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Honduras, Nov. 7 (UPI) -- Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya says he has pulled out of a deal struck to end the country's political crisis. Speaking to local radio Friday, Zelaya said the deal with the interim government led by President Roberto Micheletti was off as far as he was concerned, The Wall Street Journal reported. "This deal is dead. The other side has failed to uphold their end," Zelaya reportedly said. Under the terms of the deal, a government of national unity would be created and the Honduran Congress would be allowed to determine if Zelaya could return to...

November 05, 2009, 0:00 a.m. Small MiracleHow one tiny, endangered nation became an economic giant. By Clifford D. May People forget how small Israel is. Its entire population is a little more than 7 million — smaller than Lima, Peru. Its land area is about 8,000 square miles, smaller than New Jersey or Belize. By comparison, Jordan, its neighbor to the east, occupies 35,000 square miles; Egypt, its neighbor to the West, covers 386,000 square miles. There are more than 20 Arab states, which have a combined population of 325 million, and more than 50 majority-Muslim states, which have...

....Chavez blames the water problems for El Niño but...it can not be blamed for what is happening. Problems with Venezuela’s water and electricity’s supplies are not new. When Chavez came to power, the Caldera Government was thinking of privatizing some of the regional electric power companies for the simple reason that the investments required with oil at around US$ 12 per barrel were beyond the capability of the country’s government.cChavez clearly disagreed with this even as he was not using the word socialism at the time. And he stopped the nationalizations, while simultaneously freezing rates for water and electric services....

When Islamists made their roots south of the border... Venezuela's dictator: H. Chavez that "sees" only money, oil and Anti-Americanism-Power, does "serve" the Islamic Iranian Republic well, giving out passports to anyone. From that "port" it is quite easy for an Islamic Iranian AGENT to arrive into any other Latin American country as a... "Venezuelan". A "random" different case (of a Muslim trying to "blend" into Latin America), a year ago, a Jordanian Arab that "met" a Costa Rican (Tica) girl in Spain (she vouched for him in CR, asw this man came from the area in Jordan where a...

SNIPPET: "Lula and Chavez have established a "strategic relationship," and recently agreed upon a joint Brazilian-Venezuelan oil venture worth billions of dollars. Lula and Chavez have joined with Daniel Ortega, the returned Nicaraguan Marxist dictator, to form an anti-U.S. Latin American military alliance - all with Russian assistance - funded by the region's abundant oil reserves. Brazil is engaged in its own arms build-up and Lula is determined that Brazil will become at least a first-rate regional power. Unfortunately, Lula is establishing Brazil as an anti-American military power by aligning with nations hostile or potentially hostile to the U.S. Lula...

Undermine our allies. Embolden our enemies. Diminish our country. If anyone doubted those nine words summed up the Obama Doctrine, look at what the president's team perpetrated last week in Honduras. Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Shannon and Dan Restrepo, the National Security Council's senior director for Western Hemisphere affairs, visited the Honduran capital in Tegucigalpa on Wednesday to compel the country's recalcitrant democrats to make a deal with the man the latter had lawfully removed from the presidency on June 28. It remains to be seen whether, pursuant to this deal, former President Manuel Zelaya will be restored to...

Zelaya threatened to kick the board if not immediately restored Micheletti's supporters are in no hurry to convene Congress to rule on the restitution of the deposed president 9 votes 147 reviews Decrease font fuenteAumentar Will print email JOAQUIM IBARZ | MEXICO (CORRESPONDENT) | 01/11/2009 | Updated at 19:15 pm | International We are where we were. As feared the most skeptical, the agreement just last Friday, is far from solving the crisis in Honduras. Whatever their commitments, each of the parties interpreted the agreement at its convenience. The de facto government supporters are in no hurry to convene Congress...

Oct 30, 2009 — “Plant fossils give first real picture of earliest Neotropical rainforests,” announced a press release from University of Florida.  The fossils from Colombia show that “many of the dominant plant families existing in today’s Neotropical rainforests – including legumes, palms, avocado and banana – have maintained their ecological dominance despite major changes in South America’s climate and geological structure.” The team found 2,000 megafossil specimens from the Paleocene, said to be 58 million years old.  This is only 5 to 8 million years after the extinction of the dinosaurs according to conventional dating.  “The new study provides...

If Honduras manages to preserve its democracy despite U.S. pressure to abandon it, the tiny Central American country may wind up thanking Nicaragua's Danny Ortega, of all people. Last week, President Ortega inadvertently provided the best defense yet of the Honduran decision this summer to remove Manuel Zelaya from the presidency. Nicaragua has a one-term limit for presidents, and Mr. Ortega's term expires in 2011. However, the Nicaraguan doesn't want to leave, and so he asked the Sandinista-controlled Supreme Court to overturn the constitutional ban on his re-election. Last week the court's constitutional panel obliged him. The Nicaraguan press reported...

Colombian Football Team 'Killed' By Will Grant BBC News, Caracas At least 10 bodies - believed to be those of a kidnapped Colombian football team - have been found across the border in Venezuela. The bodies, with multiple gunshot wounds, were found in Tachira. One of the team is reported to have survived. State authorities say they suspect a left-wing Colombian guerrilla group, the ELN, is to blame for the deaths. The team, kidnapped two weeks ago, was known as Los Maniceros or Peanut Men, as they sold nuts along the border. The Venezuelan authorities say they are still investigating...

MEXICO CITY -- When the Nobel Prize-winning Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez penned his most recent novel, "Memories of My Melancholy Whores," he was being provocative. The book begins with this line: "The year I turned 90, I wanted to give myself the gift of a night of wild love with an adolescent virgin." But there is art and there is life. And so just as an international cast and crew were about to begin filming a movie adaptation of the 2004 novella, the plug was pulled as the filmmakers and García Márquez were denounced as aiding and abetting perverts....

Cuarto Poder (Tuxtla, Chiapas) 10/22/09 Mexican senator defends migrants Mexican Senator Manuel Velasco proposed that the country’s new head of the National Human Rights Commission ally himself with international agencies to “strive for the legal recognition of our fellow citizens who work in the United States.” He said that supporting undocumented Mexicans also granted confidence and calm to millions of families in Mexico in that their relatives in the United States have allies to protect them. “We believe that the issue of human rights……must also expand its activities beyond the national borders, and in particular beyond the northern border, which...

Venezuela's military advisers would "Mel" Danilo Orellana, commissioner of the honduran police, who also coordinates the operations "Peace and Democracy", said that this version has not yet been confirmed Tegucigalpa, Honduras . Honduras National Police investigating the alleged presence of Venezuelan military in the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa. Danilo Orellana, commissioner of the agency, reported Tuesday to have information "subtle" of stay of two members of the Armed Forces of Venezuela, who would be giving "advice" to the former Honduran President Manuel Zelaya. Orellana, who also coordinates the operations "Peace and Democracy, said that this version" has not yet been...

Thursday, 10/8/09 La Prensa Grafica (San Salvador, El Salvador) 10/7/09 Homicides in El Salvador The month of September closed with a daily average of 13 homicides in El Salvador. Now, the National Police reports that there have been 83 homicides in the country during the first five days of October, a daily average of 16. [El Salvador is slightly smaller than Massachusetts] The following is the first portion of today’s main editorial, titled, “Homicides, a seemingly unstoppable plague”. “The immediate and constant effect of having done nothing really substantial to bring to a halt the wave of homicidal criminality that...

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...

Who holds the most votes, as a block, in the IOC and what is the politics of their current governments? Why Brazil and why at this time? Was it a vote to reward Brazil's leaders for their attempt to put a Marxist thug back in power in Honduras?

The United States government, along with the rest of the Western Hemisphere’s governments, is so worked up about returning ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya to power that it hasn’t thought through the long- or even medium-term consequences of its threats and demands. Millions of dollars in aid to Honduras–one of the poorest countries in Latin America–was cut off after Zelaya was arrested by the military and sent into exile in June. The U.S. is not only threatening to cut off hundreds of millions more, it’s threatening to impose sanctions and not recognize the results of the November election if he...

07/02/2009 (last update: 08/28/2009) - The truth about Manuel Zelaya (translation) Now it turns out that Manuel Zelaya is a great victim, he has been unfairly expelled from his country and the people want him back... LIES! In his recent appearance at the United Nations, he dared to say that in Honduras there is massacre, the country is halted, he has many supporters, his poll was merely a voluntary survey and he defends democracy. LIES! This is the TRUTH: * There is NO massacre in Honduras, everyone is at PEACE. (See below for more details.) * In Honduras NO ONE...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States blasted ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya for his "irresponsible and foolish" return from exile before a settlement was reached in the Central American country's political crisis. At an emergency meeting of the Organization of American States to discuss the Honduran face-off, Lewis Anselem, the U.S. ambassador to the OAS, also criticized Honduras' de facto government for its "deplorable" action in barring entry of an OAS mission and declaring a state of siege on Sunday. Anselem also criticized Zelaya for fueling violence by slipping back into Honduras last week and holing up in the Brazilian...

Zelaya seeks to install parallel government in Honduras The deposed President Manuel Zelaya arrived Monday morning at the Embassy of Brazil, where he is a refugee with followers. 26.09.09 - Updated: 26.09.09 08:56 pm - Writing: redaccion@elheraldo.hn Tegucigalpa. , Honduras . The ousted president Manuel Zelaya Rosales proposes to install a parallel government in Honduras with the support of some countries, especially those serving the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA). This version is known in different political and governmental sectors of the country, El Heraldo said political analyst Raul Pineda Alvarado, who also added that the parallel government will...

The Brazilian delegation in Honduras confirmed to AFP that Zelaya is on the premises of its embassy in this country. Followers. "I make an appeal to the crowd to join you at the Embassy of Brazil and President Zelaya found there," said Enrique Flores Lanza, an official of the ousted president. buscar

The shameful siege of Honduras continues. In the past few weeks, the United States has cut more than $30 million in non-humanitarian aid, suspended most visa services and sided with Venezuela, Cuba and other of Latin America's worst dictatorships in undermining democracy. Meanwhile, the people of Honduras are desperately trying to maintain their freedom and prevent the return of a regime that Washington is committed to forcing down their throats. The United States rushed to the wrong side of this issue when former Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was ousted on June 28, and since then it has reinforced a bad...

SANTO DOMINGO, September 18, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Dominican Republic has given the final approval to a constitutional amendment protecting the right to life. "The right to life is inviolable from conception until death. In no case can the death penalty be established, pronounced, nor applied," the amendment states. The vote, which took place last night in a constitutional assembly created to revise the nation's charter document, was an overwhelming 128-34, despite heavy campaigning by international pro-abortion groups and rumored pressure from the United States. Dr. Gene Antonio, a Dominican pro-life activist, told LifeSiteNews in early August that "The White...

Just days after posting this item about Brazil's most popular priest, I found this little nugget, which shows just what the Church is up against down there. Want to know what's luring a new generation of Brazilians away from the Church? Evangelical churches offering, among other things, fight nights and tattoo parlors. From the New York Times: The atmosphere was electric at Reborn in Christ Church on “Extreme Fight� night. Churchgoers dressed in jeans and sneakers, many with ball caps turned backward, lined a makeshift boxing ring to cheer on bare-chested jujitsu fighters. They screamed when a fan favorite, Fábio...

Alliance of Leftist and Islamist LeadersFalse Friends Hatred of the USA is uniting leftist and Islamist leaders. Anti-Semitic propaganda and conspiracy theories are part of the way they see the world says Wolf-Dieter Vogel in his essay | Bild: Here's looking at you, kid: Hugo Chavez's support for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has caused some uncertainty in leftist circles | The stoning of adulteresses; torture carried out in the name of Allah – is this the "better world" that Hugo Chavez dreams of? The alleged election victory of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is, in any case, in the opinion of the Venezuelan leader, "very...

In all the excitement over Van Jones' resignation, people missed President Obama supporting Communists abroad, as he did at home. Late last week, SSINO (Secretary of State In Name Only) Hillary Clinton met with ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya and cut off all remaining funds for Honduras' government: $30 million now, and $215 million over four years. Leftists are pushing for the IMF to follow suit. In addition to being part of the Castro-Chavez axis, Zelaya sought to subvert the constitution -- and he stands accused of running drugs. Honduran Foreign Minister Enrique Ortez told the press, "Every night, three...

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Latin American exports and other effects of global recession appear to be pushing the region more into a Chinese embrace, as cash-flush Beijing builds major channels for purchases of food and raw materials from cash-strapped South American partners.

If the Obama administration were a flotilla of ships, it might be sending out an SOS right about now. ObamaCare has hit the political equivalent of an iceberg. And last week the president’s international prestige was broadsided by the Scots, who set free the Lockerbie bomber without the least consideration of American concerns. Mr. Obama’s campaign promise of restoring common sense to budget management is sleeping with the fishes. This administration needs a win. Or more accurately, it can't bear another loss right now. Most especially it can't afford to be defeated by the government of a puny Central American...

Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa announced Saturday he is seeking to definitively shut down a private television station that he accused of "espionage" on his office. The station Teleamazonas, a private broadcaster that has been critical of Correa and his government, has already been fined multiple times for breaking broadcasting law, notably for reporting opposition charges of voter fraud during April's general elections. This week the station broadcast a secretly recorded conversation between Correa and a Quito lawmaker -- seemingly the last straw for Correa, who has sought the station's closure for months. "I ask that Teleamazonas... is finally closed," Correa...

The lights are going out in Venezuela. The Chavez-controlled legislature passed an education bill on Aug. 13 that will extinguish the last glimmers of free thought in the country's classrooms. The law is such a caricature of revolutionary legislation that it almost seems like a joke, like something out of Woody Allen's "Bananas." But it's not funny for Venezuelans. Schools will now be required to teach "Bolivarian doctrine," a vague catchall for Chavez's sloganeering. They will be supervised by "communal councils" (read commissars from the socialist party) and the central government will decide who can and who cannot enter universities...

In the course of the past month, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has been exposed as a supplier of advanced weapons to a terrorist group that seeks to overthrow Colombia's democratic government. In his own country, he has shut down 32 independent radio stations. His rubber-stamp National Assembly has passed laws to gerrymander districts in next year's parliamentary elections and eliminate the autonomy of universities. Chávez has pledged to purchase dozens of tanks from Russia, and scheduled a trip to Tehran... So, naturally, Latin American leaders are planning a summit in Argentina this month to urgently confer about...an unremarkable U.S.-Colombian agreement...

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras – Manuel Zelaya's chances of getting restored to the Honduran presidency become more distant with each passing week. Across Latin America, his allies and foes alike see a precedent being set. It's a glimmer of hope for the region's conservative elite, which has watched with dismay over the past decade as a wave of leftist presidents has risen to power, promising to topple the establishment and give greater power to the poor. When the once-moderate Zelaya started down that path, Honduras' military, Congress and Supreme Court teamed up to oust him, and despite protests from across the hemisphere...

CARACAS (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama is "lost in the Andromeda" galaxy on Latin American policy, his chief critic in the region, Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, said on Sunday, while demanding the closure of U.S. military bases. Last week Obama said critics of U.S. involvement in Latin America who are now asking Washington to do more to restore the ousted president of Honduras "can't have it both ways." "We are not asking you to intervene in Honduras, Obama. On the contrary, we are asking that "the empire" get its hands off Honduras and get its claws out of Latin...

CARACAS (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama is "lost in the Andromeda" galaxy on Latin American policy, his chief critic in the region, Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, said on Sunday, while demanding the closure of U.S. military bases. Last week Obama said critics of U.S. involvement in Latin America who are now asking Washington to do more to restore the ousted president of Honduras "can't have it both ways." "We are not asking you to intervene in Honduras, Obama. On the contrary, we are asking that "the empire" get its hands off Honduras and get its claws out of Latin...

Latin America is tilting towards China, Iran and the global “south”—and away from the United States

LEFTIST leaders from Venezuela and Ecuador thundered against a US military presence in Latin America today, warning the "winds of war" were blowing across the increasingly polarised continent. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez led the charge, attacking Colombia's decision to host American forces at seven of its bases, a move also condemned by Chavez's Ecuadoran counterpart and ally Rafael Correa during the inauguration of his second term. Speaking in Quito, Ecuador, at a regional summit, Mr Chavez said he was fulfilling his "moral duty'' by telling fellow leaders that the "winds of war were beginning to blow,'' because of the July...

Swine flu toll up sharply in Latin America Wed Aug 5, 12:19 pm ET BUENOS AIRES (AFP) – Argentina reported on Wednesday a sharp spike in deaths from swine flu as cases jumped across Latin America and more countries worldwide coped with their first fatalities. Argentinian officials said deaths from the A(H1N1) virus had more than doubled to 337 from 165 two weeks ago, which would put the country second only to the United States with 353 dead. "We have confirmed 337 deaths by A(H1N1) flu," Argentina's deputy health minister Maximo Diosque said. "We have a similar number, of around...

p>MANAGUA, August 4, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Amnesty International (AI) has launched an international campaign against the government of Nicaragua, claiming that its law protecting the unborn from abortion is "cruel," and "cynical.""There is only one way to describe what we have seen in Nicaragua: a great horror," said Kate Gilmore, Deputy Secretary General of AI, in a press conference held recently in Mexico."The prohibition of therapeutic of abortion in Nicaragua is a shame.  It is a human rights scandal that ridicules medical science and distorts the law, being a weapon against the provision of essential medical services for pregnant girls...

Ernesto "Che" Guevara's famous beret is gone. His iconic beard is filthy and matted against skeletal cheekbones. One bushy eyebrow arches over his half-open eyes. As a Bolivian country surgeon methodically saws off his lifeless hands, Che appears vaguely amused. Gustavo Villoldo, a stocky figure in green army fatigues, stands just inside the tiny laundry room where the Cuban revolutionary's corpse rests atop a sink. For five months, the CIA operative has led soldiers hunting Guevara through the rough crags and valleys of southern Bolivia. Less than 24 hours ago, his team had captured and executed him in a village...

With dictators on the rise, democracy under assault and foreign powers making inroads in Latin America, it’s not clear the Obama administration has a plan for dealing with it - other than more of its “Have a Coke and a Smile” brand of foreign policy. Unfortunately, considering the challenges we’re facing, relaxed soft-drink diplomacy just isn’t going to cut it. Topping the list is Venezuela, a major thorn in our side for some time now, but which has, remarkably, only gotten worse since President Barack Obama took office. Caudillo President Hugo Chavez continues nationalizing the economy, muzzling the media and...

Venezuelan president revokes licenses of 34, says those who share socialist vision will get back on the air

An intensifying arms race looms over Latin America because of copycat weapons buying triggered by recent military buildups in some countries and reactions of their neighbors, defense analysts said Wednesday. Heavy arms shopping by Venezuela, even before the war of words erupted over the June 28 Honduras coup and U.S. military facilities in Colombia, has followed bickering over cross-border arms trade, including Chilean military exports to Ecuador and other neighbors. As rearmament gathers pace, the continent's own defense industry has seen its markets challenged by overseas suppliers, especially China and Russia. Latin arms suppliers include Brazil's Embraer and Chile's Enaer....

Note: The following text is a quote: Former President Clinton Visits CIA July 27, 2009 Former President Bill Clinton visited the Central Intelligence Agency today to thank the men and women of CIA for their essential work in protecting the United States from foreign threats. Welcoming the former President back to CIA, Director Leon E. Panetta said: “President Clinton understood very well the role of intelligence and its vital importance in the post-Cold War era. He relied on this Agency for information and insight, as he and his team confronted an array of foreign challenges.” In remarks to hundreds of...

The Obama administration and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton can no longer be considered a “neutral broker” in the current state of affairs in Honduras. Here’s why. For the past few days, the Administration and Secretary Clinton have cautiously opted out of the negotiations in Costa Rica. In fact, the State Department hammered the point that “we need to support the Arias mediation effort because it’s the best way to go forward.” Day after day, the message from the State Department has been that we should let the negotiators negotiate and ultimately accept the outcome from the Arias talks. But...

For Latin America, events in Honduras are the tragic yet logical culmination of the silence of the United States and the inter-American community to the sustained assault on democratic institutions in that region. While there may be the possibility of reconciliation in one country, it does not address the larger dismantling of democracy in the region. It is hard for many Hondurans, and other pro-democracy activists in the region, to fully appreciate the outrage and clamor over the ouster of Mel Zelaya in Honduras when there has not been any significant action in opposition to the dismantling of democratic institutions...

It's good, occasionally, to take a trip down memory lane. It helps to put things into perspective. Hugo Chavez ought never to have been elected president. By rights, he ought to be growing old in a jail cell somewhere. Well, it's been seventeen years, maybe he’d be in a half-way house by now. As an army officer in 1992, he led a military revolt against the legal, constitutional government of Venezuela, and attempted to overthrow the democratically elected president of the time, Carlos Andres Perez. He gambled that once the shooting started, the minister of defense and the rest of...

The ITF (International Transport Workers’ Federation) today called for all its union members to oppose the coup in Honduras by focusing protests on the Honduran merchant fleet. The global union organisation, which represents 656 unions worldwide with four and a half million members, has made the call as its latest move to defend democracy in the coup-stricken Central American nation, and in support of the Organization of American States’ (OAS) condemnation of the military takeover. The action call is likely to affect the loading and unloading of the 650 ships flying the Honduran flag, which the ITF considers a flag...

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...

Incoming Global Warming Czar Carol Browner was — until last week — listed as one of 14 leaders of a socialist group that advocates what's called "global governance" and says rich countries must shrink their economies to address climate change. The Washington Times reports Browner's name and biography were listed on the Web page for Socialist International . Mr. Obama's transition team says Browner's membership in the organization is not a problem and that it brings experience in policymaking to her new role. But House Minority Leader John Boehner’s spokeswoman Antonia Ferrier asks, “Does she agree with the group's positions...