Zelaya 'to make fresh return bid'

[dipsydoodle]

Source: BBC News

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says ousted Honduran leader Manuel Zelaya is to return home "in the coming hours".

Mr Chavez was speaking after talks in Bolivia with other left-wing Latin American leaders supporting Mr Zelaya.

On Thursday, an aide to Mr Zelaya said the deposed president was going to Honduras to wage a "final battle" against those who ousted him.

>

On Friday Mr Chavez said: "Zelaya is going back to Honduras. Let's see what the will do."

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8156613.stm

[Joanne98]

1. YAY

[anonymous171]

2. Let's hope this works. nt

[redqueen]

3. I hope this goes well.

[frebrd]

4. I'm afraid it's only a matter of time.......

before they assassinate him.

:(

[EFerrari]

7. I've had the same fear myself from the moment he said he was going back

the first time. :(

[Peace Patriot]

12. Zelaya has the whole world supporting him. If they kill them, they lose all of their

"talking points"--multi-millions of dollars worth of propaganda, paid for by US taxpayers, through John McCain's "International Republican Institute," USAID-NED-funded rightwing groups in Honduras and "think tanks" here, Pentagon/CIA psyops budgets, not to mention paying Lanny Davis and Otto Reich, if not John Negroponte, as lobbyists!

Nope, I think they've spent too much money to whitewash this coup. They wont' throw over "talking point" triumphs, like the goddamn LIE that Zelaya was trying to change his term limit, for the temporary ease that a bullet would bring them. They think they've got reform stopped in Honduras and the sure-fire election of a rightwing government in November, since they will be running the election, and have already rounded up over a 1,000 political prisoners, killed several activists and shut down the media. They don't need to kill him. They can just wait him out.

Long term, they've got problems. But, short-term, Negroponte & brethren have re-secured the US base in Honduras (Zelaya wanted to convert it to a commercial airport) for their Oil War (which makes me think that Oil War II-South America may unfold sooner than I thought). They have retained their "lily pad" country for aggression against the leftist governments on all of Honduras' borders (Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador). Their rich elite parasites in Honduras will remain in place in immediate control of the country. Honduran workers will continue to be enslaved in US "free trade" sweatshops, with no advocate in government. The evil lords will at most have to contend with some kind of "coalition" government which could never muster up the cajones to evict the US military (as Rafael Correa has done in Ecuador, and as Zelaya wanted to), or try any kind of serious reform again any time soon. And Zelaya will be out of power, his term over. Possibly Honduras will produce another strong social justice leader in the immediate future, who could win in November, but that is very unlikely given the martial law conditions three months before the election. The social movements and organization of the poor majority will continue, for sure, and may be able to win elections eventually. For now, the coup and its backers are safe letting Zelaya live and play out his return. They have defeated reform, for now.

[frebrd]

5. Dupe

[Vidar]

6. I wish Zelaya well.

[al bupp]

8. Maybe he's encouraged by these reports...

Day 19: Peaceful Blockades vs. Coup Paralyze Honduras

http://narcosphere.narconews.com/thefield/day-19-peaceful-blockades-vs-coup-paralyze-honduras

[timeforpeace]

9. He won't. And let's see, it will be because of fear of violence by soldiers. For $1000, Alex.

[David__77]

13. We'll see. You also said he wouldn't try before, and he did.

A secret return would be best. The people will do their very best to protect their president from the ruling authority.

I sincerely hope that the people are arming themselves for their own defense against fascists.

[timeforpeace]

19. Didn't say try, said do. He talks, doesn't carry through.

[Judi Lynn]

10. Ousted Honduran leader to return 'within hours'

Ousted Honduran leader to return 'within hours'
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Friday said his ousted Honduran counterpart, Manuel Zelaya, would return home "in the next few hours".

Published: 6:57PM BST 17 Jul 2009

Speaking in the Bolivian city of La Paz, Chavez appeared to fuel rumours that Zelaya, who was ousted in a military-backed coup on June 28, would attempt another return to Honduras.

"Zelaya is going to enter Honduras, lets see what those thugs do," Chavez said in reference to the Honduran de facto leadership.

Earlier this month, Zelaya attempted to return to his homeland in a Venezuelan aeroplane, but was stopped by military units deployed on the runway at Tegucigalpa's international airport.

Since then, rumours have swirled about a land-based return, as supporters have launched daily demonstrations and blocked roads around the Honduran capital, deepening a three-week political crisis in the Central American state.

More:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/centralamericaandthecaribbean/honduras/5852700/Ousted-Honduran-leader-to-return-within-hours.html

[timeforpeace]

11. Land-based return. Euphemism for...?

[Judi Lynn]

14. Yeah, I can see why they would choose to use "land-based return."

http://h10088.www1.hp.com.nyud.net:8090/gap/images/supporting/large/pogo_stick.jpg http://kmnr.org.nyud.net:8090/user/image/54/medium/jumpin_Jesus_pogo_stick.jpg

http://213.230.203.210.nyud.net:8090/~states/bigenochpowellonapogostick.jpg
The mental image of Zelaya and his retinue bounding off across fields and streams on pogo sticks isn't one you'd easily entertain.

[timeforpeace]

18. It does sound better than sneaking in under the cover of darkness.

[Judi Lynn]

21. The way George W. Bush appeared in Iraq?

You should recall he (Zelaya) made multiple attempts to land at the main airport a couple of weeks ago when the entire place was surrounded by the military sent there by the coup leaders, and was pursued by military planes they sent after him, as well.

That could hardly be called "sneaking in under the cover of darkness," as I would envision it.

However, if he DID return at night to his own country, the home of his entire ancestry going back 400 years, and came to reclaim the job for which he was elected, it's hard to imagine most people would be peculiar enough to critique his method of return. It's most definitely his choice how he gets back to his place in Honduras.

[EFerrari]

15. They say Hugo Chavez has been sending kitten suicide bombers.

Damn you, Chenis!

[Wednesdays]

20. More Top Ten Trivia Tips about Hugo Chavez!

1. Hugo Chavez, from the movie of the same name, had green blood.
2. Hugo Chavez can taste with his feet!
3. Neil Armstrong first stepped on Hugo Chavez with his left foot!
4. The air around Hugo Chavez is superheated to about five times the temperature of the sun.
5. Hugo Chavez is the world's largest rodent.
6. Hugo Chavez will give a higher yield if milked when listening to music.
7. A Chavezometer is used to measure Hugo Chavez.
8. A thimbleful of Hugo Chavez would weigh over 100 million tons.
9. Hugo Chavez became extinct in England in 1486!
10. Over 46,000 pieces of Hugo Chavez float on every square mile of ocean.

[EFerrari]

22. . . .

:rofl:

[Judi Lynn]

23. I'd hate to be in your shoes the moment Hugo Chavez learned you're the one who posted this!

He's responsible for the 30,000 dissidents who disappeared during the military dictatorship in Argentina. Every one of them. It was his idea to throw them out of airplanes after they were tortured! :scared: :scared: :scared: :scared: :scared:

He also is the one who rounded up all the dissidents in Chile, put them in the 11 torture centers, or on the 3 torture ships plying the waters off the coast of Chile, then assassinated them.

I'm sorry to say, he's also the one who tortured and disappeared all those people in Brazil, Uruguay, and Paraguay. He's the one who has forced all the hundreds of thousands of people to flee from their homes in Colombia, and live from hand to mouth, as homeless refugees, causing the 2nd largest humanitarian crisis in our world now, only smaller than the one in Sudan. You'd better pack your bags. :hi: :hi: :hi: :hi: :hi:

http://www.jacksonfish.com.nyud.net:8090/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/gonefishing.jpg

<<<<< shudder >>>>>

[Judi Lynn]

16. U.S. Treads Softly As Region Weighs In On Honduras

Published: Jul 17, 2009
U.S. Treads Softly As Region Weighs In On Honduras
by Tim Gaynor -Analysis

Latin America was for decades seen as the United States' "back yard" -- a theater where it imposed its will often at the barrel of a gun.
But since Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was snatched from his home in his pajamas and spirited out of the country by the military on June 28, Washington has played an uncharacteristically low-key role.

President Barack Obama, who is seeking to mend U.S.-Latin American ties that were often strained under predecessor George W. Bush, immediately condemned the coup as illegal and joined international calls for Zelaya's reinstatement.

Obama has candidly noted -- upending an old Washington dictum for Latin American policy that "he may be a sonofabitch, but he is our sonofabitch" -- that leftist Zelaya might be strongly opposed to U.S. policy, but that shouldn't undercut democratic principles.

~snip~
The last Democrat in the White House, former President Bill Clinton, sent troops to put ousted Haitian leader Jean-Bertrand Aristide back in power in 1994. Intervention is not seen as an option in Honduras, and a U.S. congressional leader favors applying pressure by other means.

In an opinion column this week, Senator John Kerry
, a Democrat and chairman of the Foreign Services Committee, said the administration should step up sanctions, so far limited to cutting $16.5 million in military aid and the threat to slash $180 million more in civilian aid.

"If those who overthrew Zelaya remain intransigent, we must look at additional cuts, without harming the poor more than Honduran politicians already have," Kerry wrote in the Miami Herald newspaper.

"In addition, we should consider pursuing punitive measures -- including suspending travel visas
-- for anyone involved in suppressing the Honduran people," he added.

More:
http://www.postchronicle.com/news/breakingnews/article_212244968.shtml?ref=rss

[Judi Lynn]

17. CENTRAL AMERICA: Shades of Coups Past - And Yet to Come?

CENTRAL AMERICA: Shades of Coups Past - And Yet to Come?
By Raúl Gutiérrez

SAN SALVADOR, Jul 17 (IPS) - If the de facto government of Roberto Micheletti remains in power in Honduras, the Central American right may be encouraged to stage further coups against the fragile democracies that have emerged in the region over the last two decades, analysts warn.

The forces of democracy and the international community must continue to exert pressure to reestablish the constitutional order and enable ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, whose term ends in January, to return to office, experts from different countries in the region told IPS.

Ernesto Rivas Gallont, former Salvadoran ambassador in Washington from 1981 to 1989, says the Honduran civic-military coup will have profound implications for several Central American countries if Micheletti's grip on power is consolidated.

"If those who perpetrated the coup prevail in Honduras, there is no doubt that it will embolden the Central American right," the former diplomat told IPS.

"It's hard to admit, but (Fidel) Castro and (Hugo) Chávez are right" to fear that if the coup-mongers consolidate their power, "a series of coups d'état could be unleashed against governments in the region," Rivas Gallont wrote in his blog, referring to statements by the former Cuban president and the Venezuelan president in early July.

"It is only too obvious that the coup has exacerbated differences between left and right, and not just in Honduras," he said.

Zelaya was taken at gunpoint from his house in his pajamas by about 200 troops in the early hours of Jun. 28 and put on an air force plane to Costa Rica. The coup d'état was engineered by the Honduran military, the leadership of the two traditional political parties, and big business.

More:
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47711

[Big_Mike]

24. I'm simply afraid they'll toss him in jail

They said that if he returned, he'd be incarcerated. If he dies in a prison "riot" which the police/military crush, it gives them plausible deniability.

[EFerrari]

25. I don't think the people would go for it -- that's why they took him to Costa Rica.

On the other hand, the guys in this coup are about the worst mofos you can imagine. A few of them helped Reagan use Honduras as a launching pad during the dirty wars. Disappearances, torture, death squads, you name it. That's who these people are.