Honduras Coup on The Huffington Post

Robert Amsterdam: What Kind of Global Player Does Brazil Want to Be?

2009-12-30T13:10:54Z

Brazil in the 21st century is impressive to international observers for its dynamic economic growth, low inflation, and firmly established democratic institutions. How the country overcame the global economic crisis so swiftly is just one demonstration of their brilliant efforts. But the question remains: what kind role in the world does Brazil want to play?

[A version of this article was first published in Portuguese in the Brazilian newspaper O Estado de São Paulo]

For some, the question is irrelevant. Security analysts from Madrid to New Delhi are perplexed by the relationship between Brazil and Venezuela. They have come to formulate an unfortunate theory: that the country has become a 21st century economic power, but continues to practice a 20th century foreign policy.

The theory is backed up by the facts. Earlier this month the Brazilian Senate confirmed Venezuela's ascension to Mercosur, literally in the same moment in which President Hugo Chávez launched an attack on the country's judiciary, while at the same time bringing the dispute with Colombia perilously close to outright armed conflict.

There are those who argue that the Brazilian Senate did not vote for Chávez, but rather voted for a future partnership with the Venezuelan people. This may be true, and there is nothing wrong with Brazil welcoming Venezuela into the region's most important trade bloc. But it is not convincing. We have seen a fundamental lack of political will to confront the government of Chávez and protect Brazilian interests in the region.

The jailing of Judge María Lourdes Afiuni on Dec. 10 is proof that the presidency of Venezuela is dismantling the constitutional separation of powers. The incident occurred moments after Afiuni had ordered the release of the businessman Eligio Cedeño, a political prisoner who had been held in jail for almost three years without trial or sentence. The judge was defamed on national television by the president himself, who demanded the maximum sentence of 30 years.

Chávez ordered the arrest of Afiuni, publicly attacked her and Cedeño and demanded the maximum punishment against both of them. The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, formed by three independent human rights experts, rendered an opinion condemning the detention of Cedeño and qualifying it as arbitrary. The Chávez government has a long history of reprisals against judges and prosecutors involved in this case. In 2007, one judge suffered the attempted kidnapping of her son and was forced to flee the country to seek asylum. All this for having independently performed her duties as a judge and admitting one complaint by Cedeño against representatives of the prosecutor's office. Another striking example is that of a prosecutor who lost her job after opining that the arrest of Cedeño was unfounded.

Afiuni is the most recent victim of Chávez. When Cedeño legally entered the United States on Dec. 19 to voluntarily submit himself to their jurisdiction, the judge was moved from a pre-trial holding center to a maximum security facility, filled with prisoners she had sentenced (which is against the law), where she has already survived two attempts on her life by inmates who have threatened to "burn her alive."

Chávez's mask has slipped off and we can no longer consider Venezuela as a normative and democratic rule-of-law state. To everyone's surprise, one judge had the courage to observe the law and agree with international opinions on the illegality of a political prisoner's detention.

In spreading misinformation about arrests, extraditions, and alleged illegal acts, the Chávez administration is clearly making moves to stake out a position as an aggrieved party, and invent a hyped-up dispute with their favorite imaginary enemy, the United States of America. The Venezuelan president has appropriated both the courts and the military as personal instruments. He has been able to do this thanks to the international acquiescence of key countries such as Brazil.

It is also important to consider that many of Brazil's top companies are deeply invested in Venezuela, but they are still owed billions of dollars, thanks to the country's corrupt currency exchange regime, CADIVI, controlled by Chávez. Perhaps the Brazilians think that they will somehow be the only ones not to suffer broken contracts, expropriation, or non-payment? If this is the assumption, then they are profoundly naïve. As we have seen by Chávez's personal attack against Cedeño and the judge who freed him, Brazil cannot count upon any fair decision in a court on these business matters. Chávez's Venezuela provides for no judicial security.

One must also remember that an armed conflict between Venezuela and Colombia would be catastrophic for Brazil, leading to capital flight, an economic crash, and the high possibility of escalating regional violence, given the close ties Chávez maintains with extremist groups. The regrettable events in Honduras this year showed just how much trouble can be created by any departure from constitutional order.

There is great merit in Brazil's ability to maintain friendly relations with so many different nations of different values. The South-South diplomacy, pioneered by the Lula government, should continue long into the future, and help to redefine a multipolar approach to global affairs. This tactic, however, has its limits. When taken to an extreme, there are high costs.

Brazil is better than that, and deserves much more. Its ambitious view toward the future is not compatible with the tolerance of outright tyranny on her borders. It's decision time: one can't have a foot in the 21st century while maintaining retrograde views.

Mark Weisbrot: Top Ten Ways You Can Tell Which Side the United States Government is On With Regard to the Military Coup in Honduras

2009-12-16T13:12:02Z

At dawn on June 28, the Honduran military abducted President Manuel Zelaya at gunpoint and flew him out of the country. Conflicting and ambiguous statements from the Obama administration left many confused about whether it opposed this coup or was really trying to help it succeed. Here are the top ten indicators (with apologies to David Letterman):

10. The White House statement on the day of the coup did not condemn it, merely calling on "all political and social actors in Honduras" to respect democracy. Since U.S. officials have acknowledged that they were talking to the Honduran military right up to the day of the coup - allegedly to try and prevent it - they had time to think about what their immediate response would be if it happened.

9. The Organization of American States (OAS), the United Nations General Assembly, and other international bodies responded by calling for the "immediate and unconditional" return of President Zelaya. In the ensuing five months, no U.S. official would use either of those two words.

8. At a press conference the day after the coup, Secretary of State Clinton was asked if "restoring the constitutional order" in Honduras meant returning Zelaya himself. She would not say yes.

7. On July 24th, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton denounced President Zelaya's attempt to return to his own country that week as "reckless," adding that "We have consistently urged all parties to avoid any provocative action that could lead to violence."

6. Most U.S. aid to Honduras comes from the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), a U.S. government agency. The vast majority of this aid was never suspended. By contrast, on August 6, 2008, there was a military coup in Mauritania; MCC aid was suspended the next day. In Madagascar, the MCC announced the suspension of aid just three days after the military coup of March 17, 2009.

5. On September 28, State Department officials representing the United States blocked the OAS from adopting a resolution on Honduras that would have refused to recognize Honduran elections carried out under the dictatorship.

4. The United States government refused to officially determine that there was a "military coup," in Honduras - in contrast to the view of rest of the hemisphere and the world.

3. The Obama administration defied the rest of the hemisphere and the world by supporting undemocratic elections in Honduras.

On October 30th, U.S. government representatives including Thomas Shannon, the top U.S. State Department official for Latin America, brokered an accord between President Zelaya and the coup regime. The agreement was seen throughout the region as providing for Zelaya's restitution, and - according to diplomats close to the negotiations - both Shannon and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave assurances that this was true.

Yet just four days later, Mr. Shannon stated in a TV interview that the United States would recognize the November 29 elections, regardless of whether or not Zelaya were restored to the presidency. This put the United States against all of Latin America, which issued a 23-nation statement two days later saying that Zelaya's restitution was an "indispensable prerequisite" for recognizing the elections. The Obama administration has since been able to recruit the right-wing governments of Canada, Panama, and Colombia, and also Peru, to recognize the elections. But its support for these undemocratic elections - to which the OAS, European Union, and the Carter Center all refused to send observers - has left the Obama administration as isolated as its predecessor in the hemisphere.

2. President Zelaya visited Washington six times after he was overthrown. Yet President Obama has never once met with him. Is it possible that President Obama did not have even five minutes in all of those days just to shake his hand and say, "I'm trying to help?"

1. The Obama administration has never condemned the massive human rights violations committed by the coup regime. These have been denounced and documented by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the OAS Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), as well as Honduran, European, and other human rights organizations. There have been thousands of illegal arrests, beatings and torture by police and military, the closing down of independent radio and TV stations, and even some killings of peaceful demonstrators and opposition activists.

These human rights violations have continued right through election day, according to Amnesty International and media reports, and beyond, including the killings of two activists opposed to the coup - Walter Trochez and Santos Corrales García - in recent days.

The United States government's silence through more than five months of these human rights crimes has been the most damning and persistent evidence that it has always been more concerned about protecting the dictatorship, rather than restoring democracy in Honduras.

The majority of American voters elected President Obama on a promise that our foreign policy would change. For this hemisphere, at least, that promise has been broken.

The headline from the latest Time Magazine report on Honduras summed it up: "Obama's Latin America Policy Looks Like Bush's."

This column was published by Common Dreams on December 16, 2009.

The Real News: TRNN Exclusive: Honduran Elections Exposed

2009-12-09T12:23:25Z

Honduran coup regime's claims of more than 60% participation in free and fair election revealed as fraud.

"There is wide agreement that last week's presidential election in Honduras..." begins an editorial in Saturday's New York Times, "...was clean and fair." The editorial gives no hint as to whom all these people are that are in agreement, except for the 'official' data from the same regime that overthrew the elected president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, at gunpoint. The Times joins governments, commentators and editorial pages around the world that have fallen victim to the 'official' coup data. But, as this video shows, the proof of the fraud was sitting out in the open the whole time.

Produced by Jesse Freeston, on location in Honduras.

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Honduran Coup Regime's Claims Of A Fair Election Are Fraudulent: Report (VIDEO)

2009-12-07T13:04:33Z

The Real News Network calls into question the validity of the November 29 Honduran elections, which have been regarded as "clean and fair" by outlets such as the New York Times, in a new video report.

Producer Jesse Freeston argues that, despite international support and Western media approval, the election of the new Honduran government was not as fair as it appeared to be. "The facts are: that these elections were neither clean nor peaceful," he argues.

Watch for yourself to see if you feel these post-coup elections were as fair as had been widely reported.

More at The Real News

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Honduran Lawmakers Vote 'No' To Restoring Zelaya

2009-12-03T08:10:57Z

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Where does Manuel Zelaya go now?

Congress slammed the door on restoring the ousted Honduran leader to power, ignoring intense international pressure to reverse Central America's first coup in 20 years.

Christopher Sabatini: Sunday's Elections Left As Risky Option in Honduras

2009-11-27T09:56:47Z

As Hondurans go to the polls this Sunday, months of negotiations and years of diplomatic precedent hang in the balance. The Obama administration hopes that the presidential elections will end the political crisis in Honduras. The deep divisions in Honduran society and the firmness with which most Latin American leaders have rejected the de facto government and the elections, however, risk dashing the administration's hopes.

On June 28th, the Honduran Congress and Supreme Court voted to remove President Manuel Zelaya. This followed Zelaya's disregard of their rejection of a planned ballot to allow for a constituent assembly. Acting under Supreme Court order, in the early morning, soldiers rousted the President and placed him--still in his pajamas--on a plane to Costa Rica. Because the removal strayed from the Honduran constitution, the international community immediately condemned the act as a coup and called for Zelaya's restoration. But the de facto government, led by Roberto Micheletti, asserted that the removal was constitutional, while admitting that Zelaya's exile--not to mention lack of due process--was a "mistake."

The international community's position was virtually unanimous, demanding Zelaya's restoration before previously scheduled November elections. Subsequently, Micheletti dragged his feet, thwarting regional negotiators' efforts to resolve the impasse and ignoring economic and diplomatic sanctions by the U.S. and others.

Last month, under pressure to find some exit, U.S. negotiators traveled to Tegucigalpa, engineered an agreement, and declared victory. The U.S. left implementing the agreement to the Hondurans, however, and said that it would accept the elections as a critical step for Honduras's future--even before the agreement had been fulfilled.

Most leaders in the hemisphere do not share this view. They share the position of Ricardo Lagos, former President of Chile and member of the agreement's Verification Commission that Micheletti broke the agreement and Zelaya must be restored. Now, Argentina and Brazil have denounced the elections as an attempt to legitimize the coup.

At the same time, conditions inside Honduras are troubling. The de facto government has routinely violated Honduran citizens' rights--repressing protesters, imposing curfews, censoring pro-Zelaya media, and suspending constitutional freedoms. In this tense climate, parties drastically cut back on campaign activity. Now, Zelaya and his supporters are promoting a boycott, threatening legal action, and pledging to mobilize supporters. And, with several recent unsolved explosions in the country, many voters remain afraid of election-day violence. Election officials themselves have declared that "the candidate to beat is abstentionism," as many voters may stay away from the polls in protest or out of fear. Furthermore, dozens of mayoral and congressional candidates have withdrawn from the elections in solidarity with Zelaya.

These international and domestic factors all suggest that the elections will not bring a quick resolution to this crisis. After Sunday, the Honduran people will likely continue to confront a deeply divided society and a crippled economy. Meanwhile, the Obama administration will likely remain at odds with Latin American countries with whom it had hoped to restore congenial relations after the Bush era.

But perhaps the greatest loser will be the hemispheric consensus to defend liberal democracy. In the last three decades, from Haiti to Peru, the region has effectively pushed back on coups and democratic transgressions. Allowing the Honduran coup to stand has eroded this hard-won consensus.

Looking forward, the diplomatic divisions emerging from the crisis will only weaken the international community's authority to hold accountable leaders like Venezuela's Hugo Chávez and Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega and the judicial and legislative systems that they control. It will also enable these leaders to decry the hypocrisy of their critics, who argue that elections are the solution in Honduras while denying their legitimacy in Venezuela and Nicaragua. Furthermore, by not allowing Zelaya to return in a limited form, the events over the last four months have converted Zelaya into an unlikely and undeserved democratic hero, allowing his defenders to ignore the threat he posed to Honduran democracy.

Fingers are crossed throughout the Americas for a speedy conclusion to the Honduran crisis. But Sunday's elections may not present the exit we all hope for. Instead, no matter how transparent they may be, Sunday's elections may mark a defeat for the hemisphere's ability to stand firm against coups, rein in overzealous presidents, and hold fast to a conception of liberal democracy on which we should all be able to agree.

Chris Sabatini is the senior director of policy at the Council of the Americas/Americas Society and editor-in-chief of Americas Quarterly. Daniel Altschuler is a Rhodes Scholar and doctoral candidate in Politics at the University of Oxford.

Dana Frank: No Fair Election In Honduras Under Military Occupation

2009-11-26T13:04:39Z

As the Honduran election approaches this Sunday, let's be clear about the conditions under which it is taking place. Human rights abuses are rampant, freedom of speech is under attack, and the election process is in the hands of the very people who perpetrated the coup. Clearly, no free and fair election is possible under the repressive thumb of the military coup that has been in place for five months.

While the 23 nations of the Rio Group from Latin America and the Caribbean have condemned the election and announced they will not recognize its outcome, the Obama administration still insists it will recognize the results -- once again isolating the United States from those who are upholding democracy in the hemisphere.

President Obama should join the rest of the world and immediately declare the elections fraudulent and demand the immediate restoration of President Manuel Zelaya, the withdrawal of the Honduran military, and a delay of the election until three months after Zelaya has been full reinstated.

Imagine a "free and fair election" under the conditions in Honduras today (and imagine if this were taking place in the United States):

The same Honduran military,which perpetrated the June 28 coup forcing President Manuel Zelaya out of the country, and which has brutally occupied the country for five months, physically controls the ballots, the ballot boxes, the computers that tabulate the results, and the dissemination of the outcome.

The legitimate President of the country is being held captive in the Brazilian Embassy under draconian circumstances, and has denounced the elections as fraudulent.

The leading opposition candidate, the independent Carlos H. Reyes--who has a real chance of winning a free and fair election--has withdrawn his name from the ballot in protest. Throughout the country, hundreds of candidates for congress and municipal office, including those from the mainstream parties, have announced they are withdrawing from the election. They include the mayor of San Pedro Sula, the nation's second largest city.

All three trade union federations, the leading human rights organization, women's groups, organizations of indigenous and African-descent peoples, the gay and lesbian movement, and the campesino movement--united in the National Front Against the Coup d'Etat--have denounced the election as fraudulent.

The coup government has made it illegal to advocate not voting.

Peaceful demonstrations are routinely teargassed. As the Committee of Families of the Disappeared (COFADEH) has documented, dozens of people have been killed, over 600 beaten, and over 3,500 illegally detained, including lawyers who have shown up to secure the release of detainees. Opponents of the coup continue be threatened, illegally arrested, and beaten in their homes.

The military has recently instructed all mayors in the country to compile a list of persons in their jurisdiction who oppose the coup.

The two presidential candidates remaining in the election from the traditional parties of the oligarchy, Elvin Santos from the right wing of the Liberal Party, and Porfirio Lobo Sosa from the National Party, both initially supported the coup.

No free and fair election can take place under these circumstances. Only when the legitimate President of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, has been fully restored to office for three months, only when the military has been pushed back into its barracks, and only when civil liberties are completely restored can an orderly transfer of power to a new administration take place. By persuading coup leader Roberto Micheletti to briefly step aside in the week before the election, the U.S. State Department has tried to whitewash the election at the last minute. But that doesn't change the fact that the Honduran military and the oligarchs, who perpetrated the coup and who have dictated the nation's politics for decades, are still brutally repressing the people of Honduras.

The vast majority of Hondurans aren't fooled. After five months of military repression, they know the difference between a fraudulent cover for the continuation of the coup regime, and a truly free and fair election under the rule of law. So does the European Union, the Organization of American States, and the Rio Group. They understand well the dangerous precedent the Honduran coup represents.

President Obama should refuse to recognize the results of the election and bring an end to the embarrassing isolation of the United States from the rest of the world.

Nikil Saval: The Honduran Coup: A Graphic History

2009-11-25T12:40:24Z

On November 29, national elections will take place in Honduras. Five months earlier, on June 28th, Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was arrested in the middle of the night by the armed forces and forcibly exiled to Costa Rica -- on the day he had proposed to hold a non-binding public poll on a popular assembly. Why? For his supposed intention of subverting the Honduran constitution to extend his time in office. Zelaya still remains under effective house arrest in the Brazlian embassy -- which is surrounded by coup leader Roberto Micheletti's troops -- after being smuggled back into the country. Read the first part of The Honduran Coup: A Graphic History here.

After a considerable delay, the US finally intervened to broker a deal on Oct 30, which has since been rejected outright by Zelaya and decried by the International community. Despite its previous solidarity with the deposed President, the US has now agreed to recognize the new elections that are scheduled for November 29, with or without Zelaya's restitution. Why the change of heart for the Obama administration?

In our follow-up to The Honduran Coup: A Graphic History, which was published online at Alternet.org in October, we look at the situation on the ground in Honduras, examining the details of the proposed accord and the background realpolitik that led to the sudden change of heart in the US's stance. See the links below each page for their sources and corroborating evidence.

Mark Weisbrot: Honduran Dictatorship Is A Threat to Democracy In the Hemisphere

2009-11-23T10:41:31Z

A small group of rich people who own most of Honduras and its politicians enlist the military to kidnap the elected president at gunpoint and take him into exile. They then arrest thousands of people opposed to the coup, shut down and intimidate independent media, shoot and kill some demonstrators, torture and beat many others. This goes on for more than four months, including more than two of the three months legally designated for electoral campaigning. Then the dictatorship holds an "election."

Should other countries recognize the results of such an election, to be held on November 29th? Latin America says absolutely not; the United States is saying, well, "yes we can"- if we can get away with it.

"There has been a sharp rise in police beatings, mass arrests of demonstrators and intimidation of human rights defenders," since President Zelaya slipped back into Honduras and took refuge in the Brazilian embassy, wrote Amnesty International. Human Rights Watch, the OAS Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and human rights groups worldwide have also condemned the violence and repression perpetrated by the Honduran dictatorship.

On November 5, the 25 nations of the Rio Group, which includes virtually all of Latin America, declared that they would not recognize the results of the November 29th elections in Honduras if the elected President Manuel Zelaya were not first restored.

Why is it that Latin American governments can recognize this threat to democracy but Washington cannot? One reason is that many of the governments are run by people who have lived under dictatorships. President Lula da Silva of Brazil was imprisoned by the Brazilian dictatorship in the 1980s. President Michele Bachelet of Chile was tortured in prison under the brutal Pinochet dictatorship that was installed with the help of the Nixon administration. The presidents of Bolivia, Argentina, Guatemala, and others have all lived through the repression of right-wing dictatorships.

Nor is this threat merely a thing of the past. Just two weeks ago the President of Paraguay, Fernando Lugo, had to fire most of the military leadership because of credible evidence that they were conspiring with the political opposition. This is one of the consequences of not reversing the Honduran military coup of June 28th.

Here in the United States we have been subjected to a relentless campaign of lies and distortions intended to justify the coup, which have been taken up by Republican supporters of the dictatorship, as well as by hired guns like Lanny Davis, a close associate of Bill and Hillary Clinton. Perhaps the biggest lie, repeated thousands of times in the news reporting and op-eds of the major media, was that Zelaya was overthrown because he was trying to extend his term of office. In fact, the non-binding referendum that Zelaya proposed had nothing to do with term limits. And even if this poll of the electorate had led eventually to a new constitution, any legal changes would have been far too late for Zelaya to stay in office beyond January 29.

Another surreal part of the whole political discussion has been the attempt to portray Zelaya, who was merely delivering on his campaign promises to the Honduran electorate, as a pawn of some foreign power - conveniently chosen to be the much-demonized Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. The anti-communist hysteria of 1950s McCarthyism is still the model for these uncreative political hacks.

What a disgrace it will be to our country if the Obama team follows through on its current strategy and recognizes these "elections!" It's hard to imagine a stronger statement than that human rights and democracy in this hemisphere count for zero in the political calculations of this administration.

This op-ed was distributed by McClatchy Tribune Information Services on November 18, 2009 and published by the Sacramento Bee and other newspapers.

Father Roy Bourgeois: Time to Shut Down the School of Americas

2009-11-20T13:02:57Z

Thousands will descend upon Fort Benning this weekend to demand the closure of the School of Americas/ WHINSEC. The vigil will commemorate the 20th anniversary of the 1989 SOA graduate-led Jesuit massacre in San Salvador, and the many other thousands of victims of SOA violence.

Over its 63 years, the SOA/WHINSEC has trained over 60,000 Latin American soldiers in counter-insurgency techniques, sniper skills, commando and psychological warfare, military intelligence and interrogation tactics. The military coup led by SOA graduates in Honduras on June 28, 2009, has once again exposed the destabilizing and deadly effects that the School of the Americas has had on Latin America.

The June 28th coup in Honduras against the democratically-elected President Zelaya was carried out by SOA graduates General Romeo Vásquez Velásquez, the head of the of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Honduran military, and General Luis Prince Suazo, the head of the Air Force. The leadership of SOA graduates in the coup follows a pattern of anti-democratic actions by graduates of the SOA (renamed Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, WHINSEC). The Pentagon claim -- that the institute instills respect for democracy and civilian leadership while teaching combat skills to Latin American soldiers -- has once again been disproved by the actions of the institute's graduates.

Vásquez studied in the SOA at least twice: once in 1976 and again in 1984. The head of the Honduran Air Force, General Luis Javier Prince Suazo, studied in the School of the Americas in 1996. The Air Force has been a central protagonist in the Honduran coup and arranged to have President Zelaya flown into exile in Costa Rica.

Vásquez and Suazo are not the only SOA graduate linked to the current coup or employed by the de facto government. Others include: General Nelson Willy Mejía Mejía, Director of Immigration, who is also a former SOA instructor and has faced charges in connection with the notorious death squad, Battalion 3-16, for which he served as an intelligence officer; Col. Herberth Bayardo Inestroza Membreño, the Honduran army's top lawyer who has acknowledged that flying Zelaya into exile was a crime; Lt. Col. Ramiro Archaga Paz, the army's Director of Public Relations; and Col. Jorge Rodas Gamero, a two-time SOA graduate, who is the Minister of Security (a post he also held in Zelaya's government).

Four months of military rule have led to massive human rights violations, as documented by a fact-finding delegation led by the National Lawyers Guild and three other organizations in late August 2009. The mission received reports of deaths due to excessive and disproportionate use of force by the National Police, the military, and COBRA special forces against those who expressed opposition to the coup d'état, including the use of live bullets against protesters. These violations were often committed against the most historically vulnerable groups, including women, indigenous people, children, and Afro-Hondurans. The mission received reports of cruel and degrading treatment including sexual assault and rape against women exercising their right to expression and peaceful dissent against the coup, and of the abusive treatment of minors, including arrests, arbitrary detention, and forced military recruitment amongst the poor in both rural and urban areas.

Additionally, the delegation noted cases of persecution, attacks, and intimidation against journalists and independent media, including Radio Globo, Radio Progreso and television channels 11 and 36.

Meanwhile, President Zelaya is still taking refuge in the Brazilian Embassy and a U.S.-brokered deal [the Tegucigalpa/San Jose Accords] to reinstate him by November 5th - in preparation for the Nov. 29th elections - has unraveled, because the Micheletti coup regime has no intentions of fulfilling its end of the bargain. With the quashing of free media, mass tear-gassing, beating and arrest of protesters, and absence of political space for opposition candidates to campaign or express dissenting political opinion, conditions for free, fair, and open elections are non-existent.

The SOA is continuing to train Honduran officers despite claims by the Obama administration that it cut military ties to Honduras. The Foreign Operations Appropriations Act requires that U.S. military aid and training be suspended when a country undergoes a military coup. However, WHINSEC has confirmed that Honduran officers are still being trained at the school.

Despite promising comments from President Obama during his 2008 election campaign, the SOA/ WHINSEC is still in operation. Too many have died and continue to suffer at the hands of the graduates of this notorious institution. It is time for the School of Americas to be shut down.

Father Roy Bourgeois is the Founder of School of Americas Watch; Bourgeois took part in a fact-finding mission to Honduras after the coup. Azadeh Shahshahani is an attorney based in Atlanta and National Lawyers Guild International Committee Co-Chair and Southern Regional Vice President. Shahshahani submits this piece in her personal capacity and not as an ACLU staff member.

Bob Ostertag: Obama's Magical Surrealism in Honduras

2009-11-11T15:41:39Z

"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?"
- W. Lewis Amselem, Obama administration's representative to the Organization of American States

W-w-w-w-hat?!?! An American diplomat actually said that?!? In a meeting of the Organization of American States? Who is president now? Didn't Ronald Reagan die?

A little context: this was said at the OAS during a discussion of upcoming elections in Honduras. All the Latin American countries were announcing that they will not recognize the elections as valid because the current government, the one that will organize the elections, came to power through a military coup. The United States was isolated as the only government in the Americas ready to recognize the election. And Obama's representative decided that might be a good time to ridicule all the Latin American democracies for thinking that their refusal to recognize a government which come to power through military coups mattered.

Well gee, Mr. Amselem, why would it matter whether elections are recognized by the international community? As I recall, there were just elections in Iran and Afghanistan. What does it really matter whether other countries in the region recognize the regime of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, which is widely believed to have won the elections through massive electoral fraud? Does it matter who does and doesn't recognize the elections of the American-backed regime in Afghanistan, which was accused of electoral fraud on a similar scale? How about Zimbabwe, which has been teetering on the edge of catastrophe since similarly questionable elections? What exactly was your point, Mr. Amselem? Was it that democracy doesn't mean anything? Or was it that it doesn't matter what Latin American governments do? Or was it that small countries that have neither oil, nukes or terrorists don't matter? We could use a little clarification here.

Just what in the heck is going on in the Obama-Clinton State Department? As the New York Times reported today, the Obama administration's announcement of its policy regarding the upcoming Honduran elections "was celebrated by Republicans as a "reversal" of the administration's policy [and] ignited a storm of criticism from Mr. Obama's allies at home and across Latin America." Just like Hillary's reversal on the administration's position concerning Jewish settlements in Palestinian territories is being celebrated by the Israeli right wing and may trigger the collapse of the Palestinian Authority.

Mr. President, you have some very urgent work to do. First, you need to demand W. Lewis Amselem's head on a pike, now. Just to show that you are at least paying attention.

Beyond that, it is going to be tough. You have dithered on the Honduras coup for half a year, and the elections are just weeks away. Here's an idea: start over. Announce that you are very sorry, but as a way of preparing your State Department for work in Latin America, you asked your diplomatic corps to take some time off to immerse themselves in magical realist literature, and they became so engrossed they simply lost track of time. No one noticed that a year had gone by since your election. But now everyone is ready to put down their novels and return to the real world, in which no one would ever imagine that a government led by Barack Obama would stand as the only government in the western hemisphere supporting coups in Latin America.

Bob Ostertag: The World's Original "Banana Republic" Strong-Arms the World's "Last Remaining Superpower?"

2009-11-09T18:48:42Z

The deal to reinstate Honduran President Manuel Zelaya unraveled this week, leaving the Obama administration as the only government in the western hemisphere willing to let the recent military coup there stand. What can you say when the "world's only remaining superpower" gets strong-armed by the world's original "banana republic"?

This is not "bold leadership." It isn't even status quo, for it has been years since Latin America has seen a military coup like those that plagued the region for much of the twentieth century. There were none, for example, during George W. Bush's time in the White House.

Honduras is one of the smallest, poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere. It has about the same population as New York City. It is the country where the term "banana republic" was coined. For one hundred years it has been dominated by agribusiness giants like United Fruit which grow bananas and compliantly corrupt governments there with equal success. In the political turmoil that engulfed Central America in the 1980s, with major civil wars in all of its neighboring countries, Honduras played the role of Washington's doormat in the region, with the U.S. training a proxy army along the Nicaraguan border, running secret air missions over El Salvador, and running enough spies and spooks to keep the internal politics of Honduras on complete lock-down.

This corrupt, compliant, inept doormat of an army is what hustled the country's elected president out of bed at gunpoint and on to a plane out of the country five months ago. And now the Obama administration is left as the only government in the western hemisphere that can't find the cajones to stand up to this doormat military?

Could the problem have something to do with the $400,000 the illegal Honduran government has paid to lobbyists with close ties to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton? Hey wait a minute, wasn't Obama the guy who was going to run the lobbyists out of Washington?

Two weeks ago, Clinton spent 30 minutes on the phone with the leader of the illegal government, and announced that she had secured a deal that would put the elected president back in office, a deal she called a "big step forward for the inter-American system and its commitment to democracy." But no sooner had the deal been announced than the Honduran regime reneged on it, with the apparent blessing of U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Thomas A. Shannon Jr., while the rest of Latin America sputtered about the "mixed messages" coming from Washington that were undermining Honduran democracy.

Wait a minute. The U.S. is the only country in the hemisphere backing a military coup? Who is in the White House again?

Meanwhile, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has announced he is resigning in the face of "mixed messages" from Clinton about Jewish settlements in the Palestinian territories, which could leave Israel and the U.S. to deal with Hamas as the sole organized voice of the Palestinian people. Nice work Hillary. Say, aren't you the one who wanted me to vote for you because you were "Ready to be Commander in Chief from Day One?"

With such high stakes in the Middle East, what's the big deal about Honduras? The coup there comes at a point in history when it seemed like Latin America was at long last done with military coups. Democracy has spread throughout the region in recent years as military dictatorships which came to power through coups fell and democratically elected governments took their place. Tens of thousands of people died as the direct result of these coups, in many cases while enduring the sorts of ferocious torture the US has recently been accused of at Guantánamo. In almost every case, the military governments were supported by the U.S.

Some of today's democratically-elected Latin American governments are hanging on by a thread in face of real threats of military coups. Just two days ago Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo fired the commander of Paraguay's armed forces amidst loud rumors of an impending military coup. There is open talk of a coup against Bolivian President Evo Morales, the country's first fully indigenous head of state in the 470 years since the Spanish conquest. A coup in Bolivia would be a catastrophe for Latin America. Blood would flow. You can bet your last dollar that the generals and businessmen who are the subjects of coup rumors in Bolivia, Paraguay and elsewhere have been watching Washington's response to the coup in Honduras with intense interest.

When Barack Obama was elected President of the U.S., there was no place in the world where his rousing call to democracy fell on more receptive ears than in Latin America. The new American president was going to face tough going in many parts of the world, but not Latin America. The troubled relationship between the US and its southern neighbors appeared to be on the brink of a new era.

So when the military coup happened in Honduras, I was incredulous. I thought to myself, "These guys don't know what century they are in. What a bunch of fools!" I mean, had these guys been asleep? Didn't they notice the change that had just happened in the U.S.? They would be gone in a few days, no doubt about it. Yet there they are, five months later, in power and going nowhere. And it looks like the upcoming elections there will be recognized by no government in the western hemisphere except mine.

So I ask you: who is the fool now?

Zelaya: US-Brokered Pact For Honduran Crisis Fails

2009-11-06T14:39:43Z

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — They can't both be right. Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya says a deal that could have returned him to power is defunct. Roberto Micheletti, who took power after a coup, says the same deal has been successfully accomplished.

The Obama Administration, caught in the middle of a power struggle in this tiny Central American nation, was urgently pressing Friday for the survival of an accord it hailed as "a historic victory for democracy."

Mark Weisbrot: President Obama's Credibility on the Line in Honduras

2009-11-04T18:35:14Z

Last Friday an agreement was reached between the de facto regime in Honduras-- which took power in a military coup on June 28th -- and the elected president Mel Zelaya, for the restoration of democracy there.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in announcing what she called an "historic agreement, said: "I cannot think of another example of a country in Latin America that ... overcame such a crisis through negotiation and dialogue." Hopefully this will turn out to be true.

But the ink was barely dry on the accord when leaders of the coup regime indicated that they had no intention of honoring it. Some of them clearly saw the agreement as just another delaying tactic. They have talked of postponing congressional approval of the accord until after the November 29th elections, or even voting not to restore Zelaya.

If the Honduran congress delays or rejects the restoration of Zelaya, they will be violating the clear intent of the accord. The agreement states: "The decision the National Congress adopts should establish a basis for achieving the social peace, political tranquility and democratic governability the society requires and the country needs." This and other language makes it clear that the negotiators -- who have the ability to deliver the votes in Congress -- agreed on Zelaya's restoration.

Furthermore, justice delayed here is justice denied: two-thirds of the legally allowed campaign period has already lapsed, under conditions of dictatorship that made free election campaigning impossible.

The Obama administration has itself been divided on what to do about the military overthrow of democracy in Honduras. Hence the mixed signals and vacillation from the very beginning, when the first statement from the White House failed to even condemn the coup.

Those in the Administration who think they can now wash their hands of the accord, and let the coup leaders turn their back on it, had better think twice. The Obama team has embarrassed itself enough by having to be pressured -- by the rest of the hemisphere -- to tell the coup government that Washington would not recognize the November 29 elections without prior restoration of Zelaya. Just a few weeks earlier, the Obama administration had blocked the Organization of American States from passing a resolution to this effect.

But now Washington's credibility is really on the line: the Obama team brokered this accord, and got a commitment from the coup leaders. If they go back on it, how much will the Obama administration's word be worth on anything else? Everyone knows that Washington has the ability to force the coup regime to comply: there are billions of dollars of its assets in the U.S. that could be frozen or seized; seventy percent of the country's exports go to the U.S. The coup regime has no international legitimacy and no standing to challenge the United States under international treaties, for any economic sanctions that might be invoked.

The Obama administration never used the effective tools at its disposal. Instead it dithered for months, finally cutting off a fraction of its aid to the coup government and revoking some visas. The administration refused to even declare that a military coup had taken place, since this would have required more cuts in foreign assistance. Most tellingly, Washington refused to denounce the massive human rights violations committed by the dictatorship. These included police beatings, illegal detention of thousands, closing of independent radio and television, suspension of civil rights and even some political murders. The crimes were denounced by all major human rights organizations, inside and outside of Honduras -- and many governments -- but the Obama administration maintained a deafening silence.

Based on the recent past, the coup leaders -- one of whom was forced to resign his post as foreign minister after calling President Obama "a plantation Negro" and other racial epithets -- might think they can safely ignore the agreement. But the rest of the hemisphere, and the Honduran people -- who have courageously resisted the coup from day one -- will not let them get away with it. No one will recognize the November elections if Zelaya is not restored promptly.

Last night U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Thomas Shannon told CNN en Espanol that the United States plans to recognize the November 29 elections whether or not President Zelaya is restored. This would definitely put Washington on a collision course with the rest of the hemisphere, including Brazil. Furthermore, according to diplomats close to the negotiations, both Shannon and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had given assurances that the October 30th accord would bring Zelaya back to the presidency.

Shannon's statement to CNN prompted a letter from President Zelaya to Hillary Clinton, asking whether the U.S. government had changed its position on the coup d'etat in Honduras.

President Obama now has a choice: he can force the coup regime to honor the accord, or lose further credibility among governments in the hemisphere and the world.

This column was published by the Guardian Unlimited on November 4, 2009.

Honduras: Manuel Zelaya, Government Sign Pact After U.S. Help

2009-10-30T08:25:44Z

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — A U.S.-brokered agreement that could return ousted President Manuel Zelaya to power was sent to the Honduran Congress on Friday for consideration.

Zelaya said he hoped to be back in office in about a week, but the legislature has not set a date for voting on the plan.

Lys Anzia: Honduras: Coup D'etat Murder, Mayhem and Lost Civil Liberties

2009-10-28T16:53:00Z

Honduran news today reports a mystery that surrounds the murder of the nephew of the interim Honduran President, Roberto Micheletti. The president’s nephew, Enzo Micheletti, was found with his hands tied behind his back and bullet holes in the head and chest, in the woods outside the Honduran town of Choloma. No suspect in the killing has been named yet. Since the June 28 military coup d’état overtook President Zelaya, and his administration in Honduras, conditions have become much more restricted and much worse for most of those living in Honduras.

Honduras is known to have the highest homicide rate per capita in Central America. Most of this violence is a result of illegal drug trafficking inside and outside the country. In the past year the murder rate has risen 25% to a whopping 7,200, out of a populace of 7.7 million, killed in 2008. Danger, violence and corruption have been an ongoing part of the status quo for many years in Honduras.

Over 59 percent of Hondurans now remain below the poverty line. Women make up a larger percentage of this number. For almost 37 percent, life in Honduras is suffered in a severe daily crisis as women live far below the extreme poverty line. Food and housing are part of a daily ongoing necessity for many women, their children and families.

Due to the current military state of affairs since June, the World Bank has now completely “paused its lending” to the country. This means that numerous humanitarian programs aimed at helping women and children have been completely stopped. One of the discontinued programs is the “education for all” program, which guaranteed $50 million for the first 3 years of the campaign, along with an additional $30 million to enable Honduran schools to hire more teachers, build more schools and provide more books for children and adults learning to read and write.

In 2005, The World Bank approved $97 million for these programs that aimed for progress with a target to help improve the quality of life for the poorest of Honduran society. This included help with nutrition and family health care for women that set an additional goal of lowering the infant and birth mortality rates inside the country.

In the US, President Obama’s office has also put the brakes on as a block has been placed on a US $30 million distribution for aide to Honduras. $200 US million may also be blocked if the Honduran government does not put President Zelaya back in office.

Unfortunately the poorest of the country, not the wealthy, will suffer the most from these sanctions.

According to a recent Oct 15 AP report made after the coup, “A woman caring for six grandchildren can no longer afford milk. A bricklayer who used to work six days a week now is lucky to get two. A shop manager has seen his earnings evaporate…”

Now, four months after the June 28 military take-over, the women of Honduras are still waiting and hoping to regain even the tiniest bit of civil rights traction they were beginning to have under President Zelaya’s administration. In an effort to block the outcome for the upcoming 2009 November elections, Zelaya, who had changed Honduran law on rape to keep rapists in jail for life, was ousted from his post just as he was attempting to push through a change in the Honduran constitution that would enable him to run for another term.

Zelaya was also pushing public policy that did not sit pretty with many right-wing Honduran business leaders, along with evangelical and Honduran societal elites. Zelaya and his administration were working on rewriting the constitution to include, for the first time, a mention of women in the country's code, which also was set to include some basic civil rights for women. Previous disagreements with right-wing politics followed as Zelaya approved a 60 percent increase for workers under a new Honduran minimum wage law, along with giving higher government subsidies to farmers.

On the aftermath of coup violence and internal stuggle, Zelaya has now become a strong symbol for the progressive anti-coup discontents in Honduras. This movement has also worked to further galvanize an already strong women’s feminist movement inside the country.

The fallout from the recent coup conflict left some women protesters in shambles as they were harshly beaten, raped and left for dead. Some women are still awaiting trial under charges of sedition. “Women were especially subject to acts of violence and humiliation because of their gender,” said an IACHR -- The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights report published on August 21 following the conflict.

This searing video on Women News Network Video collection shows the deplorable treatment of women "resisters" during, and after, the June 28, 2009 Honduras coup d’état.

___________________________

Humanitarian journalist, Lys Anzia, is a 2006 Pushcart Prize nominee, radio producer and award winning American historical playwright. She is also Founder/Editor-At-Large for Women News Network – WNN, an award winning news network that brings hard featured, in-depth women’s global news to the public as well as to over 480 UN agencies and NGO affiliates worldwide.

Manuel Zelaya "Tortured" By Soldiers Blasting Pig Grunts

2009-10-22T13:14:27Z

Honduran soldiers have blasted recordings of pig grunts and other sound effects at the embassy in which the ousted president, Manuel Zelaya, is holed up.

Ariel Dorfman: Hope for Latin America: Obama's Nobel

2009-10-20T17:20:34Z

Of all the regions in a dangerous and intractable world, forgotten Latin America might paradoxically offer Barack Obama the best opportunity to influence events so that the "hope for the future" embodied in his recent Nobel Peace Prize, becomes a reality.

Building upon his creative engagement with the continent after the Bush years of blindness and neglect, there is much the President can accomplish immediately. Lifting the senseless blockade against Cuba, followed by full diplomatic relations, would be a good beginning. Another sore spot is Honduras, where the United States has not done enough to isolate and punish the de facto government, which stubbornly clings to power after having ousted the legally elected Manuel Zelaya. And Obama should rethink his approach to continental security (canceling, for instance, Plan Colombia), as a way of defusing tensions in a Latin America threatened by a new arms race.

The United States, one of the largest Spanish-speaking countries in the world, could also send a signal of friendship to Latin America by legalizing the situation of millions of undocumented Latino workers, tearing down walls instead of erecting them.

On another front, Presidents Uribe and Calderón, seconded by Brazil's Lula, have valiantly opened up a tentative conversation about the failed "War" on Drugs. If Barack Obama were to encourage, and perhaps imitate, their efforts to decriminalize the use of marijuana it would help alter an irrational policy that has generated a mafia of narcotraficantes across the Americas, filling jails and devastating the young.

And, of course, there are the real wars to win in Latin America. Against poverty and tyranny, against ecological depredation and the marginalization of the indigenous peoples and their wisdom. The President, with his immense heart and his inspirational words, could be a fundamental partner in our quest for a better future.

Incredibly, the continent where I was born has only received five Nobel Peace Prizes in the 108 years since the award was instituted. If Obama were to carry out a truly enlightened policy towards the countries south of the border, I can envision how the citizens of Latin America might someday claim that in 2009 that prize was really, all appearances to the contrary once again offered to one of our own, maybe some day history will declare that the mestizo Barack Obama was, at least in spirit, the sixth Latin American to be given this honor.

This is an expanded version of an opinion published in the Los Angeles Times on Sunday October 18th, 2009

Daniel Altschuler: Against the Odds, Progress in Honduras?

2009-10-15T21:17:34Z

Minor miracles can happen, after all. After beating El Salvador, Honduras qualified for the World Cup when the United States scored a goal to tie Costa Rica in the final minute. In seconds, Hondurans' emotions flipped 180 degrees--from exasperation at thinking they had come up just short to jubilation at qualifying for the World Cup for the first time in 28 years. From coffee country to the Caribbean coast, Hondurans celebrated with fireworks, flags, honking cars, and screams of joy.

As one announcer remarked, one can only hope that the country's political leaders follow the national team's cue and make this a great week for Honduras. And, against the odds, a political resolution may be on its way. In recent days, the Guaymuras Dialogue has brought relative calm to the political crisis. Progress has remained frustratingly slow, but each team seems to have brought a welcome dose of maturity to the negotiating table. The focus on the negotiators--none of them show-stealers--has provided a refreshing change-of-pace from Micheletti and Zelaya's tired rants and reckless stunts.

On Wednesday afternoon, the negotiators temporarily withdrew to consult with Zelaya and Micheletti. Victor Meza, one of Zelaya's three negotiators, claimed that negotiators had reached a provisional agreement on the final point of contention--Zelaya's possible restitution--and simply had to get final approval from Zelaya and Micheletti. Meanwhile, Micheletti's negotiators said they had completed 90 percent of the agenda and would likely conclude matters by the week's end, but denied that they had reached such an agreement.

Now, rumors are swirling. Some say that all that remains is for negotiators to agree on the date of Zelaya's return. Others say that both sides have agreed to renounce the presidency and hand over power to a third party. Declarations and denials abound; the truth remains elusive.

What we do know is that both sides have agreed that there will be no constituent assembly and no amnesty. Renouncing the constituent assembly was one of the key provisions of the San José Accord, which Zelaya has accepted in its entirety. Agreeing to drop the constituent assembly led Zelaya to replace negotiator and Resistencia leader, Juan Barahona--who refused to sign an agreement killing the constituent assembly--with Rodil Rivera Rodil. With the constituent assembly off the table, many in the Resistencia will remain disgruntled even if Zelaya returns. Fortunately, the movement's leaders have said they will still stand by Zelaya if he is reinstated, even without the assembly. If this discipline on the Left holds, it will be good news for the country's political stability.

The renunciation of amnesty could have more profound short-term consequences. Given the Honduran courts' defense of Zelaya's ouster, it is very unlikely that Micheletti will face charges. More possible is prosecution of the officials responsible for expelling Zelaya, which even Micheletti has recognized was a "mistake." General Romeo Vásquez has expressed willingness for the military to face judicial scrutiny for its role in Zelaya's expulsion. But given that prosecuting military officials in Central America has rarely succeeded, the odds of anyone on Micheletti's side of this crisis facing jail time remain small.

Meanwhile, the country's judiciary and Congress have not yet given any indication of retracting the charges--some of which predate the coup--against Zelaya. Thus, even if an agreement is reached and Zelaya returns to the presidency, political turmoil could continue. If Zelaya is arrested, protesters would no doubt return in numbers to the streets of Tegucigalpa and other secondary cities. A new cycle of protest and repression could prove disastrous. Negotiators know this, and it remains incumbent upon them to establish provisions (the language of all current points of agreement remains undisclosed) to reduce the possibility of aftershocks.

Of course, finalizing an agreement this week is not a foregone conclusion. But if negotiators do sign a final accord, the key to the country's short- and medium-term stability will be the measures adopted in the absence of amnesty. If Micheletti's side cannot bring the country's other institutions on-board to give up on their determination to put Zelaya in jail, things could get ugly again. For the moment, though, cautious optimism has become the order of the day.

(Copied with permission from http://americasquarterly.org.)

Anti-Jewish Statements Raise Concern After Honduras Coup

2009-10-04T20:06:07Z

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — A Jewish civil rights organization is expressing alarm over conspiracy theories claiming Jews and Israel aided the ouster of the Honduran president and attempts to dislodge him from his refuge in the Brazilian Embassy.

The U.S.-based Anti-Defamation League cited statements made by ousted President Manuel Zelaya as well as the news director of a radio station that was closed by the interim government in Honduras and by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, among others.

Steve Clemons: Giving Aaron Schock a Pass on Honduras and DeMint

2009-10-02T16:31:04Z

Congressman Aaron Schock is a highly reasonable, intelligent, balanced Republican member of Congress -- and though I have only met him twice, I was impressed with how he conducted his conversations and views in D.C. cocktail policy chatter -- particularly at an MSNBC party where Rachel Maddow was tending the bar.

Yesterday, Schock was on my mind as I listened intently to Senators Lindsey Graham and John McCain lay out the parameters of what reasonable governance would look like from a responsible, conservative perch -- and was impressed with Sen. McCain's repeated statements that he wanted to help President Obama succeed -- and would differ from him in some areas -- but would be solidly with him on others.

Lindsey Graham said that "Barack Obama was born in Hawaii, is not a Muslim, and is a good man -- and those that are saying otherwise are just 'crazy'." Graham went on to say that he also meant no insult to Muslims in any way and that if Obama was a Muslim, he would still support him; he just wanted to make it clear that there is nothing sane about arguing that President Obama is not in line with his self-proclaimed faith of Christianity.

These two senators were speaking at the powerhouse conference titled "First Draft of History" sponsored by the Atlantic Monthly, Newseum, and Aspen Institute -- and hearing them made me think of Aaron Schock, who may be the Republican Party's best chance for reviving a kind of reasonable, pragmatic leadership among its youngest and most effective members. Schock is now the youngest member of the U.S. House of Representatives.

But I was disheartened to learn that he has agreed to go today with Senator Jim DeMint down to investigate the Honduras situation.

Wait, strike that.

Schock may be doing real investigating -- while Sen. DeMint is siding with others in a foreign government -- a coup-installed government -- against the government of the United States. He is working hard there as an elected U.S. government official to actively undermine American policy.

I suspect that Rep. Schock is going down to check out what is real and what is not in the mess of the Honduras coup and its aftermath -- but Jim DeMint is going down to "meddle" in the situation and to encourage the coup leaders to stand strong against the White House and the U.S. Department of State.

Sen. DeMint has behaved from the beginning as if he has a dog in the race down in Honduras, and it is not the one that the U.S. government feels comfortable supporting at the moment. None of Honduras' neighbors do either.

It is extremely rare that a chairman of a committee on which a U.S. Senator works would move to block a resource allocation that would allow that member to fly somewhere within the jurisdiction of that committee -- but Sen. John Kerry blocked DeMint's plans to go and commiserate with wealthy businessmen who had recently had visas revoked by the U.S. government and to encourage them to stand strong against the U.S. government.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell intervened and arranged a Department of Defense-secured plane to take the DeMint and several House members to Honduras -- thus reversing John Kerry's action.

I am currently looking into how exactly Sen. McConnell secured agreement from the Department of Defense, part of the Obama-controlled executive branch, to provide the plane.

Sen. John Kerry's rationale for rejecting Jim DeMint's request for resources for the Honduras trip was that DeMint has blocked consideration of two key Obama Latin America foreign policy appointments.

One of these, the current Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Thomas Shannon, is the president's pick to serve as U.S. Ambassador to Brazil -- and the other is Georgetown Professor Arturo Valenzuela, who is slated to succeed Shannon as assistant secretary for the same region.

DeMint has argued quite transparently on his Senate website and from the floor of the Senate Chamber that he believes that the real democrats in Honduras or the ones that through out the ousted President Manuel Zelaya, who has snuck back into Honduras and is sleeping on a couch inside the Brazilian Embassy.

Many think that Zelaya over-reached in his role as president and tried to force the extension of his term and powers in extra-constitutional ways. The Honduran Supreme Court ruled against Zelaya's course -- but a military coup that expelled the president is also extra-legal, and received condemnation from the entire raft of Latin American neighbors and the United States.

One informed Latin America policy expert confided that despite all of this, the Obama team handled badly the Honduras coup, and should have had this issue resolved in a week. But this person confidentially stated that there is a lack of depth on the president's team -- crippled by the complicating factor that Assistant Secretary Shannon is keeping quiet during his confirmation purgatory -- and there is no successor in his role because of DeMint's block.

But the story is bigger than Obama appointees.

DeMint seems to be focused on undermining U.S. government policy by commiserating with foreign nationals abroad.

I respect Sen. DeMint's right to speak his mind and conscience from the floor of the Senate, on his blog, on Twitter, wherever he likes -- but there is something extremely wrong about a U.S. senator conspiring with government officials of another nation as well as wealthy supporters of a coup against the applied policies of the United States.

Jim DeMint made the decision to go to Honduras just as de facto Honduran President Roberto Micheletti began to issue signals that he was willing to work out an arrangement on the ousted president and to negotiate something with the United States and other regional stakeholders.

Aaron Schock should learn what he can but he needs to be careful of jumping on any bandwagons.

I'll never forget when former Sen. Fred Thompson was on a trip to Malaysia sponsored by a Senate-cleared non-profit foundation. Once there Thompson felt extremely uncomfortable with the tone of the meetings and the way the political views of the delegation were being co-opted by the hosts and by the Malaysian government and business officials Thompson and others were meeting.

Thompson bluntly said, "This doesn't feel right." And then he got up, picked up his materials, and flew immediately back to the United States.

Rep. Schock is someone independents, Republicans and open-minded Dems should want to get to know in future years -- so this post is meant to encourage him to keep his powder dry.

Agitating against U.S. government policy while abroad is not a career-booster in either political party.

-- Steve Clemons publishes the popular political blog, The Washington Note

Max Keiser: 'They Can Make Me Do Anything, Ben, Can't They? Anything.'

2009-10-01T10:43:06Z

Stacy Herbert, my partner on MaxKeiser.com just posted this excellent comment regarding John L. Perry -- former staff member of the LBJ and Carter administration -- call for 'bloodless' coup in the US. Strikingly, the rhetoric is exactly what the US spews here at home to rally around coups in South America. Now it's being used here at home.

Stacy: The article I posted earlier in the comments from Newsmax has now been removed from their site. But the story can be found here on Media Matters.

The article was written by John L. Perry, a former staff member of the LBJ and Carter administrtaions. Perry called for a 'bloodless' coup in the US. It would be 'non-violent' he said because the US is not a banana republic. And he claims to have inside knowledge that this is what certain military people are presently thinking.

Military intervention is what Obama's exponentially accelerating agenda for "fundamental change" toward a Marxist state is inviting upon America. A coup is not an ideal option, but Obama's radical ideal is not acceptable or reversible.

Of course, the reality is that Obama has not actually changed much policy from what Bush had introduced, including a doubling of the deficit, handing trillions to bankers with zero regulation and promise, in fact, of further 'de-regulation', an expansion of military adventures and of the police state, etc. The only issue that is slightly different is how they market their hand outs to health insurance companies guised as health care 'reform.' Obama has his $1 trillion over ten years for mandatory insurance, Bush had his 'Medicare' reform with a price tag at least twice that.

So, if Obama is so like Bush, then why the hysteria now?

* Gore Vidal: "We'll have a dictatorship soon in the US"

* Where did 'we' go?

I think the increasing number of shrill and panicked charges and wild conspiracies about an 'illegitimate' president and now (deleted) op-eds for coup are looking more and more like a page out of the neo-con / Military Industrial Complex handbook. It's exactly the process they use against other third world leaders (and let's face it, the US is now fast on the way to becoming one ). I often hear shrieks of Obama being surrounded by 'radical leftists' and 'Marxists' -- the very same propaganda codewords used by the military industrial complex when paving the way for popular support in overthrowing Latin American leaders (think Aristide or Zelaya). Clearly, much of the US population is almost Manchurian in responding to such codewords.

And to the shouters in the town hall 'radical leftist' probably means one thing, but, in truth, Obama is surrounded by Goldman Sachs bankers. While Goldman is demonstrably for redistribution of wealth, I hardly think their kind of redistribution qualifies as 'leftist.' So while shouters and screechers don't need evidence just codewords, I have to ask what are the powerful people behind the scenes really thinking? Of course, the MIC gets only about $1 trillion per year, but was always the favored industry . . . up until Clinton paved the way for a Goldman take over. Maybe the MIC doesn't like them getting $1.5 trillion? Who knows? But I'm sure it has a lot to do with the conversation about to take place tomorrow with Iran. A few extreme shrills want war and know that time and conversation will allow for evidence and reason to trump emotion and hysteria.

The shouters and screechers would probably welcome a coup (just as in Honduras a large percentage of the population is for it) and perhaps think the military will be on the side of their 50% and will only bash and incarcerate the other 50% of the population.

This is what happens when you no longer have a republic, but only a mere democracy.

They can make the population support anything. Anything.

Daniel Altschuler: Honduran Leaders Fumble, Crisis Worsens

2009-09-30T11:24:03Z

In times of great turmoil, the steady hand of capable leaders can provide citizens with comfort and the hope for better days. Sadly, in the current Honduran stand-off, Roberto Micheletti and Manuel Zelaya have shown themselves to be political novices without the maturity and intellect to guide this country out of this crisis.

De facto President Roberto Micheletti has revealed that he knows neither how to be a good democrat or a good autocrat. In the past ten days, Micheletti has let the military and police run amok in the capital. The result: hundreds of people detained and injured and as many as ten killed.

Then, on Sunday, Micheletti declared a state of exception in the country, suspending for up to 45 days (with the possibility of renewal) the inviolability of personal freedom, freedom of assembly, free speech, freedom of movement, and due process. He then proceeded to raid and shut down the two national television and radio outlets that supported Zelaya. Micheletti's government also refused to allow entry to an OAS delegation to enter the country and demanded that Brazil define Zelaya's status as visitor.

One might think that this would give him solid autocratic credentials. But he hasn't even been able to get that part right. Less than 24 hours after declaring the state of exception, Micheletti did an about-face, apologized to Hondurans, and said he would try to lift certain provisions this week. Why? First, he received heavy international criticism. As a State Department spokesman lamented, "I think it's time for the de facto regime to put down the shovel. With every action they keep on making the hole deeper." Second, Honduran congressmen informed Micheletti that the state of exception would leave only two weeks for free campaigning before the scheduled elections, for which they desperately want international legitimacy. Shockingly, it seems as if Micheletti--who has been waving the election banner since becoming President--had not even considered this.

Back on the international stage, Micheletti also sent a "big hug" to Brazil's President after sending a stern warning, and then acceded to allow entry to the OAS delegation. Overall, Micheletti's arbitrary, capricious behavior brings confidence to no one.

Meanwhile, Zelaya also seems unable to figure out which line he wants to take. Like Micheletti, Zelaya drew harsh international criticism for what many deemed a reckless return. And now, after repression thwarted his attempts to mobilize masses of people in Tegucigalpa, he remains stuck in the Brazilian embassy. Some have said that Zelaya was savvy to force Micheletti's hand and reveal the current regime's repressive nature. But Zelaya seems to have returned without a Plan B or a broader strategy; he was so focused on returning to Honduras that he ignored all other considerations of how to resolve this crisis.

Zelaya has also been unable to hold his rhetorical ground. Last week, a delegation of four pro-Micheletti presidential candidates visited him in the embassy. Right after the meeting, Zelaya said this was an important step in the dialogue to resolve the crisis. Then his supporters lambasted him on the radio for hugging his ex-vice President, Elvin Santos, who has supported the de facto government since the coup. Zelaya first tried to calm his supporters. Then, after they played back a recording of Santos's words after the meeting, he cried foul and claimed that the whole affair was in bad faith.

Analysts of democratic transitions have long noted that solutions require moderate leaders on both sides to extend their hands to one another and resist the extremists on their flanks. The same logic holds in the current crisis: Micheletti and Zelaya have thus far tried to cater to both camps, and they have failed miserably.

We are now left with the scary prospect of an increasingly volatile situation being handled by two political hacks. Instead of carefully seeking common ground through dialogue, Micheletti and Zelaya bear greater resemblance to bulls in a china shop. And the sad reality is that an entire country suffers as a result--Hondurans now lack the most basic constitutional rights, the economy is tanking, and people here live with the deep anxiety of not knowing whether things might still get worse.

Desperate Honduran Leaders Vow To Restore Freedoms

2009-09-28T23:34:05Z

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — The coup-installed president of Honduras backed down Monday from an escalating standoff with protesters and suggested he would restore civil liberties and reopen dissident television and radio stations by the end of the week.

Riot police ringed supporters of ousted President Manuel Zelaya who gathered for a large-scale protest march, setting off a daylong standoff. The government of interim President Roberto Micheletti declared the march illegal, sent soldiers to silence dissident broadcasters, and suspended civil liberties for 45 days.

Mark Weisbrot: How Much Repression Will Hillary Clinton Support in Honduras?

2009-09-25T15:32:53Z

Now that President Zelaya has returned to Honduras, the coup government -- after first denying that he was there -- has unleashed a wave of repression to prevent people from gathering support for their elected president. This is how U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton described the first phase of this new repression last night in a press conference:

"I think that the government imposed a curfew, we just learned, to try to get people off the streets so that there couldn't be unforeseen developments."

But the developments that this dictatorship is trying to repress are very much foreseen. A completely peaceful crowd of thousands surrounded the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa, where Zelaya has taken refuge, to greet their president. The military then used the curfew as an excuse to tear-gas, beat, and arrest the crowd until there was nothing left. There are reports of scores wounded and three dead. The dictatorship has cut off electricity and water to the embassy, and cut electricity to what little is left of the independent media, as well as some neighborhoods. This is how the dictatorship has been operating. It has a very brutal but simple strategy.

The strategy goes like this: they control the national media, which has been deployed to convince about 30-40 percent of the population that their elected President is an agent of a foreign government and seeks to turn the country into a socialist prison. However, that still leaves the majority who have managed to find access to other information.

The strategy for dealing with them has been to try to render them powerless: through thousands of arrests, beatings, and even some selective killings. This has been documented, reported, and denounced by major human rights organizations throughout the world: Amnesty International, the Center for Justice and International Law, Human Rights Watch, the Inter American Commission on Human Rights and others.

One important actor, the only major country to maintain an ambassador in Honduras throughout the dictatorship, has maintained a deafening silence about this repression: that is the United States government. The Obama administration has not uttered one word about the massive human rights violations in Honduras. This silence by itself tells you all that you need to know about what this administration has really been trying to accomplish in the 87 days since the Honduran military squelched democracy. The Obama team understands exactly how the coup government is maintaining its grip on power through violence and repression. And President Obama, along with his Secretary of State, has shown no intention to undermine this strategy.

In fact, President Zelaya has been to Washington six times since he was overthrown, but not once did he get a meeting with President Obama. Why is that? Most likely because Obama does not want to send the "wrong" signal to the dictatorship, i.e. that the lip service that he has paid to Zelaya's restoration should be taken seriously.

These signals are important because the Honduran dictatorship is digging in its heels on the bet that they don't have to take any pressure from Washington seriously. They have billions of dollars of assets in the United States, which could be frozen or seized. But the dictatorship, for now, trusts that the Obama team is not going to do anything to hurt their allies.

The head of the Organization of American States' Inter-American Human Rights Commission, Luz Mejias, had a different view of the dictatorship's curfew from that of Hillary Clinton. She called it "a clear violation of human rights and legal norms" and said that those who ordered these measures should be charged under international criminal law.

What possible excuse can the military have for breaking up this peaceful gathering, or can Ms. Clinton have for supporting the army's violence? There was no way that this crowd was a threat to the Brazilian embassy - quite the contrary, if anything it was protecting the embassy. That is one reason why the military attacked the crowd.

On August 11, sixteen members of the U.S. Congress sent a letter to President Obama urging him to "publicly denounce the use of violence and repression of peaceful protestors, the murder of peaceful political organizers and all forms of censorship and intimidation directed at media outlets."

They are still waiting for an answer.

Some might recall what happened to President Bill Clinton when his administration sent mixed signals to the dictatorship in Haiti in 1994. President Clinton had called for the dictator Raul Cedras to step down, so that the democratically elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide could be restored. But Cedras was convinced -- partly because of contradictory statements from administration officials like Brian Latell of the CIA -- that Clinton was not serious. Even after Jimmy Carter, Colin Powell, and then Senator Sam Nunn were sent to Haiti to try to persuade Cedras to leave before a promised U.S. invasion -- the dictator still did not believe it. In September of 1994 President Clinton sent 20,000 troops to topple the dictatorship and restore the elected president (who ironically was overthrown again in 2004, in a U.S.-instigated coup).

By now, the coup government in Honduras has even less reason than the 1994 Haitian dictatorship to believe that the Obama team will do anything serious to remove them from power.

What a horrible, ugly message the Obama administration is sending to the democracies of Latin America, and to people that aspire to democracy everywhere.

This column was published by The Guardian Unlimited on September 23, 2009.