.

by iosaf Tue Jul 28, 2009 11:33

Those of us who really wonder at the wisdom of little blue hats and international plodsters of the Haitian model must be slightly disappointed that the UN is now sending a monitoring team to the border where Zelaya has set up camp. Especially considering how in the Honduran capital the international commission on Human Rights organised by the marxist parties (IU in spanish speaking lands SWP elsewhere) had their briefing broken up by cops. It had been scheduled to hold a press conference in the Hotel Maya, at 10 AM local (16H00 GMT).

Meanwhile the centrist newspaper of Mexican reference "La Jornada" in today's editorial has accused the Nobel Peace Laureate, current president of Costa Rica and promoter of the 7 point solution of "defection" for his repeated criticism of Zelaya's "impatience" and provocation by setting up camp on the border. For their part the Honduran usurping congress have begun partial debate of the 7 points (which appear back in the comments with little explanatory notes) but their discussions haven't really offered much of a bright light - they are hinging on amnesty for Zelaya and the electoral mechanism of bringing forward the elections as suggested in those 7 points. http://www.telesurtv.net/noticias/opinion/1138/la-defec...rias/

I remember wondering last week how people under curfew (now at sunny 3pm) can be expected to put up posters like civilised people and get prepared for their thumbs to be inked & run a month long tension free campaign starting next week..,

now I wonder do people agree with me that it is not exactly the same people who make a packet out of civil wars who really enjoy a good old Haiti thing.

well if you're bloodyminded enough to get a bloody head - wear a red shirt.

by iosaf Wed Jul 29, 2009 12:12

You can't really make this stuff up.

The 4 clothing corporations one of which, Nike was once one of the most vilified anti-capitalist brands earning that ignominy thanks to Naomi Klein's "No Logo!" have come out behind president Zelaya has he announces plans to organise a militia from the mountains on the frontier between Nicaragua with Honduras.

Now lest you go off and tell me I've no right to be sarcastic, let me remind you that the "Star" production plant owned by "Anvil knitwear" which makes Nike clothing in Honduras was the eye of a trade union workers' rights storm back in 2001. Happily the issue was resolved and the manager of the plant went on to build a regional political career in the province of El Paraiso (where president Zelaya is bordering now). That former sweat shop manager then went on to be appointed to a job in education by the usurping regime. His name? Oh well you know it is with readers - they can't cope with too many names. Well, it's easy. the man is Mr Carlos Humberto Zelaya. as in Carlos Humberto not whatever you think president Zelaya is called by friends and family.

I once jokingly noted during the Mauritanian coup d'etat that the only people who had a chance to plot and conive were the ones with Ould in their surname. 'twas true too then as it is now.

the USA has cancelled all the visas for the Hondran usurpers no matter what their names.

by dunk Mon Aug 03, 2009 13:27

DN!: Thursday EXCLUSIVE + Friday headlines

Calls for Dissent met with huge police resistance; Several protesters were wounded and more than 150 arrested Thursday at four separate rallies. One protester is in critical condition after being shot in the head.

EXCLUSIVE: Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya Speaks from Nicaraguan Border on Who’s Behind the Coup, His Attempts to Return Home, the Role of the United States and More
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/7/30/exclusive_ousted_...elaya

In a Democracy Now! national broadcast exclusive, ousted Honduran president Manuel Zelaya joins us from the Nicaragua-Honduras border for a wide-ranging interview on his attempts to return home, who’s behind the coup, the role of the United States, and much more. “I think the United States is going to lose a great deal of influence in Latin America if it does not turn the coup d’état around,” Zeleya says. “It will not be able to put forth its idea about democracy. It won’t be credible before anyone.” On his message to the Honduran people, Zelaya says they should “maintain their resistance against those who want to take their rights away…so that no one will be able to disrespect them, which is what the coup regime is doing today.”

Headlines for July 31, 2009: Coup Regime Intensifies Crackdown, Renews Zelaya Rejection
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/7/31/headlines#1

In Honduras, hopes for the immediate return of the elected President Manuel Zelaya are fading after one of the most violent government crackdowns since last month’s coup. Several protesters were wounded and more than 150 arrested Thursday at four separate rallies. One protester is in critical condition after being shot in the head at a demonstration in the capital Tegucigalpa. Protester Juan Barahona called for more dissent in the wake of the coup regime’s growing international isolation.

Juan Barahona: “We think what is missing is much greater internal pressure. We think at the international level, we’ve won the battle. But we need much more force and much more internal pressure to erode the coup.”

The injured protesters include independent presidential candidate Carlos Reyes, who suffered a head wound and a fractured arm. The coup regime, meanwhile, renewed its opposition to Zelaya’s return one day after indicating it would ease its stance. The head of the coup government, Roberto Micheletti, had said he would back a Costa Rican plan for Zelaya’s return but first needed the support of the Honduran business elite. Zelaya, meanwhile, met with US officials in the Nicaraguan capital of Managua, where he urged increased pressure on the coup regime.

Honduran President Manuel Zelaya: “We have asked the countries of Latin America, the United States and Europe to strengthen and energize the measures that can be taken to reverse this process and the negative effects of the coup that have shamed and humiliated humanity itself.”

by comic fancier Tue Aug 04, 2009 14:02

Mysterious placards featuring Obama the Joker have been appearing in LA according to this report in Le Monde:

http://www.lemonde.fr/ameriques/article/2009/08/04/d-et....html

Has Batman been to Honduras lately?

by DN! Headlines Tue Aug 04, 2009 14:36

Zelaya Takes Case to International Criminal Court

Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya vowed on Saturday to return to power through peaceful means and said he would take his case to the International Criminal Court.

Manuel Zelaya: “In the next few hours, the International Criminal Court will receive a demand to open a case based in the fundamentals of law that will open an investigation and, at the same time, the trial and condemnation of the people that have not only violated my individual rights, but the collective rights of our people, and have affected human rights.”

Two Zelaya Supporters Die in Honduras

Two more supporters of Zelaya have died in Honduras. A teacher named Roger Vallejo died of a bullet wound to the head after two days in a hospital’s intensive care unit. Vallejo was shot in the head while taking part in a rally blocking a road leading out of the capital, Tegucigalpa. A funeral was held for Vallejo on Saturday. Another teacher, Martin Florencio Rivera Barrientos, was stabbed to death on Saturday after leaving Vallejo’s funeral.
Roger Noriega Hired as Lobbyist by Honduran Business Coalition

In other Honduran news, a business coalition of Honduran textile manufacturers and exporters has hired Roger Noriega to lobby US lawmakers on behalf of the coup government. Noriega served as assistant secretary for the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs under President Bush. He was a key figure in the overthrow of Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in February 2004.

by iosaf Wed Aug 26, 2009 21:20

August 28th will see an extra-ordinary summit of "Mercosur" the transnational group which is in many ways similar to the Council of Europe, or EEC (far from the EU yet). The subject of that extra-ordinary three day summit in Argentina will be repudiation of 7 new US bases or "forward operating locations" which the narco-state of Colombia has leased the USA through undisclosed negotiations with Hillary Clinton.

That same day the legitimate government of Honduras in exile in Nicaragua, the social movements within Honduras have called for an international day of action, protest, repudiation & information.
http://www.telesurtv.net/noticias/afondo/especiales/Gol...c=132

This call has the full support of the all allies of legitimate government in Honduras and those opposed to the return of military intervention & those horrified by the appalling vista opened geo-politically by the usurping regime in Honduras & the concurrent announcement of new US bases on the continent.

By which is meant the vast majority of the Latin American states with the following governments of mixed hue and ideology lending the most vocal support :

Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Argentina, Chile, Brazil.

You may make your feelings known on O Connell street, at the US embassy, in radio phone-ins wherever you want. But please - dot the dots.

I have been writing a series on the new Latin American century. It is currently in 3 parts.

Part 1 explains the security situation in Colombia & the problems with Interpol & the US constitution and Ecuador http://www.indymedia.ie/article/93553

Part 2 explains the historical and contemporary difficulties faced by Brazil
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/93578

part 3 details the current US bases and strategic fear of Argentina and Brazil & the importance of the global water deep aquifier reserves and lithium (electric car battery) reserves http://www.indymedia.ie/article/93652

part 4 shall come next for the MercoSUR summit and explain why the coup d'etat in such an insignificant place like Honduras was not to be compared to Haiti, nor even Mauritania but a manouvre akin to the Reuben Fine's middlegame in Chess

last link to the archive on Honduras.

this is a pun, golpista = putschist. gol = goal - pista = track - so that explained, where you do you reckon they're going next?