STATE DEPT. BRIEFING, July 17: Zelaya, Chavez, Zelaya, Chavez

[magbana]

Here is the excerpt of today's State Dept briefing that deals with Honduras.

QUESTION: On a different area, to Honduras, reports of Zelaya’s return this afternoon, a deal – can you just bring us up-to-date and tell us what the U.S. knows?

MR. WOOD: Well, I don’t really have much of an update. I know that the Arias mediation discussions are going to take place tomorrow. And our goal continues to be the restoration of constitutional and democratic order in Honduras, and that’s our top priority. We want to see that happen.

To address some of the issues that many of you have raised over the last several weeks about what comes next, what’s going to happen, we have to give this process some time to play out. President Arias is an experienced negotiator, a Nobel laureate. He’s got great expertise in this area. We would encourage both sides to commit themselves to working through this process so that we can get back to the democratic and constitutional order that we all want to see restored in Honduras. But I don’t have anything much beyond that.

QUESTION: President Chavez has offered to kindly help Zelaya to get back into Honduras, which is going to happen sort of as Charlie said, this afternoon, or may even have happened. Do you think President Chavez has been helpful here? Do you think that he’s interjecting himself into the situation? How do you see his role?

MR. WOOD: Well, it’s not for me to say how we see his role. President Chavez is going to make decisions and take actions that he wants to take. What we’re saying, and I think other -- our other partners in the hemisphere don’t want to see actions that are in any way going to inflame tensions in the region, tensions which are already pretty high. And we continue to encourage all the players to engage with President Arias so that we can get back to that democratic and constitutional order that I just spoke of.

QUESTION: But do you think its helpful having him go back there sort of this afternoon and –

MR. WOOD: Look, I think it would be helpful for all players to support the Arias process. I think that’s about the best way I can characterize it.

Nina and then Jill.

QUESTION: Different topic --

MR. WOOD: Oh, the same topic?

QUESTION: The same topic.

MR. WOOD: Please.

QUESTION: Is it correct that Mr. Micheletti is willing to step aside for a third party?

MR. WOOD: I don’t know. You’ll have to go to Mr. Micheletti to find out exactly what – I’ve seen reports to that extent. But I’d have to refer you to him as to what his plans are.

QUESTION: And then just – you know, the constant message from the United States is that we have to give this time and everybody should cooperate, et cetera. But it looks as if President Zelaya is the one who’s really pushing it. He is the one who flies down there, continues to say that he’ll accept nothing but returning. He is the one who seems to be emerging as the least stable element in this. Isn’t that correct?

MR. WOOD: Well, the best thing I can tell you about this, Jill, is that clearly, tensions are very high. And what we’re trying to do is to get people to really focus on how we can bring about that peaceful – that return to democratic and constitutional order. We believe the Arias mediation process is the best way to do this. And taking steps, by any other players, to increase tensions in the region are not useful.

But what’s important is that we eventually get to that point of a return to that democratic and constitutional order. And look, the Arias peace talks haven’t been – I mean, this is recent. We need to give it some time. As I said, he’s committed to this process, we are, others in the hemisphere are. We need to allow it to work. We need to allow it to go forward. And so we’re going to continue to encourage the parties to support this process, because we think it’s the best way to get back to where we want to get to.

Warren.

QUESTION: Following on that, has the U.S. Government specifically asked or urged President Zelaya not to try to make another contested attempt to enter Honduras?

MR. WOOD: I don’t want to get into discussions we may or may not have had with President Zelaya on a host of issues. Let us just say that we don’t – as I had said earlier, we don’t want people to take steps that in any way conflict or don’t contribute positively to the Arias mediation efforts.

QUESTION: So then would his return not contribute positively to it? Is that what you’re saying?

MR. WOOD: I don’t have anything more to add to it than I’ve given you, Sue.

QUESTION: Because it sounds to me like you’re saying that that would really inflame tensions and would not be useful for the mediation process starting tomorrow.

MR. WOOD: Well, the mediation process has been ongoing for just a short period of time.

QUESTION: Yes, but I mean, it’s resuming now.

MR. WOOD: And we’re very committed to it and others in the hemisphere are as well. And we just don’t want to see actions that in any way don’t contribute positively to that effort.

QUESTION: Such as his early return without having gone through the --

MR. WOOD: I don’t have anything to add on that now.

QUESTION: -- negotiations? Okay.

MR. WOOD: Jill.

QUESTION: And how does the U.S. interpret the actions by Mr. Chavez? Is he being – trying to be helpful or is he fomenting revolution?

MR. WOOD: Well, look, I’m not here to characterize another government’s --

QUESTION: You do it all the time.

MR. WOOD: Well, let me – you didn’t let me finish.

QUESTION: (Inaudible.)

MR. WOOD: You didn’t let me finish. I was going to finish. I can’t possibly tell you what the motivations are from President Chavez.

QUESTION: What are your concerns? Maybe I should put it that way, as far --

MR. WOOD: Well, our concerns have been very clear all along, and I’ve just gone over them again and again, about the need to support the Arias efforts to try to get back to that constitutional order. President Chavez – I’d refer you to him for his motivation and reasoning behind the steps that he and his government take.

What I think we all want to see is a return to that constitutional and democratic order. And we believe – the United States believes, and we believe that others in the region feel that way as well, that we need to support the Arias mediation effort because it’s the best way to go forward.

QUESTION: Has Secretary Clinton or anyone else called Mr. Zelaya about this new plan he has to go back? I mean, is it --

MR. WOOD: I’m not aware that the Secretary has spoken to President Zelaya. I don’t know if Tom Shannon has or not.

QUESTION: Tom Shannon --

MR. WOOD: I’m not aware. But we’re in contact with representatives of the president and, from time to time, the president himself, so – but I don’t know if there’s been a conversation recently on what you just referred to.

QUESTION: Like today, you don’t know whether anyone has sent him a Blackberry note, “Don’t go?”

MR. WOOD: Well, Blackberry notes, that’s hard for me to say. But I’m not aware of any conversations today by senior officials.

QUESTION: All right."
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2009/july/126171.htm

[Judi Lynn]

1. Oh, for sure, "our other partners in the hemisphere" want us to control Latin America!

Oh, yeah! That's the ticket. They want us to ask what would Henry Kissinger do, or Jesse Helms!

You bet.

Woods needs to get his head back where it it belongs. "our other partners in the hemisphere," other than genocidal Two Breakfasts and Colombia's answer to a death-squad-connected Charlie Chaplin want us to butt the #### OUT of their business.

What does it take for them to figure this out, or is it merely they are making all their moves designed to bring the least heat from the right-wing, letting the fascists continue to control our national policy on Latin America?

What's the point in claiming to have two parties here, anyway, if we let them make the decisions for this country and for Latin America, as well? Time to slap these bastards down right here, and clean up our nation's record for the future.

[Peace Patriot]

2. These reporters are corpo/fascist tools! Why aren't they asking about the $40+ million

poured into rightwing political groups in Honduras, through John McCain's US taxpayer funded "International Republican Institute" and other budgets, and the multi-millions supporting the Honduran military and the coup government. Why hasn't that been stopped--if the Obama administration is sincere in wanting a return to democratic and constitutional order in Honduras? We hold the purse strings!

The US-arranged Arias talks are looking more and more like a way to legitimize the coup government and to forestall social justice reform in Honduras if and when Zelaya returns to his rightful position as president. And can this coup--which has rounded up over a 1,000 political prisoners thus far, and has murdered several activists, and shut down the media, and suspended Constitutional civil rights--conduct a fair election in November, even with international election monitors? How can the left mount a campaign when they're in jail or dead or in hiding? How can the political atmosphere be normalized in three months?

This US urging of patience, and its apparent circumvention of the OAS and the UN (where opinion is for Zelaya's immediate return), with the Arias talks, is beginning to smell bad. But none of these reporters asks the pertinent questions!

[IndianaGreen]

3. They are nothing but mouthpieces for their corporate masters

Compare their leading questions to TeleSUR live coverage of the events at Tegucigalpa airport.