U.S. envoy arrives in Honduras to break stalemate

[struggle4progress]

Source: Xinhua

TEGUCIGALPA, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Craig Kelly arrived in Honduras on Tuesday in a bid to help end the country's political stalemate.

During the trip, Kelly aims to revive the Tegucigalpa-San Jose Agreement signed by the Honduran de facto government and ousted President Manuel Zelaya. According to the agreement, the two sides would form a unity government by Nov. 5 and the National Congress would decide to restore Zelaya to the presidency.

Zelaya declared the agreement a failure last week after de facto President Roberto Micheletti announced the formation of a unity government without the participation of Zelaya, who refused to name any cabinet members and slammed the National Congress for delaying the vote on his restoration.

Rene Zepeda, a spokesman for the interim government, told media that Kelly would meet with Micheletti ...

Read more: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-11/11/content_12...

---

U.S. Tries to Salvage Honduras Accord

By GINGER THOMPSON
Published: November 10, 2009

WASHINGTON — Under fire from allies in Latin America and on Capitol Hill, the Obama administration moved Tuesday to try to salvage the American-brokered agreement that had been billed as paving the way for a peaceful end to the coup in Honduras. Instead, the accord seems to have provided the country’s de facto government with a way to stay in power until a presidential election scheduled for the end of this month ...

Senior administration officials said Mr. Kelly would try to get both men to abide by the terms of an Oct. 30 agreement that called on them to form a coalition government to run the country while the Honduran Congress prepares for a vote on whether to return Mr. Zelaya to power.

The deal began to unravel last week when the Congress announced it would postpone a vote on Mr. Zelaya’s return to power until after the election. In protest, Mr. Zelaya then refused to submit names for the coalition government. And the United States, breaking with its allies in Latin America, announced it would recognize the results of the coming presidential election, even if Mr. Zelaya were not reinstated.

While the announcement was celebrated by Republicans as a “reversal” of the administration’s policy, it ignited a storm of criticism from Mr. Obama’s allies at home and across Latin America ...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/11/world/americas/11hond...

[struggle4progress]

1. OAS Insulza admits frustration with the stalled Honduras situation

Organization of American States Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza said he was not sure the two sides involved in the Honduras crisis would resume dialogue and discarded any idea of sending OAS observers for the scheduled presidential election at the end of November.

“It’s hard to see how dialogue can resume” between ousted President Manuel Zelaya and the de facto regime, said Insulza during an OAS extraordinary meeting to address the issue held on Tuesday.

Insulza revealed he had been earlier on the phone with President Zelaya who said “he was not willing to return to discussions” with the de facto government headed by Roberto Micheletti.

“Our decision regarding the election is something we can’t even consider…since from a political point of view there are no conditions to send a mission of electoral observers to Honduras”, added Insulza in reference to the de facto regime request for the coming election ...

http://en.mercopress.com/2009/11/11/oas-insulza-admits-...

[L. Coyote]

5. Previous LATEST compilation thread = Extraordinary OAS meeting

Extraordinary OAS meeting to consider the Honduran situation
Mon Nov-09-09 - http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

[struggle4progress]

2. Honduras and the politics of audacity (Jamaica Observer)

Honduras and the politics of audacity
Franklin W Knight
Wednesday, November 11, 2009

... Apart from President Zelaya, the big losers in this sordid case are the United States of America and especially its Department of State, as well as the Honduran masses who supported Zelaya and constitutional democracy. The US role throughout the conflict has been weak, vacillating and patently hypocritical. Although they quickly declared the coup unconstitutional and called for the restoration of the president, supporters of former President Clinton, along with members of congress from both parties, have been explicitly critical of the Zelaya government. Obviously their idea of democracy falls short of legal and constitutional support for due process. The US lost more hard-earned moral credit among its Latin American friends, especially Brazil, for its pathetic support of democracy and regional cooperation.

The obvious big winners are Micheletti and his oligarchic friends who defied the world and stuck to their claim that Zelaya would never be allowed to return. Hugo Chavez also wins. He stated all along that the US was unreliable and negotiation a waste of time. Brazil emerges even more influential and respected throughout Latin America. It made a principled stand and repeatedly called Micheletti's bluffs ...

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/columns/html/20091110T20...

[AlphaCentauri]

17. well said

all of this is pointing to US letting time run for the next election so right wingers get in power to recognize them as constitutional elected officials.

[Alamuti Lotus]

3. "break stalemate" / "openly back the coup plotters" -- tomato/tomahto..

a revolting farce disguised as "mediation" (itself a veil for asserting control) either way.

[excess_3]

4. Z seems to be running out the clock

after Nov 29, nobody going to care about any of this

[L. Coyote]

7. At the current rate, Nov. 29 will have no democratic meaning.

Now that the US is stepping towards supporting the election, the legitimacy of the elections are further harmed.

[Peace Patriot]

10. "nobody's going to care"? You getting your spin from James Baker? nt

[L. Coyote]

6. Zelaya slams new US bid to influence Honduran crisis

Looks like the USA is now working for the fascist agenda to succeed.

====================
Zelaya slams new US bid to influence Honduran crisis
Wed, 11 Nov 2009 13:29:10 GMT - http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=111021§ionid=3...


Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya has slammed a fresh US bid to revive talks ... described the new American proposal as a 'false dialogue', saying that 'he would not return to the negotiating table.'

On Tuesday, The American Deputy Assistant Secretary Craig Kelly arrived in Tegucigalpa to launch yet another bid to end months of political crisis in Honduras, ahead of the upcoming general elections.

According to the State Department, Kelly is to push for "a free and fair election and the seating of a new government in Honduras."

The coup-installed government of Roberto Micheletti has announced that it would welcome the new US bid. ............

[L. Coyote]

8. Top U.S. Diplomat in Honduras in Bid to Save Accord = Latin American Herald Tribune

Top U.S. Diplomat in Honduras in Bid to Save Accord
Caracas - November 11,2009 - http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=347133&Catego...


WASHINGTON – The United States has dispatched a senior diplomat to Honduras ......

.............

The Tegucigalpa-San Jose Accord represents a “pathway to a free and fair election,” Crowley said Tuesday.

“And the outcome, which if handled properly, can be supported both within Honduras and within the region. And obviously, we continue – we’ll continue to kind of push both sides to live up to the agreement that they reached recently, and to continue to move forward towards the election,” the official told reporters.

Asked about Zelaya’s reinstatement, he said: “It’s not about any one person. It’s about a return of democratic processes and democratic government in Honduras. It’s an important aspect to us of continuing to support democracy within the hemisphere.”

“I think it’s important to put these steps and these processes in place so that you can have confidence in the electoral process and the result,” Crowley added. “But obviously, on Nov. 29 when the election takes place, we’ll be able to evaluate what happened and then what the consequences are.”

...........

Most members of the OAS and the Rio Group, a hemispheric club that excludes the United States and Canada, have indicated they will not recognize the Honduran elections as valid unless Zelaya is reinstated beforehand.

.................

[Peace Patriot]

9. I'm offering no excuses for Obama and Clinton...

...whose deals in order to be permitted in the White House (Obama) and whose long time service to global corporate predators and war profiteers (Clinton) make them so weak in defense of democracy, social justice and peace. HOWEVER, what I see in Honduras is a traitorous Bushwhack plot to SABOTAGE Obama in Latin America--a plot that includes James Baker (WaPo op-ed last week putting the Bush Cartel stamp on the horrors and phony upcoming elections in Honduras), John McCain ($43 million through the "International Republican Institute"/USAID to the coup plotters), John "death squad" Negroponte, Diebold-installed congressional 'players' like Jim DeMint (who is blackmailing Obama on his Latin America appointments), and Bushwhack moles in the Pentagon (in the interest of Rumsfeld's oil war plan for South America), the State Department especially the diplomatic corps (US diplomatic corps in Latin America still full of Bushwhack operatives), the CIA and other agencies.

Our filthy, filthy, FILTHY political system--with its 'TRADE SECRET' voting machines and corpo-fascist 'news' monopolies--is the landscape on which such traitorous sabotage can occur and go unpunished, but neither Obama nor Clinton has done anything whatever to reform our system, and instead have made deals for power within it. Now the Bushwhacks have them so tied down and entangled in various REALLY BAD policies that, among other things, they look like fools and complete hypocrites to most of Latin America. With Clinton, it's possible that she is one of the planners of this Bushwhack plot in Honduras; with Obama, it's possible that he at least went along with it. Possible--I'm not sure in either case about the level of complicity vs. being caught by surprise and placed in difficult or impossible positions. But the upshot is that Obama's stated policy of peace, respect and cooperation in Latin America has been gravely undermined. Violent fascists have been stirred and encouraged throughout the region. A clear breach has been driven between Obama and the more "moderate" leaders like da Silva in Brazil and Insulza at the OAS. Their ability to bring Obama and the leftist/socialist leaders like Chavez in Venezuela and Morales in Bolivia together, in a peaceful and cooperative detente, has been grievously hampered. And with Colombia--a country with one of the worst human rights records on earth--inviting seven new US military bases into Colombia, with US soldiers and mercenaries immunized against Colombian laws--in a situation that more and more resembles South Vietnam and the US buildup to war--the chances for the success of a peaceful policy have been greatly reduced.

I am EXTREMELY WORRIED about this situation, overall--not just Honduras. With a handful of far rightwing corporations controlling our voting system, the warmongers can easily--EASILY--Diebold Obama out of office in 2012, install their next "war president" and proceed with Oil War II in South America. And it appears to me that that is what the Bushwhacks are putting things in place to do--with new US military bases in Colombia and Panama, the US 4th Fleet that the Bushwhacks reconstituted in the Caribbean last summer, the securing of the US military base in Honduras (Zelaya wanted to convert it to a commercial airport), and the continued psyops/disinformation campaign and destabilization/civil war plotting against leftist governments. Obama doesn't seem to have the power to stop all this, if he is inclined to. Six months into his first year in office, the Bushwacks pulled off a violent rightwing military coup in Honduras! This is no isolated incident. This is part of a plan that includes destroying the possibility of a peaceful policy.

Back in March 2008, we saw the US/Colombia destroy the best hope for peace in Colombia's 40+ year civil war that has come along in recent times--the FARC (leftist guerrilla) hostage release negotiations that started with Colombia's Alvaro Uribe's invitation to Chavez to negotiate hostage releases with the FARC. Numerous leaders and groups--including France's Sarokovy, and the presidents of Ecuador, Argentina and Brazil, and Spanish and Swiss envoys--were assisting in this peace effort. Then the US/Colombia dropped ten 500 lb US "smart bombs" on the temporary hostage release camp of the FARC's chief hostage and peace negotiator, Raul Reyes, killing him and 24 other sleeping people. Clearly, the US/Bushwhacks and Colombia wanted to end all hope for peace. And they very nearly started a war with Ecuador/Venezuela then and there.

That Bushwhack policy, aimed at war, is still going forward.

[AlphaCentauri]

18. for latin america nothing change if there is a democrat or republican in the WH

[WriteDown]

11. This is partly Zelaya's fault...

He agreed to the deal where he could be restored to power pending approval of Congress which he thought was sure to happen. Congress then gave him the Heisman.

[L. Coyote]

13. No it is NOT. Zelaya agreed to forming a Unity Gov by Thurs. midnight.

It is the fault of the coup supporters who did not allow the accord to happen as scheduled.

[WriteDown]

23. No....

The agreement was contingent on Congress' approval which Zelaya agreed to. He just failed to predict Congress' actions.

[L. Coyote]

24. And the deadline to for the Unit government was Thurs. midnight.

The expected outcome was blocked by part of a committee of part of Congress.

[JDPriestly]

12. Craig Kelly -- a Clinton and Bush appointee.

Craig Kelly is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service. He has served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State since September 2007. He was U.S. Ambassador to Chile from 2004 to 2007 and served as Executive Assistant to Secretary of State Colin Powell from March 2001 to June 2004. Before that, he was Executive Assistant to Thomas Pickering, who was then the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs.

Ambassador Kelly has served in a variety of overseas posts, including Bogotá, Rome and Paris. He was an election observer for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1997. In Washington he has served in the Western Hemisphere and European Bureaus as well as at the National Security Council.

Ambassador Kelly holds a Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles, and has studied at Stanford University, the Ecole Nationale d'Administration in Paris and the National War College in Washington. He was a Fulbright Scholar in Italy. His languages are Spanish, Italian, French and Portuguese.

http://www.state.gov/p/wha/rls/bio/36031.htm

Craig A. Kelly
Born: ?

Gender: Male
Race or Ethnicity: White
Occupation: Diplomat

Nationality: United States
Executive summary: US Ambassador to Chile, 2004-07

University: École Nationale d'Administration, Paris
University: PhD Romance Languages and European History, UCLA

US State Department Principal Depy. Asst. Secy., Western Hemisphere Bureau (2007-)
US Ambassador to Chile (2004-07)
US State Department Executive Assistant to Secy. of State Colin Powell (2001-04)
US State Department Executive Assistant to the Under Secy. for Political Affairs (1999-2001)
Fulbright Italy

http://www.nndb.com/people/846/000122480/

[L. Coyote]

14. When did Clinton appoint hm to anything?

Kelly, a Bush insider, was a Colin Powell Executive Assistant, likewise for Bush I's UN Ambassador.

This is just another Bushie in Latin America working for Obama. Go figure!!!

[Judi Lynn]

15. Who doesn't remember how popular Bush's Latin American policy was?

Manifestante quema bandera de EE.UU. en Bogotá el domingo 11 de marzo.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/spanish/photo_galleries/newsid...

[L. Coyote]

16. Thanks for the images.

Better than morning Java.

[Judi Lynn]

25. Predictably our corporate media just forgot to run even one of these images.

They have probably corrected this by now and will be happy to bring us reams of photos if anyone in another country even sticks out his/her tongue as President Obama goes by them on one of his trips.

I forgot to include photos of his equally popular swing through Central America on his way home!







A Mayan priest performs a cleansing ceremony at the temple that was visited by U.S. President
George W. Bush on Monday in the Iximche archaeological site, fearing President Bush brought
bad spirits, in Guatemala, Thursday, March 15, 2007. Bush visited Iximche during a five-nation
tour of Latin America, which included a daylong stopover in Guatemala.



Guatemala City, Guatemala, March 10, 2007



Police detain a protester after a demonstration against
U.S. President George W. Bush in Merida, Mexico, March
13, 2007. REUTERS/Daniel Aguilar (MEXICO)

[L. Coyote]

19. 14:29 GMT - US envoy 'hopeful' of Honduras pact

US envoy 'hopeful' of Honduras pact
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2009/11/2009...


Craig Kelly, left, met Roberto Micheletti to discuss talks on a power-sharing deal

A senior US diplomat says he feels optimistic over efforts to revive a power-sharing pact aimed at ending the political crisis in Honduras before the presidential election later this month.

Craig Kelly, the deputy assistant secretary of state for the Western Hemisphere, said the US was "advancing the dialogue", even as he left the Central American country without any deal.

"We think it's important to continue the conversations," he said shortly before leaving Tegucigalpa on Wednesday.

"There is still a lot of work to be done along the way ... but I believe it is important for both sides to keep talking."

Kelly held separate talks with Manuel Zelaya, the ousted Honduran president, and Roberto Micheletti, the interim leader, over the power-sharing deal but gave no details.

...............

[AlphaCentauri]

20. I'm guessing the idea is just to put Zelaya in power 5 minutes before midnight election

that will legitimize the election and the coup, just plain ridiculous

[L. Coyote]

22. And restore liberal media a few days later! And, soon thereafter, memorialize the dead leaders?

The path to holding power even with the election has been deadly repression, detention, intimidation, and control of all the internal media.

[IDFbunny]

32. Duct taped to a chair

with 'El Presidente' sign hanging around his neck.

[L. Coyote]

21. U.S. envoy leaves Honduras without solving political crisis = Do'h!

Two more days without democracy in Honduras.

[L. Coyote]

26. Honduras: dictatorship recruiting right-wing extremists as "observers"

Honduras: dictatorship recruiting right-wing extremists as "observers"
Jean-Guy Allard - http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2009/noviembre/juev12/Hondu...


Honduras: dictatorship recruiting right-wing extremists as "observers"IN order to cover up the invalidity of the upcoming November 29 elections, the usurping regime of Roberto Micheletti is heavily recruiting—via an association of pro-coup businesspeople — "observers" from right-wing extremist organizations.

"Between 300 and 500 observers have now been confirmed," was the headline on the daily La Prensa, owned by the local magnate, Jorge "Pepsi" Canahuati, while the author of an article inside the paper claimed, with pro-coup fervor, that "about 600" of these "international observers from Northern, South and Central America" will be present at the elections.

Finding such observers when all international agencies devoted to this activity have refused to cooperate has been entrusted by the military/business junta in Tegucigalpa to one of its most active partners, Amilcar Bulnes, president of the Honduran Council of Private Enterprise (COHEP).

Bulnes told the daily La Prensa — owned by his friend Canahuati — that the election process "is central to providing a better investment climate," which should be based on "social stability." This opinion is shared by the hierarchies of the army, police and death squads run by Billy Joya.

..................

[L. Coyote]

27. Over 240 Academics and Experts on Latin America Call on Obama to Denounce Human Rights Abuses

Over 240 Academics and Experts on Latin America Call on Obama to Denounce Human Rights Abuses by Honduran Dictatorship
Free and Fair Elections Are Possible Only After the Coup is Reversed, They Say
http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2009/11/12-7


CLAREMONT, Calif. - November 12 - Over 240 academics and experts on Latin America sent a letter to President Obama yesterday urging him to denounce the ongoing human rights violations perpetrated by the coup regime in Honduras ahead of the planned November 29 elections. They also urged him to demand the immediate restitution of President Manuel Zelaya and to support a full three months of electoral campaigning after the coup has been overturned and "debating, organizing, and all other aspects of election campaigns can be conducted in an atmosphere that is free from fear; in which all views and parties are free to make their voices heard - not just those that are allowed under an illegal military occupation." This would mean that this month's elections - which Latin America and the European Union have said they will not recognize - would need to be rescheduled.

"With only days left before the scheduled November 29 elections, the U.S. government must make a choice," the letter states. "It can either side with democracy, along with every government in Latin America, or it can side with the coup regime, and further isolate the United States in the hemisphere."

Last Thursday, the Rio Group, which includes all of Latin America and most of the Caribbean, issued a statement declaring that they would consider the November 29 elections to be illegitimate if Zelaya is not first reinstated.

........... Obama administration has yet to condemn the human rights violations, or to threaten sanctions or other strong action to force the coup regime to stop them. ................

The full text of the letter follows: ..............

[AlphaCentauri]

29. R'wingers are so predictable

they'll have monitoring their private election -La fundacion para la libertad-, some wackos from Miami and some radicals from spain, no surprises.

[Judi Lynn]

31. Probably to include Alpha 66s, and Commandos F4, Hermanos al Rescate, etc.

And guest observers, Luis Posada Carriles, and Orlando Bosch.

Nothing but the best for the fascists.

[AlphaCentauri]

33. with sister Illeana and brothers Ballard n/t

[Judi Lynn]

35. They'll be there with bells on. They will arrive early. The She-Wolf, as she's called in Cuba,

already has been there. From all appearances, she seems to think she has a lot of clout with these maggots.






The Cuban "exiles" represent the same kind of people from their own country.

They share the same contempt for the huge majority of impoverished people in Latin America and the Caribbean. They repudiate the democracy they pretend to honor.

[Judi Lynn]

30. Don't see how this administration can defend an "election" run this way.

The decisions made now in our names will be remembered a long time.

[EFerrari]

28. Mission accomplished.

You're welcome, Chiquita!

[L. Coyote]

34. Diplomacy of Deceit = Shannon met with Republican Senator Jim DeMint

U.S. State Department Sells Out Honduran Democracy for Senate Confirmations
Laura Carlsen - 12 November 2009 - http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/2210/68 /
Source: Americas Mexico Blog


In one of the lowest points in U.S. diplomatic history ......

U.S. Ambassador to the Organization of American States, Lewis Anselem and Ambassador to Honduras Hugo Llorens confirmed this new position. At the OAS meeting, Anselem, whose disparaging remarks toward Latin American countries have alienated many southern diplomats, criticized the other nations’ refusal to recognize elections staged by a coup regime, “I’ve heard many in this room say that they will not recognize the elections in Honduras… I’m not trying to be a wiseguy, but what does that mean? What does that mean in the real world, not in the world of magical realism?”

Llorens also portrayed the new policy as pragmatism, stating on Nov. 8, “The elections will be part of the reality and will return Honduras to the path of democracy.”

The repeated use of "reality" as the justification for the policy change shows an attempt on the part of the State Department to unilaterally impose a definition of Honduran reality—contrary to its own previous definition and that of the international community. This unilateral diplomacy harks back to Bush foreign policies that many Americans and Latin Americans believed had been thrown out with the incoming Obama administration

The Diplomacy of Deceit
As analysts piece together the events of the past few days that took us from breakthrough to breakdown in international efforts to restore rule of law in Honduras, the real story emerges.

As former ambassador Robert White writes today, Tom Shannon met with Republican Senator Jim DeMint on Oct. 20 and DeMint urged him to recognize the Honduran elections without the reinstatement of Zelaya. DeMint offered to release his holds on Shannon's nomination to the ambassadorship of Brazil and the nomination of Arturo Valenzuela to fill Shannon's shoes as Asst. Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs.

DeMint, who traveled to Honduras to meet with the coup regime last month, had blocked these two key State Department nominations ostensibly in protest of the administration’s policies to reinstate Zelaya.

White reports that there is every indication that Shannon had already formulated this critical change in policy to abandon the demand for reinstatement when he flew down to Tegucigalpa on Oct. 28, and that coup leader Roberto Micheletti knew this. That left only President Zelaya and the rest of the world in the dark as to the real goal of the negotiations.

What will surely go down in the books as one of the worst diplomatic agreements ever, was hammered out by the State Department team—Shannon, joined by Obama advisor Dan Restrepo and the man who has now been sent in to try to clean up the mess, Craig Kelly......

.......

The Washington script played out. On Nov. 9, the Senate confirmed Valenzuela. DeMint lifted his hold on Shannon's confirmation, although another Republican stepped up to protest, this time over Cuba policy. With Shannon's confirmation still blocked, it seems the Republicans repaid the diplomat in his own coin.

DeMint's crowing is understandable...............

[David Zephyr]

36. What a cluster fuck.

.

[L. Coyote]

37. Rep. Jan Schakowsky: Zelaya a Victim of Human Rights Abuses

Schakowsky: Zelaya a Victim of Human Rights Abuses
http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2009/11/sch...


Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) recently returned from a three day trip to Honduras where, according to her, human rights abuses are running rampant under the “coup regime” of interim president Michelletti.

This list of human rights abuses that Rep. Schakowsky related during a 30 minute conference call Thursday afternoon includes: 21 political assassinations, 3,000 illegal detentions, and the repression of the press. But the congresswoman didn’t stop there: according to Schakowsky, the ousted president Zelaya himself has suffered violations of his human rights. “I met with Zelaya who himself was the victim of severe human rights abuses including being kidnapped prevented from returning” to Honduras.

In fact, though Schakowsky held a conference under the guise of human rights abuses, she seemed more interested in defending the record of the deposed former president. It was “big business” that ousted Zelaya, she said. The business interests of Honduras feared Zelaya’s populist economic measures, which included increasing the minimum wage. Could they, she was asked, have been motivated by Zelaya’s desire to extend his term in office in violation of the country's constitution? “I think that the argument that it was his intention to extend his own term of office is not the case…I haven’t seen any evidence for that.” What she has seen evidence for is an illegal coup that begat an illegitimate regime that the current U.S. government does not recognize.

And what about the official report, issued by the Library of Congress’ legal experts, that concluded Zelaya's removal from office was constitutional? The congresswoman thinks that the “report is an outlier…the report was mistaken.” To the congresswoman, the solution to Honduras’s human rights abuses and constitutional woes is the restoration of President Zelaya .............

..............

[L. Coyote]

43. Fact-Finding Mission in Honduras Confirms Widespread Human Rights Abuses

US Rep. Jan Schakowsky’s Three-Day Fact-Finding Mission in Honduras Confirms Widespread Human Rights Abuses
An Inventory of Reports from Major National and International Human Rights Organizations from Honduras Under Coup d’Etat

By Tamar Sharabi
Special to The Narco News Bulletin
November 13, 2009 - http://www.narconews.com/Issue62/article3935.html


TEGUCIGALPA, HONDURAS, NOVEMBER 13, 2009: Despite the US State Department’s stance for a ‘Honduran Solution,’ some Republican US Senators and House members have openly intervened and strongly supported the de facto government, not recognized by any nation in the world. US Rep. Jan. Schakowsky (D-Illinois), is the first congressperson to visit Honduras since the June 28 coup that did not come in prefabricated support of the de facto regime. She was invited by Bertha Oliva, Coordinator of COFADEH, a human rights organization that has been documenting abuses for the past 27 years. COFADEH has documented more than 3,000 illegal detentions since the coup and over 21 murders in a report published Oct. 22. During her recent mission in Washington, Oliva invited Schakowsky to witness firsthand the Honduran reality of police brutality that is not making the headlines.

Schakowsky’s three day visit from November 10-12 included meetings with family members of victims that have died directly from violence from the coup, media outlets such as Channel 36 and Radio Globo that have been attacked for honestly reporting on the resistance movement, and also a visit to the Brazilian Embassy where ousted President Zelaya and approximately 40 others have taken refuge for the last 53 days. The Chicago Congresswoman commented on her opportunity to hear a recording of some of the sounds bombarded into the Embassy and see the blinding lights set up outside, in addition to the crane set up for the military to spy into the Embassy.

Citing a “serious deterioration of human rights since the coup,” Schakowsky reflected on the executive decree PCM-M-016-2009 (declaring a state of siege) published on Sep. 27 which was set in place to supposedly defend national security and public order but that “seems to be defined as anything that is said against the coup.” This is the same decree that, after even some of the coup plotters publicly criticized it, was promised to be lifted immediately but took until October 19t (when the UN Human Rights Commission began a visit) before it was officially printed in the official ‘Gazette’ to end the decree. Under that decree, any police commissioner present at a resistance demonstration could declare the gathering “illegal” and use violent means to disperse the peaceful crowds.

When asked about whether free and fair elections are possible under such conditions and expressing concern about other media outlets that have been under attack such as Radio Progresso and Radio Tocoa, Schakowsky did not explicitly express her opinion on whether the November 29 elections should take place or not. The question pointed to statements made by Police Commissioner Danilo Orellana, who had appeared on Channel 6 and called for government actions against all media outlets that are calling on the public not to vote. Instead, Schakowsky evaded the question and stated:

“In a democratic country the principal of freedom of the press is really sacred, and as for the timing of the elections, congress should really move forward in an expedited fashion to restore the president and democratic order.”

...................

[L. Coyote]

38. LA OPINION: A farce in Honduras

A farce in Honduras
* 2009-11-13 - http://www.impre.com/laopinion/opinion/2009/11/13/a-far...


The most noteworthy aspect of the Honduran political crisis is the claim of constitutionality bandied about by Roberto Micheletti’s de facto government. One must not be misled: in this case, the Constitution and Supreme Court are simply tools being used specifically to defend values opposed to democracy.

If President Mel Zelaya violated the Constitution by wanting to open the door to reelection, Honduran institutions were no more respectful in forcibly exiling the leader from the country in the middle of the night. There can be no doubt: that was a coup-d’état.

For that reason, the only way back to democratic normality is the return of Zelaya to the presidency, even with all the limitations imposed by the agreements signed but not respected. It is no surprise that the noncompliance has been the fault of Micheletti who, contrary to what was apparently negotiated by the United States, wants to head the agreed-upon reconciliation government instead of Zelaya.

The Honduran Congress was to authorize Zelaya’s return but decided to undertake unlimited consultations seeking legal opinions prior to voting on the ousted president’s reinstatement. The Honduran Supreme Court has decided to establish a commission to study the case, with no timetable for its work. It is obvious that the government intends to continue delaying the process until the next presidential elections on November 29, or until January 27, when the new government will take office.

A constitutional farce is taking place in Honduras. It started in June with the overthrow of Zelaya and continues to this day. .............

[L. Coyote]

39. Honduras: US seeks "happy end" — at cost of democracy?

Honduras: US seeks "happy end" — at cost of democracy?
11/12/2009 - http://www.ww4report.com/node/7934

The State Department sent Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Craig Kelly to Honduras Nov. 10 in a bid to relaunch the moribund dialogue. Kelly held separate talks with ousted Honduran president Manuel Zelaya and de facto president Roberto Micheletti, but left the Central American country the following day with no deal. Kelly insisted the US is "advancing the dialogue," adding, "We think it's important to continue the conversations." (AlJazeera, Nov. 12)

Meanwhile in Washington, Republicans are celebrating what they call the "reversal" of the Obama administration's policy on Honduras—meaning the apparent decision to recognize the results of the coming presidential election, even if Zelaya is not previously reinstated.

Some Democrats are protesting the policy shift. Rep. Howard L. Berman of California, chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, telephoned Deputy Secretary of State James B. Steinberg to express his concerns on the administration's handling of Honduran crisis. An aide to the congressman told the New York Times, "It was not a feel-good phone call."

Frederick Jones, a spokesman for Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the senator believed that the State Department's "abrupt change" of policy "caused the collapse of an accord it helped negotiate."

Washington's growing international isolation on the question is also evident. The secretary general of the Organization of American States, José Miguel Insulza, said Nov. 11 that he would not send observers to monitor the presidential election, scheduled for Nov. 29. And many of the organization's 34 members said they would not recognize the winner unless Zelaya is reinstated to complete his term. "Paraguay is not only not going to accept the outcome of the elections, it will not even accept that the elections are held," said Hugo Saguier Caballero, Paraguay's ambassador to the OAS. "These elections for us simply will not exist."

................

[Name removed]

40. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[L. Coyote]

41. Grenade fired at building with Honduran ballots

Another fake assault to use as propaganda???

=====================
Grenade fired at building with Honduran ballots
By KATHIA MARTINEZ (AP) – 2 hours ago
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jAkMG...


TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Assailants fired an anti-tank grenade toward the building housing ballots for the upcoming Honduran presidential elections, which are taking place under the shadow of a four-month crisis caused by a coup, police said Friday.

The grenade overshot the target, exploding 550 yards (500 meters) from the building in the capital of Tegucigalpa, police spokesman Orlin Cerrato said. Residents in several neighborhoods heard the explosion Thursday night, but there were no damages.

Police believe the building housing election material was the intended target because the surrounding buildings are mostly residential. They said the Russian-made, rocket-propelled grenade was likely launched by inexperienced people.

"The intention was to destroy election material to sabotage the elections," Cerrato said.

.......................

[L. Coyote]

42. Interview with Honduran Activist

Interview with Honduran Activist
November 13, 2009 - http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=16142


HAVANA TIMES, Nov. 13 - With a little more than two weeks before the contentious elections in Honduras, the Latin American continent .... seems headed to ignoring the electoral farce.

... the masses of people in resistance are expected to boycott this electoral circus orchestrated by the Party of Democratic Unification (UD) and the Party of Innovation and Unity (PINU), just as it is being ignored by the Popular Independent Candidacy.

To deepen the analysis of this crisis affecting the entire Latin American continent, rel-UITA spoke with Bertha Cáceres, the director of the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH) and ex-Popular Independent Candidate.

....................

We have a militarized society, a media cordon in favor of the coup-supporting candidates, the participation of fundamentalist religious sectors in the monitoring of the elections, impunity for the violators of human rights, the involvement of the Executive Electoral Tribunal in the coup and their participation in an electoral fraud that we’ve been denouncing since the beginning.

In addition, we have surveyed people concerning their willingness to participate in the collective construction of a historical liberating initiative -which is what the Constitutional Assembly represents- and their response has been overwhelmingly affirmative.

Therefore, our decision to no longer participate flows from an initiative that is more in the medium to long term. That would begin next year, rallying around the figure of Carlos H. Reyes all those forces that have arisen as a result of the Popular Independent Candidacy.

...........

............