Wow. They sure teach them some tricks at that School of the Americas.
Below is an eyewitness account.
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Hello and thanks for answering the message. Look, I want to tell you that the situation is still precarious and that the repression from this de facto government led by dinosaurs is getting bigger. Last night (Tuesday night) and a few minutes ago the red dinosaur Michelleti and his cavemen subalterns addressed the nation on all TV and radio stations, giving out totally false information. Of course we know, those of us who are here know the true story. We have no access to communications and the only information presented is that which helps the coupmongers.
I inform you that in communities such as El Progreso, department of Yoro they have ordered forced military recruitment aimed mostly at youths (to use them as a barricade in any confrontation). Also, in the department of Olancho (the biggest in the country and the home territory of Zelaya) they have repressed people who were travelling to the capital in buses, beating them and forcing them off the buses and shooting through the bus tires.
In San Pedro Sula, the place where I live, they have given an order to depose the mayor of the city (who was one of the mayors allied to Zelaya) and have issued an arrest warrant for him. They are trying to replace him with one William Hall (strangely the cousin of Michelleti).
I hope this is useful to you, and anything else I have I'll inform you. All the same, if you need something send a mail or phone me, my number is open 24/7, (504) 9*******
Yours, Dario
"The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it." Karl Marx
"He would, wouldn't he?" Mandy Rice-Davies. When asked in court whether she knew that Lord Astor had denied having sex with her.
“I think it would be a good idea” Ghandi, when asked about Western Civilisation.
El dirigente sindical hondureño, Renán Fajardo, denunció que el gobierno de facto de Roberto Micheletti recluta a jóvenes de las zonas rurales de esta nación " esto con el objetivo de someter y hacer uso de la población".
Honduran union leader, Renán Fajardo, charged that the de facto government of Roberto Micheletti recruits rural youth of this nation "that in order to subdue and make use of the population."
Durante un contacto telefónico que sostuvo con teleSUR, Fajardo dijo que "la policía esta usando todos los medios para reprimir a la gente y en un momento va ser uso de la población".
During a telephone contact he had with Telesur, Fajardo said that "the police are using every means to suppress the people and time will be use of the population."
El dirigente sindical mencionó que autoridades policiales ingresan "por la fuerza a las casas y reclutan violentamente a la gente".
The union leader said that police entered by force at home and violently recruit people. "
Asimismo, indicó que los efectivos no les han permitido avanzar en su marcha a la capital hondurena (Tegucigalpa), "no nos ha dejado avanzar porque a los buses se le pinchan las llantas a punta de balas", afirmó.
He indicated that the numbers have not made progress in its march to the capital of Honduras (Tegucigalpa), "has not left us to move because he plays the buses tires to tip bullets," he said.
Esta misma situación fue reportada más temprano, por la directora del Centro de Investigación y Promoción en Derechos Humanos (Ciprodeh) Reina Rivera y el sacerdote Ismael Moreno, que ratificaron que han sido amenazados.
The same situation was reported earlier by the director of the Center for Research and Development in Human Rights (CIPRODEH) Reina Rivera and the priest Ismael Moreno, who confirmed that they have been threatened.
Moreno sostuvo que en comunidades rurales, especialmente en las zonas bananeras, el ejército ha emprendido una labor de reclutamiento forzado de jóvenes, incluso menores de edad, para "fortalecer sus bases".
Moreno argued that in rural communities, especially in the banana plantations, the Army has undertaken a work of forced recruitment of young people, including minors, "to strengthen its foundations."
Mencionó, además, que tiene informes de que "la vieja guardia" de las fuerzas armadas está apoyando el golpe, mientras "en la nueva generación hay gente más educada que se está inclinando a las demandas de las democracias modernas".
Also mentioned that have reports that the "old guard" of the armed forces supporting the coup, while "the new generation are more educated people are inclined to the demands of modern democracies."
Reina Rivera señaló que canales de televisión, emisoras de radio y las casas de diversos activistas sociales están vigiladas por el Ejército.
Reina Rivera said that television channels, radio stations and the homes of several activists are guarded by the Army.
En el caso de que Zelaya sea encarcelado si regresa a Honduras, como lo ha advertido el nuevo presidente Roberto Micheletti, se presentaría un escenario "muy complejo", dijo Rivera, quien agregó que la posición de la comunidad internacional será "determinante" para solventar la situación.
In the event that Zelaya be imprisoned if returned to Honduras, as it has warned the new president Roberto Micheletti, presented a "very complex," said Rivera, adding that the position of the international community will be "crucial" to solve the situation.
En relación a estas versiones el ministro de defensa del gobierno de facto de Honduras, Adolfo Sevilla, afirmó que en las Fuerzas Armadas de esta nación "están llenos todos los cupos con los soldados, y si hubiera un problema fronterizo, debemos estar tranquilos porque en ese momento todo hondureño se convierte en un miembro de las fuerzas armadas al servicio de la patria".
In relation to these versions of the defense minister of the de facto government of Honduras, Adolfo Seville, said that the Armed Forces of this nation "all places are filled with soldiers, and if there is a border problem, we must remain calm because then everything becomes a Honduran member of the armed forces to serve the motherland. "
El golpe de Estado en Honduras ha recibido la condena generalizada de la comunidad internacional y Zelaya anunció que regresará a Tegucigalpa (capital de honduras) este fin de semana, cuando se cumpla el plazo de 72 horas dado por la Organización de Estados Americanos (OEA) al Gobierno de Micheletti para que le restituyan en la jefatura del Estado.
The coup in Honduras has received widespread condemnation from the international community and Zelaya announced that it will return to Tegucigalpa (capital of Honduras) this weekend, when the deadline of 72 hours given by the Organization of American States (OAS) Micheletti for the government to return at the head of state. http://translate.google.com/translate?hl...pot.com%2F
"The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it." Karl Marx
"He would, wouldn't he?" Mandy Rice-Davies. When asked in court whether she knew that Lord Astor had denied having sex with her.
“I think it would be a good idea” Ghandi, when asked about Western Civilisation.
TEGUCIGALPA/BERLIN
(Own report) - Right up to the putsch, Honduran President, Manuel Zelaya's liberalist opponents were being supported by forces close to the German Free Democratic Party (FDP). Zelaya's rival and current presidential candidate, Elvin Santos, is among them, as well as Roberto Micheletti. Micheletti took over the office of president following Zelaya's kidnapping, last weekend. During the course of his presidency, Zelaya, who, just a few years ago, had himself been supported by the FDP affiliated Friedrich Naumann Foundation, turned his back on the German organization's neo-liberal policy. He turned instead toward the ALBA international alliance ("Alternative Bolivariana para las Américas" or Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas) formed around Venezuela, Bolivia and Cuba. This has led to hefty power struggles inside his party. His opponents, who up until two weeks ago were being advised by an FDP affiliated strategist, have close ties to the Naumann Foundation. The putsch resolved the conflict to the advantage of the partners in the Naumann Foundation. Following the putsch, the representative of the foundation in Tegucigalpa wrote that Zelaya shares the responsibility for the military coup; he is "more the culprit than the victim."
Strategy Consultation
In November 2005, the presidential candidate of the Liberal Party (Liberal Party of Honduras - PLH), Manuel Zelaya, won the elections. The German political advisor, Peter Schroeder, had already been supporting the PLH in their election campaign, at the time in favor of Zelaya. From 1971 - 1982 Schroeder had worked for the FDP, his last position having been that of director of the "Communication and Service" section in the FDP's national headquarters. Today he heads his own communications and consultant firm in the vicinity of Bonn, but always works for organizations affiliated with the FDP. At the beginning of his term of office, Zelaya had greatly appreciated Schroeder's support. "Without the strategy counseling of Peter Schroeder (...) I would not have won the elections" appraised the Honduran president in January 2006.[1]
With Foundation Background
At the time, the German liberals held an unusually influential position in the PHL through the FDP-affiliated Friedrich Naumann Foundation. More than half of the 62 PLH parliamentarians had been in contact with the German foundation and graduated from their training or advanced training courses. "We now have a 39 member Naumann Caucus in the Honduran Parliament" triumphantly proclaimed the project coordinator of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation in Honduras, Rosbinda Sabillón.[2] As the foundation declared at the time, four ministers and four vice-ministers in the new Zelaya government had a "foundation background." Eight other persons evolving directly from the foundation's "projects' environment" were, under the new president, promoted to directors of the highest state offices. "Among the 165 elected liberal mayors, about 60 evolved out of the milieu of the projects of the Liberal Youth organizations," reported the Naumann Foundation at the time, seeing their young talent "in the starting blocks for political careers." They would seek "in the coming four years of liberal government" to contribute to the "consolidation of this success," particularly by supporting the application of what they saw as the "urgently necessary liberal reforms in Honduras."
Orientation Conflict
A turning point came in this thriving cooperation between Zalaya and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, when the president, in the course of his term of office, turned toward the ALBA international alliance and its political objectives. The ALBA nations seek to extract themselves from the hegemony of the USA and EU and have radically changed their course away from neo-liberal economic models. But this is not to be achieved in alliance with the German foundation. The Naumann headquarters in Berlin was outraged when two of its apprentices were fired, for rejecting measures taken by the president. Presidential Minister Yani Rosenthal was dismissed and Central Bank Director, Gabriela Nuñez had to step down, when she stubbornly refused to accept bank transfers from the ALBA member state, Venezuela.[3] The conflict escalated, when the president announced his intention to call for a referendum. This referendum was to have the people of Honduras decide whether next November, simultaneous with the general (presidential, parliamentary and municipal) elections, there should be a "forth ballot box" ("cuarta urna"). This "fourth ballot box" was to determine if a referendum should be held on the convening of a constituent assembly. Such a step is characteristic of the ALBA nations and is a means used for their determined rejection of neo-liberal economic policies.
Intensified "Consultation"
FDP circles stepped up their efforts to thwart these intentions from being realized. As far back as February of last year, the FDP Vice Chairman and spokesperson for foreign policy affairs, Werner Hoyer, held consultations with Micheletti, President of the Honduran Parliament, at the time, who, following the putsch, is currently president. The objective was an "intensification of the Naumann Foundation's consultation activities particularly in view of the upcoming internal party elections in November (2008, gfp.com)"[4], which were won by former Vice President Elvin Santos. Santos belongs to the "traditional" wing of the PLH, which has consistently cooperated closely with the FDP and its Naumann Foundation. He has announced that should he win the presidential elections, he would withdraw Honduras from ALBA.
Rejection
Policy and strategy advisor Peter Schröder, who has close ties to the FDP, also met from June 13 to 16 with Santos and his followers.[5] The meeting took place under the cover of the Naumann Foundation and was focused on the popular referendum planned for Sunday. In a discussion with german-foreign-policy.com, Schröder declared that it was to be expected, that Zelaya's "cuarta Urna" - a vote on whether to create a constituent assembly - would win the referendum. In the meeting, the participants also agreed, according to Schröder, that Zelaya's opponent Santos would make an appearance on Monday, June 29. The PLH presidential candidate would then publicly demand a rejection of the creation of a constituent assembly that - as was to be expected - would be approved by the popular referendum, Schröder explained. In unison with the majority of western media, the German strategy advisor alleges that Zelaya's "cuarta urna" was only aimed at prolonging the term of his incumbency. Zelaya had rejected these accusations just prior to the coup. "I have no option allowing me to remain in office," he declared in an interview with the Spanish daily "El Pais". "The sole option would be to violate the constitution, which I will not do. (...) I will terminate my term of office January 27 2010."[6]
No Other Choice
In the aftermath of the putsch, the representative of the Naumann Foundation in Tegucigalpa accuses Zelaya of sharing responsibility for the coup d'état. According to his standpoint, Zelaya is not "completely without fault" for these developments, because he provoked both the legislative and the executive with the question of a referendum. The kidnapped president is "more the culprit than the victim" of this development. After all, his approach left the putschists "no other choice."[7]
Anti-ALBA Interventions
Over the past few years, the Friedrich Naumann Foundation has, on several occasions, been conspicuous with its activities against the governments of ALBA member nations, for example by supporting secessionists seeking a drastic weakening of Bolivia's central government (german-foreign-policy.com reported [8]). The foundation has been consistently confronted with public protests against its interference in the domestic affairs of sovereign nations.[9] But these protests are hardly noticed by the German population. The foundation's support for Zelaya's Honduran opponents is but a continuation of its political interference in Latin America.
MEMORANDUM
Re: Legal situation of the transition government in Honduras
June 29, 2009 legal description of the Honduraian "coup" which saw President Mel Zelaya's removed from power by the armed forces. The document is being pushed in diplomatic circles by those opposed to President Zelaya but has not otherwise appeared. This is the english version of the document.
It should be noted that the document is clearly designed to be a defence of the President's removal.
"The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it." Karl Marx
"He would, wouldn't he?" Mandy Rice-Davies. When asked in court whether she knew that Lord Astor had denied having sex with her.
“I think it would be a good idea” Ghandi, when asked about Western Civilisation.
US Special Forces briefing to Congressman Miller exposes involvement in 19 Latin American countries during 2009 including Honduras, 17 May 2009
This confidential US Special Forces (7th, US Southern Command), briefing dated 17 May 2009 was created for Florida Congressman Miller. Although unclassified, it specifies a For Official Use Only (FOUO) distribution restriction.
On page 7 of the document, it is proudly proclaimed that the 7h Special Forces Group has conducted missions in every Latin American country.
On page 10 a map is given, revealing Special Forces deployments to 19 Latin American countries during 2009 alone, including two bases or missions in Honduras.
The briefing provides a history of the Special Forces such as its genesis as the covert action arm of the OSS (the intelligence arm of which became the CIA). Notable is a graph of Special Forces growth. Its numbers now substantially eclipse its previous 1968 peak during the height of the cold war.
"The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it." Karl Marx
"He would, wouldn't he?" Mandy Rice-Davies. When asked in court whether she knew that Lord Astor had denied having sex with her.
“I think it would be a good idea” Ghandi, when asked about Western Civilisation.
02-07-2009, 05:51 PM (This post was last modified: 02-07-2009, 05:53 PM by Jan Klimkowski.)
Magda - big kudos for your efforts in this thread.
Quote: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.
They take us for fucking idiots, assuming that only "spics" speak Spanish.
"It means this War was never political at all, the politics was all theatre, all just to keep the people distracted...."
"Proverbs for Paranoids 4: You hide, They seek."
"They are in Love. Fuck the War." Gravity's Rainbow, Thomas Pynchon
"Ccollanan Pachacamac ricuy auccacunac yahuarniy hichascancuta." The last words of the last Inka, Tupac Amaru, led to the gallows by men of god & dogs of war
Surprise ! Surprise! Pro coup publisher claims there is no media censorship. He also claims there has been NO COUP! This will come as something of a surprise to all the people who can no longer work at their place of employment in the non-pro-coup media as they have been closed down by the military! It will also come a surprise to know there is no coup to all those people who have been beaten and disappeared by the military and those who have had their children forcibly removed from their families to be used by the military for who knows what. It will also come as a surprise to President Manuel Zelaya that there is no coup. He could have sworn that he was arrested and forcibly removed from his residence and the country in a military plane where he still is. Or was that a helicopter? I suppose that means he can come back as it never really happened.
Obviously a massive psy-ops is being conducted on the people of Honduras.
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Edgardo Dumas, publisher of the pro-coup daily La Tribuna in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, and the country’s former Defense Minister, is saying that he speaks for the Inter American Press Association (IAPA where he sits on one of 13 committees) to claim there is no media censorship under the coup regime in Honduras.
(This would not be the first time that the IAPA and its newspaper owners acted in ways contrary to their stated mission in Latin America.)
Well, of course his newspaper isn’t being censored: It spouts only the authorized propaganda of the coup regime.
Dumas said, in this interview today with W Radio in Bogotá, Colombia:
Dumas: Right now, today, July 2, I don’t see any limit on freedom of the press. The four newspapers are putting out the impartial and true news… No TV or radio station has been interfered with.”
Q. Are you sure that the press is functioning normally today in Honduras? Dumas: I am absolutely certain... I have no doubt about it.
Q. So the rumors that are coming about censorship aren’t true. Dumas: They are totally and absolutely false.
Q. You are a representative of the IAPA, no? Dumas: Yes
Q. And as representative of IAPA you support the coup? Dumas: I don’t support a coup because there has been no coup…
Q. The cutting of CNN was a coincidence? Dumas: There were no cuts… right now the press is working independently without any restriction… That CNN is badly informing, I have no doubt… CNN is broadcasting on the payroll of the dictator of Venezuela Hugo Chavez.
Q. It pains me to ask this question. Should a representative of IAPA, who represents journalists like us, take sides in a situation like this? Dumas: I’m not taking sides. I’m trying to be the most objective and impartial I can be…
Q. Pardon me. You say CNN is at the service of Chavez, isn’t that taking sides? Dumas: …It is not informing the world of what is happening in this country
Q. Mr. Dumas. Are you saying that as a representative of the IAPA? Dumas: I am vice president of the committee of Press Freedom of the IAPA in Honduras.
Q. Is what you are saying, has it been consulted with the IAPA or is it your personal opinion? Dumas: It’s my personal opinion.
="MsoNormal">Q. A vice president… Dumas: For three years I’ve been informing with the IAPA… about freedom of expression in our country…
Q. It’s clear. For you there is no repression, there has not been a coup, there is no disinformation, what is happening is of total normality, and it is CNN and the international press that is disinforming? Dumas: Exactly.
Q. Thank you very much, Mr. Dumas.
Every board member of the IAPA must be made to watch these following videos, demonstrating the brutal closure of TV and radio stations under the coup regime in Honduras.
Watch the coup's soldiers taking Channel 36 TV off the air:
Watch the coup's soldiers force Radio Progreso 103.3 FM to cease broadcasting:
That scene is from 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, after the station had reported that a coup d’etat had taken place. Spontaneously, listeners of the station in the nearby neighborhood gathered outside its gates to find out what happened. That turne d into a demonstration in defense of the radio station, with chants of “People! Unite!”
At seven minutes into the video, a radio station employee comes out and says “we’ve decided to stop broadcasting.”
Here’s what happened next:
A radio station employee explains how they were convinced by the soldiers to stop broadcasting. A local citizen then addresses the crowd: “Radio Progreso is the voice of all the people of Progreso…. They are informing us that to avoid confrontations… they have decided to close operations... They are going to close the radio frequency… Radio Progeso asks that the people organize ourselves.”
Then a group of soldiers leaves, heading for one of the various trucks they arrived in, as people yell “get out, get out.”
Even the Miami Herald, publishing from the city where IAPA is based, has reported the true facts about massive media censorship under the coup regime, so the IAPA can’t claim to be unaware of it:
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras -- At the close of the one of this week's nightly news broadcasts, Channel 21 news anchor Indira Raudales made a plea: ``We have a right to information! This can't be happening in the 21st century!''
If Raudales offered more details, viewers did not hear them: the screen briefly went to static.
Her on-air appeal for freedom of the press came as the newly installed Honduran government kept several news outlets closed, detained international reporters, and periodically interrupted the signal of CNN en español.
Reporters for The Associated Press were taken away in military vehicles and Venezuela's Telesur network -- and any other station supportive of toppled president Manuel Zelaya -- are still off the air.
Stations that are broadcasting carry only news friendly to the new government. Several local papers have yet to publish information about Zelaya's international support in neighboring countries.
''They militarized Channel 36, which is owned by me,'' said Esdras López, director of the show, ''Asi se Informa.'' ``They brought more than a battalion -- 22 armed men -- took the channel and said nobody could come in and nobody could come out...
The dishonest statements made by Dumas, in the name of the Interamerican Press Association, are an outrage.
All too typical of so many IAPA member newspapers - it is a trade association for industry owners, after all - they are pro-regime in their own land, and therefore do not provoke the censorship and repression that authentic and independent journalists incur, so they are willing to go to the extreme of lying to cover up repression against the more journalistic competition.
I call upon the IAPA to denounce his statements, correct them through its own public statement, and summarily remove Edgardo Dumas from all positions within the organization.
If you’d like to do the same, here is an online form at its website where you can send them a message.
Or you can call (305) 634-2465.
If you get a response out of IAPA, write me at narconews@gmail.com so we can share it with all. Update: IAPA executive director Julio Muñoz thanked me for passing along this information, and shortly thereafter sent us this statement:
Complaints of restrictions on the press continue
Miami (July 2, 2009)—The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) today repeated its call for full respect for press freedom to the new Honduran authorities. The call came as the organization's ongoing monitoring of the situation in the Central American country compiled complaints from news media and journalists that they are still restricted, intimidated and attacked while they attempt to report.
IAPA President Enrique Santos Calderón declared, “To guarantee to the people their right to receive full information the government should not only cease any limitations on the work of the press but also protect and ensure that all media, no matter what their editorial policies, can work freely and in safety.”
“Freedom of the press and of expression is a shared asset belonging to all within a society,” Santos Calderón stated. “And nobody has the right to claim he has the legal authority to decide what the people or society can or must receive as information.” He cited Principle 1 of the Declaration of Chapultepec, which reads “The exercise of this freedom (of the press) is not something authorities grant, it is an inalienable right of the people.”
The chairman of the IAPA’s Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, Robert Rivard, editor of the San Antonio Express-News, Texas, added that “we cannot allow ourselves to be misguided by the existing polarization and permit discrimination against the media, reporters and columnists who might be on one side or the other politically.” He recalled that the basis “of press freedom is plurality and diversity” and that “in this conflict we are seeing that all reporters and editors are being affected in one way or another by the conflicting groups.”
IAPA concern is based on numerous actions and complaints in the wake of last Sunday’s coup d’etat, especially incidents, restrictions and censorship that the broadcast media have been subjected to. Although some television channels have returned to the air following Sunday's suspension, including state-run Canal 8and privately-owned Canal 6 and Canal 11, there have been complaints about control of the information being put out; international television channel Telesur, meanwhile, remains off the air.
In another offense, correspondents from The Associated Press (Esteban Félix, Nicolás García and two of their assistants) and Telesur (Adriana Sivori, María José Díaz and Larry Sánchez) were arrested on Monday while sending video and photos from a hotel room in the Honduran capital when armed members of the military burst in and took them to the Immigration Service office. They were released after it was found they were in the country legally.
Reporters, photographers and cameramen from various news media have filed complaints of attacks by the Common Crimes Unit of the Attorney General’s Office. Among them were three reporters with the Canal 42program “Entrevistado” (Interviewed) who were attacked on Sunday with sticks and stones by demonstrators yelling insults who then seized and smashed their cameras. A similar situation was reported by Radio Globoin Tegucigalpa, from where journalists were temporarily taken to the local Attorney General’s Office, whileRadio Progreso in El Progreso, Yoro province, was “invaded by a contingent of around 25 soldiers” according to a press release issued by the station.
Another TV station not allowed to broadcast was Canal 66 Maya TV. In statements to the San Pedro Sula newspaper Tiempo, Eduardo Maldonado, a former presidential candidate and host of the radio and television program “Hable como Habla” (Say What You Will), reported that on Sunday “They shut us down and locked us out, saying it was on orders.” He added that although broadcasts were resumed on Monday “We didn’t put out full information, only the official line.”
Print media, while less hindered in its efforts to report the news in both its print editions and its online versions, was nonetheless not exempt from restrictions and hostility by the warring groups. Some editors, after receiving constant threats against themselves and their journalists -- in their newsrooms and in cell phone messages -- have decided to protect their families by moving them out of their hometowns or out of the country.
Among other developments, the San Pedro Sula newspaper La Prensa reported that on Monday a mob threw sticks and stones at the front of its building and painted slogans in support of ousted President Manuel Zelaya. News photographer Juan Ramon Sosa of La Tribuna was beaten up, insulted and had his camera taken by members of the federal police in Tegucigalpa while covering a demonstration. Meanwhile, several newspapers saw their distribution facilities damaged, from vending kiosks to delivery trucks.
Carlos Mauricio Flores, editor of the Tegucigalpa daily paper El Heraldo, confirmed to the IAPA that its reporters have received phone threats and he also revealed that last Saturday (June 27) “a self-styled People’s Commando sent to several e-mail addresses a message with degrading photos and text about at least eight journalists from independent media and called on the public to punish them.”
On a final note, the IAPA officers pointed out that many of the attacks on the Honduran press, especially those encouraged by the government, have been criticized by the organization for years now. It cited, in particular, discrimination in the placement of official advertising and the use of state resources to reward or punish journalists, as well as payments to reporters, the constant damaging remarks made about journalists and media by senior officials, the use of public media outlets as organs of propaganda, and the limitation and manipulation of official information.
In recent years a number of Honduran journalists have been forced to leave the country and there is still a high level of impunity in the unsolved cases of the murders of two journalists and two news media consultants.
That's quite the opposite version of events as that forwarded by Mr. Dumas.
IAPA made no direct comment in response to my questions about his standing to make such statements for the organization. http://narcosphere.narconews.com/thefiel...p-honduras
"The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it." Karl Marx
"He would, wouldn't he?" Mandy Rice-Davies. When asked in court whether she knew that Lord Astor had denied having sex with her.
“I think it would be a good idea” Ghandi, when asked about Western Civilisation.
New kind of 'coup' - stage a coup and then say it is not a coup. Obama is acting as if he's upset by the 'coup' that is not a 'coup', but doing nothing. If he were just to call the people behind the coup, I'd bet they'd just melt back to their barracks.... One can only assume the USG is OK with the coup, but thinks they should put up a false face and mumble some opposition.
"Let me issue and control a nation's money and I care not who writes the laws. - Mayer Rothschild
"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience! People are obedient in the face of poverty, starvation, stupidity, war, and cruelty. Our problem is that grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem!" - Howard Zinn
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will" - Frederick Douglass
Weasel words from the US State Department.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Today the Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), Jose Miguel Insulza, is traveling to Tegucigalpa to personally inform the coup government, in place since Sunday's military coup d'etat, that if they don't step down by Saturday and allow for President Manuel Zelaya's return to power, then Honduras will be suspended from the most important multilateral organization in the region. The suspension will not just be symbolic, it also includes ceasing all economic aid from the Inter-American Development Bank, which provides millions of dollars in support to the Central American nation, and the imposition of sanctions for human rights violations through the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).
The coup government, led by Roberto Micheletti, has said it will remain in power "with or without" the OAS. We'll see how things develop today.
Meanwhile, the United States is the only remaining country in the Americas still maintaining diplomatic relations with Honduras after Sunday's coup. The US Ambassador to Honduras, Hugo Llorens, remains in Tegucigalpa, apparently "negotiating" with the coup government to find a solution. However, President Zelaya, the constitutional and democratically elected president of Honduras since 2005, has stated he will not "negotiate" his return to power. It's ridiculous to request a president overthrown in an illegal coup negotiate with the criminals who overthrew him in order to reestablish constitutional order.
There are a lot of things going on behind the scenes that the US Government is, unfortunately, involved in that will soon be exposed.
Check out how the State Department is finding ways to get out of sanctioning Honduras and pressuring the coup government to step down by now legally classifying what took place as a "military coup d'etat" under US law. Note how instead of referring to the coup in English, the State Dept official does it in Spanish, as though that somehow makes it mean something else (yeah, since it's said in Spanish, it doesn't mean the same under US law):
Excerpt from Wednesday's State Department press briefing:
"QUESTION: And so this is properly classified as a military coup?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL ONE: Well, I mean, it’s a golpe de estado. The military moved against the president; they removed him from his home and they expelled him from a country, so the military participated in a coup. However, the transfer of leadership was not a military action. The transfer of leadership was done by the Honduran congress, and therefore the coup, while it had a military component, it has a larger – it is a larger event."
The Obama administration is trying desperately to save its image before the world, but not break ranks with its allies in Honduras. It's very pleased with the outcome of the coup, just not the method used to get there. So now they're saying, it was a "golpe de estado", and even though the armed military guards in ski masks kidnapped President Zelaya from his bed at gunpoint in the middle of the night and forced him into exile, since it was a leader of Congress, a civilian, and not a military general, who subsequently named himself the de facto president, then it's not a "military coup".
