Honduran interim gov't cancels visa exemption for Brazilians

[bemildred]

Source: Xinhua

TEGUCIGALPA, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- The Honduran de facto government announced Friday that it decided to suspend the agreements with Brazil on visas exemption for holders of Brazilian passports.

"All holder of Brazilian passport (ordinary, diplomatic, official or service) from now on will need a visa to enter Honduras," the de facto Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

This stipulation does not affect Brazilian citizens legally living in Honduras, the communiqué added.

The Honduran interim government said it made the decision according to principles of strict reciprocity.

Read more: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-09/05/content_12001001.htm

[harmonicon]

1. reciprocity? they aren't a real government!!

[bemildred]

3. But they are trying to pretend to be a real government.

So that have to do what real governments would do in the same circumstances. But it's still a stupid move, pissing off Brazil will not improve their chances.

[Peace Patriot]

2. "...strict reciprocity." Hm. So then the Honduran people would be justified in using

live ammunition on the junta perpetrators, killing some of them, and shooting up their homes, kidnapping and deporting them, or sticking them in prison for their political views, beating them up if they protest, shooting out the tires of their vehicles, denying them freedom of speech and access to the media, and purging them from the government.

"Strict reciprocity."*

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*(Is that like "strict construction" of the Constitution to force it to favor the rich and the corporate--a favorite phrase during the Reagan reign of terror? Or "strict disciplinarian," as in beating up on children? People who use the word "strict," tend to be sadists and nazis, in my experience, as well as goddamn liars.)

[Peace Patriot]

4. Just wanted to add that the Honduran junta seems to be getting its language from

the rightwing here. For instance, one of the top generals in the junta said that, by this coup, they had "stopped communism from Venezuela reaching the United States." (--quoted in the recent Zelaya government Report on the coup.) Now where did he get an idea like that, except from his discussions with John McCain (--$43 million funneled to the rightwing political groups in Honduras thru McCain's US taxpayer funded "International Republican Institute" via the USAID)?

Also, you see some of the same kind of twisted legal logic, so prevalent during the Bush Junta, say, to justify torture or "executive signing statements" or war or massive secrecy. The Honduran junta, for instance, used a provision of the Honduran Constitution (written by Reagan's henchmen in the 1980s to prevent civilian authority from ever gaining power over the Honduran military), which forbids anyone proposing to alter the one term limit on the presidency, to accuse Zelaya of treason after they had shot up his house, kidnapped him at gunpoint and deported him. They said he had proposed a popular vote on changing the term limit. He had not. At the behest of numerous groups and people--unions, teachers, human rights workers, community organizers, priest advocates of the poor, community and political activists--he had agreed to promote a popular ADVISORY vote on whether or not the Honduran people wanted to convene a Constitutional assembly, to discuss and re-write the Constitution. If that ADVISORY vote had passed, the matter would have gone to the Congress, with no legal obligation to implement it. Zelaya was termed out. He cannot run in November. And even if the people ended up lifting the term limit, in the process of re-writing their Constitution, it would be years before that could be accomplished and he could conceivably run for office again. And he never said it--never said that he wanted the term limit removed. And even if he had, it's such a weird provision of the current Constitution--forbidding even discussion of the matter--that it cries out to be changed (as a violation of free speech) and certainly is the most ridiculous reason ever devised for ending democracy in a country.

Bushwhack thinking. That's what it is. Whatever the rich and the corporate want to do is legal, and anybody else's views are "treason."

[Downwinder]

5. Where do you get a visa? Is there a de-facto embassy in Brazil? n/t