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Honduras’ deposed would-be “strongman,” Manuel Zelaya called on US President Obama to send troops to help him regain control of the Honduran government. Zelaya was president of Honduras until he was removed from office earlier this year by joint action of the country’s supreme court and legislature. “Micheletti has pissed on the agreement we made to restore my power,” Zelaya angrily alleged. “He is going ahead with the scheduled elections without my approval. He has refused to include my proposed constitutional amendment to extend my term of office. A new government will be formed without my consent.” Acting President Roberto...

Link only due to copyright http://www.theage.com.au/world/deal-may-return-zelaya-20091015-gz4m.html

The problem with African coup d’etats is not just the fact that they flout constitutionalism — they also have an unfortunate tendency to propel virtual clowns to power whose only distinction is force of arms. Moussa Dadis Camara in Guinea is a perfect example. A small-time army captain whom nobody had heard of before, stormed to power in December last year promising a clean sweep. The regime of Lansana Conte, who had just died, had presided since 1984 over a basketcase of a country, dirt-poor despite having perhaps the leading deposits of bauxite in the world, plus a fair amount...

Just eight months into a Democratic administration, Newsmax is running a piece speculating about a military overthrow of the elected leadership of the United States government. Seriously. Newsmax columnist John L. Perry encourages his right-wing readers not to "dismiss" the notion of an American military coup as "unrealistic." America isn't the Third World. If a military coup does occur here it will be civilized. That it has never happened doesn't mean it wont [sic]. Describing what may be afoot is not to advocate it.... Imagine a bloodless coup to restore and defend the Constitution through an interim administration that would...

The factions fighting for control of Honduras have begun talking days before a meeting that many hope will end a political crisis sparked by Central America's first coup in more than a decade. Interim President Roberto Micheletti told reporters that a dialogue is "beginning" between his supporters and those of President Manuel Zelaya, who was forced from office on June 28 by a military-backed coup and is now holed up in the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa. "We are having talks with different sectors officially, with people from Mr. Zelaya's side and with others," Micheletti said Friday outside the presidential palace,...

Democracy must be restored in Honduras and a political crisis caused by the overthrow of President Manuel Zelaya must end, Spain's prime minister said at the U.N. General Assembly on Thursday. "We won't accept the coup," Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero told world leaders. Zelaya was ousted in a June coup in the worst political crisis in Central America in decades...

Honduras' de facto ruler does not plan to confront Brazil, but says the country's ousted president can stay at the embassy for "5 to 10 years," Reuters reported Tuesday. Deposed President Manuel Zelaya's surprise return to Honduras to reclaim his seat had him holed up in the Brazilian Embassy Tuesday, saying he feared for his life as heavily armed soldiers marched outside and helicopters buzzed overhead. Water, electricity and phone lines had been cut, and neighboring buildings taken over by the military.... Zelaya, forced out of his country at gunpoint, triumphantly popped up in the capital on Monday...Interim President Roberto...

The United States knew about an abortive coup against Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in 2002, and may even have taken part, former US president Jimmy Carter has told a Colombian newspaper.

The United States knew about an abortive coup against Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in 2002, and may even have taken part, former US president Jimmy Carter has told a Colombian newspaper. "I think there is no doubt that in 2002, the United States had at the very least full knowledge about the coup, and could even have been directly involved," Carter said in an interview with El Tiempo published Sunday. The former US leader said it is understandable that Chavez continues to blame the United States for the failed overthrow attempt. The Venezuelan president, considered a bulwark of leftism in...

Six months after it announced its strategy for Afghanistan, the Obama administration is sending mixed signals about its objectives there and how many troops are needed to achieve them. The conflicting messages are drawing increasing ire from U.S. commanders in Afghanistan and frustrating military leaders, who are trying to figure out how to demonstrate that they're making progress in the 12-18 months that the administration has given them. Adding to the frustration, according to officials in Kabul and Washington, are White House and Pentagon directives made over the last six weeks that Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. military...

European Union leaders said they're considering a visa ban for leaders of the June military coup in Honduras. The EU countries are considering the legality of barring officials of Honduras's de facto government from traveling to the European Union following the ouster of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, the EUObserver reported Wednesday. Spain already already barred Honduran officials from entering its territories. "Until a peaceful settlement is found, the EU will stand ready to take further restrictive measures including targeting those members of the de facto government who are seen to be blocking progress on a negotiated solution," ministers said in...

Seven men convicted of killing the Grenadian prime minister in the 1983 coup that spurred a US military invasion of the Caribbean island state (pictured: US soldiers arrest Marxist militiamen) have been released from jail. AFP - Seven men convicted of the murder of Grenadan prime minister Maurice Bishop during a 1983 coup were set free Saturday, 26 years after the killing that spurred a US military invasion. Former deputy prime minister Bernard Coard was released, along with former ministers and senior officers from the People's Revolutionary Army, after Governor General Carlyle Glean reviewed their sentences. Scores of relatives, former...

Americas: The U.S. hit Honduras with harsh new sanctions last Thursday, slashing $30 million in aid. Nothing new, but the timing's strange, given that the rest of the world is starting to normalize ties with the tiny state.The June 28 ouster of Honduran President Mel Zelaya is rapidly shaping up as a never-ending crisis for the Obama administration. The more it tries to punish Honduras for getting rid of its would-be dictator, the more the freedom-loving Hondurans dig in to keep their democracy. That isn't going to be good for us in the long run. Back in June, Zelaya launched...

HONDURAS: WHEN IS A COUP NOT A COUP?Coup versus Coup D’Etatby Janine GobenA few weeks ago there was a constitutional change of power in Honduras; not usually an event which would cause the world to get involved in the internal government of a country, especially a country enjoying the freedom of an effective democracy. IT WILL BECOME A DEFINING MOMENT IN THE DEFINITION OF DEMOCRACYDuring the early morning of June 28th, 2009, an event occurred in the small Central American country of Honduras which will become a defining time in Honduras’ history; indeed, it will become a defining moment in...

A month after President Manuel Zelaya was toppled in a coup, the Honduran politicians and business leaders behind his ouster insist they would rather take months of international isolation than let him back. The June 28 coup, when soldiers seized Zelaya and sent him into exile on an army plane, has been roundly condemned. Foreign governments and multinational lenders have frozen some aid programs, and pro-Zelaya protests at home have disrupted cargo shipments, straining the impoverished country's economy. Despite indications last week that a deal to let Zelaya back and pacify Washington might be possible, the de facto government headed...

Congress, the Courts and the Joint Chiefs do! Since the most powerful people in America fear the wrath of Obamanation, maybe you should too! They are indeed a dangerous bunch, after all… Every member of the Supreme Court, every member of congress, every member of the Joint Chiefs, most members of the DOD, CIA, FBI, Secret Service and state run media, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, PBS, NPR, MSNBC, Fox and print news, knows that Barack Hussein Obama does NOT meet Article II – Section I constitutional requirements for the office he holds. By his own biography, there is NO way...

Once again, as he has in every available opportunity since he usurped the presidency, Barack Obama has sided with dictators, would-be dictators, and despots, to the detriment of those who love freedom and justice. His latest western hemisphere foreign policy blunder...as opposed to his more recent blunders in Italy, Russia, and Ghana...involved his unqualified support for the ousted would-be socialist dictator of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya. Zelaya was elected to a four year term as president of Honduras in November 2005 and, under the one-term limit imposed by the Honduran Constitution, was scheduled to leave office in January 2010. However, having...

AFTER days of protests triggered by an army-backed coup in Honduras, deposed President Manuel Zelaya was preparing to meet the country's interim leader for the first time since his ouster. Mr Zelaya and interim leader Roberto Micheletti are tomorrow due to start two days of talks to be mediated by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, a Nobel Peace prize winner, at his home in San Jose. "It seems to me that there is willingness on both sides to seek a negotiated settlement through diplomacy, through dialogue," Mr Arias said. The United States has been a prime mover in trying to...

TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - The Honduran armed forces chief who ousted President Manuel Zelaya said the decision to throw him out of the country was made by "the state" to save lives, because violence would have erupted had he remained. General Romeo Vasquez Velasquez, leader of the joint chiefs of staff, told Reuters it was a difficult decision for him to topple Zelaya on June 28, because the two were friends. But he said he was following orders from the Supreme Court and Congress, which have accused Zelaya of violating the constitution by trying to lift presidential term limits. "The outside...

According to the Honduran Constitution, President Manuel Zelaya cannot run for reelection. The president, with a congressional majority, can amend 368 of the 375 articles of the Honduran Constitution. Unfortunately for President Zelaya, the ones he can’t amend include term limits, system of government that is permitted, and process of presidential succession. Amending these pesky articles requires a National Constituent Assembly. President Zelaya has shown disdain for Democracy. Juan Ramon Martinez, a Honduran political analyst, said, “...[President Zelaya] repeated on several occasions that democratic institutions are worthless and that democracy has not helped at all.” Term limits are such an...

It is very perplexing for us to be here at the Bay Islands Beach Resort, enjoying the fabulous diving and tranquility, and see the shameful, inaccurate reporting by the news media of the political situation in Honduras, especially by CNN.....They won't let go of the erroneous idea that we had a military take over of government..... nobody is telling “the real story”, that of the resolve and pride of the Honduran people, who have legally, properly, and without bloodshed, removed a treasonous, lying, law-breaking, would be socialist/communist dictator from power, not through a military coup, as reported,.... [snip]

President Obama can’t speak out in support of Iranian protestors fighting for democracy, but can speak out against Hondurans defending their democracy. Here’s how AmericanThinker.com explains the Honduras situation in one short, but brilliant paragraph. “Imagine that Barack Obama announced that he was going to hold a referendum on legalizing a third term for himself. Imagine that even his attorney general, Eric Holder, advised him that it was illegal. Imagine that the Supreme Court ruled that holding the referendum was unconstitutional. In spite of that, let’s imagine that Obama coerced the FEC into holding the referendum anyway. Then – let’s...

During the 1970s and 1980s, the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), then based in the United Methodist Building on Capitol Hill, vigorously lobbied for Nicaragua's Sandinista regime, the Cuban-style Marxist regime that shot its way to power in 1979. Today, WOLA pretends it is concerned about the rule of law in Honduras after the Honduran Congress and Supreme Court supported removing the leftist president for defying its constitution. WOLA and Jim Wallis' publication Sojourners have teamed up to spin Honduras' defense of its democracy as another example of a U.S.-supported, imperialist military coup. The constitutional coup in Honduras was...

Manuel Zelaya, the president of Honduras ousted in a coup, is attempting to fly home from Washington and reclaim his office, sparking clashes between his supporters and the security forces which have led to at least one death. At least one person was killed and several were injured as soldiers opened fire and let off tear gas rounds after at least 10,000 supporters of the Leftist leader descended on the airport outside the capital, Tegucigalpa. As his supporters mobbed the airport, soldiers were deployed en masse. Violent confrontations then erupted along the perimeter fence. As demonstrators tried to rip down...

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Honduras' exiled president took off for home in a Venezuelan jet in a high-stakes attempt to return to power, even as the interim government told its military to turn away the plane. Zelaya won wide international support after his ouster a week ago by the military, but the only prominent escort aboard his plane was the U.N. General Assembly president after Latin American leaders backed out, citing security concerns. Honduras' civil aviation director said Zelaya's plane was being redirected to El Salvador.

Tegucigalpa, Honduras - Sometimes, the whole world prefers a lie to the truth. The White House, the United Nations, the Organization of American States, and much of the media have condemned the ouster of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya this past weekend as a coup d'état. That is nonsense. In fact, what happened here is nothing short of the triumph of the rule of law. To understand recent events, you have to know a bit about Honduras's constitutional history. In 1982, my country adopted a new Constitution that enabled our orderly return to democracy after years of military rule. After more...

It was the coup heard around the world. No sooner had the Honduran military overthrown the country’s leftist president, Manuel Zelaya, than the international community erupted in outrage. The United Nations General Assembly condemned the military’s intervention, and called for Zelaya to return to power. The World Bank is temporarily suspending loans to Honduras. Venezuela and Ecuador have threatened military retaliation if their embassies or staff members are harmed. Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez has even threatened war, warning that “I’ll do everything possible to overthrow” the transition government. Even President Obama has joined the international chorus denouncing the coup as...

“We believe that the coup was not legal,” the president told reporters on Monday, “and that President Zelaya remains the president of Honduras, the democratically elected president there.” The administration has not yet officially designated the overthrow of Zelaya as a coup d’etat, but Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, “We do think that this has evolved into a coup.” The official view of the transition makes a difference to the amount of U.S. aid that can be sent to Honduras. Regardless of the official position, however, the president apparently enjoyed saying the word coup, perhaps to show off his...

The Communist Party USA’s position on the recent non-coup in Honduras is markedly congruous with Barack Obama’s: “The Communist Party USA (CPUSA) joins with the world in denouncing the coup d’état this morning against the legally elected president of the Republic of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, by the Honduran military, in which, according to a statement by the president’s wife, Mr. Zelaya was threatened and beaten before being sent into exile in Costa Rica.

It is with utter disgust that I write this about the newly seated poseur in chief occupying the White House in what I supposed to be the leader of the free worlds seat. Barack Obama has shown his weakness and allegiance to tin horn dictators and oppressive leaders everywhere, even worse that that we saw in the late 1970’s under Jimmy Carter, unarguably the worst president ever in the history of the United States of America, until now. In what a blind person could see was a rigged election, Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was retained in power over that theologically...

Manuel Zelaya, the president of Honduras ousted in a coup, has vowed to fly to the country on Thursday to try to reclaim his office after winning the support of US President Barack Obama. As troops surrounded the presidential palace in the capital, Tegucigalpa, following clashes on Monday night, Mr Zelaya said that he planned to travel to Washington, where Mr Obama has denounced the coup as illegal. “I go to Tegucigalpa on Thursday,” he added. Depending on whether he is allowed to enter the country, his planned return to Honduras sets up a potentially explosive showdown with the newly...

On June 18, by a vote of 12-7, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee passed the Clean Water Restoration Act (S. 787). As with most government bills, you can bet that it has less to do with restoring clean water than it does with increasing the power of the federal government. The bill, if passed by Congress, would “provide protection to the waters of the United States to the maximum extent of the legislative authority of Congress under the Constitution.” Again, Congress’ view of what is Constitutional is very different than the view of most American citizens. In sum,...

Over the last three years I have worked with three different designers from Honduras, two men and one woman. Two still live in the country, while one of the men relocated to Brazil this past winter. During this time I have spent many nights chatting with them about work, family and occasionally about politics. When the story broke about the Honduran president being ousted, I immediately tried to reach my friends to no avail. This afternoon “Jane” contacted me via Skype and we talked for about an hour (I’m not using her name because she works with a lot of...

From yesterday afternoon, a transparent attempt by the Evil Clown to bait The One into taking his side. And darn if it didn’t work. Just days after reestablishing diplomatic ties with Venezuela, President Hugo Chavez is accusing the U.S. of staging a coup in Honduras as President Obama expressed concern over President Manuel Zelaya’s arrest… Chavez, who succeeded on his second try to push a similar referendum that allows his indefinite re-election, lashed out at the U.S. and Obama in Caracas, alleging “the Yankee empire had a lot to do” with the “coup d’etat” against his fellow leftist leader.

What a difference a day makes. "Meddling" by the Obama admin is now in vogue when it supports extreme leftist leaders, as I posted on Sunday. But the Obama admin is not confining themselves merely to "words", but is evidently working behind the scenes to get ousted President, Manuel Zelaya, reinstated. Honduras' newly appointed leader vowed Monday to resist pressure from across the Americas to reinstate the president ousted in a military coup, as protesters burned tires outside the occupied presidential palace. Leaders from Hugo Chavez to Barack Obama called for the reinstatement of Manuel Zelaya, who was arrested in...

Angry protesters today burned tires and chanted support for Honduras' ousted President Manuel Zelaya, as leaders of the Western Hemisphere debated ways to peacefully end Latin America's first military coup in 16 years. Zelaya, yanked from his home early Sunday and deported to Costa Rica, appeared at a summit of regional heads of state in Managua, Nicaragua. "I want to return to my country," he said. "I am president of Honduras." Despite nearly unanimous international condemnation of the coup, the man whom the Honduran Congress named to replace Zelaya remained defiant....

TEGUCIGALPA, June 28, 2009 (AFP) - Parliamentary speaker Roberto Micheletti, sworn in as new Honduran president, imposed a nationwide 48-hour curfew after the army ousted elected President Manuel Zelaya and sent him into exile. Congress voted Micheletti in as the country's new leader just hours after Zelaya had arrived in Costa Rica insisting he was still president of the Central American nation. Later, Zelaya traveled to Managua to take part in the summit of the Venezuela-led Bolivarian Alliance of the Americas. He told reporters he was determined to return to Honduras and "reclaim his post." Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, also...

Plenty of referal posts to articles claiming a military "coup" here in FR. All are propaganda Big Lies. Posting this to be clear on what the Honduran Congress did, their Supreme Court, Attorney General and the Honduran Constitution (from various sources): - Zelaya was violating his country’s constitution with his referendum that would have, Chavez-style, repealed term limits on the presidency. The Honduras Supreme Court ruled the referendum illegal, and the military refused to distribute the ballots. Instead of backing down, Zelaya fired the head of the military, which precipitated the ouster. - Zelaya declared the vote on his own...

Joint Honduras-United States Communique May 21, 1985 The Presidents of the United States of America and the Republic of Honduras, meeting in Washington, D.C., on May 21, 1985, with full commitment of their Governments to the ideals of justice, liberty and democracy that the people of the Western Hemisphere seek, and recognizing the critical situation in which these values are being tested in Central America today as well as the urgent obligation to safeguard them, issue this communique: The two Presidents noted with satisfaction the warm, cooperative ties between the two nations, including the very close security relationship which contributes...

Reuters May 28: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez gestures during his radio and television show 'Hello President' in Maracaibo, Venezuela. May 28: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez gestures during his radio and television show 'Hello President' in Maracaibo, Venezuela. CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Sunday put troops on alert after a coup in Honduras and said he would respond militarily if his envoy to the Central American country was kidnapped or killed. Chavez said Honduran soldiers took away the Cuban ambassador and left the Venezuelan ambassador on the side of a road after beating him during the army's coup...

Via Gateway Pundit. I understood The One’s logic for not wanting to meddle in Iran. I don’t understand his logic for wanting to meddle in Honduras.

"Today's events originate from a court order by a competent judge. The armed forces, in charge of supporting the constitution, acted to defend the state of law and have been forced to apply legal dispositions against those who have expressed themselves publicly and acted against the dispositions of the basic law," the country's highest court said. A state department official said Mr Zelaya was the only consitutional president of Hondura and that the Obama administration recognised no other. Barack Obama, US President, said he was "deeply concerned" by the president's arrest. Political tensions have risen sharply in recent days ahead...

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras -- Soldiers stormed the house of leftist President Manuel Zelaya in a predawn raid Sunday, arresting him and removing him from power amid a growing crisis over Mr. Zelaya's plans to try to get re-elected. Mr. Zelaya called the action a kidnapping, and said he was still president of Honduras... The Honduran Congress named its leader, Roberto Micheletti, to replace Zelaya following his military ouster and forced exile in Costa Rica. A resolution read on the floor of Congress accuses Mr. Zelaya of "manifest irregular conduct" and "putting in present danger the state of law," a reference to...

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez on Sunday put his troops on alert over a coup in Honduras and said he would respond militarily if his envoy to the Central American country was killed or kidnapped. Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez speaks at the ALBA summit in Maracay, some 100 km west from Caracas June 24, 2009. (REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Files) Chavez said Honduran soldiers took away the Cuban ambassador and left the Venezuelan ambassador on the side of a road after beating him during the army's coup against Honduran President Manuel Zelaya. The Honduran army ousted Zelaya and exiled him on Sunday in...

Senior U.S. official says the Obama administration sees Zelaya as the only constitutional president of Honduras after coup.

Honduran President Manuel Zelaya says soldiers rousted him out of bed, beat his body guards and arrested him in his pajamas in what he criticized as "a coup" and "a kidnapping." Zelaya told a local television station Sunday that he is at the airport in San Jose, capital of Costa Rica. He said he would not recognize any attempt to name a replacement for him following his detention earlier Sunday. Zelaya says he will be meeting with diplomats and stressed he wanted to serve out his term, which ends in early 2010. He called for talks.

Soldiers seized the national palace and sent President Manuel Zelaya into exile in Costa Rica on Sunday, hours before a disputed constitutional referendum. Zelaya, a leftist ally of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, said he was victim of a coup. The Supreme Court said it was supporting the military in what it called a defense of democracy, and the Honduran ambassador to the Organization of American States said the military was planning to swear in Congressional President Roberto Micheletti to replace Zelaya. Zelaya was arrested shortly before polls were to open in a referendum on whether to change the constitution. The...

TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - The Honduran army ousted President Manuel Zelaya and threw him out of the country on Sunday in Central America's first military coup since the Cold War, after he upset the army by trying to win re-election. U.S. President Barack Obama expressed deep concern after troops came for Zelaya, an ally of leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, at dawn and took him away from his residence.

President Obama on Sunday called on all actors in Honduras to respect the rule of law after military leaders there arrested President Manuel Zelaya to head off Zelaya's attempt to hold a vote on constitutional changes deemed illegal by the country's Supreme Court and Congress. Zelaya, in a move similar to his ally, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, had wanted to overturn the law that prohibited him from seeking another term in office. He called the arrest a "coup" and a "kidnapping." "I am deeply concerned by reports coming out of Honduras regarding the detention and expulsion of President Mel Zelaya,"...

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) - More than a dozen soldiers arrested President Manuel Zelaya and disarmed his security guards after surrounding his residence before dawn Sunday, his private secretary said. Protesters called it a coup and flocked to the presidential palace as local news media reported that Zelaya was sent into exile. The chief executive was detained shortly before voting was to begin on a constitutional referendum the president had insisted on holding even though the Supreme Court ruled it illegal and everyone from the military to Congress and members of his own party opposed it. Zelaya was taken into military...