Pres. Zelaya in Honduras, in the Brazilian embassy. Police Kill Two Anti-Coup Protesters

[L. Coyote]

2 Hondurans Killed in Anti-Coup Protests
Democracy Now - ‎1 hour ago‎
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/9/24/headlines#1

The Honduran coup regime has intensified its crackdown on supporters of the ousted President Manuel Zelaya. On Wednesday, police fired tear gas at a crowd of thousands trying to reach the Brazilian embassy where Zelaya has taken refuge. Meanwhile, police have confirmed the killings of two anti-coup protesters since Zelaya’s surprise return earlier this week. The Brazilian embassy remains surrounded by scores of armed Honduran forces. At the United Nations, several Latin American leaders attending the UN General Assembly called for Zelaya’s immediate return to office, including Chilean President Michelle Bachelet.

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet: “My Latin American region has been able gradually to build a single vision which has enabled it to come rapidly to the aid of any threatened democracy, as we were able to do in Bolivia one year ago, or to strongly condemn democratic setbacks, such as Honduras a few months ago. This is why today, with President Zelaya, who returned peacefully to Honduras, I would like to reiterate our appeal for the immediate acceptance of the San Jose agreement promoted by the Organization of American States with President Zelaya’s return.”

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Chavez Says He Gave Only 'Moral' Support to Honduras's Zelaya
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=aDgb46wQRbKg

“The Venezuelan government didn’t give support for the arrival of Zelaya in his country with planes or resources,” Chavez said last night in New York ......

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Honduras: Amnesty International Reports Rise in Police Beatings ...
Amnesty International USA - ‎4 minutes ago‎
http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?id=ENGUSA20090924002&lang=e

(New York) -- Amnesty International reported today that police beatings, mass arrests of demonstrators and intimidation of human rights groups have risen sharply in Honduras since the June coup d'etat, including the firing of tear gas at the building of a prominent rights group on Monday with 100 men, women and children inside.

Two days after President José Manuel Zelaya Rosales returned to Honduras following a June coup, Amnesty International warned that fundamental rights and the rule of law in the Central American nation are in grave jeopardy.

According to reports received by Amnesty International on Monday morning, about 15 police officers fired tear gas canisters at the building of the prominent human rights organization COFADEH. Around 100 people, including women and children, were inside the office at the time. Many had come to denounce police abuses during the break up of a demonstration earlier outside the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa, where ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya has taken refuge.

“The situation in Honduras can only be described as alarming,” said Susan Lee, Americas director at Amnesty International. “The attacks against human rights defenders, suspension of news outlets, beating of demonstrators by the police and ever increasing reports of mass arrests indicate that human rights and the rule of law in Honduras are at grave risk.”

...........

[L. Coyote]

1. Mexico: The Brazilian Embassy in Honduras favors confrontation

Mexico: The Brazilian Embassy in Honduras favors confrontation
http://momento24.com/en/2009/09/24/mexico-the-brazilian-embassy-in-honduras-favors-confrontation/


The Mexican government said that the situation facing the Brazilian Embassy in Honduras, where the deposed Honduran President Manuel Zelaya is lodged, far from encouraging a climate leading to reconciliation on the country favors confrontation. “

A statement from the Mexican Foreign Ministry addressed “its serious concern over the increasing tension in Honduras”, a country it called “brother.”

And reiterated its conviction that “the San Jose Agreement, proposed by the president of Costa Rica, Óscar Arias, in his labor as a mediator in the crisis in Honduras, is a good basis for a lasting solution

[L. Coyote]

2. President Hugo Chavez urges the UN to request Zelaya's reinstatement

President Hugo Chavez urges the UN to request Zelaya's reinstatement
http://www.vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=84280


El Universal: Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez said that the United Nations (UN) must demand the return of ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya to the presidency of his country. ............

[redqueen]

3. It's disturbing to see how little attention this escalation is getting. (nt)

[L. Coyote]

4. Miami Herald: "They're torturing me, Honduras' Manuel Zelaya claims"

No surprise in this, when tactics to alter mental function are applied to ordinary political activists in the USA.

=========================
They're torturing me, Honduras' Manuel Zelaya claims
http://www.miamiherald.com/honduras/story/1248828.html
BY FRANCES ROBLES
[e-mail]

Honduras' fallen leader told The Miami Herald he is being subjected to mind-altering gas and radiation -- and that `Israeli mercenaries' are planning to assassinate him.

TEGUCIGALPA -- It's been 89 days since Manuel Zelaya was booted from power. He's sleeping on chairs, and he claims his throat is sore from toxic gases and "Israeli mercenaries'' are torturing him with high-frequency radiation.

"We are being threatened with death,'' he said in an interview with The Miami Herald, adding that mercenaries were likely to storm the embassy where he has been holed up since Monday and assassinate him.

"I prefer to march on my feet than to live on my knees before a military dictatorship,'' Zelaya said in a series of back-to-back interviews.

Zelaya was deposed at gunpoint on June 28 and slipped back into his country on Monday, just two days before he was scheduled to speak before the United Nations. He sought refuge at the Brazilian Embassy, where Zelaya said he is being subjected to toxic gases and radiation that alter his physical and mental state. ...............

[L. Coyote]

5. CFK: 'We will support Lula's UN proposal to reinstate Zelaya' - Buenos Aires - 24 minutes ago

Cristina Fernández de Kirchner: 'We will support Lula's UN proposal to reinstate Zelaya'

===============
'Coup d'état staged by the private sector and the media'
CFK: 'We will support Lula’s UN proposal to reinstate Zelaya'
http://www.buenosairesherald.com/BreakingNews/View/12777


Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner today said that Mexican President Felipe Calderón, Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Zapatero and herself all agreed that they all would support "Brazilian President Lula's motion asking the Security council of the UNO to intervene in Honduras, in order to reinstate ousted President Manuel Zelaya at the head of the country."

"I believe we are facing a new form of interventionism in the region, that can be assimilated to coup d'état staged by the private sector and the media," she said, after athe meeting she held in New York with the Spanish and Mexican heads of state, in the UN headquarters.

Cristina Kirchner added that she wanted "the elections in Honduras, planned for November 28 to respect the constitution, democracy and human rights."

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

[L. Coyote]

6. Meanwhile in Honduras : President Zelaya Kind of Returns .. VivirLatino - 15 minutes ago

Meanwhile in Honduras : President Zelaya Kind of Returns & Micheletti Goes into Dictator Mode

10:47 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala
24 Sep 2009 - http://vivirlatino.com/2009/09/24/meanwhile-in-honduras-president-zelaya-kind-of-returns-micheletti-goes-into-dictator-mode.php


I continue to be amazed at how anyone could say that a country under curfew, with airports closed, is anything but a dictatorship, especially given that the self-proclaimed president in power took it via force. According to my dictionary, it fits the definition of a country after a coup. Comparing Honduras to what I know about other moments in Latin American history, it sure looks like a country under siege from within.

On Monday, democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya returned to Honduras after being ousted in a coup. However, Zelaya is far from a free man. He is currently inside the Brazilian embassy. As soon as word came through that Zelaya was in the country, the first thing the government of Roberto Micheletti did was deny that fact as a way to maintain control or pretend to anyway. Once it was reveled where Zelaya was, and stil is, his supporters poured into the streets. At the same time Micheletti declared a curfew, which many Zelaya supporters ignored. Power to the Brazilian embassy was cut. Military forces surrounded the area and used tear gas against pro-Zelaya protesters. People were being pulled off the street.

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[L. Coyote]

7. Zelaya: 10 killed this week. Interim government lifted the curfew - BBC News - 15 minutes ago&#8206...

Honduras lifts three-day curfew
People sleep on the floor of the Brazilian embassy
Conditions inside the embassy are cramped and getting worse
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8272176.stm


The interim government of Honduras has lifted the curfew imposed on Monday when ousted President Manuel Zelaya made a dramatic return home.
Streets were busy and airports were reopened after the measures which had kept Hondurans indoors for most of the week ended early morning local time.

But hundreds of police still surround the Brazilian embassy in the capital, where Mr Zelaya has taken refuge.
The interim authorities are refusing to reinstate him despite growing calls. .........

Mr Zelaya says 10 of his supporters have died in clashes with the security forces this week.....

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

[Judi Lynn]

11. Embassy an uncomfortable refuge for Honduras' Zelaya

Embassy an uncomfortable refuge for Honduras' Zelaya
Thu Sep 24, 2009 4:59pm EDT

TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - Hostile troops ring the building, water is limited and food supplies short, but ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya appears dead set on holding out in his temporary refuge at the Brazilian embassy.

The two-story embassy in Tegucigalpa is at the center of a political standoff with Zelaya holed up inside after sneaking into the country earlier this week, three months after he was exiled by a de facto government that then vowed to arrest him if he returned home.

Inside, Zelaya, his wife and one of his sons share four rooms with around 40 ex-government officials and followers, who take turns to sleep on the floor and two sofas.

For Zelaya, there is the relative luxury of a green inflatable mattress, witnesses say.

"He is resisting, just like the people are resisting," said Zoe, the toppled president's daughter as she waited outside the embassy in a jeep filled with food, water, medicine and clothes she hoped to deliver inside.

~snip~
Water supply is intermittent, a Reuters photographer inside says, and when it flows there is a rush for the bathrooms. A humanitarian group has supplied typical Honduran food of rice, beans and tortillas. Zelaya's daughter sought to bring in milk, sugar and water purifying tablets.

"I handed over food, I handed over clothes, and let them know that we're here for them," said Sergio Guimaraes, the Brazilian representative of UNICEF who brought supplies to two embassy staff inside. "The order is that no one can enter."

BANGING SHIELDS, MARCHES

Troops laying siege to the building have tightened security. Officials used a truck-mounted speaker to blast the embassy with harsh sounds and on Wednesday night troops marched past banging riot shields with batons, witnesses say.

More:
http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSN2442438220090924?rpc=401&

[redqueen]

8. ...

:kick:

[BolivarianHero]

9. I hope Chavez kept the old government's torture chambers open in Venezuela...

We need somewhere to house Micheleti and his cronies. People active in right-wing military coups should not be protected from anti-torture conventions.

[L. Coyote]

15. Cool handle.

Imanam Kanhu?

[L. Coyote]

10. International mediation in Honduras revived - UPI - ‎2 minutes ago‎

International mediation in Honduras revived at U.N. talks
http://www.upi.com/Emerging_Threats/2009/09/24/International-mediation-in-Honduras-revived-at-UN-talks/UPI-92181253830375/


UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 24 (UPI) -- International mediation over the fate of ousted Honduran President Jose Manuel Zelaya, currently holed up in the Brazilian Embassy in the capital of Tegucigalpa, received a boost Thursday as U.S., South American and European delegates agreed to push for a fresh initiative to help defuse the crisis.

With the United States working behind the scenes, delegates from the Organization of American States and the European Union announced they would be sending back to the Honduran capital envoys withdrawn in frustration over the impasse.

Honduras's de facto President Roberto Micheletti, who sent Zelaya into exile June 28, also announced he was willing to talk to mediators on the interim government's plans for Zelaya.

It is not clear yet if Micheletti is backtracking on his hard-line position. He has been saying Brazil should grant Zelaya political asylum or hand him over to Honduran authorities, but has also admitted Honduras has lost millions of dollars through diplomatic isolation since the coup.

Tegucigalpa was calm Thursday after rioting and clashes ............

[Judi Lynn]

12. UN to hold emergency meeting on Honduras upheaval

UN to hold emergency meeting on Honduras upheaval
By Sophie Nicholson, Agence France-Presse
September 24, 2009 6:39 PM

The UN Security Council is to hold an emergency meeting on the political turmoil in Honduras on Friday, a UN spokesperson said Thursday.

Earlier Thursday, U.S. Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice, whose country chairs the 15-member council this month, told reporters that Brazil requested an emergency council meeting on Honduras.

Ousted Honduras President Manuel Zelaya has been holed up in the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa since Monday.

Zelaya, who was deposed in an army-backed coup in June, however said Thursday that "the dialogue has begun" with the de facto government in a bid to seek a peaceful end to the country's political crisis.

More:
http://www.canada.com/news/world/Talks+underway+with+deposed+Honduran+president/2029700/story.html

[Judi Lynn]

13. New wave of censorship in response to deposed president’s return

New wave of censorship in response to deposed president’s return
Published on 23 September 2009

In the same country
7 September 2009 - Media in coup storm

17 August 2009 - In new wave of violence against media, de facto regime “reaps what it sowed”

29 July 2009 - Gag on media getting steadily tighter in month since coup
Ousted President Manuel Zelaya’s reappearance in Tegucigalpa has prompted a new wave of censorship of the national and international press. The de facto government’s response to the news of his return and his appeal to the army to “turn its rifles on the enemies of the people” has been to impose an immediate curfew, keep the international press away from the pro-Zelaya demonstrations and do everything possible to silence the few independent and opposition media still operating.

“This clampdown on the media in Honduras is unacceptable,” Reporters Without Borders said. “We condemn the attempts of the de facto authorities to ensure that a serious situation goes unreported and we urge them to respect the rights of Honduran citizens, especially the right to free expression and free movement.”

The press freedom organisation added: “Deprived of news and information, the international community is not even able to find out how many people have been injured or arrested in the course of the military’s operations.”

The entire neighbourhood around the Brazilian embassy, where Zelaya and his wife have been holed up since 21 September, has been militarised with the aim of “sweeping the area clean” of demonstrators and news media,” as a police officer put it. The international media, including news agencies such as Reuters and the Associated Press have been forced to leave the neighbourhood.

The government headed by acting President Roberto Micheletti is gagging the national press, especially two pro-Zelaya broadcast media, Canal 36 television and Radio Globo, which tried to provide live coverage of the events around the Brazilian embassy including the crackdown on demonstrators.

The head of Canal 36, Esdras Amado López, said the station has not been broadcasting since yesterday when its power supply was disconnected. Radio Globo, the only broadcast media to cover Zelaya’s arrival in Tegucigualpa, said it has been forced repeatedly to stop broadcasting. Both media say the aim is to prevent them covering the dispersal of the demonstrators around the embassy.

More:
http://www.rsf.org/spip.php?page=article&id_article=34562

[Judi Lynn]

14. Ousted Honduran president, interim gov't begin dialogue

Ousted Honduran president, interim gov't begin dialogue
Friday 25th September, 04:27 AM JST

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras —
Ousted Honduran president says he has met with an interim government official and begun dialogue aimed at ending the country’s protracted political crisis.

President Manuel Zelaya told Radio Globo that he met Wednesday night with an official of the temporary government that kicked him out in June, but he wouldn’t name the official.

In an interview with the radio station Thursday, Zelaya said that the two sides made no progress, but he called the meeting “the beginning to find peaceful solutions.”

Zelaya says that he plans to meet with business and social leaders this week.

http://www.japantoday.com/category/world/view/ousted-honduran-president-interim-govt-begin-dialogue