Clinton says US committed to returning Honduras to OAS

[Judi Lynn]

Clinton says US committed to returning Honduras to OAS
Published on 23 April 2011 - 3:20am

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Honduran President Porfirio Lobo she was committed to his country's readmission to the Organization of American States, officials said.

Honduras was kicked out of the OAS following a coup that toppled leftist president Manuel Zelaya in June 2009 and placed Lobo in power.

A State Department official said Clinton spoke with Lobo by telephone and discussed the country's political challenges and safety issues for Honduran citizens.

The top US diplomat "expressed her strong support for ongoing efforts by President Lobo and the people of Honduras to address those challenges," the official said.

More:
http://www.rnw.nl/english/bulletin/clinton-says-us-committed-returning-honduras-oas

[Judi Lynn]

1. Honduras on alert to track down al-Qaida activists

Honduras on alert to track down al-Qaida activists
Published: April 22, 2011 at 3:49 PM

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras, April 22 (UPI) -- Honduran authorities are on alert to track down two alleged members of al-Qaida international terrorist network after receiving warnings from U.S. Embassy officials in the capital.

Honduras appeared in news headlines as a possible sanctuary for al-Qaida activists more than six years ago but then little was heard of the reported infiltration as anti-terrorist operations moved to the Middle East and North Africa and anti-narcotics operations took precedence in Central and South America.

In recent months al-Qaida reappeared in news reports and security agencies' briefs as suspects were reported active in several South American countries.

Security agencies investigated reports earlier this month that a frontier triangle linking Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay had become a nexus for al-Qaida activities with alleged armament and training of Latin American youths and planning of cross-border attacks.

More:
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2011/04/22/Honduras-on-alert-to-track-down-al-Qaida-activists/UPI-58401303501752/

http://blog.timesunion.com.nyud.net:8090/funiciello/files/2010/01/incredulous.jpg http://seriouslyblog.files.wordpress.com.nyud.net:8090/2009/09/sk_incredulous.jpg http://farm2.static.flickr.com.nyud.net:8090/1226/1264397610_59d6492492.jpg

[rabs]

4. Ignore anything from the UPI

what gall, to put a Tegucigalpa deadline when it has no office there !!

UPI was once a great news agency. It used to trounce the AP, especially in foreign coverage.

But it became an outcast agency back in the 80s and 90s when the organization was sold to a Mexican magnate, then Saudi Arabians bought it, then the Moonies, which I think still own what is left, which is not much.

Newspapers and most other media in the United States do not publish or broadcast any UPI "news."

As far as the OP, it smacks of a paid propaganda piece. Notice this sentence:

In 2009 Honduras plunged into a crisis after a constitutionally sanctioned coup

A "constitutionally sanctioned coup????"

Also note there are no named sources in the entire article, no quotes by anyone, it wanders from Honduras to the Triple Border ...

I read somewhere that the entire staff in D.C. is now about four paid people.

E&P article on UPI from four years ago.

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/Departments/Top%20Stories/upi-staff-cuts-include-white-house-correspondent-35233-.aspx

[Judi Lynn]

6. Unbelievable! No White House correspondant now. How DO they get their news, anyway with no reporters

anywhere? Crazy.

I didn't believe the Al Qaida story, of course, but I imagined the propaganda mill was trying to put it over on the public, as we did read, during _Bush's occupation of the Presidency, that THEY believe Al Qaida is all over that tri-country area mentioned in the UPI article.

The part about across-border raids was amazing, especially since we never hear of any hostilities among those countries, but right in line with the crap we get fed by our own government from time to time.

So what is UPI these days? A buncha drunks getting making up their own stories as they go? Taking them from TV news, like Simon Romero, in South America? I've heard someone there takes his stories directly from Globovision in Caracas.

No bureau in Washington. D.C. That just stuns me. Of course they have their stupid Washington Times thing there.

Thanks for the heads-up on these clowns. It should be interesting to start keeping track of what other crappola they're putting out now.

[Judi Lynn]

2. Police Brutality in Honduras

Police Brutality in Honduras
04/12/11
Stephen Lendman



On June 28, 2009, a coordinated State Department-Pentagon project allied with Honduran military commanders and top opposition figures ousted President Manuel Zelaya, establishing the current fascist dictatorship, supported, armed, and funded by Washington.

In fact, all Honduran officers from captains on up are trained at the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC), formerly the School of the Americas (SOA), popularly known as the "School of Assassins."

Established in 1946, SOA Watch calls it "a combat training school," teaching soldiers how to torture, repress, exterminate poor and indigenous people, overthrow democratically elected governments, assassinate targeted leaders, and suppress popular resistance when it erupts.

As a result, its graduates have "left a trail of blood and suffering in every country," sending recruits to learn the latest ways to brutalize, disappear, and massacre their people back home, including in Honduras.

More:
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2011/04/22/Honduras-on-alert-to-track-down-al-Qaida-activists/UPI-58401303501752/

~~~~~
Honduras: Human rights defenders subjected to a campaign of attacks, threats, arrests and judicial harassment
Posted on 2011/04/05

Human rights defenders, trade unionists and journalists in Honduras are facing a wave of repression as the authorities crack down on ongoing protests in support of striking teachers' unions.

Further Information
Over the past several days, Front Line has received reports of widespread threats, attacks, arrests and ill-treatment against human rights defenders who have taken to the streets in order to peacefully demonstrate in solidarity with the teachers, who have been on strike for the past three weeks.

On 31 March 2011, members of the Sindicato de Trabajadores de la Universidad Autónoma de Honduras – Sitraunah (Union of Workers of the Autonomous University of Honduras) were prevented from entering their headquarters at the National Autonomous University of Honduras after it was surrounded by police and military squads.

Previously, on 18 March 2011, human rights defender Mr René Andino Alvarenga, President of the Central Directive Board of Sitraunah received a message stating that assassins had been hired to kill him, along with Mr Donatilo Jimenez, President of Section 3 of Sitraunah, Professor Marco Antonio Moreno Fuentes, Professor of Political Science at the Autonomous University and President of Section 1 of Sitraunah, and Mr Francisco Obando Torres, treasurer of the Central Directive Board of Sitraunah.

Read more:
http://www.frontlinedefenders.org/node/14817

[Judi Lynn]

3. No wonder the teacher died and fell in the street to be run over by the police water weapon truck.

Honduran government unleashes violence vs striking teachers
Wed Mar 30, 2011 10:10

The US-backed government of President Porfirio Lobo has used police and military violence in an attempt to quell a teachers’ strike and protests that have continued to escalate over the last month.

Tens of thousands of teachers and their supporters have taken to the streets of Tegucigalpa, San Pedro Sula and cities and towns throughout Honduras in opposition to a new law—called “Encouraging community participation for the improvement of quality in education”—that decentralizes the country’s public education system with the aim of preparing its privatization. The Lobo government has also repealed the Teachers Statute, wiping out rights won over decades.......

The state violence employed against these protests has already claimed the life of one prominent teacher activist, Ylse Ivania Velázquez Rodríguez, who was killed on March 18 when police fired a tear gas canister at point-blank range into her head. At least 20 teachers have been imprisoned on “sedition” charges.......

Lobo escalated the confrontation on Sunday, declaring the strike illegal and vowing to suspend without pay for six months all teachers who failed to return to the classroom the following morning and to permanently fire those who did not come back to work by April 4. He also claimed the power to outlaw the teachers’ unions for backing the strike.

More:
http://www.theoilage.com/honduran-government-unleashes-violence-vs-striking-teachers-t2962.html

[Judi Lynn]

5. Honduran police ignore rise in attacks on journalists, gays

Posted on Monday, April 11, 2011
Honduran police ignore rise in attacks on journalists, gays
By Tim Johnson | McClatchy Newspapers

PUERTO GRANDE, Honduras — In a nation with the highest murder rate in the Western Hemisphere, it's perhaps not a surprise that someone armed with a 9 mm pistol opened fire last month on Franklin Melendez, wounding the radio journalist in the thigh.

What astonishes is what happened next: Police refused to go to the crime scene. Later in the evening, the three officers on duty also didn't budge when the alleged assailant waved his gun out of a moving vehicle and threatened to shoot another reporter for the radio station.

"He pointed the pistol at me and said, 'You're next, bitch. We're going to kill you,' " recalled Ethels Posada, a 30-year-old part-time reporter.

Numerous witnesses saw the assailant shoot Melendez and threaten Posada, but the police wouldn't act without a formal complaint. Once the complaint arrived, eight days later, they still refused to do anything, saying an arrest order was needed. The assailant has now fled the area.

More:
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/04/11/111990/honduran-police-ignore-rise-in.html?story_link=email_msg#ixzz1KI0FMFtT