Events In Honduras

[Magda Hassan]

There are conflicting reports on the death of Cesar Ham. The Honduran military have conformed his death but there are others who are saying that he is still alive. I will wait and see if there is more information.

[Magda Hassan]

Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner President of Argentina has been the first to offer herself to go to Honduras with President Zelaya on Thursday when he returns. In a press conference following his speech to the United Nations General Assembly, Zelaya stated that Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa will also accompany him.

[Magda Hassan]

Now, this wouldn't have anything to do with it would it? Nah....

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Norway Company Explores for Oil in Honduras Caribbean
Petroleum Geo-Services to use seismic imaging.

TEGUCIGALPA -- Norway's Petroleum Geo-Services plans to explore for oil off the Caribbean coast of Honduras, according to an agreement signed in Tegucigalpa.

PGS will "lay some 10,000 kilometers (6,213 miles) of seismic lines in the territorial waters of Honduras," the office of President Mel Zelaya said in a statement.

The president and Natural Resources Minister Tomas Vaquero signed the deal with PGS vice president Michael Edwards and the company's head of new projects for Latin America, George Buzan.

The agreement is subject to approval by the Honduran Congress.

Oslo-based PGS, which specializes in geophysical research and analysis, has operations in 30 countries, with regional offices in London, Houston and Singapore.

Buzan said the geophysical studies to be conducted by PGS "will allow the evaluation of the petroleum and hydrocarbons potential of the country," according to the statement issued by Zelaya's office.

PGS will analyze information from 31 oil wells drilled by different companies before 1993 and conduct new seismic studies using a ship that will explore the Central American country's waters.

The studies conducted by PGS will be used to determine future oil concessions granted by Honduras.

Honduras "has a very great potential for energy and mineral resources" that has not been exploited, Zelaya said.

The president said the information obtained by PGS would assist "Honduras in making the decision on whether or not to exploit" the oil in Caribbean waters.

Companies from the United States, Russia, Japan, Canada and other countries have explored for oil in the Honduran Caribbean for years, but no one has yet discovered commercially viable amounts of petroleum.
http://www.laht.com/article.asp?Category...eId=323973
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And the oil companies wouldn't be pissed off would they? Nah....
What is Shell's Corrib security firm up to now? Any Irish or Hungarian mercenaries here yet?
Honduras temporarily grabs Exxon, Chevron terminals

Reuters
Sunday, January 14, 2007; 1:59 PM

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (Reuters) - Honduras will take temporary control of foreign-owned oil storage terminals as part of a government import program meant to drive down fuel prices, President Manuel Zelaya said late on Saturday.
Zelaya ordered the move after failing to reach a deal with big oil companies Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) and Chevron (CVX.N), as well as local company DIPPSA, to rent the terminals.

"It is not a nationalization, it's a temporary use of the storage tanks through a lease and payment of a reasonable price," he said.
Honduras produces no crude of its own and no longer has a refinery. Its fuel market, like that of most Central American countries, is dominated by Shell (RDSa.L), Exxon Mobil and Chevron.
The government program takes control of imports away from the small group of oil companies that operate service stations in the Central American nation. Those companies have opposed the new system, saying it is anti-competitive.
A congressional commission set up to study the new system has said it could save Honduras -- one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere -- about $66 million a year.
Zelaya, a logging magnate, said the decree will allow the government to go ahead with a deal reached in November with Conoco Phillips (COP.N) to import at least 8.4 million barrels of gasoline and diesel a year.
Exxon Mobil and Chevron could not immediately be reached for comment.
A spokesman for an oil companies group in Honduras, Mario del Cid, warned on Sunday the imposition would hurt the country's reputation among investors.
"Investment is based on clear rules, and decisions of this kind are not a good message," he told Reuters.
Oil companies in Honduras imported some $900 million worth of fuel in 2005.
Foreign oil companies' operations in Honduras are much smaller than in Venezuela, where President Hugo Chavez said on Saturday the country's entire energy sector had to be nationalized, reinforcing his socialist revolution.
He said Venezuela was "almost ready" to take over the foreign-run oil projects of the Orinoco Belt run by heavyweights such as Chevron, Conoco Phillips and Exxon Mobil, that produce about 600,000 barrels per day.
(Additional reporting by Nick Zieminski in New York)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con...00325.html



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But it may have more to do with this...

As referred to earlier in this forum.
I don't believe he, el Presidente, is into drug trafficking but I do think his plan to legalise drugs and educate users has made big enemies of those who thrive from that black market in misery. Hence the need to smear him with this...


Deposed Honduran prez accused of drug ties
By FRANK BAJAK – 3 hours ago
BOGOTA (AP) — The regime that ousted Manuel Zelaya in Honduras claimed Tuesday that the deposed president allowed tons of cocaine to be flown into the Central American country on its way to the United States.
"Every night, three or four Venezuelan-registered planes land without the permission of appropriate authorities and bring thousands of pounds ... and packages of money that are the fruit of drug trafficking," its foreign minister, Enrique Ortez, told CNN en Espanol.
"We have proof of all of this. Neighboring governments have it. The DEA has it," he added.
U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration spokesman Rusty Payne in Washington said he could neither confirm nor deny a DEA investigation.
Zelaya was traveling from New York to Washington and could not immediately be reached to respond to the allegations.
In an interview Tuesday evening with The Associated Press in Tegucigalpa, interim Honduran President Roberto Micheletti was asked about Ortez's allegations and said only that it would be up to prosecutors to present any evidence.
Honduras and other Central American nations have become major transshipment points in recent years for Colombian cocaine, particularly as Mexico's government cracks down on cartels.
The drugs arrive in Honduras on noncommercial aircraft and, increasingly, in speedboats, from Venezuela and to a lesser extent Colombia, according to the Key West, Florida-based Joint Interagency Task Force-South, which coordinates drug interdiction in region. The boats tend to make short hops up Central America's coast.
In its most recent report on the illicit narcotics trade, the U.S. State Department said in February of Honduras that "official corruption continues to be an impediment to effective law enforcement and there are press reports of drug trafficking and associated criminal activity among current and former government and military officials."
The report did not name names.
Drug-related violence appears to be up in Honduras.
Homicides surged 25 percent from some 4,400 in 2007 to more than 7,000 in 2008 while more than 1,600 people were killed execution-style, suggesting drug gang involvement, according to the Central American Violence Observatory.
In October, Zelaya proposed legalizing drug use as a way of reducing the violence. He also had pledged to double the country's police force, which reached 13,500 last year, up from 7,000 in 2005, according to the State Department report.

[Peter Lemkin]

Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner President of Argentina has been the first to offer herself to go to Honduras with President Zelaya on Thursday when he returns. In a press conference following his speech to the United Nations General Assembly, Zelaya stated that Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa will also accompany him.

My guess [and only that] is they won't allow anyone off the plane...it will sit there for many days and then leave....they can't afford to let him off the plane with such high-profile persons and UN backing. Let's hope there is no airline 'accident'....

[Magda Hassan]

This incredibly dangerous child and her father were so threatening to the new Honduran dictatorship they had to be arrested at 3.00 am and imprisoned by the Honduran military for more than 24 hours before they were released. Their crime? He is a cartoonist. Whilst he was in custody the military ransacked his home and burned all his drawings and his art materials like that will stop his putting into form his observations of the idiocy and mendacity of oppression.

[Magda Hassan]

Why President Zelaya's Actions in Honduras Were Legal and Constitutional


Zelaya attempted to give Hondurans the gift of participatory democracy. It was the coup leaders who violated the constitution. Those who say otherwise are wrong.

By Alberto Valiente Thoresen, RebelReports Guest Contributor
EDITOR’S NOTE: RebelReports is publishing this original article as a response to those who claim that the coup in Honduras was legal and/or constitutional and to the reporting by those media outlets that consistently repeat false characterizations of Honduran law and President Zelaya’s actions.—JS
In the classic Greek tragedy, Prometheus Bound, the playwright observes: “Of wrath’s disease wise words the healers are.” Shortly put, this story is about Prometheus, a titan who was punished by the almighty gods for having given humanity the capacity to create fire. This generated a conflict, which ended with Prometheus’ banishment and exile.

Currently, there is a tragedy being staged in the Central American republic Honduras. Meanwhile, the rest of humanity follows the events, as spectators of an outdated event in Latin America, which could set a very unfortunate undemocratic precedent for the region. In their rage, the almighty gods of Honduran politics have punished an aspiring titan, President Manuel Zelaya, for attempting to give Hondurans the gift of participatory democracy. This generated a constitutional conflict that resulted in president Zelaya’s banishment and exile. In this tragedy, words are once again the healers of enraged minds. If we, the spectators, are not attentive to these words, we risk succumbing intellectually, willfully accepting the facts presented by the angry coup-makers and Honduran gods of politics.

In this respect, media coverage of the recent military coup in Honduras is often misleading; even when it is presenting a critical standpoint towards the events. Concentrating on which words are used to characterize the policies conducted by President Zelaya might seem trivial at first sight. But any familiarity to the notion of ‘manufacturing of consent’, and how slight semantic tricks can be used to manipulate public opinion and support, is enough to realize the magnitude of certain omissions. Such oversights rely on the public’s widespread ignorance about some apparently minor legal intricacies in the Honduran Constitution.

For example, most reports have stated that Manuel Zelaya was ousted from his country’s presidency after he tried to carry out a non-binding referendum to extend his term in office. But this is not completely accurate. Such presentation of “facts” merely contributes to legitimizing the propaganda, which is being employed by the coup-makers in Honduras to justify their actions. This interpretation is widespread in US-American liberal environments, especially after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that the coup is unacceptable, but that “all parties have a responsibility to address the underlying problems that led to [Sunday]’s events.” However, President Zelaya cannot be held responsible for this flagrant violation of the Honduran democratic institutions that he has tried to expand. This is what has actually happened:

The Honduran Supreme Court of Justice, Attorney General, National Congress, Armed Forces and Supreme Electoral Tribunal have all falsely accused Manuel Zelaya of attempting a referendum to extend his term in office.

According to Honduran law, this attempt would be illegal. Article 239 of the Honduran Constitution clearly states that persons, who have served as presidents, cannot be presidential candidates again. The same article also states that public officials who breach this article, as well as those that help them, directly or indirectly, will automatically lose their immunity and are subject to persecution by law. Additionally, articles 374 and 5 of the Honduran Constitution of 1982 (with amendments of 2005), clearly state that: “it is not possible to reform the Constitution regarding matters about the form of government, presidential periods, re-election and Honduran territory”, and that “reforms to article 374 of this Constitution are not subject to referendum.”

Nevertheless, this is far from what President Zelaya attempted to do in Honduras the past Sunday and which the Honduran political/military elites disliked so much. President Zelaya intended to perform a non-binding public consultation, about the conformation of an elected National Constituent Assembly. To do this, he invoked article 5 of the Honduran “Civil Participation Act” of 2006. According to this act, all public functionaries can perform non-binding public consultations to inquire what the population thinks about policy measures. This act was approved by the National Congress and it was not contested by the Supreme Court of Justice, when it was published in the Official Paper of 2006. That is, until the president of the republic employed it in a manner that was not amicable to the interests of the members of these institutions.

Furthermore, the Honduran Constitution says nothing against the conformation of an elected National Constituent Assembly, with the mandate to draw up a completely new constitution, which the Honduran public would need to approve. Such a popular participatory process would bypass the current liberal democratic one specified in article 373 of the current constitution, in which the National Congress has to approve with 2/3 of the votes, any reform to the 1982 Constitution, excluding reforms to articles 239 and 374. This means that a perfectly legal National Constituent Assembly would have a greater mandate and fewer limitations than the National Congress, because such a National Constituent Assembly would not be reforming the Constitution, but re-writing it. The National Constituent Assembly’s mandate would come directly from the Honduran people, who would have to approve the new draft for a constitution, unlike constitutional amendments that only need 2/3 of the votes in Congress. This popular constitution would be more democratic and it would contrast with the current 1982 Constitution, which was the product of a context characterized by counter-insurgency policies supported by the US-government, civil façade military governments and undemocratic policies. In opposition to other legal systems in the Central American region that (directly or indirectly) participated in the civil wars of the 1980s, the Honduran one has not been deeply affected by peace agreements and a subsequent reformation of the role played by the Armed Forces.

Recalling these observations, we can once again take a look at the widespread assumption that Zelaya was ousted as president after he tried to carry out a non-binding referendum to extend his term in office.

The poll was certainly non-binding, and therefore also not subject to prohibition. However it was not a referendum, as such public consultations are generally understood. Even if it had been, the objective was not to extend Zelaya’s term in office. In this sense, it is important to point out that Zelaya’s term concludes in January 2010. In line with article 239 of the Honduran Constitution of 1982, Zelaya is not participating in the presidential elections of November 2009, meaning that he could have not been reelected. Moreover, it is completely uncertain what the probable National Constituent Assembly would have suggested concerning matters of presidential periods and re-elections. These suggestions would have to be approved by all Hondurans and this would have happened at a time when Zelaya would have concluded his term. Likewise, even if the Honduran public had decided that earlier presidents could become presidential candidates again, this disposition would form a part of a completely new constitution. Therefore, it cannot be regarded as an amendment to the 1982 Constitution and it would not be in violation of articles 5, 239 and 374. The National Constituent Assembly, with a mandate from the people, would derogate the previous constitution before approving the new one. The people, not president Zelaya, who by that time would be ex-president Zelaya, would decide.

It is evident that the opposition had no legal case against President Zelaya. All they had was speculation about perfectly legal scenarios which they strongly disliked. Otherwise, they could have followed a legal procedure sheltered in article 205 nr. 22 of the 1982 Constitution, which states that public officials that are suspected to violate the law are subject to impeachment by the National Congress. As a result they helplessly unleashed a violent and barbaric preemptive strike, which has threatened civility, democracy and stability in the region.

It is fundamental that media channels do not fall into omissions that can delay the return of democracy to Honduras and can weaken the condemnation issued by strong institutions, like the United States government. It is also important that individuals are informed, so that they can have a critical attitude to media reports. Honduras needs democracy back now, and international society can play an important role in achieving this by not engaging in irresponsible oversimplifications.

Alberto Valiente Thoresen was born in San Salvador, El Salvador. He currently resides in Norway where he serves on the board of the Norwegian Solidarity Committee with Latin America
http://rebelreports.com/post/133319827/w...were-legal

[Peter Lemkin]

Tomorrow is going to be an interesting day.....one way or another....

[Magda Hassan]

President Zelaya is delaying his return to Honduras. This is so the OAS can give the coup plotters an ultimatum.

Eve Golinger's article follows:
The conclusions of the emergency Organization of American State (OAS) meeting held yesterday in Washington regarding the coup d'etat in Honduras resulted in the suspension of President Zelaya's declared return to the country for another 72 hours. Zelaya had announced on Monday that he would return this Thursday, July 2nd, to reclaim his constitutional position as President of Honduras, after a military coup ousted him violently on early Sunday morning and forced him into exile in Costa Rica. The OAS members issued an ultimatum to the coup government in Tegucigalpa, headed by Roberto Micheletti, former head of Congress, who has now evolved into Honduras' first dictator since 1979. The regional body, comprised of all nations in the Americas, except for Cuba, has informed Micheletti's illegal government that it has 72 hours to step down or face suspension from the OAS and regional - as well as international - isolation. Micheletti, who enjoys the strong support of Honduras' armed forces, the majority trained, schooled and funded by the United States, has vowed he will not step down from the office he has long desired and has now illegally usurped after Sunday's coup.

Sub-Secretary of State, Thomas Shannon, attending the OAS meeting in Washington yesterday, confirmed that Manuel Zelaya is the "legal and constitutional" president of Honduras, but still stopped short of clarifying the U.S. government's position regarding the coup d'etat and Zelaya's unconditional return to power. The US has signed on to the OAS statement, but this is not the same as Washington legally and officially declaring on its own terms that a coup d'etat has occurred and that it will only recognize the government of Zelaya as legitimate. OAS resolutions, similar to UN General Assembly resolutions, are not legally binding.

Here is the OAS Resolution, available at www.oas.org:


RESOLUTION ON THE POLITICAL CRISIS IN HONDURAS

(Adopted at the plenary session, held on July 1, 2009 and
pending to be revised by the Style Committee)


THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY,

GRAVELY CONCERNED about the political crisis in the Republic of Honduras as a result of the coup d’état against the government of President José Manuel Zelaya Rosales, which has produced an unconstitutional alteration of the democratic order;

RECALLING Permanent Council resolutions CP/RES. 952 (1699/09) of June 26, 2009 and CP/RES. 953 (1700/09) of June 28, 2009, regarding the situation in Honduras;

CONVENED urgently by the Permanent Council in accordance with Article 20 of the Inter-American Democratic Charter;

REITERATING the principles and purposes established in the Charter of the Organization of American States and the Inter-American Democratic Charter on the strengthening and preservation of the democratic institutional system in member states, as well as the importance of strict adherence to and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, and the principle of nonintervention in the internal affairs of other states; and

TAKING NOTE of the declarations by international organizations, sub-regional groups, and governments of the member states,

RESOLVES:

1. To condemn vehemently the coup d’état staged against the constitutionally established Government of Honduras, and the arbitrary detention and expulsion from the country of the constitutional president José Manuel Zelaya Rosales, which has produced an unconstitutional alteration of the democratic order.

2. To reaffirm that President José Manuel Zelaya Rosales is the constitutional President of Honduras and to demand the immediate, safe, and unconditional return of the President to his constitutional functions.


3. To declare that no government arising from this unconstitutional interruption will be recognized, and to reaffirm that the representatives designated by the constitutional and legitimate government of President José Manuel Zelaya Rosales are the representatives of the Honduran State to the Organization of American States.

4. To instruct the Secretary General to undertake, together with representatives of various countries, diplomatic initiatives aimed at restoring democracy and the rule of law and the reinstatement of President Jose Manuel Zelaya Rosales, pursuant to Article 20 of the Inter-American Democratic Charter and report to the Special General Assembly on the results of the initiatives. Should these prove unsuccessful within 72 hours, the Special General Assembly shall forthwith invoke Article 21 of the Inter-American Democratic Charter to suspend Honduras’ membership.

5. To extend this special session of the General Assembly until July 6, 2009.

[Magda Hassan]

If there are any people who still doubt that this is a 'real' coup and not some means to protect 'democracy' from the president the true face of the threatened oligarchs is shown for what it is.
Honduras' Coup Congress Cancels Five Basic Liberties

Posted by Al Giordano - July 1, 2009 at 6:55 pm By Al Giordano

Despite the best efforts of what I call "the Oligarch Diaspora" to flood the Internet with near identical messages that the Honduran coup "is not a coup" and that was a "constitutional succession" (cough, cough) dressed in the blue-and-white flag of Honduran democracy, the coup regime bared its fangs today. And like any vampire, it's coming out at nightfall.
The same Congress that, after the military had kidnapped, beaten and dumped President Manuel Zelaya in Costa Rica had declared one of its own, Roberto Micheletti as the coup "president" today passed an emergency l aw stripping Hondurans of the following rights from the country's constitution:
1. The right to protest.
2. Freedom in one's home from unwarranted search, seizure and arrest.
3. Freedom of association.
4. Guarantees of rights of due process while under arrest.
5. Freedom of transit in the country.
Tomorrow morning's papers are already out across the ocean in Europe, and correspondent Pablo Ordaz of the Madrid daily El Pais has reported from Tegucigalpa about the Coup Congress' decree:

"Minute by minute, step by step, Honduras moves farther from its freedoms..."

Read the defenders of the coup and they are united by one powerful feeling: fear. They're afraid of the growing demonstrations in the streets, like the in the capital city this afternoon captured in the video above, where despite the brutal repressions against the people, each day the opposition crowds grow larger, more emboldened, and better organized. In the defiant but smiling faces of the Hondurans opposing the coup you can see the palpable difference between their passion and the lack of it from the passive bumps on a log that attended yesterday's pro coup rally.
The Congressional decree specified that only at night may those five freedoms be disappeared. And so tonight, a new reign of terror begins.
The coup defenders are afraid, they say, of Honduras becoming another another Cuba, or Venezuela, or Nicaragua, of losing their "freedoms" and their "democracy." But today, in one fell swoop their leaders erased those very freedoms, atop all the other ones they've already burned alive - freedom of the press, freedom to elect their own president, among them - and buried democracy with it.
For democracy is not possible unless a people has freedom to protest, freedom from unwarranted invasion of their homes, freedom of association, rights of due process under law, and freedom of travel in its own country.
That's over now, and will be as long as the coup regime remains in power.
The Oligarch Diaspora will not likely blink, comforting themselves with the Kool-Aid that this attack on civil rights and freedoms is not (well, not yet) aimed at them, but, rather, at "those people," the workers, the poor, the farmers, the indigenous, the rebel students and youth, their social organizations, organizer priests, defense attorneys, human rights observers and authentic journalists, the ones that want their democracy back so much that they risk life and limb now each time they say it.
The Oligarch Diaspora will continue spamming the Internet with their hysterical claims that the rest of the world "just doesn't understand," that the coup was "legal" (attorney Alberto Valiente Thorensen made mincemeat of that claim today), that they represent a majority (unsaid is that they are afraid to let that majority vote on a non-binding referendum, revealing that even they know they are not), that "Honduras wants the coup." But if the opposition were so small would the Coup Congress really have needed to enact the State of Siege and its repeal of those five basic freedoms?
The Oligarch Diaspora - and hey, Larry Birns (yes, you to whom I sent that memo on Sunday) didn't you and your organization COHA find out the hard way this week how they swarm and leech upon NGOs and media organizations to spread their falsehoods, causing your organization to have to issue another embarrassed "clarification"? - will continue to deceive the gullible into thinking they're really of democratic and freedom-loving tendencies.
But what they don't tell you is that they don't want those freedoms for all Hondurans, just for the ones with money and property and political power and privilege: themselves. The rest must be subordinated to them and controlled, by force if necessary.
And so today, Honduras said goodbye to the following articles of its Constitution:

Article 69: "A persons liberty is inviolable and can only be restricted or suspended temporarily through process of law."
Article 71: "No person can be arrested nor kept incommunicado for more than 24 hours without being placed before a competent authority to be judged. Judicial detention during an investigation must not exceed six consecutive days from the moment that the same is ordered."
Article 78: "Freedoms of association and meeting are always guaranteed when they are not contrary to public order and good customs.
Article 79: "All persons have the right to meet with others, peacefully and without weapons, in public demonstration or transitory assembly, in relation to their common interests of any type, without necessity of notice or special permission."
Article 81: "All persons have the right to circulate freely, leave, enter, and remain in national territory. No one can be obligated to change home or residence except in special cases and with those requirements that the Law establishes."

The Oligarch Diaspora says that the democratically elected president was removed by force because he supposedly "violated the Constitution" by proposing a nonbinding referendum to ask all Hondurans if they wanted the chance to vote about whether they wanted to rewrite it through a Constitutional Convention.
But the coup leaders the Oligarch Diaspora defends just rewrote that same constitution today without any formal process of consulting the people at all.
They claim they're fighting for their constitution, but they just ripped it apart.
Gone. All gone. Everything they claim to be defending is gone now, destroyed and in tatters at the hands of the very political class that claimed it was protecting them.
And now, with the Congress' invitation to enter the people's door, the vampires begin to come out... tonight.
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/thefiel...-liberties

[Magda Hassan]

CNN BACKS COUP; SUSPENSION OF CIVIL RIGHTS IN HONDURAS; EUROPEAN UNION RECALLS ALL AMBASSADORS FROM HONDURAS

CNN en Español, viewed throughout Latin America, has been backing the coup against Honduran President Manuel Zelaya since day 1, Sunday, June 28th. They initially referred to the events as a military coup during the early hours, then slowly transformed their headlines to call the coup a "forced succession". By the end of the day, dictator Roberto Micheletti was considered, by CNN, the "constitutional president" of Honduras and Zelaya was the "deposed" president.

Since then, CNN has shown about 90% coverage favorable of the coup government in Honduras, conducting interviews with Micheletti as well as those in his "cabinet". The "analysts" and "experts" providing insight and commentary on the coup in Honduras have all been either conservative U.S. voices of those on the Latin America right, like Alvaro Vargas Llosa. CNN has done little or no reporting on the mass protests on the streets in Honduras against the coup government, nor has it covered or reported on the detention of several Telesur and Associated Press journalists by military forces in Honduras this past Tuesday. CNN is also not providing much coverage of the major media blackout still in place in Honduras or the repressive measures taken by the coup government to impose states of emergency, suspend civil and human rights and mandate a national curfew through the weekend. And CNN is obsessed with making this whole thing to be about Chávez, and not about the internal class struggles in Honduras.

The coup government in Honduras announced this evening that the congress has passed a decree suspending all constitutional rights in the country indefinitely. This means the coup forces can enter homes without warrants, detain anyone with no notice or justification, prohibit all public gatherings, such as marches, rallies, protests or meetings, and maintain censorship of independent media. Due process rights are also suspended as are all other civil and political rights. Hondurans are also denouncing the coup government is forcing men as young as 15 to join the military to "defend" the country against any potential foreign threats or forces that may invade the country to restore Manuel Zelaya to the presidency.

If, as the coup leaders say, all is calm and peaceful in the streets of Honduras and a majority of Hondurans support the coup government led by Micheletti, then why does martial law need to be imposed and individual rights suspended?

In April 2002, when the coup was executed against President Chávez, the dictator who took over briefly, businessman Pedro Carmona, told CNN in a live interview that all was calm and peaceful in the streets of Caracas and throughout Venezuela. Meanwhile, millions of people were pouring into the streets around the capital and the nation to demand their president be returned to power. In Venezuela, the people and loyal armed forces were able to rescue their democracy, constitution and president, and defeat a coup backed by Washington.

Thousands are protesting in the streets throughout Honduras, facing repression and risking detention, or even worse, assassination. The people of Honduras fighting this brutal repressive coup and dictatorship (that is refusing to step down, despite all the international pressure) need your solidarity and support! Especially if you are in the US, find ways to pressure the Obama administration and demand it suspend aid to Honduras until the coup government steps down. Both the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank have temporarily suspended loans to Honduras until constitutional order is restored. All member nations of the European Union have withdrawn their ambassadors in Honduras. The US is the only nation that has not followed suit. Washington appears to be buying time trying to figure out how to save face and save its strategic interests in Honduras. Latin America and Europe have stood firm against tyranny. Will the US be an ally to tyranny or an example of democracy?
http://www.chavezcode.com/2009/07/day-4-...on-of.html