Posted on 09/21/2009 7:35:51 PM PDT by behzinlea
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, it is always an honor to meet with President Arias and exchange views on a lot of the issues that not only affect our hemisphere but, indeed, the entire world, because he is a global leader (inaudible) respected across the planet.
Today, of course, we talked about Honduras and the return of President Zelaya. Certainly, the United States supports the San Jose Accords that President Arias negotiated, but it’s imperative that dialogue begin, that there be a channel of communication between President Zelaya and the de facto regime in Honduras. And it’s also imperative that the return of President Zelaya does not lead to any conflict or violence, but instead, that everyone act in a peaceful way to try to find some common ground.
Once again, the Costa Ricans will be using their good offices to try to encourage that to occur, because now that President Zelaya is back, it would be opportune to restore him to his position under appropriate circumstances, get on with the election that is currently scheduled for November, have a peaceful transition of presidential authority, and get Honduras back to constitutional and democratic order in a very – on a very clear path toward that goal.
So that’s what we are hoping to see, but let me turn now to President Arias.
PRESIDENT ARIAS: I think this is the best opportunity, the best time, now that Zelaya is back in his country (inaudible) to sign the San Jose Accord. It’s all we have on the table. There is no B plan. And when we wrote this San Jose Accords, it was after listening to everybody (inaudible).
Perhaps the main difficulty has been for Zelaya to be accepted by the de facto government (inaudible) constitutional president of Honduras. But now that he’s back, we just have to put more pressure (inaudible) the whole world, the Europeans, and (inaudible) the U.S. has been very helpful (inaudible) a lot of pressure on the de facto government, as well as lot of Latin America. But I think it is now the right time for them to sign it.
QUESTION: Was his return counterproductive? A question to both of you: Do you think that his return is setting talks back?
PRESIDENT ARIAS: No. I mean, I’m sorry, I didn’t --
QUESTION: Would you say the return is counterproductive?
PRESIDENT ARIAS: No, I don’t see it (inaudible). I mean, if he’s back – I don’t know, he got in, but I think it makes it easier to (inaudible) for us to put some more pressure on the de facto government to sign the San Jose Accord and – well, there is need for more dialogue, for sure. That dialogue can take place in Tegucigalpa or in San Jose, Costa Rica, if it was necessary. But the main difficulty has been Zelaya’s return. Now that he’s back, it’s going to be much easier.
QUESTION: Do you see a danger that the de facto government may act against President Zelaya? I mean, after all, these are the people who hustled him onto a plane in the middle of the night. Have you sought to warn the de facto government against taking actions against (inaudible) or doing anything else to interfere with his ability to speak?
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, we have certainly communicated very directly our expectation that there will be order and no provocation on either side. This is not just a one-sided request. It goes to both sides. Both sides have supporters who need to be restrained and careful in their actions in the days ahead.
But as President Arias said, now is the moment for the two sides to try to work out an agreement to the benefit of the people of Honduras. And as President Arias said, it’s hard to think about how they will come up with something other than the San Jose Accords. They’re – they represent an enormous amount of time, effort, and participation by both sides.
But the important thing is that they begin the dialogue. And if they can come up with their own agreement, we would be fine with that. We just want to see this matter resolved peacefully, with an understanding that there will be the remainder of President Zelaya’s term to be respected, that the elections can go on, that there will be a peaceful transfer of power. I think everyone knows what the milestones need to be. It’s just a question of persuading and convincing and using our best efforts to try to get both sides to reach that point.
QUESTION: Have you warned them today that (inaudible)?
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, we have. We have warned – we have spoken directly to multiple parties and very clearly said that there had to be calm and peace in the streets. I think that the government imposed a curfew, we just learned, to try to get people off the streets so that there couldn't be unforeseen developments. But there ultimately in the next hours has to be some effort to bring the parties together to resolve this between them.
QUESTION: Would it make sense for President Arias to go himself to make sure that things do go smoothly? It seems that the risks are high. On one hand, you’ve got pressure to solve the problem, but you also have the risk that it could all backfire.
PRESIDENT ARIAS: Yes, I would be willing to go, but if both sides, both parties, ask me to go to Tegucigalpa, I would (inaudible).
Obama and Clinton. Destroying one American ally at a time. All in due time.
sad
Hillary, you ignorant slut. Zelaya is already rallying his thugs by shouting from the roof of the Brazilian embassy. He's trying to spark a civil war.
But you knew damn well he was going to do that.
Beyond sad. This is outrageous!
The unspoken subtext here seems to be a claim that the Honduran people really, truly wanted more of Zelaya, so that law be damned, they shouldn’t be denied more of Zelaya.
On the opposite side, cynics who have watched one after another banana republic in the area would have to be saying that Zelaya was not truly that popular but was trying to strong arm his way into getting rubber stamp votes.
Why is there almost no coverage of this angle? Where are our renowned pollsters, why aren’t they screaming from the rooftops that the Honduran people are utterly smitten with Zelaya (if in fact, they are)?
Look for US military intervention to take focus off of declining poll numbers. Just like Serbia with the master BJ himself.
Wouldn’t it be a SHAME if, while he’s waving, some of the Honduran army bullets aimed at his renegade supporters went a bit off course? “Oops, sorry Brazil for the bloody mess. We’ll help you clean it up.”
Zalaya is a Chavista. He doesn't give a damn about the Hondurans. He would starve half the population to hang onto power as dictator-for-life over the remaining half.
And Obama and Clinton would do everything in their power to help him.
Honduras is—or was—the most US-friendly ally in Central America. We helped them write their constitution during Reagan’s administration. As a reward for their faith in America and their friendliness toward the American people, Obama is about to disembowel them alive to please the Marxist thug Chavez.
Hopefully, they can give him the same welcome they gave William Walker.
There will be Honduran blood spilled. And it is on the hands of Obama and Clinton.
It seems to be so senseless. If the Honduran people really don’t want more of Zelaya, and he’s pretty obviously bent on mischief, why are we participating in this brazen act of bullying? What is to gain in it for us or for the world?
I could hardly blame the world for looking at America and concluding that we are a strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. If not something even worse.
“Look for US military intervention”
Yes, under the cover of it being an operation of the OAS. And Clintoon and Obama just made sure Cuba was admitted. Can’t wait to watch US Army Blackhawks carrying Cuban and Venezuelan “peacekeepers” as they “restore democracy” to Honduras.
Bump. I'm too angry to say much else at this point.
Bump.
If Zelaya is holed up in the Brazilian embassy, isn’t that under the sovereign auspices of Brazil, and he’s not really on Honduran territory - even though these hacks keep saying he is “in Honduras”?
True. He’s in “Brazil” in Honduras, trying to foment a violent overthrow of the legitimate government.
Agreed.
Posted this on another thread. Seems appropriate to re-post here:
Micheletti could announce: “Honduran officials are aware that Mr. Zeleya enjoys the hospitality of Brazilian hosts. As a sovereign territory Mr. Zeleya is welcome to enjoy his stay; however, should he decide to stroll off the premises, Honduran police will be obliged to detain him and place him under arrest for violations of the Honduran Constitution and pursuant to the arrest warrant issued several months ago.”
Oh...then add, “Have a nice day”
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