Exiled Honduran president vows Sunday return

[cal04]

Source: Associated Press

Exiled Honduran President Manuel Zelaya is announcing plans to return Sunday to Honduras accompanied by other unnamed presidents.

In taped statements posted on Web sites for the Venezuela-based Telesur and Cubadebate media outlets, Zelaya calls for his supporters to help him return after being ousted by the military on June 28.

Honduras' interim government vows to arrest Zelaya if he returns and has withdrawn from the Organization of American State in response to diplomatic pressure to restore Zelia to the presidency.

Zelaya says he will show up at Honduras International Airport in Tegucigalpa with several presidents. Zelaya is expected to address the Organization of American States in Washington on Saturday.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090704/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/l...

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Already, thousands of his supporters are heading for the capital's airport, the BBC's Stephen Gibbs reports from Tegucigalpa.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8134699.stm

President Zelaya's supporters are awaiting his return

[The Magistrate]

1. Good Luck To Him, Ma'am: He Will Need It

[timeforpeace]

2. He'll chicken out.

[fascisthunter]

8. I hope you are wrong

[Judi Lynn]

3. Latin American Presidents are stepping forward to accompany him home.

He will go home in the company of Argentina's President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Ecuador's Rafael Correa, Paraguay's Fernando Lugo, and Brazil's Luis Inacio Lula da Silva.

Latin America itself condemns every aspect of this filthy right-wing coup.

[cal04]

4. US Must Forgo Honduras Coup, Ortega

http://www.lademajagua.co.cu/infgran11830.htm

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega called on the White House to hold firm against Honduras coup.

Ortega recalled that after two months as president, Barack Obama suspended all form of cooperation with the de facto government in Madagascar. The least we can expect of Obama is to act with the same firmness now, he pointed out.

The Sandinista leader told pres that the struggle against the coup continues, seeking the reestablishment of constitutional order through the return of President Manuel Zelaya to complete his mandate.

(snip)
He explained that Zelaya decided to return to his country after evaluating the important OAS meeting and his participation in that meeting and later, perhaps on Sunday he will return to Honduras.

[Judi Lynn]

5. Ortega makes such a valid point, it SHOULD be hard to avoid dealing with it.

From the article you've posted:

Ortega recalled that after two months as president, Barack Obama suspended all form of cooperation with the de facto government in Madagascar. The least we can expect of Obama is to act with the same firmness now, he pointed out.

Thanks.

[Judi Lynn]

6. Here are a few photos of this coup event, from a group:

50 new photos of the coup:
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Honduras-Co...

This is one:


Supporters of ousted president Manuel Zelaya stage a rally outside the Organisation of American States (OAS) office in Tegucigalpa July 3, 2009. The Organization of American States tried to convince Honduras on Friday to restore Zelaya, but it hit a wall as the countrys Supreme Court warned the leftist would be arrested if he came home. REUTERS





Guatemalan Nobel laureate Rigoberta Menchu arrives at the International Airport in Tegucigalpa July 3, 2009. An interim government in Honduras warned ousted President Manuel Zelaya to stay away but indicated it could be more conciliatory in talks on Friday with the Organization of American States over the countrys crisis. REUTERS



Supporters of Mr Zelaya rally against the coup.

Unfortunately they wasted a TON of film on photos of Insulza. One or two would have been sufficient.

[fascisthunter]

7. WOW....now that's having guts

[Judi Lynn]

9. Forgot to mention the photo you've posted is excellent. They are courageous people. n/t

[ngant17]

10. maybe he'll be gunned down like Aquino

at the airport, by a lone communist gunman, who will then also be conveniently killed by security forces.

I wouldn't put it past those fascist Honduran goons to try it, with their subhuman mentality, they might be imagining that it ought to solve all their problems once and for all.

[rabs]

11. Nicaragua has denounced plans by the golpistas for a bloodbath

There is an emergency session of the OAS tonight (as I write this they are in recess for private negotiations). The session should resume soon.

The delegate of Nicaragua said there are plans well advanced for golpista provocateurs to fire on police and troops to provoke return fire on pro-Zelaya demonstrators during Zelaya's scheduled return tomorrow. Canadian delegate said Canada was against the return on Sunday because of security concerns.

If anyone is interested, the session can be seen here

http://www.oas.org/OASpage/Live/webcast.asp?lang=

English translations provided by OAS ..

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12. U.N.'s D'Escoto to travel to Honduras with Zelaya

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N05203252.htm
updated

United Nations General Assembly President Miguel D'Escoto will accompany ousted President Manuel Zelaya to Honduras, Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa said on Sunday.

"There is a great mobilization of people in Tegucigalpa and we don't know if the interim government or the top brass of the military will dare repress those people. So we decided that the most prudent thing to do was that the president of the U.N. General Assembly Miguel D'Escoto accompanies President Zelaya back to Tegucigalpa," Correa said at a news conference in Washington.

Organization of American States Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza, Argentine President Cristina Fernandez and Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo and Correa will travel to El Salvador to monitor Zelaya's return, Correa said.

[Judi Lynn]

13. Honduras bars Zelaya plane from landing: official

Honduras bars Zelaya plane from landing: official
By Agence France-Presse

Published: July 5, 2009
Updated 24 minutes ago

The interim government in Honduras banned the plane due to carry ousted President Manuel Zelaya home on Sunday from landing, foreign minister Enrique Ortez told local radio.

Ousted President Manuel Zelaya was set to attempt a return to Honduras on Sunday, one week after the army threw him out, amid fears of clashes after coup leaders threatened to arrest him on his return.

The Organization of American States suspended the Central American country late Saturday, in the first such move since the exclusion of Cuba in 1962, for failing to reinstate Zelaya.

It was unclear where Zelaya’s plane would touch down, after the interim leaders — who took over after soldiers sent Zelaya to Costa Rica — banned it from landing.

Soldiers surrounded the capital’s main airport as international airlines suspended flights, while thousands of Zelaya supporters from across the country prepared to gather there.

In Washington, 33 out of 34 members of the OAS voted in favor of suspending Honduras in an extraordinary late night session

~snip~
“It doesn’t matter who accompanies him, what the plane is, the landing is prohibited,” Ortez said.

Zelaya has said he will be accompanied by a handful of Latin American leaders and other personalities.

The plane was due to leave Washington at around 10 a.m. (1400 GMT), to arrive in Honduras at around 3 pm (2100 GMT), according to Carlos Sosa, the former ambassador to the OAS.

More:
http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/07/05/honduras-bars-ze...

[Judi Lynn]

14. Honduran government vows to keep deposed president out

Honduran government vows to keep deposed president out


TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (CNN) -- Authorities here closed the airport and restricted the airspace over the nation's capital in anticipation of deposed President Jose Manuel Zelaya's announced return Sunday.

In an interview from Washington with Telesur TV, Zelaya said he was departing for Honduras on a plane with United Nations General Assembly President Miguel d'Escoto. A delegation supporting Zelaya, including the head of the Organization of American States and Presidents Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner of Argentina, Rafael Correa of Ecuador and Fernando Lugo of Paraguay, would fly on a separate plane to nearby El Salvador.

The government of provisional President Roberto Micheletti has vowed to arrest Zelaya if he returns and has denied permission for Zelaya's plane to land. Witnesses said the road to the airport in the capital of Tegucigalpa was closed.

Video showed dozens of pro-Zelaya demonstrators marching toward the airport.

~snip~
he U.N. General Assembly condemned the coup last week and demanded that Zelaya be reinstated.

The European Union and other nations have recalled their ambassadors from Honduras, and the United States and the World Bank have suspended some aid.

More:
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/07/05/hondur...

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15. Ousted president Zelaya takes flight for Honduras

Honduras' ousted President Manuel Zelaya left Washington on Sunday on a flight headed for Honduras, said television network Telesur, which has journalists on the plane.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N05455499.htm


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090705/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/l...

Honduras' exiled president took off for home in a Venezuelan jet in a high-stakes attempt to return to power, even as the interim government told its military to turn away the plane.
(snip)
Flying with Zelaya were close advisers and staff, two journalists from the Venezuela-based network Telesur, and U.N. General Assembly President Miguel D'Escoto Brockmann, a leftist Nicaraguan priest and former foreign minister who personally condemned Zelaya's ouster as a coup d'etat.

Speaking live from the plane through Telesur, Zelaya called on the Honduran military to leave the airport free for him to land.

"No one can obligate me to turn around. The constitution prohibits expelling Hondurans from the country. I am returning with all of my constitutional guarantees," Zelaya declared.

But with their safety in the air not guaranteed, Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa pleaded with the Honduran military forces to avoid bloodshed. "If there is violence the whole world must clearly know who is responsible," he said.