Honduran Troops Shut Down Pro-Zelaya Media

[L. Coyote]

Source: NY Times

September 28, 2009 9:47 a.m. ET
TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters

Honduras' de facto government on Monday sent troops to shut down two local media stations loyal to ousted President Manuel Zelaya as it dug in to resist international pressure to return him to power.

Representatives of the Organisation of American States will hold an extraordinary session on Monday ......

..... The raids on Radio Globo and Cholusat Sur television -- both critical of the de facto government -- came early on Monday, said Radio Globo director David Romero, and followed a decree allowing suspension of some civil rights and media ......

"Troops assaulted the radio, took over the station and took it off the air," Romero said......

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2009/09/28/world/international-uk-honduras.html

---

BY Executive Decree: Whosoever ambulates after curfew, or who for whatever reason is presumed to be suspicious by the police and military of causing damage to persons or property may be detained .... and the rights of the detained are suspended!

The best and only full coverage of event is in Spanish.
There is a high volume of news this morning, with a state of seize imposed, Constitutional rights suspended, and liberal media being shut down by troops.

La crisis hondureña
Micheletti ordena el cierre de los medios de comunicación afines a Zelaya
La medida se produce horas después de que el Gobierno golpista de Honduras suspendiera cinco derechos fundamentales
http://www.elpais.com/articulo/internacional/Micheletti...

Roberto Micheletti ha decidido esta madrugada que los militares cierren los medios de comunicación que le resultan hostiles, es decir, Radio Globo y el Canal 36 de televisión, afines al depuesto Manuel Zelaya. Los cinco derechos constitucionales que quedan anulados son tan importantes como el de libertad personal, libre emisión de pensamiento (libertad de expresión), libertad de asociación y de unión, libre circulación y los derechos de los detenidos. .....

=================================================
The five Constitutional guarantees suspended are:

* libertad personal = personal liberty
* libre emisión de pensamiento = freedom of expression
* libertad de asociación y de unión = fredom to assemble and associate
* libre circulación = freedom of movement
* derechos de los detenidos = rights of persons detained

=================================================
.... El decreto ejecutivo PCM-M-016-2009 ocupa sólo dos folios, pero son dos folios que dan miedo. Porque a fin de cuentas lo que vienen a señalar es que la libertad de los ciudadanos queda a partir de ahora, y por un periodo de 45 días, a discreción de militares y policías, a los que Micheletti da carta blanca. Se podrá detener, dice el texto del decreto, "a toda persona que sea encontrada fuera del horario de circulación establecido, o que de alguna manera se presuma como sospechoso por las autoridades policiales y militares de causar daños a las personas o a sus bienes..." Según el artículo 187 de la Constitución de Honduras, el Gobierno tiene la potestad de suspender los derechos citados en los casos de "invasión del territorio nacional, perturbación grave de la paz, de epidemia o de cualquier otra calidad general". El artículo siguiente, el 188, deja muy claro que en el territorio en que fuesen suspendidas las garantías anteriores, "se regirá por la Ley de Estado de Sitio".

Desde su refugio en la Embajada de Brasil, el presidente Manuel Zelaya denunció que el decreto "es una barbaridad que indigna" y volvió a llamar a la resistencia pacífica .....

[denverbill]

1. The only way to overturn this coup is to hit the oligarchs in the pocketbook. A trade embargo. n/t

[L. Coyote]

2. Have you heard what happened in the Phillpines? People Power Now.

A trade embargo to end a dictatorship. Ya, that's working really well in Cuba!! :rofl:

If all the People who support democracy go into the streets, the coup is outnumbered and over.
People Power is true everywhere all the time. You can't kill all the people, you can't detain all the people.


During the height of the revolution, an estimated one to three million people filled EDSA from Ortigas Avenue all the way to Cubao. The photo above shows the area at the intersection of EDSA and Boni Serrano Avenue, just between Camp Crame and Camp Aguinaldo.

[denverbill]

9. It didn't work with Cuba because the oligarchs were already gone.

It certainly hurt Castro not being able to trade with the US, but since he was less interested in amassing money than promoting socialism it wasn't really effective.

Try telling one of the oligarchs in Honduras that their multi-million or multi-billion dollar/year revenue stream is about to be cut off and watch support for the coup drop off the cliff. The only things they care about are the income and assets. An embargo is a bigger threat to both than Zelaya was.

[Arctic Dave]

3. Or, hit their houses with 500lb bombs. Both would send a very clear message.

[L. Coyote]

5. Zelaya is correct in demanding non-violent opposition.

Of course, outside forces may intervene in military fashion, but I doubt it.
The junta is about to crumble because the resistance is non-violent and they are violent. Remember Ghandi?

The actions of the Junta today are their own death knell.
It is over because they have to use violence to maintain the coup.
They just signed their own death certificates, by suspending human rights.
The coup is dead, muerto, fin, disgraced by their own actions.
The global community cannot possibly allow such actions against a population.

[Arctic Dave]

8. May your words be more truth then poetry. :)

[AlphaCentauri]

27. Looks like the coup leader feel safe with the US troops in their territory

[L. Coyote]

4. How the Suspension of Constitutional Guarantees is intended to install a new Rightist government

It is no coincidence that the Decree suspends all assembly for 45 days.
The farce election will have taken place shortly after the decree ends.
What this decree does is prevent democratic activity until near the election.
What closing the media outlets that favor liberals does is silence them about the election.

There is no way the coming farce election can now be supported.
There is now way for liberals to participate in an election if their media outlets are closed.
There is no way for full political freedom before the election if the coup must approve all gatherings.

This is a much larger issue than it appears on the surface.
The coup is attempting to pull off a second coup, a farce electoral mandate.

[Peace Patriot]

11. I agree. They're going to try to put a "new face" on the Junta with a rigged election,

meanwhile delaying restoration of civil rights (and all political activity) with threats and bluster against Zelaya and Brazil, and harsh repression of the Honduran people. They must be feeling some confidence that the rightwing forces here can cause enough grief for Obama to get him to bend on the US statement that it would not recognize the results of a Junta-run election. I also expect them to suddenly acquiesce to the Arias Accord just before the election, to muddy up the issue of a fair election, as part of this strategy.

That's if they are smart--or their corpo/fascist advisers here have some rein on the Junta's brutal instincts and stupidity. It's something of a toss-up. I don't think they'll storm the embassy, because that will likely bring UN peacekeepers into Honduras (many of whom are Brazilians). But they will likely continue to brutalize the people of Honduras to prevent a fair election, and ultimately to prevent the success of this amazing leftist democracy movement in Honduras that has been fully awakened by the coup. They won't succeed. The Hondurans are riding a great tide of history, as some of their spokespeople have pointed out. They are part of a much bigger leftist democracy movement that has swept most of South America and about half of Central America (including all three of Honduras' neighbors--Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala). This Junta is a very desperate effort to "stem the tide."* That makes them hard to predict. Their behavior has been rocky all along, and now it's quite erratic.

------------------------

*(There was a very interesting quote of one of the coup generals in a Zelaya government report on the coup--that I read a couple of weeks ago. The coup general said that, with this coup, they had "prevented the spread of communism from Venezuela to the United States." Fascinating, huh? (Who have these coup generals been talking to?!) Actually, they may have furthered "the spread of communism from Venezuela to the United States", cuz a lot of our people are beginning to pay more attention to Latin American events, due to this coup. And they are beginning to seek out alternative information and to evaluate things for themselves. Also, good information is finally getting "out there" through the hard work of many people--people like Al Giordano of NarcoNews--and culminating in events like Oliver Stone's new documentary, "South of the Border," and Hugo Chavez getting interviewed by Larry King, for godssakes. The Honduran coup is crystallizing this struggle between rich elites in league with the multinational corporations, fascist militaries and paramilitaries, the Pentagon and the rightwing here, vs "the People." All some need to know is that President Zelaya raised the minimum wage, to understand this struggle. And they are starting to get facts like that, mainly through the persistence of alternative media. Then the coup suspends all civil rights, as they did today. People fear that here. They now know what this is all about.)

[L. Coyote]

6. AP: Soldiers raid Honduran media outlets = ""They took away all the equipment..."

Soldiers raid Honduran media outlets
By MARK STEVENSON (AP) – 24 minutes ago
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jAkMGKIUDg_ngUiZboxQbYj5_DPwD9B0D6P80


TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Honduras' coup-installed government silenced two key dissident broadcasters on Monday just hours after it suspended civil liberties ... soldiers raided the offices of Radio Globo. Officials also shut down Channel 36 television station, leaving it broadcasting only a test pattern.

Rene Zepeda, a spokesman for the interim government, said the two outlets had been taken off the air in accordance with a government emergency decree announced late Sunday that limits civil liberties and allows authorities to close news media that "attack peace and public order."

....

"They took away all the equipment. This is the death of the station," said Radio Globo owner Alejandro Villatoro, describing the dawn raid on the station. ... the raid ... involved as many as 200 soldiers....

.... The government's suspension of civil liberties limits rights guaranteed in the Honduran Constitution: The decree prohibits unauthorized gatherings and allows police to arrest without a warrant "any person who poses a danger to his own life or those of others." It also allows officials to shut down media outlets for "statements that attack peace and the public order, or which offend the human dignity of public officials, or attack the law."

The Honduran Constitution forbids arrests without warrants except when a criminal is caught in the act. .......

[L. Coyote]

7. NY Times: Honduras Shuts Down 2 News Outlets

Honduras Shuts Down 2 News Outlets
By ELISABETH MALKIN
Published: September 28, 2009 - http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/29/world/americas/29honduras.html?hp


TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Early Monday, masked police agents were perched from the windows of a television station, and soldiers formed a barricade around the headquarters of a radio station here after the de facto government shut them down indefinitely and restricted civil liberties ....

The two news outlets, Channel 36 and Radio Globo, had regularly broadcast calls from Mr. Zelaya. He is now holed up inside the Brazilian Embassy, where he took refuge a week ago after secretly slipping back into Honduras. A police spokesman, Orlin Cerrato, said that the two stations had “incited insurrection” and that the shutdown was indefinite.

The restrictions are to be in effect for 45 days, expiring just two weeks before Hondurans go to the polls to elect a new president. .... the United States and other governments have suggested that they may not recognize the vote ...

[roody]

10. Hello, Obama? Anybody home?

[L. Coyote]

12. No Kidding! As democracy burns, Obama plays Nero.

[Freddie Stubbs]

13. Looks like these guys are following the Hugo Chavez playbook

[L. Coyote]

14. "air samples taken in the embassy's surroundings had high concentrations of hydrogen cyanide"

Whose playbook is this, Hitler's?
He was a big fan of gassing people.

==================
Israeli Firms Sell Toxins to Honduras Putschists
http://insidecostarica.com/dailynews/2009/september/27/ca02.htm


New York - Honduran Foreign Minister Patricia Rodas denounced that two Israeli companies supplied putschists with the toxic gases ... " ... the chemicals and arms have been supplied by Alfacom and Intercom companies, owned by Israeli Yehuda Leitner,"

... nearly 80 people have had headaches, vomiting, diarrhoeas, and nose bleeding over the last hours.

Dr. Mauricio Castellano stated that air samples taken in the embassy's surroundings had high concentrations of hydrogen cyanide, which obstructs breathing when it gets in contact with iron levels in the blood.

Rodas, who is attending the 64th General Assembly of the United Nations, called for the international community to send a medical mission to her country to examine those poisoned.....

[fascisthunter]

24. that's from the right wing playbook

projection tends to be a very right wing act as well.

[roody]

25. No, they are following the SOA playbook.

[AlphaCentauri]

26. Anyone recall Pinochet, Fujimori, Videla

[L. Coyote]

15. Human Rights Watch to Honduras: Restore Press Freedom Immediately

Honduras: Restore Press Freedom Immediately
Human Rights Watch (press release) - ‎13 minutes ago‎
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/09/28/honduras-restore-press-freedom-immediately



Honduras: Restore Press Freedom Immediately
Emergency Decree Prohibits Criticism of De Facto Government
September 28, 2009

(New York) - Honduras's de facto government should immediately rescind an emergency decree that severely restricts press freedoms, Human Rights Watch said today. Honduran security forces seized the offices of Radio Globo and Cholusat Sur television early today and shut down their broadcasting, two days after the decree was issued. Both broadcasters have been openly supportive of deposed president Manuel Zelaya.

The de facto government issued the decree on September 26, 2009, prohibiting all public statements that offend public officials or question government decisions. It empowered the National Communications Commission to use the police or military to suspend broadcasters who do not comply.

"Roberto Micheletti has effectively outlawed public criticism," said José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch. "This kind of decree has been the norm for authoritarian rulers - from Chile's Pinochet to Cuba's Castros - who tolerate freedom of speech only when it favors the government."

The decree is effective for 45 days.

International law recognizes that states may temporarily derogate from some of their human rights obligations, but only under exceptional circumstances, including in time of war, public danger, or another emergency that threatens the independence or security of the state. Such temporary derogations, however, must be strictly limited to the exigencies of the situation, and not restrict rights more than is absolutely necessary. The provisions in this decree effectively shutting down free press do not meet those criteria, Human Rights Watch said.

Human Rights Watch has condemned the coup and repeatedly called on the international community to exert concerted and effective pressure, including targeted sanctions, to press for an end to human rights abuses and the restoration of democratic rule in Honduras.

[L. Coyote]

16. Chavez Defends Zelaya; Denounces Fox News and Freddie Stubbs

Just Kidding about Freddie :rofl:

Chavez Defends Zelaya; Denounces Fox News
By Edward Manfredonia
September 28th, 2009
http://blackstarnews.com/news/122/ARTICLE/6023/2009-09-28.html

.....
Chavez also addressed the dilemma of President Manuel Zelaya of Honduras, who is sequestered in the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras. He praised the ambassador of Honduras to the United Nations as a brave woman.

But it was after his formal speech that Chavez provided sparks. When Fox News attempted to sucker punch him with a leading question, President Chavez countered with a comment about “stupid people from Fox News.”

Reacting to Fox News’ account about Iranians being killed by security forces, he said he was disgusted that American television have not shown the bodies of children “murdered” by American drone missiles in Afghanistan and Iraq.

[L. Coyote]

17. Zelaya: Day 8, tweet tweet?

Zelaya: Day 8, tweet tweet?
By Tom Ryan, Kansas City Star Reader Advisory Panel
http://voices.kansascity.com/node/6032


As much as the government of Honduras wishes to silence the media and place Zelaya in a cone of seclusion, the social networks will once again show the world a new power to inform and narrate. ... peacefully with tweets, blogs, picture uploads, and social network postings with nudges.

a simple search on twitter using #Zelaya or try #Honduras .... keeping in mind that not all of these tweets are from witnesses.

The government of Honduras today shut down a few media outlets that were allowing Zelaya to broadcast. How naïve and unsophisticated. The people of Honduras will continue to speak and inform us over the coming days without radio and TV. The media, as they understand, as you understand having visited this blog, is now in the hands of everyone able to afford the data service, and devices to connect.

............

[L. Coyote]

18. Perú Official Threatens “Legal Action” Over Honduran Tear Gas Story

Perú Official Threatens “Legal Action” Over Honduran Tear Gas Story
by Al Giordano, NarcoNews
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/thefield/3462/per%C3%BA-official-threatens-%E2%80%9Clegal-action%E2%80%9D-over-honduran-tear-gas-story


... a YouTube video by Honduras’ Gremio de Cineastas (a filmmaker’s association) that we published on Narco News on Wednesday - and something we reported from that video - has now launched a national polemic in that Andean country, including a threat of “legal action” by the country’s Government Minister against those of us that reported it.

The video shows Honduran coup regime police invading the Hato de Enmedio neighborhood of Tegucigalpa shooting tear gas canisters clearly stamped, “National Police of Perú.” ... "...suggesting strongly that Peruvian President Alan García is a participant in smuggling arms to the Honduran coup regime..."

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YartPc2UBjI&feature=player_embedded

[L. Coyote]

19. VIDEO: Toxic gas attack at Embajada Brasil, Honduras

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x379295

[L. Coyote]

20. YouTube in Spanish. Troops dismantling Canal 36 broadcast equipment

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0imbSs6_s_A

They are doing a lot more than stopping broadcasts, they are stealing all the equipment!

[L. Coyote]

21. CNN en Espanol: YouTube = Cierran televisoras y radios en Honduras

Cierran televisoras y radios en Honduras

[rabs]

22. Radio Globo is still on the air online

The station is broadcasting from a clandestine location somewhere in the outskirts of Tegucigalpa. Reporters said troops this morning had damaged and dismantled the main studio downtown.

Couple of reporters inside had escaped from the back of the building using a rope as troops were barging in.

Station is broadcasting news using information from the Internet.

http://www.radioglobohonduras.com/

Chile's Bachelet and Guatamala's Colom just called on the golpistas to respect the physical integrity of Zelaya and the others in the Brazilian Embassy, which is still cordoned off.

[David__77]

23. Can't neighbors support these broadcasts?

I think they can help with this.

Also, I think the "elections" may spell the end of the coup regime. The new leader, likely Lobo, may lack the fortitude to serve the role of hated despot.

[AlphaCentauri]

28. Honduran government hires fiction writer to hawk coup regime

http://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/bill-conroy/2009/09/honduran-government-hires-fiction-writer-hawk-coup-regime

[Judi Lynn]

29. Workers are being illegally forced to keep working overtime (for US-based companies)

to compensate for being away from work during the curfew:

~snip~
As the society breaks down into a coup-provoked crisis, the Women's Collective CODEMUH writes in to that workers in offshore assembly plants have been forced to work overtime to make up for time lost due to the coup's curfews, in clear violation of labor law.

The Collective notes, "According to Article 23 of the Labor Code, "Workers can participate in profits or benefits of the boss, but never assume the risks and losses," meaning that business cannot charge workers for the losses caused by the national political crisis, which the businessmen and women are key actors in causing. Ladies and gentlemen, you cannot force workers to pay for the losses that you provoked with the coup d'etat. "We call on transnational brands like Nike, GAP, Adidas, Hanes, HBI and Walmart, among others, as well as university students in the U.S. and consumers in general, who wear the products produced in the sweatshops of Honduras, to demand the offshore industry pay its workers for the days they did not show up for work due to the curfew of the de facto government, without requiring that they make up these days. And that the workers refuse to accept these extra days."

More:
http://www.counterpunch.org/carlsen09282009.html