CISPES ALERT: Clinton made statement that Zelaya is responsible for any further violence/protests

[magbana]

Greetings.
if you haven't heard the news, President Manuel Zelaya crossed the border into Honduras a few hours ago, eventually returning to Honduras.  It's a very tense situation, with the Honduran military having already attacked and injured people at another site along the border. 
 
Meanwhile, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has made a statement which appears to hold President Zelaya responsible for any potential further violence by the Honduran government against civilians.  It is very disheartening to see the United States government go against the international consensus that has called for the immediate and unconditional return of President Zelaya.
 
Hondurans for Democracy, the FMLN-DC and other groups are preparing to mobilize over the weekend should the violence and human rights violations committed by the de facto regime continue.  Please be alert for a vigil or action over the weekend. 
 
more info here:
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/07/24-9
 
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/07/24/honduras.political.turmoil/
 
aqui en espanol: http://www.telesurtv.net/noticias/secciones/nota/54645-NN/zelaya-se-ve-obligado-a-retroceder-a-nicaragua-tras-pisar-honduras/C

[magbana]

1. State Dept. Daily Briefing July 24 re: Honduras

"QUESTION: On Honduras, what is your reaction?

QUESTION: Can we just stay on Mitchell for one second?

QUESTION: We weren’t on Mitchell.

MR. CROWLEY: I’ll come back to you. Go ahead.

QUESTION: Okay, yeah. On Honduras, what is your reaction to President Zelaya still kind of going against the advice to not return? He’s still saying he’s going to return, possibly this weekend. And then also, if the Arias-led talks continue to fail and not really produce much, does the U.S. have any sort of plan to maybe step in and propose something else?

MR. CROWLEY: Well, let’s take it one step at a time. First, we continue through Ambassador Llorens in Honduras to stay in touch with both parties. I don’t think that either side has formally responded as of yet to the Arias plan that he put out earlier this week. We understand that President Zelaya is in Nicaragua as we speak. We, obviously, would not support any action that would precipitate violence, and we understand that President Zelaya actually plans to come to Washington on Tuesday for further discussions.

QUESTION: Well, have you advised him not to make the trip into Honduras? I mean, do you – when you say you don’t support any action that could precipitate violence, do you include his return as such action?

MR. CROWLEY: I think we have said to President Zelaya on a number of occasions that right now, we think the focus should remain on the current negotiating and mediation effort of President Arias, and that any return to Honduras would be premature.

Yes.

QUESTION: I know Secretary Clinton’s been traveling the last 24 hours, but has she raised this issue with Zelaya personally?

MR. CROWLEY: I’m not aware that she has spoken to President Zelaya. In fact, she has not spoken to President Zelaya."

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2009/july/126442.htm

[Bacchus39]

2. Zelaya said the same thing. seems like Clinton is in agreement with him n/t

s

[Peace Patriot]

3. This was a couple of days ago. The talks have since failed--when Arias said the

bottom line was Zeyala's return to the presidency, and the junta--evidently feeling confident that the US rightwing--John McCain et al--and their palsies in the Pentagon are still running DC. Or they're just really dumb, and crazy besides--kind of like Bush Jr.-- "born to rule" by force, by torture, by mass death and by stealing from everybody else.

Zelaya's return to Honduras may rip the hypocritical masks off Obama and Clinton, or reveal them to have been trying to do the right thing all along, perhaps in the face of a junta within their own ranks. I can't say either way at the moment. I hope for the best. But I don't think it looks good for an honorable U.S. policy.

However, things do look good for democracy in Latin America. This afternoon I read that Zeyala's appointed ambassador to Mexico, with the help of the Brazilian and other ambassadors, managed to evict the junta embassy people from Honduras' embassy in Mexico, and restore it to Zelaya's authority with his ambassador and staff back in the embassy. Another report said that the National Police have gone on strike, and will not follow orders from the junta to arrest Zelaya. Part of their motive is anger at not being paid. So the economic sanctions are starting to work. I think that Zelaya's allies--virtually all the leaders of South and Central America, and others like union leaders within Honduras and in neighboring states--can restore Zelaya to power, and restore Constitutional order in Honduras, I hope with the Obama administration's help and cooperation, but the way Latin American leaders handled the Bushwhack-instigated white separatist coup attempt last year indicates they may be able to handle this one as well without U.S. help.

And perhaps they can insure a fair election in November (in which Zelaya cannot run)--but the latter is a tall order, at this point. It's difficult to see how a fair election can occur with over a thousand leftist activists in jail as political prisoners and all the other repression.

It's odd, you know. You gotta wonder why this coup happened at all. Zelaya had only five months left as president. Even if he had succeeded in getting the advisory vote on a Constituent Assembly process on the ballot and approved by the voters, it would have been years before such a process could be implemented, with the coupsters having oligarchic control of all the levers of power in Honduras while that process went forward, if it ever did. What did he do? Raise the minimum wage and a few other decent, moderate progressive policies. Criminy, can't the oligarchy live with that--Honduras being a country with one of the highest poverty rates in Latin America? Their reaction to moderate change and the mere possibility of more serious reform down the line was hysterical and extreme. Of course if you know who's backing them--McCain, Negroponte, Reich, Bolton and the Miami mafia--that could explain their insanity. They are being used by the rightwing here, as well as being propped up by U.S. tax dollars.