Showing posts with label honduran coup. Show all posts
Showing posts with label honduran coup. Show all posts

8/6/09

Honduran Coup: The US Connection

As you read this story you will recognize all the crazies from the last 30 years of Latin American unrest who were probably involved in the Honduran coup. Peacenik did. And what is really scary is that these crazies are entrenched in American politics, society, academia, and military. And lets not forget the media. The media treats these fascist nutjobs with deference. Opus Dei might have been involved. Supreme Court Justice Scalia is a member of Opus Dei. That's right folks. Being a fascist,or a member of an extreme right wing organization doesn't dis-entitle you from participating in American leadership. It is probably an asset. Hell, it's probably a requirement.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3540/3679058990_fb28da7bc6.jpg?v=0
Honduran Coup protest

by Conn Hallinan

While the Obama administration was careful to distance itself from the recent coup in Honduras — condemning the expulsion of President Manuel Zelaya to Costa Rica, revoking Honduran officials' visas, and shutting off aid — that doesn't mean influential Americans aren't involved, and that both sides of the aisle don't have some explaining to do.

The story most U.S. readers are getting about the coup is that Zelaya — an ally of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez — was deposed because he tried to change the constitution to keep himself in power.

That story is a massive distortion of the facts. All Zelaya was trying to do is to put a non-binding referendum on the ballot calling for a constitutional convention, a move that trade unions, indigenous groups, and social activist organizations had long been lobbying for. The current constitution was written by the Honduran military in 1982, and the one-term limit allows the brass-hats to dominate the politics of the country. Since the convention would have been held in November, the same month as the upcoming presidential elections, there was no way Zelaya could have remained in office in any case. The most he could have done was to run four years from now.

Read on...

7/16/09

US Lobbyists with Clinton Ties Hired to Defend Honduran Coup Regime

I guess this is how you do it. A coup that is. Peacenik guesses that Manuel Zelaya doesn't have a hope in hell of returning to power. Not with Lanny Davis greasing the skids for the Honduran military. The oleaginous Lanny Davis was a primary media defender of Bill Clinton's blow job. He also was a big defender of George Bush and Joe Lieberman. oh, did Peacenik mention that Lanny was George Bush's roommate in university. Oh yeah and they're all Skull and Bones guys. Peacenik wonders why society even bothers with the pretence of democracy. It doesn't exist.

US Lobbyists with Clinton Ties Hired to Defend Honduran Coup Regime



Supporters of the coup in Honduras have begun hiring advisers and lobbyists with close ties to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in an attempt to strengthen support in Washington for the coup. A Honduran business group has hired lobbyist Lanny Davis, who served as White House counsel for President Bill Clinton. The coup government has also hired Bennet Ratcliff, a public relations specialist with ties to former President Bill Clinton. [includes rush transcript]

Read on....

7/6/09

Same Old Globalizers and Torture School Grads

punditman says...The crisis continues in Honduras. Will the progressive left survive as a viable political force in Latin America? As the article points out, the military is allied to the globalizing business elite. Punditman says there is a lot at stake.

Honduran Coup to Venezuelan Coup
By NIKOLAS KOZLOFF
www.counterpunch.org

What political and social forces are at the heart of Sunday’s coup in Honduras? Let’s start by looking at the role of Roberto Micheletti, the man Hugo Chávez loves to hate. The former head of the National Congress, Micheletti declared himself Honduras’ new President on Sunday. He replaces President Manuel Zelaya, a politician who had been moving towards more politically and economically progressive positions in recent years. A member of Zelaya’s own Liberal Party, Micheletti studied business administration in the United States and worked as the CEO of Honduras’ state telecommunications company Hondutel in the late 1990s. While he was CEO of the firm Micheletti sought to privatize the firm.

As a believer in so-called “neo-liberal reform,” Micheletti found himself at odds with the Zelaya regime which came to power in early 2006. After he left Hondutel, Micheletti sponsored legislation in Congress which would have cut Hondutel’s rates. Zelaya and Hondutel condemned Micheletti’s provisions, arguing that they would further erode the company’s revenues. For years, long distance profits had provided a lucrative source of income for the government. Over time Hondutel had been subjected to deregulation and had lost its absolute monopoly on long distance calls, fixed lines and telex service. As part of the Central American Free Trade Agreement or CAFTA, Honduras was obliged to reform its telecommunications law which would allow Hondutel to attract private business partners. Observers believed that telecom reform would represent the first step towards outright privatization. Zelaya was one of the most fervent opponents of telecom reform, declaring that it would benefit the private sector and gradually weaken Hondutel’s control of long distance service.

Micheletti formed part of the influential business elite which had grown increasingly disenchanted with the government’s progressive drift. In Honduras, powerful businessmen are the main contributors to political campaigns. They are so powerful and linked to the political system that it can be said that they handpick presidents and dictate the news agenda in the media. Speaking to Inter Press Service, one Zelaya presidential adviser remarked that the country’s economic groups were “insatiable, they make one request after another…in a meeting with President Manuel Zelaya, they told him that in the 1980s, the most important political decisions were put to consultation in the military barracks, but that now they were here, the businesspeople and the media.” In the meeting the businessmen reportedly sought to put Zelaya in his place, remarking “You are only temporary, while we are permanent. We want to be consulted about decisions, we want contracts and to participate in the public tenders, we want to express our opinions on some appointments of public officials, and we want official advertising contracts.”

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7/3/09

Condemn Honduran Coup and Restore Honduran President Zelaya NOW!

International Action Center / Centro de Acción Internacional
Founded by / Fundado por Ramsey Clark

5C - Solidarity Center - 55 West 17th Street - New York, N.Y. 10011
- fax 212-633-2889
actioncenter@peoplesmail.net; En Español: IAC-CAI@peoplesmail.net www.IACenter.org

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Condemn Honduran Coup and Restore Honduran President Zelaya NOW!


To: President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

CC: Vice President Joe Biden, Congressional leaders, U.N. General Assembly President d'Escoto-Brockmann, U.N. Secretary General Ban, and major media representatives including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the Associated Press, and Reuters.

I demand that the Barack Obama administration and the U.S. Congress unequivocally condemn the unconstitutional and anti-democratic military coup in Honduras and insist that the military regime and the newly appointed but illegitimate president of Honduras restore President Zelaya to office, free all the imprisoned popular leaders and remove the curfew. I further demand that the U.S. Ambassador to Honduras be recalled immediately until such time as President Zelaya is restored to office.

Sincerely,

(Your signature will be appended here based on the contact information you enter in the form)

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STATEMENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL ACTION CENTER

Sunday, June 28, 2009

The U.S.-based International Action Center, founded by former Attorney General Ramsey Clark, condemns in the strongest terms the Armed Forces of Honduras’ criminal coup d'état against the democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya and the Honduran people.

The incident occurred today, Sunday, June 28 at dawn, on the date when a referendum was scheduled so that the people could freely decide if the question of calling for a Constituent Assembly would be included during the upcoming November elections. This Assembly would draft a new constitution in accordance with the current needs and aspirations of the Honduran people.

Today’s referendum represented a threat to the oligarchy and its corporate partners, who after several days of threats used the heavily armed military to cowardly invade the Presidential Residence and kidnap President Zelaya, taking him to Costa Rica by force.

We also repudiate the kidnapping of Foreign Minister Patricia Rodas and the abuse against the ambassadors of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela when they went in an act of solidarity to assist Rodas.

We join the voices of the international community in demanding the immediate liberation of Rodas and the safe return of President Zelaya to his country so that he continues to carry out his presidential functions.

We in addition want to express our solidarity with the Honduran people’s just demands.


Signed,

Teresa Gutierrez and Sara Flounders,
Co-Coordinator of the International Action Center
National Office

Berta Joubert-Ceci,
Director, Philadelphia Chapter of the International Action Center

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