Ousted Honduran President Accuses US of Being Behind the 2009 Coup

[Peace Patriot]

Democracy Now report
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/6/29/headlines/ousted_honduran_president_accuses_us_of_being_behind_the_2009_coup

And here is a Google list of other coverage
http://news.google.com/news/story?client=safari&rls=en&q=Zelaya+accuse+U.S.&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ncl=dpEE-RK2O9MnDQMdLnOnt1KBatixM&hl=en&ei=ZsAqTPmOBJnqnQewzezVDg&sa=X&oi=news_result&ct=more-results&resnum=1&ved=0CBoQqgIwAA

Too late for "Latest Breaking News." Most news reports are dated two days ago. Here's an interesting one, with more specifics...

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Zelaya Accuses US Military of Masterminding Coup

Former president Manuel Zelaya today reiterated comments he made last week accusing the United States military's Southern Command (Southcom) of planning his overthrow on June 28, 2009. In a letter written from the Dominican Republic where he has been in self-exile since January 27, Mr. Zelaya said, "Everything indicates that the coup was planned at the (joint Honduran-US) military base in Palmerola by US Southcom and awkwardly executed by bad Hondurans." He added, "The causes and the masterminds of this crime that had previously been concealed are now clear", and what was suspected has now been confirmed: "The United States was behind the coup d'état." According to Mr. Zelaya, at first the US Department of State denied any connection, while the US embassy in Tegucigalpa "expressed its condemnation". But he noted, "The intellectual authors of this crime answer to an illicit relationship between the Hawks in Washington and Honduran business people and their subsidiaries -- North Americans and financial institutions." (6/28/10) (photo of Manuel Zelaya courtesy Internet) (my emphasis)
http://hondurasweekly.com/international/2717-zelaya-accuses-us-military-of-masterminding-coup

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And here is an Associated Pukes report on Hugo Llorens' (U.S. ambassador to Honduras) reaction...

US slams accusations it was behind Honduras coup
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20100629/API/1006291418?Title=US-slams-accusations-it-was-behind-Honduras-coup

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I figured that the U.S. commanders at the U.S. base in Honduras (Palmerola) were in on it. They weren't just playing anti-Venezuela video games, as I had fantasized, while the plane carrying the kidnapped president out of the country at gunpoint landed at their airport for refueling. They aided and abetted. So did Llorens, that lying SOB. These are all things that people who are well informed about Latin America guessed long ago--including the "illicit relationship between the Hawks in Washington and Honduran business people" (two immediately come to mind--John McCain, Jim DeMint, also John "death squad" Negroponte who was advising Hillary Clinton throughout). But it is certainly interesting that Zelaya has been putting the pieces together and may issue a report. His government-in-exile did a report on the coup, early on, which contained the fascinating statement of one coup general that their coup was intended to "prevent Venezuelan communism from reaching the United States"--i.e., Honduran fascists as the bastion saving us from free medical care and free college educations. The general's comment also points to the "circle the wagons" Pentagon strategy that I had hypothesized--creating a "free trade for the rich" zone in the Caribbean/Central America region, patrolled by the U.S. 4th Fleet, the USAF bases on the Dutch islands just off Venezuela's oil coast, the SEVEN U.S. military bases in Colombia, the Honduran base and others, with the goal of roping in Venezuela's oil, to fuel the great U.S. war machine. They probably can't stop the creation of a South American "common market," with Brazil in the lead of that effort. So they want to split off the section of Latin America closest to the U.S., as a slave labor pool and oil source.

:cry: :grouphug: :cry:

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From Upsidedown World:

Within one year (of the Honduran coup d'etat), 34 people have been murdered for political reasons and more than 60 people have died violently for "strange" reasons. Ironically, as a common factor, each of these people had been affiliated with the popular resistance movement against the current regime. A total of 127 persons from the resistance have been denounced by the regime, accused and processed for political offenses.

Under Porfirio Lobo as the new head of the Regime, it is important to note that the political murders have become more violent as time progresses. Case in point was the death of Manuel Flores, a teacher who was sprayed with bullets in front of his students during an hour recess in the school where he taught. Furthermore, Oscar Flores, a 16-year-old boy was sprayed with bullets by a uniformed military person early this week. (MORE)

http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/2566-honduras-resists-current-situation-one-year-after-the-coup-detat

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The teacher, Manuel Flores, was an anti-coup activist. The U.S. government supports this bloody Honduran regime, and the even bloodier one in Colombia--with BILLIONS of U.S. taxpayer dollars to the violators of human rights-- yet vilifies Latin American governments where human rights horrors like this DO NOT OCCUR, where the governments actually act humanely, and are actually elected by the people in fair, aboveboard, TRANSPARENT elections. It is the irony of ironies that some half a million Colombians--mostly poor farmers--have fled the Colombian military and its death squads into Venezuela and Ecuador--for REFUGE--yet Venezuela and Ecuador are regarded as U.S. "enemies" and Colombia and Honduras are lavished with money and praise. A half a million Colombians have voted with their feet! And we will no doubt start seeing such an exodus from Honduras as well, as the U.S. tries to force Honduras back into its Reagan-era role as the footstool for U.S. aggression in Central America.

[Braulio]

1. Too garbled

Boy, that post sure is hard to follow. The only thing I can point out is the lack of proof. Zelaya lacks proof the US government was involved. It's possible US citizens were, and some of them may have been well connected politicians. But I doubt the US had much to do with it.

Also, it makes sense for the US to block communist inroads into Central America, because this can destabilize Mexico. As long as Latin American communists are in bed with Iran, Belarus, and other repressive anti-US regimes, they will meet US resistance. After all, they paint themselves as the enemy, and they are pretty aggressive about it. I wouldn't have much illusions, if Mr Iran goes to Caracas and Havana, then Washington will keep an eye on them, and block their moves whenever it can. And Zelaya was evidently a Caracas client. Which means even if he didn't get overthrown by the US, US interests were well served when the Hondurans kicked him out. Maybe Obama didn't ask they take Zelaya out, but the way the guy was going, he was going to get in the cross hairs sooner or later.

[Judi Lynn]

2. I remember that quote from the time of the coup, that they coup plotters were "protecting" Honduras

from communism by seizing contol of the Honduran government prior to the coming election, 5 months away, and by preventing the rewriting of the constitution which was a matter of deep concern to the whole of Honduras itself, not just to the elected President, who was intending to act on their behalf.

That movement is still absolutely intact and is NOT going to go away.

Glad to see you recall the recent filthy murder of a local activist hero, high school teacher José Manuel Flores, whose passing will light a fire among far, far more people than the government foresaw:

http://hondurashumanrights.files.wordpress.com.nyud.net:8090/2010/03/asesinato_profesor_manuel_flores.jpg http://www.juventudrebelde.co.cu.nyud.net:8090/img/info/political-murders-in-honduras-continue-2010-03-26.jpg http://www.defensoresenlinea.com.nyud.net:8090/cms/images/stories/asesinato_profesor_manuel_flores_companero_lo_lloran.jpg http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org.nyud.net:8090/2010/images/jose_manuel_flores.jpg

Manuel Flores

http://4.bp.blogspot.com.nyud.net:8090/_86s-hE1hAVM/S86ttEmbMSI/AAAAAAAAAqE/TI2VRqH6wt8/s320/194+dia+de+resistencia.jpg http://2.bp.blogspot.com.nyud.net:8090/_l6SukRX0puk/S89GEtm2H2I/AAAAAAAAFLo/HRlmWvkiK_A/s1600/MARCHA+115+DE+LA+RESISTENCIA-A.jpg

Oscar Flores' banner, Oscar Flores

Oscar Flores, "the chronicler of the resistance" who showed up at all the marches in Tegucigalpa carrying a sign keeping track of the number of days Hondurans have been resistance to the coup and its de facto regime(s), was kidnapped yesterday. And in San Pedro, journalist Giorgino Orellana was murdered. Ironically he covered the "nota roja" and now he's news with his own violent death. At the end of this excellent short video discussing the drive, begun yesterday (the day of Flores's abduction and Orellana's murder), to collect 1,250,000 signatures in favor of a popular constituent assembly to reform the constitution, there is a mention of Flores's abduction and an image of him in the marches:

http://quotha.net/node/888

[Braulio]

6. From their point of view, they were

Don't forget Honduras is a very corrupt crime ridden country. And Zelaya didn't help matters with his radical approach and the way he behaved, as if he were a mini-Chavez. Because Chavez is driving Venezuela towards communism, and ruining the Venezuelan economy in the process, this leads to a hysterical reaction in Latin America whenever somebody who may turn out to be another Chavez raises his head.

The way Noriega is trying to perpetuate himself in power, in a fashion similar to what Chavez and the Castro duo do, also makes people shake if the words "new constitution" are mentioned.

These ultra radicals are just too scary, too willing to debase the rule of law, and their ideas are straight from Stalin's playbook. I think the huge victory for Santos is indeed due to Chavez. Mockus is a good candidate, but there was no way the Colombians were going to risk ruining the way things are going. I got the feeling these communists are creating a huge headache for the Latin American left. Only Lula da Silva seems to be on an even keel, although I sure hope Evo Morales distances himself from the gang in Caracas and Havana, and becomes more pragmatic. That "Patria Socialismo o Muerte" they use in Venezuela is a sure sign of a forthcoming communist dictatorship, and normal people don't like communism.

[Judi Lynn]

7. "normal people don't like communism" How would you know?

Speak for yourself.

We have our own minds to use in making our own observations, arriving at our own conclusions. We all have different "standards," apparently.

The only hysterial in Latin America to socialism comes from the anal, grabby, constipated people, those who are perverted socially, and would prefer to prosper at the great, unbearable, unjust, brutal expense of the many.

The time many of us have spent trying to get up to speed on Honduran history has been irreplaceable. Learning is a constant experience. Real information MUST be there first, as a foundation from which you operate.

[EFerrari]

9. What a huge steaming pile. You're so afraid of communism

that you don't even recognize modest social justice when you see it.

Good grief.

[Bacchus39]

10. however, those that don't actually have to live under communism

seem to like it just fine in many instances like we see here.

[Judi Lynn]

3. Cuban "exile" U.S. Ambasasdor Hugo Llorens is hated by Hondurans who aren't connected ot the coup.

What a treacherous, dishonest, creepy human-shaped thing he is!


There he is, the last one in the lower right-hand corner of this group of coup-leaders we saw which started circulating IMMEDIATELY after the coup.

(Editorial by the daily El Libertador of Honduras)

These are the coup leaders: 1) Carlos Flores Facussé; 2) Rafael Leonardo Callejas; 3) Cardenal Óscar Andrés Rodríguez; 4) Adolfo Facussé; 5) Armida de López Contreras; 6) Schucry Kafie; 7) Elvin Santos; 8) Emilio Larach; 9) Enrique Ortez Colindres; 10) Pastor Evelio Reyes; 11) Felícito Ávila; 12) José Alfredo Saavedra; 13) Jorge Canahuati; 14) Jorge Yllescas; 15) Juan Ferrera; 16) Juan Ramón Martínez; 17) Carlos López Contreras; 18) Billy Joya; 19) Ana Abarca; 20) Rafael Ferrari; 21) Juan José Pineda; 22) Vilma Morales; 23) Marcia Villeda; 24) Renato Álvarez; 25) Ramón Custodio; 26) Rafael Pineda Ponce; 27) Olban Valladares; 28) Pastor Oswaldo Canales; 29) Ricardo Maduro; 30) Romeo Vásquez Velásquez; 31) Porfirio Lobo Sosa; 32) Ricardo Álvarez; 33) Antonio Rivera; 34) Guillermo Pérez Cadalso; 35) Mauricio Villeda; 36) María Martha Díaz; 37) Antonio Tavel Otero; 38) Luis Rubí; 39) Toribio Aguilera; 40) Ramón Velásquez Nassar; 41) Elán Reyes Pineda; 42) Luz Ernestina Mejía; 43) Martha Lorena Casco; 44) Rodolfo Irías Navas; 45) Rigoberto Chang Castillo; 46) Mirna Castro; 47) Gabriela Núñez; 48) Hugo Llorens.

1. All of these people used their positions to plot, cause, or finance the breakdown of constitutional order with the kidnapping and extradition of President Zelaya, which culminated in the coup.

2. They are directly responsible for the deaths, injuries, imprisonment, and the unease imposed upon Honduran society; they have destroyed democracy and ruined Honduras' image nationally and internationally.

3. The coup leaders reactivated the anti-terrorist and anti-communist organization called the Alliance for Honduras' Progress (APROH), which operated in the 1980s. Their greed and lack of culture prevented them from understanding that the people are free to choose the political and ideological system that will offer them security and well-being.

Tegucigapla. This time their names and faces will go down in history, and Hondurans and citizens of the world will remember them. They will be judged by society and by national and international courts.

The coup plotters utilized variations on the mechanisms that the Alliance for Honduras' Progress (APROH) used in the 1980s. Under the guise of a business organization, it hid clear political doctrine of "low-intensity war against those who opposed the repression of the Sandinista government and against social discontent in Honduras. United States intelligence financed the organization through the Moon sect."

"Industrious Businessmen"

Nothing particularly "suspicious" is written in the APROH's statutes. A group of businessmen got together to study their problems, with a project to assist other sectors. The economic model that the associates defended was clear: they advocated laissez faire policies with few mechanisms of control and with many mechanisms to maximize profits.

The associates were required to "guard the confidentiality of the documents and information that they acquired through their participation in APROH activities and that divulging this information could cause harm to its members.

In the beginning of 1983, soon after its founding, APROH didn't draw attention to itself. It was seen as a new attempt to bring together Honduras' most conservative sectors. In November of that year, the newspaper "Tiempo" published one of those confidential "documents:" APROH was recommending to the Kissinger Commission, through a personal friend and aid to Kissinger, a military solution for Central America.

Yesterday and Today's Truth

Military fascism found its place in APROH--then in Gen. Alvarez, the president of that organization, and now Romeo Vasquez. As now, it was comprised of the country's far-right business class, although in reality more than being ideological they are corrupt businessmen who have gotten rich because they determine what happens or not in the country. They are the eternal scroungers who live off financial subsidies, they are the ones who obtain concessions and million-dollar debt forgiveness from the state. They are the ones who finance and control the political parties and use their influence to have power in the National Congress and in the courts. In short, they are the ones who have the country trapped and don't allow the advancement of other businessmen and marginalize the people because for them it's business as usual that they remain ignorant and hungry. It's easy for them to manipulate them with the corporate media, as they are doing with this coup.

At the end of 1983, a rumor that the United States embassy was concerned about what it saw as the consolidation of a pressure group within the country that was very conservative and very vulnerable to criticism, as is the case now. The coup leaders are once again a problem for the United States. Then, the APROH was dormant for many years, but it awoke on the morning of June 28, 2009, to carry out its work: overthrow the President, manipulate through the corporate media, extra-judicial executions that no one will know about, repression, and psychological war in order to confuse people.

Who Were the Members?

Gen. Gustavo Alvares was the boss, the man in charge of APROH. Rafael Leonardo Callejas admitted that when he was the APROH's Secretary of Student and Worker Affairs--which hoists the flag of anti-communism--he worked so that Osawlado Ramos Soto would be the rector of the National Autonomous University of Honduras (UNAH).

The Moon Sect, a well-known religious organization, collaborated with this organization.

The APROH was created by Álvarez Martínez during the Roberto Suazo Córdova administration as the precursor to the Security Doctrine and responsible for dozens of political assassinations and disappearances in the country. José Rafael Ferrari, Miguel Facussé, Fernando Casanova, Rigoberto Espinal Irías, Benjamín Villanueva and ex-union leaders Andrés Víctor Artiles and Mariano González were also members.

Osmond Maduro, brother of the ex-president and coup leader Ricardo Maduro Joest, was also a member, national and international bankers; textile and chemical industry, agribusiness, and television barons; and the technocrats. All of them were represented in the APROH.

Now look on this page at the coup leaders; they are members of the new APROH. There is no difference between them and those of the past. Some of them are even the same: Miguel Facussé, Rafael Leonardo Callejas y José Rafael Ferrari.

_________________________________________

More:
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/08/05/18614151.php

[Judi Lynn]

4. Weisbrot: One Year After the Coup, Rift Persists Between Washington And Latin America Over Honduras

Mark Weisbrot
Co-director, Center for Economic and Policy Research, Washington, D.C.
Posted: June 30, 2010 02:49 PM
One Year After the Coup, Rift Persists Between Washington And Latin America Over Honduras

At dawn one year ago, on June 28, soldiers invaded the home of Honduran President Mel Zelaya and flew him to Costa Rica. It was a frightening throwback to the days when military men, backed by a local oligarchy and often the United States, could overturn the results of democratic elections.

It would also turn out to be a pivotal moment for relations between the United States and Latin America - especially South America, where a new generation of left-of-center governments in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Venezuela were all hoping for a new relationship with Washington. This new American president, a former community organizer, had come to Trinidad just a few months earlier and shook hands with President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, and actually listened to his southern neighbors. He was more like us, they thought - former trade unionists, two women, an indigenous leader, a progressive catholic bishop, political outsiders for the most part.

But it was not to be. The first signal came when, on the day of the coup, the White House did not condemn it, merely calling on "all social and political actors" to respect democracy. The White House later joined other countries in condemning the coup, but there was a noticeable difference: while the OAS, the United Nations, and other international organizations called for the "immediate and unconditional" reinstatement of President Zelaya, no U.S. official would ever utter those words over the next five months.

Nor would U.S. officials join human rights organizations from throughout the hemisphere and the world in condemning the violence and repression of the Honduran dictatorship. Its security forces raided and shut down independent radio and TV stations, and beat and arrested thousands of peaceful demonstrators. There were reports of torture and some opposition activists were killed in circumstances that implicated the government. Since this took place during the official campaign period for the fall elections, it made free elections impossible. The Obama administration's silence was deafening.

President Zelaya traveled to Washington six times during his exile, but President Obama refused to meet with him. Meanwhile, Washington blocked the Organization of American States from taking stronger actions against the Honduran dictatorship.

The United States then supported elections under the dictatorship. The OAS and European Union refused to send observers. The vast majority of the hemisphere, including Brazil, Argentina, and Chile, were vehemently opposed to the elections. The Rio Group, which includes all of Latin America, signed a statement saying Zelaya's immediate restitution to the presidency was "indispensable" to the recognition of elections. Even the right-wing governments of Panama and Colombia, and Peru - Washington's closest allies in the region -felt obliged to sign on to the statement.

This created a rift that remains today: U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has recently been campaigning for recognition of the Honduran government, but has so far found few takers. In South America, it is only Peru and Colombia that recognize the Lobo government - the official position of UNASUR is still non-recognition.

More:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-weisbrot/one-year-after-the-coup-r_b_631112.html

[Bacchus39]

5. of course he would say that, and of course he offers no evidence

the US is the bogeyman. anyway, the US "involvement" certainly didn't stop his family from taking refuge at the US ambassador's residence did it?? rather odd wouldn't you say??

[naaman fletcher]

8. It would be nice if he provided some evidence. /nt