Honduras' right-wing coup d'état is faltering, but its supporters have powerful friends in DC

[marmar]

from the Independent UK:



Democracy hangs by a thread in Honduras
The right-wing coup d'état is faltering, but its supporters have powerful friends in Washington. Hugh O'Shaughnessy reports

Sunday, 19 July 2009


The international group of right-wingers who staged the coup d'état against the democratic government of Honduras on 28 June are watching their plot fast unravel. There is stiffening international opposition to their protégé, Roberto Micheletti, who, in his capacity as President of Congress, ordered President Manuel Zelaya to be expelled from the country by plane in his pyjamas.

Mr Zelaya gave negotiators meeting in Costa Rica until midnight yesterday to restore him to office, threatening to secretly return to Honduras and attempt to retake power on his own if no agreement is reached. He indicated he would reject any power-sharing deal, and, at a news conference at the Honduran embassy in Nicaragua, said: "I am going back to Honduras, but I am not going to give you the date, hour or place, or say if I'm going to enter through land, air or sea."

As the Acting President's support shrinks at home, the plotters are lobbying to have Mr Micheletti shored up from abroad by means of a declaration of legitimacy from the US Congress. That scheme is not prospering. Enrique Ortez Colindres, the supremely undiplomatic octogenarian appointed foreign minister by Mr Micheletti, has had to resign, but not before he called Barack Obama "a negrito who knows nothing about anything", on Honduran television.

For some of the plotters it is their second attempt to overthrow an elected reformist government in Latin America: the group includes prominent figures involved in the 2002 ousting of President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, who was kidnapped for 48 hours and sent to a Caribbean island before being restored to office after widespread popular protest. .........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/democracy-hangs-by-a-thread-in-honduras-1752315.html

[Peace Patriot]

1. Among the evildoers behind the Honduran coup, this writer identifies John McCain

and John "death squad" Negroponte. From the article...

"The focus of attention in the campaign against Mr Zelaya is now on the office of Senator John McCain, the defeated US presidential candidate, who is chairman of the IRI (International Republican Institute), takes an interest in telecoms affairs in the US Congress and has benefited handsomely from campaign contributions from US telecoms companies – which are said to have funded the abortive 2002 coup against Mr Chavez.

"Mr McCain's former legislative counsel, John Timmons, arranged the visit of Micheletti supporters to Washington on 7 July where they met journalists at the National Press Club 'to clarify any misunderstandings about Honduras's constitutional process and ... the preservation of the country's democratic institutions'.

"Meanwhile, within the US administration, difficulties in co-ordination have emerged between the State Department and the White House, with the Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, issuing a low-key condemnation of the coup which was quickly superseded by stronger words from Mr Obama. The President called for Mr Zelaya's reinstatement, which Mrs Clinton had failed to demand.

"The conservative-minded Mrs Clinton retains John Negroponte, an ambassador to Honduras under Ronald Reagan, as an adviser. He also represented George W Bush at the UN and in Baghdad. Democratic Senator Chris Dodd attacked Mr Negroponte in 2001 for drawing a veil over atrocities committed in Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital, by military forces who had been trained by the US. Mr Dodd claimed that the forces had been 'linked to death squad activities such as killings, disappearances and other human rights abuses'.

"During his time in Tegucigalpa, Mr Negroponte directed funds to the US-supported Contra terrorists seeking to overthrow the government of Nicaragua. He assured them of arms and supplies from the Palmerola airstrip, the main US base in Central America. As President Rafael Correa of Ecuador is in the final stages of closing the US base in his country, Mr Negroponte is conscious of what the US could lose if a Zelaya government banned its presence at Palmerola. For their part, Hondurans have noted that when Mr Zelaya tried to return on 6 July, and his plane was refused permission to land at Tegucigalpa airport, no room was found at Palmerola." MORE

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/democracy-hangs-by-a-thread-in-honduras-1752315.html

[peacetalksforall]

5. WOW again! I didn't know about Negroponte advising H. Clinton and the plane being

refused at Palmerola.

Why hasn't McCain been arrested, yet?

Do we have Cheney and McCain as traitors? If Reich is in the CIA, don't we have traitors there, also?

How many sub-governments do we have?

I repeat, we need the truth from Pres. Obama and Sec. Clinton.

[Wilms]

2. International Republican Institute (IRI)

Any familiar names here?

http://www.iri.org/board.asp

:think:

[marmar]

4. Thanks for the link......Why am I not surprised at that list?

n/t

[peacetalksforall]

3. WOW! There is a bombshell in here that I didn't know about:

"Financial backing for the coup is identified by some as coming from the pharmaceutical industry, which fears Mr Zelaya's plans to produce generic drugs and distribute them cheaply to the impoverished majority in Honduras who lack all but the most primitive health facilities. Others point to big companies in the telecommunications industry opposed to Hondutel, Honduras's state-owned provider. Parallels are being made with ITT, the US telecommunications company that offered the Nixon government funds for the successful overthrow of President Salvador Allende of Chile in 1973."

FINANCING!!! from the PHARMA!!!! and TELECOMMUNICATION!!! INDUSTRIES!!!!!!.

I am sick. How can anyone track all these 'involvements'.

If you can - take a look at Secret History of the CIA (book) by Joseph J. Trento. Chile takeout = ITT (and I believe Alcoa or Anaconda?).

Has the pharma and telecommunications connection to Otto Reich and team been discussed on DU? Did I miss it?

Let's hope that there is NO double dealing here by our leaders. That this is a mission of outsiders only. HOWEVER, Reich is reported to be working for the C.I.A.

Why hasn't Reich been arrested?

In the book I recommended above - you can read how the various government divisions worked together - State Dept, C.I.A., plus the NYT, and World Bank or IMF. P.S. you may not like what you read about the role of Seymour Hersch. Correct me if there are two Seymour Hersch's.

I think Obama and Clinton have to make a statement to us and tell us what is going on for the sake of transparency.

[madrchsod]

6. anaconda copper

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaconda_Copper

[hay rick]

7. K & R

[Wednesdays]

8. K&R

:kick: