Honduras Coup: Soldiers kidnap VZ, Cuba, Nicaragua envoys

[nathan28]

Thanks very much, John, for providing this resource. "Shameful" doesn't begin to describe the US media's near-silence

[John Schröder]

http://counterpunch.org/dangl06302009.html

The Rise, Repression and Uncertain Future of the Coup

Showdown in Honduras

By BENJAMIN DANGL

Worldwide condemnation has followed the coup that unseated President Manuel Zelaya of Honduras on Sunday, June 28. Nation-wide mobilizations and a general strike demanding that Zelaya be returned to power are growing in spite of increased military repression. One protester outside the government palace in Honduras told reporters that if Roberto Micheletti, the leader installed by the coup, wants to enter the palace, "he had better do so by air" because if he goes by land "we will stop him."

On early Sunday morning, approximately 100 soldiers entered the home of the left-leaning Zelaya, forcefully removed him and, while he was still in his pajamas, ushered him on to a plane to Costa Rica. The tension that led to the coup involved a struggle for power between left and right political factions in the country. Besides the brutal challenges facing the Honduran people, this political crisis is a test for regional solidarity and Washington-Latin American relations.

Manuel Zelaya Takes a Left Turn

When Manuel Zelaya was elected president on November 27, 2005 in a close victory, he became president of one of the poorest nations in the region, with approximately 70% of its population of 7.5 million living under the poverty line. Though siding himself with the region’s left in recent years as a new member of the leftist trade bloc, Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), Zelaya did sign the Central American Free Trade Agreement in 2004.

However, Zelaya has been criticizing and taking on the sweatshop and corporate media industry in his country, and increased the minimum wage by 60%. He said the increase, which angered the country’s elite but expanded his support among unions, would "force the business oligarchy to start paying what is fair."

At a meeting of regional anti-drug officials, Zelaya spoke of an unconventional way to combat the drug trafficking and related violence that has been plaguing his country: "Instead of pursuing drug traffickers, societies should invest resources in educating drug addicts and curbing their demand."

After his election, Zelaya’s left-leaning policies began generating "resistance and anger among Liberal [party] leaders and lawmakers on the one hand, and attracting support from the opposition, civil society organizations and popular movements on the other," IPS reported.

The social organization Via Campesina stated, "The government of President Zelaya has been characterized by its defense of workers and campesinos, it is a defender of the Bolivarian Alternative of the Americas (ALBA), and during his administration it has promoted actions that benefit Honduran campesinos."

As his popularity rose over the years among these sectors of society, the right wing and elite of Honduras worked to undermine the leader, eventually resulting in the recent coup.

Leading up to the Coup

The key question leading up to the coup was whether or not to hold a referendum on Sunday, June 28 – as Zelaya wanted – on organizing an assembly to re-write the country’s constitution.

As one media analyst pointed out, while many major news outlets in the US, including the Miami Herald, Wall St. Journal and Washington Post, said an impetus for the coup was specifically Zelaya’s plans for a vote to allow him to extend his term in office, the actual ballot question was to be: "Do you agree that, during the general elections of November 2009 there should be a fourth ballot to decide whether to hold a Constituent National Assembly that will approve a new political constitution?"

Nations across Latin America, including Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador, have recently re-written their constitutions. In many aspects the changes to these documents enshrined new rights for marginalized people and protected the nations’ economies from the destabilizing effects of free trade and corporate looting.

Leading up to the coup, on June 10, members of teacher, student, indigenous and union groups marched to demand that Congress back the referendum on the constitution, chanting, "The people, aware, defend the Constituent [Assembly]." The Honduran Front of Teachers Organizations [FOM], with some 48,000 members, also supported the referendum. FOM leader Eulogio Chávez asked teachers to organize the expected referendum this past Sunday in schools, according to the Weekly News Update on the Americas.

The Supreme Court ruled that the referendum violated the constitution as it was taking place during an election year. When Honduran military General Romeo Vasquez refused to distribute ballots to citizens and participate in the preparations for the Sunday referendum, Zelaya fired him on June 24. The Court called for the reinstatement of Vasquez, but Zelaya refused to recognize the reinstatement, and proceeded with the referendum, distributing the ballots and planning for the Sunday vote.

Crackdown in Honduras

Vasquez, a former student at the infamous School of the Americas, now known as Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC), went on to be a key leader in the June 28 coup.

After Zelaya had been taken to Costa Rica, a falsified resignation letter from Zelaya was presented to Congress, and former Parliament leader Roberto Micheletti was sworn in by Congress as the new president of the country. Micheletti immediately declared a curfew as protests and mobilizations continued nation-wide.

Since the coup took place, military planes and helicopters have been circling the city, the electricity and internet has been cut off, and only music is being played on the few radio stations that are still operating, according to IPS News.

Telesur journalists, who have been reporting consistently throughout the conflict, were detained by the de facto government in Honduras. They were then released thanks to international pressure.

The ambassadors to Honduras from Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua were arrested. Patricia Rodas, the Foreign Minister of Honduras under Zelaya has also been arrested. Rodas recently presided over an OAS meeting in which Cuba was finally admitted into the organization.

The military-installed government has issued arrest warrants for Honduran social leaders for the Popular Bloc Coordinating Committee, Via Campesina and the Civic Council of Grassroots and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras, according to the Weekly News Update on the Americas.

Human rights activist Dr. Juan Almendares, reporting from from Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras, told Democracy Now! that due to government crackdowns and the electrical blackout, there is "not really access to information, no freedom of the press." He said, "We have also a curfew, because after 9:00 you can be shot if you are on the streets. So we have a curfew from 9:00 to 6:00 a.m."

In a statement on the coup, Via Campesina said, "We believe that these deeds are the desperate acts of the national oligarchy and the hardcore right to preserve the interests of capital, and in particular, of the large transnational corporations."

Mobilizations and Strikes in Support of Zelaya

Members of social, indigenous and labor organizations from around the country have concentrated in the city’s capital, organizing barricades around the presidential palace, demanding Zelaya’s return to power. Sixty protesters have been injured and two have died in clashes with the coup’s security forces.

"Thousands of Hondurans gathered outside the presidential palace singing the national hymn," Telesur reported. "While the battalions mobilized against protesters at the Presidential House, the TV channels did not report on the tense events." Bertha Cáceres, the leader of the Consejo Cívico de Organizaciones Populares y Indígenas, said that the ethnic communities of the country are ready for resistance and do not recognize the Micheletti government.

Dr. Almendares reported that in spite of massive repression on the part of the military leaders, "We have almost a national strike for workers, people, students and intellectuals, and they are organized in a popular resistance-run pacific movement against this violation of the democracy. … There are many sectors involved in this movement trying to restitute the constitutional rights, the human rights."

Rafael Alegría, a leader of Via Campesina in Honduras, told Telesur, "The resistance of the people continues and is growing, already in the western part of the country campesinos are taking over highways, and the military troops are impeding bus travel, which is why many people have decided to travel to Tegucigalpa on foot. The resistance continues in spite of the hostility of the military patrols."

A general strike was also organized by various social and labor sectors in the country. Regarding the strike, Alegría said it is happening across state institutions and "progressively in the private sector."

The 4th Army Battalion from the Atlántida Department in Honduras has declared that it will not respect orders from the Micheletti government, and the major highways of the country are blocked by protesters, according to a radio interview with Alegría.

The Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH), condemned the coup, media crackdowns and repression, saying in a statement: "[T]he Honduran people are carrying out large demonstrations, actions in their communities, in the municipalities; there are occupations of bridges, and a protest in front of the presidential residence, among others. From the lands of Lempira, Morazán and Visitación Padilla, we call on the Honduran people in general to demonstrate in defense of their rights and of real and direct democracy for the people, to the fascists we say that they will NOT silence us, that this cowardly act will turn back on them, with great force."

Washington Responds

On Sunday, Obama spoke of the events in Honduras: "I am deeply concerned by reports coming out of Honduras regarding the detention and expulsion of President Mel Zelaya. As the Organization of American States did on Friday, I call on all political and social actors in Honduras to respect democratic norms, the rule of law and the tenets of the Inter-American Democratic Charter. Any existing tensions and disputes must be resolved peacefully through dialogue free from any outside interference."

But the US hasn’t actually called what’s happened in Honduras a coup. Hillary Clinton said, "We are withholding any formal legal determination." And regarding whether or not the US is calling for Zelaya’s return, Clinton said, "We haven't laid out any demands that we're insisting on, because we're working with others on behalf of our ultimate objectives."

If the White House declares that what’s happening in Honduras is a coup, they would have to block aid to the rogue Honduran government. A provision of US law regarding funds directed by the US Congress says that, "None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available ... shall be obligated or expended to finance directly any assistance to the government of any country whose duly elected head of government is deposed by military coup or decree."

"The State Department has requested $68.2 million in aid for fiscal year 2010 [for Honduras], which begins on October 1, up from $43.2 million in the current fiscal year and $40.5 million a year earlier," according to Reuters.

The US military has a base in Soto Cano, Honduras, which, according to investigative journalist Eva Golinger, is home to approximately 500 troops and a number of air force planes and helicopters.

Regarding US relations with the Honduran military, Latin American History professor and journalist Greg Grandin said on Democracy Now!: "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..."

The Regional Response

The Organization of American States, and the United Nations have condemned the coup. Outrage at the coup has been expressed by major leaders across the globe, and all over Latin America, as reported by Reuters: the Presidents of Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia and Cuba have been outspoken in their protests against the coup. The French Foreign Ministry said, "France firmly condemns the coup that has just taken place in Honduras." Argentine President Cristina Fernandez said, "I'm deeply worried about the situation in Honduras... it reminds us of the worst years in Latin America's history."

Even Augusto Ramírez Ocampo, a former foreign minister of Colombia told the NY Times, "It is a legal obligation to defend democracy in Honduras."

Zelaya has announced a trip to the US to speak before the United Nations. He also stated that he will return to Honduras on Thursday, accompanied by Jose Miguel Insulza, the head of the Organization of American States. "I will fulfill my four year mandate [as President], whether you, the coup-plotters, like it or not,” Zelaya said.

Only time will tell what the international and national support for Zelaya means for Honduras. Regional support for Bolivian President Evo Morales during an attempted coup in 2008 empowered his fight against right wing destabilizing forces. Popular support in the streets proved vital during the attempted coup against Venezuelan President Chavez in 2002.

Meanwhile, Zelaya supporters continue to convene at the government palace, yelling at the armed soldiers while tanks roam the streets.
"We’re defending our president," protester Umberto Guebara told a NY Times reporter. "I’m not afraid. I’d give my life for my country."

***

Taking Action:

If you are interested in rallying in support for the Honduran people and against the coup, here is a list of Honduran Embassies and Consulates in the US.

People in the US could call political representatives to denounce the coup, and demand US cut off all aid to the rogue government until Zelaya is back in power. Click here to send a message to Barack Obama about the coup. Visit SOA Watch for more photos and suggested actions.

Benjamin Dangl is currently based in Paraguay and is the author of "The Price of Fire: Resource Wars and Social Movements in Bolivia" (AK Press). He edits UpsideDownWorld.org, a website on activism and politics in Latin America, and TowardFreedom.com, a progressive perspective on world events. Email: Bendangl(at)gmail(dot)com.

[John Schröder]

http://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebo ... s-thursday

Zelaya Says He Will Return to Honduras on Thursday

Posted by Kristin Bricker - June 30, 2009 at 12:53 pm

Latin American Presidents, OAS Secretary General, and Citizen Caravans Will Accompany Him

Ousted Honduran President Manual Zelaya has announced that he will return to Honduras on Thursday. "I'm going to finish my four-year term, whether or not you coup leaders are in agreement," he stated.

Zelaya will return to Honduras accompanied by the Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), José Miguel Insulza, and a commission of Latin American presidents. The Argentine government has announced that its President Cristina Fernandez will accompany Zelaya to Honduras as part of the presidential commission. In a press conference following his speech to the United Nations General Assembly, Zelaya stated that Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa will also accompany him.

Colinas, Santa Barbara, Mayor Amable de Jesus Hernandez told TeleSUR that citizen caravans were being organized to travel from his region to the capital of Tegucigalpa on Thursday to receive President Zelaya.

Threat of Arrest?

Reports in Honduran and international press that interim President Roberto Micheletti says that "if Zelaya sets foot on Honduran soil he will be arrested" are overblown, thanks in large part to a provocative headline in that regard published by Colombia's Radio Caracol. Yes, Micheletti has stated that Honduran courts have issued arrest warrants against Zelaya, but thus far he has not definitively stated that his forces will attempt to arrest Zelaya when he arrives accompanied by Secretary General Insulza, President Fernandez, President Correa, and possibly other Latin American presidents.

Reports that Micheletti has threatened to arrest Zelaya arose out of an interview Micheletti did with Radio Caracol. The interviewer asked Micheletti how he planned to respond in the event that Zelaya follows through on his promise to return on Thursday. Micheletti responded: "My country's courts have arrest warrants against him for breaking the law." He then went on to explain his case for why Zelaya had broken the law when he attempted to carry out a public opinion poll on forming a new constitutional convention to draft a new constitution. Micheletti never told Radio Caracol that his government planned to act on the aforementioned arrest warrants.

However, Radio Caracol decided to publish its interview with Micheletti under the headline "Micheletti: If Zelaya Sets Foot on Honduran Soil He Will Be Arrested." The story--with its somewhat misleading title--has been picked up all over the world.

On a side note, La Prensa reports that members of Zelaya's cabinet and other officials who helped organize and promote Zeyala's opinion poll may be criminally prosecuted. According to La Prensa, more details will be released later today.

If Micheletti's forces do decide to arrest Zelaya upon his return, it would constitute a brazen and desperate move of a dictatorship in its final death throws. The United Naitons, the OAS, the Bolivarian Aliance of the Americas (ALBA), the Rio Group, the Central American Integration System (SICA), Mercosur, and virtually all nations that have taken an official stance on the crisis on Honduras have condemned the coup and demanded the immediate and unconditional return of Zelaya as Honduras' constitutional president.

[John Schröder]

http://incakolanews.blogspot.com/2009/0 ... oshow.html

[John Schröder]

http://www.borev.net/2009/06/national_n ... ng_th.html

National News Outlets Bring Their Own Special Brand of Clarity to Honduran Coup

It's day two of the Honduran coup, and the brand new military dictatorship is winning the hearts and minds of the people by, let's see... cutting off teevee feeds and electricity throughout the capital and putting an "indefinite" curfew in effect, for freedom! Thousands of Zelaya supporters are apparently dodging bullets in the streets, which is sort of like Twittering, for poor people. But the salient question remains: "WTF?" There was going to be a referendum, sure, but about what? For more insight we turn to the English language press corps, after the jump!

Washington Times: "The apparent catalyst for the coup came last week when Mr. Zelaya decided to go ahead with a nationwide referendum on whether he could purse a second term in office."

Christian Science Monitor: "Mr. Zelaya was attempting Sunday to push ahead with a controversial referendum on whether to extend presidential term limits as other leftist leaders in the region have done in recent years, despite the fact that his country's Supreme Court ruled such a vote illegal."

Miami Herald: "The attorney general and the Supreme Court declared the poll illegal, because it asked voters whether they wanted a constituent assembly to modify the constitution to allow the president to seek reelection."

Washington Post: "Zelaya was removed from office as Hondurans prepared to vote Sunday in a nonbinding referendum asking them whether they would support a constituent assembly to rewrite the constitution."

Wall St Journal: "Mr. Zelaya, a frequent critic of the U.S., has been locked in a growing confrontation with his country's Congress, courts, and military over his plans for the referendum -- planned for Sunday -- that would have asked voters whether they want to scrap the constitution, which the president says benefits the country's elites."

In other words, nobody knows! It was probably too much work to like, bother to read the text of the actual ballot question, which translates to:

"Do you agree that, during the general elections of November 2009 there should be a fourth ballot to decide whether to hold a Constituent National Assembly that will approve a new political constitution?"

Wait, where was the part about the part about term limits?

[John Schröder]

http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2009/06/g ... stors.html

Here is the New York Times' account of the protests in Honduras: "Fierce clashes erupted Monday between thousands of soldiers and thousands of Mr. Zelaya’s backers. The protesters blocked streets, set fires and hurled stones at the soldiers, who fired tear gas in response. But opponents of Mr. Zelaya said they intended to rally Tuesday in support of his ouster."

http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2009/06/n ... lease.html

"They say Honduran military officials stopped taking their calls as the crisis unfolded.”" Oh, yeah. That would be plausible. They receive US aid and weapons but refused to talk to the donors.

http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2009/06/n ... lf-of.html

"Although the coup has popular support in Honduras." That is quite a scoop, in fact. Only hours after the coup, this writer in the New York Times was able to quickly and swiftly conduct an opinion survey among all the people of Honduras.

http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2009/06/t ... duras.html

"Mrs. Clinton met with Mr. Zelaya, and he reportedly annoyed her when he summoned her to a private room late in the night after her arrival and had her shake hands with his extended family."

http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2009/06/r ... -coup.html

You learn so much from reading the enemy's official media. Read this account in the New York Times: "Still, administration officials said that they did not expect that the military would go so far as to carry out a coup. “There was talk of how they might remove the president from office, how he could be arrested, on whose authority they could do that,” the administration official said. But the official said that the speculation had focused on legal maneuvers to remove the president, not a coup." So the US Obama administration was for removing the president but not for a coup? Please explain that one.

[John Schröder]

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/4571

Three members of the news crew of Telesur, the Latin American TV channel initiated by the Venezuelan government, were detained on Monday. They were filming military repression against demonstrators protesting the coup against the democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya from the rooftop of a building in Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital. Four Associated Press reporters were also detained.

Telesur interrupted live coverage of the emergency meetings of Latin American heads of state in Nicaragua discussing the crisis in Honduras, to broadcast the cries of Adriana Sivori, Telesur correspondent in Tegucigalpa, as she was arrested along with her camera crew by Honduran military forces.

The last thing Sivori said before the broadcast was cut was that she was being transferred to an unknown location.

Madelein García, another Telesur correspondent, attempted to interview members of the Honduran military who said that they had taken the reporters to the Hotel Marriott. García also said that the military had contacted Telesur repeatedly throughout the afternoon demanding that they stop transmitting images of what was occurring.

Later after being released, Sívori said, "We were transferred to immigration at gunpoint and they gave us back out passports. We were kidnapped, we were beaten by two members of the army who transferred us at gunpoint."

The Honduran military has shut down radio and television stations since the coup, including Telesur and the Spanish CNN, in a move that has received international condemnation. Private television stations supporting the coup have imposed a blackout, broadcasting cooking shows, cartoons and soap operas despite the protests across the country and international repudiation of the coup.

[John Schröder]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/di ... id=5950357

If Zelaya was to hold a popular referendum to get himself a shot at another term, then that puts him substantially above New York Mayor Bloomberg, who overturned the term limits despite these having been imposed by popular referendum, without holding a new referendum, and is now running for a third term financed solely by his own billions, with no chance of losing to a competitor.

The people would have still had to vote yes for Zelaya's proposal, the constitutional assembly would have still had to decide on term limits. By the logic used to justify this coup, Bloomberg should have been overthrown by the NYPD and a dictatorship of the police chief imposed in New York.

[John Schröder]

"Shameful" doesn't begin to describe the US media's near-silence

Same here in Germany. They're still screaming about Iran, but Honduras is just a side note. How revealing.

[Sweejak]

I still haven't caught up on this thread, but FWIW, from a Bush refugee friend in Nicaragua, she has been out of the news cycle so here is a relatively unvarnished quick take.

Hola!

Sorry to respond so late - sporadic to no internet at the house for a few days now.

You were the first person to alert me to anything!  I have been in a bit of a news void of late.  I have a huge garden that has taken up a lot of my time and the outside world is just too crazy for me to near every day, so I have been taking news breaks for a while.  It helps a bit,.

I don't have any friends in Honduras anymore.  I did read the Honduran Constitution last night and best as I can tell, what the military did was perfectly legal.  The referendum was invalid and by having it, Zelaya violated the Constitution by trying to force the referendum.  Legislature and the Judiciary authorized the removal of Zelaya per the Constitution of Honduras (which is vague).  I believe that Washington had a hand in this.  I think Obama and the CIA drug runners are happy that Zelaya is gone.  I cannot believe Obama had the audacity to claim that this was a coup and unconstitutional, but then the former Constitutional Law professor doesn't know much about the U.S. Constitution, as evidenced by the appointment of the current Secretary of State.  In the end, the folks in D.C. don't want to see Zelaya go to trial for treason because it might give folks in the US a few ideas, so it's best to condemn Honduras and call it a Third World coup.
.
peace,

[Sweejak]

Justin:

Understood in the context of Honduran history, the effort by Zelaya to change the constitution has to be seen as an effort to wrest power away from the military and invest it in the civilian sector, not a quest for personal power. What’s going on in Honduras is yet another chapter in the protracted struggle against the unrestrained power – economic as well as political – of the military, and, as such, Zelaya’s is a righteous cause.

In the Latin tradition of grandiose gestures, Zelaya is planning to return to Honduras, accompanied by the president of Argentina, Cristina Kirchner, and a growing horde of Latin American dignitaries, including the secretary-general of the Organization of American States, on Thursday. The coup leaders, including the new "president," Roberto Micheletti, have threatened to arrest him. Whatever happens, this week promises more high drama than a Honduran radio-novela.

http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2009 ... -honduras/

[Sweejak]

Scahill:

EDITOR’S NOTE: RebelReports is publishing this original article as a response to those who claim that the coup in Honduras was legal and/or constitutional and to the reporting by those media outlets that consistently repeat false characterizations of Honduran law and President Zelaya’s actions.—JS

http://rebelreports.com/post/133319827/ ... were-legal

[MinM]

Penny for your thoughts: Demonizing Honduras Leader to justify the coup

Zelaya accused of drug ties - Yahoo! News

[John Schröder]

http://narcosphere.narconews.com/thefie ... e-honduras

Day Three: Democracy Held Hostage in Honduras

Posted by Al Giordano - June 30, 2009 at 9:54 pm

By Al Giordano



Andrew Sullivan has asked aloud for English-writing bloggers from Honduras to send him their reports. Sadly, what he’ll likely get is a mountain of the upper-class “oligarch diaspora” propaganda from those that are the overwhelming majority of that small minority of folks that speak English in or around Honduras. With the state of siege underway in Honduras, they’re making up every falsehood possible to defend an indefensible coup d’etat. We've beat these types when they've tried it before: reason and fact will prevail again. An all-out information war has exploded on the Internet. So if you’re able to translate important reports from Spanish and send them to Andrew, the very widely read blogger who does have good in him, maybe you can help unspin the propaganda. CC me on your missives if you like.

A lot of it will be from Honduran equivalents of disgraced professional simulator Francisco Toro, the Venezuelan 2002 coup supporter who wrote a decrepitly dishonest essay published by The New Republic today about Honduras. The cockroaches are coming out of the woodwork. Sunlight, now as ever, will be our disinfectant! In 2003, when Narco News was exposing Toro’s undisclosed conflicts-of-interest as a member of the Venezuelan opposition while writing for the New York Times, he abruptly resigned after just one month as a Timesman. Now that there’s a coup to support in Honduras, he’s baaaaaack. Memo to The New Republic: Did Toro disclose his history of undisclosed conflicts of interest when submitting that embarrassingly pro-coup screed?

Today in Honduras, various important things happened. The illegitimate “president,” Roberto Micheletti, convened a rally (see photo above) where he stood side by side with the military general that led the violent coup. So much for the spin that the generals handed over the reins to civilian authorities: the coup has expanded their power vastly. The pro-coup event generated a decent sized – but not all that impressive considering all the power at its command - crowd. Employees of pro-coup businesses were forced to attend, and bussed in. Anyone who saw it on TV could tell it was not grassroots, but Astroturf: they had clean little Honduran flags and very few homemade signs. And compare the lily white gang on that stage with any other photo of the Honduran population! It was the "escualidos" all over again, Honduras chapter.

Meanwhile, watch this video of what his troops were doing to the media while he launched his campaign to deny that he had committed a coup:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55a-Rrxs ... r_embedded

You don’t need to speak Spanish to “get” the gist of it. (And if you understand just some Spanish, these are radio guys and gals: they speak very clearly and coherently.) Just watch the body language of the reporters describing the beatings they got and the positions the soldiers forced them into while they destroyed Honduras’ biggest radio chain Globo’s transmitter and took them off the air.

Members of the media: When you defend or make apologies or excuses for this coup, you are enabling that level of violence and repression against media workers just like you.

Later, Dictator-for-Three-Days Micheletti called a “cadena nacional,” decreeing that all TV stations in the country would broadcast his second speech of the day live. There, he announced that the military curfew – initially said to be just for two nights – will now be extended for five more nights, that no Honduran may leave his or her home from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. this week.

He sent his attorney general on a TV tour to announce that the coup government had compiled 18 charges against President Zelaya – including treason, for, get this, wanting to reform the Constitution – and that if Zelaya makes good on his pledge to return to Honduras on Thursday he will be arrested “the moment he steps on Honduran soil.”

That was followed by another “cadena nacional,” this time with the president of the Supreme Court offering legal imprimatur for the illegal coup d’etat.

Meanwhile, here are some translations of Twitter messages from Honduras by others who watched Day Three of this travesty unfold:

Looking at the coup’s charges against Zelaya, tomorrow they’ll blame him for climate change, AIDS and hunger in the world.

Commerce is blocked in #Honduras. Will the businessmen unite to pressure for the return of Zelaya to avoid more losses?

The Facebook page of Manuel Zelaya can be read; Roberto Micheletti just wants your “estado” (in Spanish, “estado” is the same word for “status” as for “state”)

Honduras - How to bypass Internet blocking ... - http://www.r.ieves.com/a1.aspx

Look at this video with images that COWARDLY JOURNALISTS would never dare show you http://bit.ly/4oOXaU

Excellent photo gallery showing the repression by the military coup http://tinyurl.com/mx3mdz

In these moments #Honduras has reinstituted the signal of CNN in exchange that it read letters of support for the coup. TeleSur, to the contrary, remains censored.

CNN interviews the attorney general of #Honduras. Really, in seriousness, I ask: How did these guys that are such imbeciles succeed in a coup. Gorillas!

“From what I know there has not been one death, not one arrest,” says the attorney general of #Honduras. Clearly he’s lying in the face of the evidence.

The attorney general of #Honduras doesn’t know how to expl ain why Zelaya now faces criminal charges after they first exiled him to another country. A pathetic cabinet…

#Honduras must question what is the benefit of having an Army in a poor country. It seems that it only serves for coups d’etat.

Micheletti: "Cuban doctors will recieve hospitality and are welcome to stay."

Micheletti: “Thank you for your support. I will lower the minimum wage, maintain the curfew and I won’t let the impoverished hoardes bother your luxury automobiles.”

What was the point of that last “cadena”?

President of the Supreme Court is now on “cadena nacional”

Honduras - How to send an anonymous email ... - http://www.r.ieves.com/b1.aspx

The World Bank and the Interamerican Development Bank have suspended their loans and credits to #Honduras

We already have the UN, the OAS, SICA, ALBA, World Bank, Interamerican Bank, and PetroCaribe, among many… who is still missing from those that refuse and repudate the coup?

More news is still coming in tonight. Our team is working around the clock. Stay alert and keep refreshing our front page and also here for the next updates being written up right now...

[John Schröder]

http://counterpunch.org/clark07012009.html

The Usurpers of Tegucigalpa

Honduras: a Coup With No Future

By VICTOR FIGUEROA-CLARK and PABLO NAVARRETE

Sunday’s overthrow of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya has vividly raised the spectre of Latin America ’s dark history: coups de etat and brutal military dictatorships. In a break with the past however, the region is speaking in unison, condemning the new dictatorship and calling for Zelaya to be reinstated as President. And significantly, the US government has joined its southern neighbours in rejecting the new dictatorship and recognising Zelaya as Honduras’ only legitimate president.

Regional bodies such as the OAS, the Rio Group, ALBA, Mercosur and UNASUR have also called for the restoration of the constitutionally elected president. Furthermore, Zelaya has received the support of the Inter American Human Rights Commission, and been invited to address the UN General Assembly “as soon as possible” by its President, Miguel D’Escoto. After this address Zelaya plans to return to Honduras , accompanied by Jose Miguel Insulza, the Secretary General of the OAS, and possibly other regional heads of state, with the aim of being reinstated as President.

The story behind the coup Honduras is a deeply unequal country, with the richest 10% of the population taking home 43.7% of the National Income. In contrast, the poorest 30% take just 7.4%, and just under 40% of the population live in poverty (defined as earning less than double the cost of the basic food basket). Only 4.7% of Hondurans have access to the internet, which might go some way to explaining the social background of Honduran coup cheerleaders on English-language websites such as the BBC’s.

Since coming to power in 2006 President Zelaya has gradually moved to the left, and at the time of the coup was taking steps to address Honduras ’ gross levels of inequality. Predictably, these moves earned him the enmity of much of Congress, whose ties to the country’s traditional elites run deep. Zelaya also angered the these elites by pursuing a leftist foreign policy, joining the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), an alterative regional trade group composed of nine left-leaning Latin American and Caribbean countries. The arrival of Cuban doctors to provide healthcare to the poorest sectors of Honduran society, was met with particular hostility by Zelaya’s opponents.

Honduras’ leftward turn also undoubtedly caused significant discomfort among some in Washington , especially at a time when much of Latin America has seemed to move beyond the reach of US political influence.

The catalyst for the assault on the Presidential home by the Honduran armed forces, and the subsequent detention and expulsion of the President from the country was the non-binding consultative poll that was due to take place on Sunday (June 28th) on whether a referendum ought to be held on the convocation of a constituent assembly, alongside the Presidential election ballot in November 2010 (when Zelaya’s term ends). In other words, the coup was sparked by a non-binding vote intended to consult Hondurans on whether or not they wanted to be asked about a constitutional reform, and not because Zelaya wished to extend his term indefinitely, as has been widely reported in the mainstream international media.

This last point is one of several lies and misleading statements issued by the new dictatorship, which have been amply covered uncritically in the mainstream media. Another key one is that the coup is in fact a “constitutional transfer of power”. This requires a bizarre leap in logic if we consider the facts of Zelaya’s overthrow: the President’s home was assaulted by the military; after 15 minutes of combat the President himself was kidnapped and bundled into a military aircraft in his pyjamas and flown into exile; his Ministers were detained and beaten, alongside the ambassadors of Cuba , Nicaragua and Venezuela.

While Honduras’ new and illegally installed “president”, Roberto Micheletti (the former leader of Congress), has declared that “80 or 90 percent of the population support what happened today”, this is highly doubtful given the imposition of a curfew, the ongoing street demonstrations by Zelaya’s supporters, road blockades in the west of the country, and the general strike called for by social organisations and the trade union movement. However, as is the norm with coups against progressive leaders in Latin America , Micheletti has received expressions of support from the country’s business sector.

What remains to be seen is whether the Honduran military will be prepared to shed the blood of its countrymen to protect an illegal government with no visible international backing.

And here, as is also the norm with coups against progressive governments in Latin America, the words and actions of the US government, closely watched as ever, will be decisive. While the Obama administration has joined Latin America’s governments in condemning the coup the US ’ precise role in the days running up to the coup still remain unclear.

While there is little direct evidence of US interference in Honduras ’ coup, Eva Golinger has indicated certain similarities between the US-supported coup that briefly removed Hugo Chavez from power in Venezuela in 2002, and the current situation in Honduras . Gollinger points out that a New York Times article states that the US government was working for “several days” with the Honduran coup planners in order to “prevent” the coup. Given that Honduras is highly dependent on the US economy and that the Pentagon maintains a military base in the country, equipped with approximately 500 troops and numerous air force combat planes and helicopters, it would seem naïve not to believe that if the US government had expressed their firm opposition to the coup, it would never have occurred. Furthermore, the US’ track record of undermining and supporting and participating in the overthrow of democratically elected government in Latin America cannot be overlooked.

Regardless of the extent of US involvement in, or support for the coup, the US ’ position in the next couple of days will go a long way to determining whether its already precarious relationship with much of Latin America will deteriorate. The US has several options here: it can send a representative to accompany President Zelaya back to Honduras on Thursday, and it can threaten military, economic and political sanctions, all of which would have a strong effect on the usurpers of power in Tegucigalpa.

If Obama’s government wants to send a powerful message about the sincerity behind the US ’ rhetoric on liberty, democracy, and respect for the rule of law, it needs to accompany words with actions, and actively support the reinstatement of Honduras ’ legitimate president.