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Support Honduras. They went out of their way to support their own constitution and throw out a creep in Manuel Zelaya who wanted to institute a government similar to the Bolivarist disaster in Venezuela.

When Ronald Reagan called the Soviet Union an "evil empire" in 1983, he was articulating in the boldest terms what had always been an American understanding. The Kremlin had long been fomenting communist revolution the world over, and we had long pursued our policy of "containment." Thus did we fight wars in Korea and Vietnam, facilitate coups d'état against people such as Salvador Allende and support anti-communist rebels such as the mujahedeen in Afghanistan. Of course, plans didn't always come together. There was the Bay of Pigs debacle, and the covert Iran-Contra operation getting front-page exposure. The "police action" in...

De facto government says no final deal on Zelaya return (Adds quotes from Zelaya camp, U.S. official, lawmaker) -- U.S. State Department spokesman Robert Wood called on both sides to keep talking. "What we're trying to do right now, from the U.S. side, is to encourage them to continue, because, as I said, we're close, and we want to see this deal happen." Dick Lugar, the top Republican on the U.S. Senate foreign relations committee, boosted Micheletti's drive to have the elections recognized by supporting a call for the Organization of American States to send observers for the vote. "I...

"We have agreed in a document on point number six, which relates to the restitution of the powers of state to where they were before June 28, 2009," Victor Meza, Zelaya's representative, told a news conference. Restoring the state to the situation before the coup would imply Zelaya's return to office, something that had been opposed by Robert Micheletti, the head of the coup-backed interim government. Micheletti and Zelaya must now ratify the agreement reached by their representatives in talks here. Meza, Zelaya's chief of staff, refused to provide details of the draft agreement, saying the negotiators had agreed not...

n Honduras the Obama administration seeks the restoration to power of a lawfully deposed Chavista thug. Among other things, in pursuit of this objective, the administration has cut off aid and yanked visas from Honduran officials who supported the thug Manuel Zelaya's removal. These officials (reportedly include) the fifteen justices of the Honduran Supreme Court and Jose Alfredo Saavedra, president of the Honduran Congress. According to (Mary Anastasia O'Grady:) "The lesson, presumably, is that judges in small foreign nations are required to accept America's interpretation of their own laws." O'Grady rightly observed: "The upshot is that the U.S. is trying...

WASHINGTON --The International Monetary Fund on Thursday said it does not expect the collapse of Romania's government to deter a $17.1 billion aid package it has promised to the struggling eastern European nation...The Fund has extended a two-year loan offer to Romania and already has disbursed nearly $10 billion in aid to the country. Romania, however, has fallen into a political crisis after a no-confidence vote in its parliament earlier this week led to a collapse of its centrist minority government. The uncertainty in its political situation comes as the country also is battling a deep recession. Romania has tapped...

There is little debate about the value of Honduras as an American ally. As a democracy in an increasingly unstable region, Honduras has been a partner in the war on drugs, a necessary check against President Hugo Chavez's aggressive regime in Venezuela and an important $5 billion export market for American manufacturers through the Central American Free Trade Agreement. A stable and democratic Honduras is unquestionably in America's best interest. I recently traveled to Honduras as part of a GOP congressional delegation observing efforts to ensure an open, free and fair election there this November. When leftist President Manuel Zelaya...

When Ronald Reagan called the Soviet Union an "evil empire" in 1983, he was articulating in the boldest terms what had always been an American understanding. The Kremlin had long been fomenting communist revolution the world over, and we had long pursued our policy of "containment." Thus did we fight wars in Korea and Vietnam, facilitate coups d'état against people such as Salvador Allende and support anti-communist rebels such as the mujahedeen in Afghanistan. Of course, plans didn't always come together. There was the Bay of Pigs debacle, and the covert Iran-Contra operation getting front-page exposure. The "police action" in...

Restitution slows Guaymuras Dialogue Commission to suspend the dialogue yesterday, but today resumed. Zelaya's term expires today 14.10.09 - Updated: 15.10.09 12:15 am - Writing: Current Rating: Votes: 0 0 comment Print Send Tegucigalpa, Honduras . The Dialogue Guaymuras suffered a setback yesterday after the international media that they had already an agreement on the return of former President Manuel Zelaya. That, in general, prevented the talks between the committees of Roberto Micheletti, interim president, and Zelaya, continue in the afternoon as scheduled. Even so, the negotiators, seeking to end the political crisis afflicting the country since June 28 when...

Honduras' President Manuel Zelaya poses with his Cuban counterpart Raul Castro (L) and Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez (R) during the Central American integration meeting in Managua June 29, 2009. (REUTERS/Miraflores Palace) Chavez-lackey Manuel Zelaya will be returned to power in Honduras. The AFP reported: Honduran negotiators reached agreement on Wednesday on a plan to restore President Manuel Zelaya to office and end a political crisis triggered by his ouster in a June coup. "We have agreed in a document on point number six, which relates to the restitution of the powers of state to where they were before June 28,...

The political crisis in Honduras appears to be closer to a resolution after negotiators reached a deal. However few details are known of the deal which has yet to be approved by ousted President Manuel Zelaya and interim President Roberto Micheletti. Mr Zelaya was sent into exile in June, but has been inside Brazil's embassy since secretly returning in September. He wants to be reinstated before 29 November elections, but the interim leaders have resisted his demands. They say he was legally removed from office as he had violated the Honduran constitution. Mr Zelaya's lead negotiator Victor Meza said the...

To: US State Department & United Nations IN SUPPORT OF THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT OF HONDURAS. We the citizens of the world, lovers of liberty and democracy, concerned about the isolation and impoverishment which is being imposed upon the Republic of Honduras by; the United Nations, the OAS, the UNASUR, the EU, and the U.S, hereby set forth our intend, individually and organizationally, to demonstrate our support of the government of the Republic of Honduras, presided by Roberto Micheletti together with all the legitimate and constitutional bodies of said government. We strongly support the current government’s efforts to safeguard the constitution...

The Obama administration has insisted that the removal of Manuel Zelaya from office violated Honduran and international law and amounts to a military coup. According to one report this morning, though, the United Nations has reached an entirely different conclusion. Hondudario, translated by Google, reports that the UN’s Department of Political Affairs concluded that the removal of Zelaya from office was legal and justified

"Removal of Zelaya was constitutional": UN Submitted by Editorial Hond ... on Tue, 13/10/2009 - 18:22. UN experts concluded that there was no coup in Honduras The study of the crisis in Honduras coincided with that conducted by the Library of Congress *** The study of the political crisis in Honduras was endorsed with official information received by the UN experts in the country visit last week coincided with the foreign ministers of the OAS. Washington, USA. A study by the Department of Political Affairs of the United Nations Organization (UNO) on the causes of the crisis in Honduras, concluded...

TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - The number of airplanes smuggling cocaine through Honduras has surged since the United States suspended drug cooperation in the wake of an army coup, the Central American country's drugs chief said on Tuesday. Honduras has been internationally isolated since soldiers exiled President Manuel Zelaya at gunpoint on June 28, and it lost $16.5 million of U.S. military aid after the putsch. Drugs chief Julian Aristides said Honduras' de facto government, engulfed in a serious political crisis, had no clear anti-drugs strategy, although he added that Zelaya's government had also not fought trafficking well. In the last month...

Government will give a "slap" on Tuesday says "Mel" Zelaya, charged with 18 crimes, including corruption, abuse of authority and treason by promoting a change of Constitution, said "never" asked for amnesty because he does not need 12.10.09 - Updated: 12.10.09 10:21 am - Agency: redaccion@elheraldo.hn Tegucigalpa, Honduras . Former President Manuel Zelaya warned Monday that the government of Honduras can give a "slap" on the international community on Tuesday, when discussing his return to power in the dialogue that seeks to resolve the political crisis. "It will be essential on the dialogue to see if this will be solved,...

As this is being written, Manuel Zelaya, the ousted and exiled ex-president of Honduras, is holed up in the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital, having been smuggled there on Sept. 21. His followers acted like the anti-capitalist protesters who haunt G-20 meetings, smashing windows, spraying graffiti, attacking police cars, and suchlike. Here is how we got to this point: Zelaya was elected president of Honduras in 2005. His administration has been plagued by charges of corruption, with the impartial group, Transparency International, ranking Honduras under Zelaya as corrupt as Ethiopia, Indonesia, and Libya. In 2008, Zelaya joined the...

Former Honduran president Manuel Zelaya complained that a “broad coalition of conspirators collaborated in ousting me from my post.” The conspirators are alleged to include US right-wing politicians, the international Zionist cabal, and extraterrestrials. “The hand of these nefarious agents can be seen in the manner of both my removal from office and in the continuing humiliation I am forced to endure,” Zelaya argued. “Rather than just having me shot by a military junta as is the time-honored custom in our part of the world, the conspiracy invoked constitutional procedures jointly endorsed by the court and legislature. Now I must...

1. Tegicugalpa From the Air 2. DeMint Meets With Honduran Supreme Court President 3. DeMint Meets With All 14 Honduran Supreme Court Justices 4. DeMint Talks With Honduran Deputy Foreign Minister 5. DeMint Meets Honduran Foreign Minister 6. DeMint Meets With President Micheletti 7. Congressional Delegation With President Micheletti 8. Congressional Delegation Talks With U.S. Ambassador Llorens 9. Congressional Delegation Photo Op With U.S. Ambassador Llorens

Looks like those little Honduran soccer guys are holding their own against the US in their World Cup qualifier tonight. 0-0 at the 1/4 point. No television coverage, you have to follow it on the USSoccer.com website's matchtracker. This could be a big night for both teams.

An eleven page legal analysis provided to Congress concludes as follows: V. Was the removal of Honduran President Zelaya legal, in accordance with Honduran constitutional and statutory law? Available sources indicate that the judicial and legislative branches applied constitutional and statutory law in the case against President Zelaya in a manner that was judged by the Honduran authorities from both branches of the government to be in accordance with the Honduran legal system. However, removal of President Zelaya from the country by the military is in direct violation of the Article 102 of the Constitution, and apparently this action is...

After visiting Tegucigalpa last week and meeting with a cross section of leaders from Honduras's government, business community, and civil society, I can report there is no chaos there. There is, however, chaos to spare in the Obama administration's policy toward our poor and loyal allies in Honduras. In a day packed with meetings, we met only one person in Honduras who opposed Mr. Zelaya's ouster, who wishes his return, and who mystifyingly rejects the legitimacy of the November elections: U.S. Ambassador Hugo Llorens.

Soon after Former President Zelaya was deposed for trying to go around the countries constitution, the "Nobel Peace Prize winner" took a position against democracy, contra to the Honduras Constitution and on the wrong side of history. “America supports now the restoration of the democratically-elected President of Honduras, even though he has strongly opposed American policies,” the president told graduate students at the commencement ceremony of Moscow’s New Economic School. “We do so not because we agree with him. We do so because we respect the universal principle that people should choose their own leaders, whether they are leaders we...

A diplomatic delegation has left Honduras without resolving an ongoing political stalemate over the ouster of President Manuel Zelaya. Members of the delegation sponsored by the Organization of American States departed Thursday, following talks a day earlier with representatives of both interim President Roberto Micheletti and Mr. Zelaya. Envoys also met with Mr. Micheletti, who criticized the diplomats for failing to understand why Mr. Zelaya was forcibly removed from office June 28. Additionally, Mr. Micheletti criticized the suspension of aid to the Central American nation.

One question that has repeatedly been asked vis-à-vis the Honduran situation (it doesn't seem quite fraught enough to be termed a "crisis") is why so many members of the Western elite, governmental and otherwise, insist on backing Manuel "Mel" Zelaya, despite any number of reasons not to. A quick recap: Mel Zelaya, evidently acting out of a form of Chavez-worship, attempted to carry out a referendum that would allow him to run for another term as president. Honduras, like many other Latin countries, has endured the malignant phenomenon of the "president-for-life", which the U.S., partially excepting FDR, has been spared,...

Zelaya blames American "extreme right wing" politicians for the "Coup" in Honduras Today Manuel Zelaya made some declarations to the media in which he blamed American "extreme right wing" politicians for his ousting. Zelaya said that these politicians were lobbying to prevent his restitution and were plotting to make damage to the Obama Administration and the Democrat Party.

QUESTION: Can we go to Honduras or -- MR. KELLY: Honduras, sure. QUESTION: It seems by the reports that the Organizational States presence there is not getting any results by the moment. I don’t know if you have more updates. And also -- MR. KELLY: Well -- QUESTION: -- it seems, I don’t know, to me – and also I was reading some reports in so many countries of Latin America that the – it’s surprising that you have there in that meeting the secretary of the hemisphere – acting secretary of the hemisphere Thomas Shannon? MR. KELLY: Assistant Secretary....

In the three months since soldiers expelled Honduras's leftist president, the Obama administration and the rest of the world have shunned the Central American country, cutting off aid and travel visas. But the isolated Honduran leadership has found one lifeline: Republicans on Capitol Hill. Within days of President Manuel Zelaya's ouster June 28, powerful Hondurans launched a lobbying campaign in Washington, arguing that the leftist leader had been a menace to their country. The Honduran government and its allies have spent at least half a million dollars on public-relations experts and lobbyists from both parties -- including Lanny Davis, a...

De facto leader Roberto Micheletti says Zelaya should "stop insisting" he must retake the presidency and has criticized the diplomats who support his return. "We are very pessimistic, we don't see any positive feeling in the position of the coup leaders," said Juan Barahona, one of three members of Zelaya's delegation at the talks. "They are not considering the restitution of Zelaya," he told Reuters.

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras – Diplomats from across the hemisphere on Wednesday told Honduras' interim government to reinstate ousted President Manuel Zelaya during at-times confrontational talks aimed at ending a standoff that has paralyzed this impoverished Central American nation. Delegations from about a dozen countries met with representatives of Zelaya and the coup-installed government behind closed doors in Honduras' capital, then later held talks with interim President Roberto Micheletti in a confrontation broadcast on local television. Micheletti, his voice at-times bristling with rage, scolded the diplomats for refusing to recognize what he insisted was the lawful removal of Zelaya under the Honduran...

But Congressional aides said that less than 10 days after Mr. Zelaya was ousted, Mr. Noriega and Lanny J. Davis, a confidant of Mrs. Clinton and a lobbyist for a Honduran business council, organized a meeting for supporters of the de facto government with members of the Senate. Mr. Fisk, who attended the meeting, said he was stunned by the turnout. “I had never seen eight senators in one room to talk about Latin America in my entire career,” he said. As President Obama imposed increasingly tougher sanctions on Honduras, the lobbying intensified. The Cormac Group, run by a former...

As I suspected, this Honduran news director was a supporter of the would-be usuper Mel Zelaya. Who is buddies with Chavez. Who is buddies with Iran's Ahmadinejad. Who wants Israel wiped off the map. From Ynet News: "The US Ambassador in Honduras has condemned anti-Semitic remarks by a local radio news director who has been an outspoken opponent of the coup that ousted President Manuel Zelaya." [NOTE, it was not a coup!] "Ambassador Hugo Llorens sent a letter to Radio Globo owner Alejandro Villatoro expressing "astonishment and incomprehension" over the September 25 remarks by station director David Romero." "Commenting on...

Main points: - Look for Zelaya’s daughter, Xiomara Hortensia to take the helm of her father’s party - Foreign and domestic business owners are pressuring the interim government to negotiate - the interim government lifted their emergency powers, somewhat…details needed ------------ Honduras’ constitution prevents Manuel Zelaya from running for a second term. He wants that changed, but the new elections are next month. What if Manuel’s daughter appeared on the ballot for the November 29th run off?

Freedom is rare. History proves that oppression, slavery, torture and totalitarian control are the rule not the exception. America and the freedom that our Constitution guarantees are unique. Since its inception, America has been a symbol of freedom and the world has looked to us to promote, support and protect the concept that government of the people, for the people, and by the people is possible and real. The situation in Honduras right now and the Obama Administration’s response provides some very real evidence this will change. Unlike other totalitarian countries in Latin America, Honduras has a Constitution that protects...

The Anti-Defamation League has raised the alarm over the use of anti-Semitic and anti-Israel rhetoric by supporters of ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya: "From President Zelaya himself down to media pundits and political activists, there has been a troubling undercurrent of anti-Semitism in the situation in Honduras," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director. "We know from history that at times of turmoil and unrest, Jews are a convenient scapegoat, and that is happening now in Honduras, a country that has only a small Jewish minority." These statements include Zelaya's unsubstantiated claim that Israeli mercenaries were attacking the Brazilian embassy...

MR. KELLY: Dave’s got one question. QUESTION: Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen, ranking Republican on the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House, is going to meet Micheletti, the de facto president of Honduras. Can we assume that that comes against the wishes of the Administration? MR. KELLY: Well, I mean, it’s not for us to tell members of Congress what to do. I mean, you probably saw over the weekend that Senator DeMint went to Tegucigalpa on – I guess it was on Friday, and along with Representative Roskam – Representatives Roskam, Lamborn, and Shock. They met with members of de facto regime,...

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,...

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — The interim Honduran government on Monday revoked an emergency decree that prohibited large street protests and limited other civil liberties following the return of ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya. The decree, which resulted in dozens of arrests and the closing of two pro-Zelaya media outlets, "has been completely revoked," Interim President Roberto Micheletti said at a news conference with U.S. Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Florida Republican. Micheletti did not say whether the lifting of the decree would take effect immediately. He had said in a morning television interview it would be formally repealed Tuesday when the new...

 According to Congressional travel records, House and Senate members spent 6,910 days on "official travel" overseas in the first three-quarters of 2009, spending an estimated $9.4 million. They hit the obvious-Iraq and Afghanistan-but also those bastions of American security concern Scotland, Morocco, Denmark and Sweden.  But when Sen. Jim DeMint tried to visit Honduras, Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry forbade an official trip, cutting off funds for the flight-an unprecedented step for a committee chairman. Sen. Kerry then tried to exchange permission for the trip for the release of DeMint's hold on two administration appointees - a bribe the...

Return to the Article October 05, 2009Is Obama's Handling of Honduras a View of Our Future?By Robert A. Bonelli The United States is different from most other countries in many ways.  One unique aspect of our country is that our elected officials, officers of the court, and the military, all  pledge their allegiance to the Constitution and not to an office, individual or party.  This assures continuity of the ideals set forth by the founders. The Supreme Court of Honduras in conjunction with their Congress and military reacted to defend the Honduran Constitution earlier this year, when President Manual...

Deposed President Manuel Zelaya called on the Honduran regime to restore civil liberties and withdraw soldiers surrounding his Brazilian embassy refuge as a precondition for talks aimed at solving the political crisis. Representatives of Zelaya and the military-supported interim Honduran regime agreed to restart talks this week, without setting a date, that would restore democracy after soldiers ousted the president at gunpoint on June 28 and kicked him out of the country in his pyjamas. Zelaya's surprise return on September 21 to the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa triggered a new wave of protests and a clampdown on civil rights, but...

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — A Jewish civil rights organization is expressing alarm over conspiracy theories claiming Jews and Israel aided the ouster of the Honduran president and attempts to dislodge him from his refuge in the Brazilian Embassy. The U.S.-based Anti-Defamation League cited statements made by ousted President Manuel Zelaya as well as the news director of a radio station that was closed by the interim government in Honduras and by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, among others. Most of the comments repeat widely circulated rumors that Israeli soldiers — or in some versions, mercenaries — worked with the troops backing interim...

This year's Day of the Soldier celebrations in Honduras got a mixed response. The military is now seen as tarnished by its role in the ouster of President Manuel Zelaya. Tegucigalpa, Honduras - With rifle shots into the air and the national anthem sung by soldiers in salute, Saturday's Day of the Soldier in Honduras seemed no different than any other year's commemorations for the armed forces. But this Oct. 3, after the June ouster of President Manuel Zelaya catapulted the Honduran military into the middle of a political saga, the customary congratulations from Honduran citizens are more muted.

More like ‘DeMint *schools* Kerry over Honduras.’ Posted by Moe Lane Saturday, October 3rd at 4:47PM EDT (Via Jen Rubin) Let’s review (I almost did this using an extended metaphor of a fencing match, but I didn’t want actual fencers wincing): Sen. John Kerry is the Democratic point man in Foreign Relations for this administration’s messed-up Honduras policy.  He is, in fact, the Foreign Relations chair… which tells you how seriously the Democrats take this committee (i.e., they don’t).Sen. Jim DeMint is the Republican determined to wreck Sen. Kerry’s day - both on this administration’s messed-up Honduras policy, and on...

Last week Honduras’ former president Manuel Zelaya slipped back into Honduras in the trunk of a car and ran into the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa. Zelaya’s return was as sneaky as he is, so it was quite fitting. Not a five star hotel The Embassy apparently has no shower and limited kitchen and bathroom facilities, so since moving into “Brazil” his personal hygiene and that of his “in house” supporters has declined severely. This hasn’t stopped him from using the Embassy as a platform for exhorting his dwindling number of local supporters and paid foreign “volunteers” to revolt. Honduran authorities...

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras -- Honduras' coup-installed president told a U.S. congressional delegation Friday that full civil liberties would be restored within days, a spokesman for one of the lawmakers said following a meeting that challenged Washington's attempts to isolate the interim government. Interim President Roberto Micheletti said an emergency decree limiting civil liberties, including freedom of the press and assembly, would be lifted no later than Monday, said Wesley Denton, a spokesman for South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint. The Republican lawmakers received the assurances in a private meeting with Micheletti earlier at the presidential palace, said Denton, who spoke to the...

While some Republicans saw the move as a disturbing use of power by Kerry, who became chairman of the influential committee earlier this year, several Democratic aides described the move as an attempt to rein in one of the Senate’s most obstructive members. DeMint has irked many in Congress over the years, including members of his own party, for blocking legislation, including a massive 2006 omnibus spending bill that he felt had too many earmarks. In recent months, DeMint, whom some have likened to the late conservative icon Jesse Helms, has been a particular thorn in the side of Democrats....

The true story of how Zelaya entered Honduras Today at the broadcast of "Abriendo Brecha", a local news its director and anchor Rodrigo Wong Arevalo revealed how Zelaya entered the country. He said that they had made a 2 week long investigation and has revealed this: 1-A plane venezuelan plane conduted Zelaya and his brother Carlos to El Salvador. 2-Out of the plane appeared a figure almost like Zelaya. It was his brother Carlos Zelaya Rosales disguised has Manuel Zelaya. 3-The "other Mel" stayed in El Salvador that night, but the plane that carried Manuel Zelaya returned to Nicaragua. 4-From...

Congress: Banana republic politics aren't just confined to Honduras these days. On Thursday, Sen. John Kerry tried to halt Sen. Jim DeMint's trip there in a tit-for-tat slap. And he thinks it's Hondurans who need dialogue? Kerry's unprecedented bid to keep South Carolina's Republican senator out of Honduras shows how much spite there is in the party line of Democrats. The senior senator from Massachusetts leads the Foreign Relations Committee and seems to agree with the current nonsense that Honduras' legal ouster of its rogue president was a "coup" that deserves "punishment." DeMint disagrees, as do many others. He sought...

A spokesman for a U.S. Senator says the interim president of Honduras vowed that civil liberties would be restored in the troubled Central American country no later than Monday. Wesley Denton tells The Associated Press that South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint received the assurance in a meeting in Honduras with interim President Roberto Micheletti. DeMint led a congressional delegation that met with Micheletti on Friday. Denton says the delegation raised concerns with Micheletti's special decree limiting civil liberties including the right to assemble. He said the interim president said the freedoms would be restored by or on Monday. THIS IS...