Free Republic

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?

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...

The military ouster of Honduras's president in June has led to deep ideological fissures, paralysis in a legislative committee, and efforts to undermine national foreign policy. And no, that's not a sampling of what's happening in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa, but rather in Washington, where a deep and cranky divide has formed between Democrats and Republicans over what most Democrats call a "coup"...Honduras thus becomes another entry on a long list of Latin American countries that have served as Olive Oyls to Washington's left-right tug of wars... Presidential diplomatic appointments are being held hostage; one Democratic senator tried to...

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,...

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...

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...

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...

U.S. Rep. Peter Roskam was in Honduras Friday to meet with the torn nation's interim president as part of a Republican fact-finding mission that flew in the face of current U.S. foreign policy. Roskam, as part of a contingent headed by South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint, met with interim President Roberto Micheletti. But President Barack Obama's administration is seeking to isolate Micheletti and other architects of the military coup that ousted the nation's president for allegedly trying to defy term limits. The U.S. and European Union, among many nations around the world, have condemned the ouster of Honduras President Manuel...

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?

A simmering feud over U.S. policy toward Latin America burst into the open Thursday when Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) tried to prevent a fact-finding trip to Honduras by a Republican senator who is blocking two important diplomatic appointments. Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) denounced Kerry's move on the Senate floor and sought the intervention of the minority leader, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). The Republican leader appealed to the Defense Department to provide an aircraft for DeMint's trip and the Pentagon agreed to do so, according to the South Carolina senator's office.

Collection of anti-semitic and Hitler-praising quotes from the ousted Zelaya regime: "In an interview with The Miami Herald, Zelaya says that he sleeping on chairs, and he claims his throat is sore from toxic gases and "Israeli mercenaries'' are torturing him with high-frequency radiation." "We are being threatened with death,'' adding that mercenaries were likely to storm the Brazilian embassy. Zelaya said that he was being subjected to toxic gases and radiation that alter his physical and mental state." "Yes. They have installed devices that interfere with the telephone lines. We have denounced this and it is possible that they...

WASHINGTON, D.C - U.S. Senator Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina), member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Chairman of the Senate Steering Committee, and announced that he will lead a delegation of U.S. Congressmen to Honduras today. The group will include U.S. Representatives Aaron Schock (R-Illinois), Peter Roskam (R-Illinois), and Doug Lamborn (R-Colorado). They plan to meet with Honduran President Roberto Micheletti, members of the Honduran Supreme Court, election officials, and Honduran business and civic leaders. Yesterday, Senate Foreign Relations Chairman John Kerry (D-Massachusetts) attempted to block the delegations trip at the last minute, denying the necessary committee approval....

Senate foreign relations committee Chairman John Kerry and the State Department have canceled Sen. Jim DeMint's plans to meet interim Honduran President Roberto Micheletti on Friday. The trip, which DeMint was going to make with three members of the House, would have flouted a White House ban against direct contact with the leaders of the June military coup. While the White House seeks to pressure the interim government through isolation, DeMint and other conservatives have defended the coup, which the Honduran miltary claims was necessary to prevent then-President Manuel Zelaya from rewriting the country's constitution. DeMint, R-S.C., and his fellow...

The Democratic Administration continues its assault on the truth of what is going on in Honduras. Soon after Former President Zelaya was deposed for trying to go around the countries constitution, the United States 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...

Translated from the Portuguese. Author asked that his article be forwarded, so I do not believe there are any copyright violations in translating it in full. My comments and clarifications in brackets [] If you click here: http://vimeo.com/6825710, you will have access to a video which you could hear the voice of David Romero, director of Globo radio, who supports Manuel Zelaya. It is that radio which sufferd intervention from the interim government, accused of inciting violence, and which impassioned Bolibarian Brazilians. Listening to what is there, you have a notion of who these people are. Zelaya has accused that...

For the past three months most of the world has marched in lock-step behind Manuel Zelaya's demand to be reinstated as the president of Honduras. Last week Zelaya returned surreptitiously to Tegucigalpa, where he is now using the Brazilian embassy as a base for rallying his supporters at home and abroad. The Honduran government has ruled that this must stop, and now, for the first time, serious domestic unrest is a real possibility.

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...

U.S. Congressman to visit Honduras Ros-Lehtinen will meet with President Micheletti, officials and leaders of Honduran society 30.09.09 - Updated: 30.09.09 05:58 pm - AP: diario@elheraldo.hn WASHINGTON, United States . Republican Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said Wednesday he will visit Honduras next week to meet with Roberto Micheletti, president of that country and senior officials of his government. Ros-Lehtinen, who supports Micheletti, has criticized the ousted President Manuel Zelaya for allegedly starting the political crisis in the Central American country and has asked the president Barack Obama tacitly to support the interim president, named president by Congress to replace Zelaya ....

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Business and political leaders who backed the coup overthrowing President Manuel Zelaya now are considering the unthinkable: returning him to office with limited powers. The reversal, and Zelaya's decision to consider it, reflect the growing desperation to resolve a three-month standoff that has turned this Central American country upside down. John Biehl, special adviser to the Organization of American States, said Wednesday he sensed some movement toward talks. "The moment has arrived for tempers to cool and reason to reign, and that's when errors will start being corrected," Biehl said. "I have found a strong willingness for...

Honduran police on Wednesday began evicting supporters of toppled President Manuel Zelaya from government office buildings where they had holed up for three months to protest his ouster in a military coup. Zelaya, who riled conservative lawmakers and business leaders with his ties to Venezuela's socialist government, was overthrown by the army in June. He sneaked back into the country and took refuge in the Brazilian Embassy a week ago. The crackdown came after de facto leader, Roberto Micheletti, issued a decree suspending civil liberties, shut two media stations loyal to Zelaya and warned Brazil it had 10 days to...

But two significant themes emerged from the secret session at Llorens' residence on Sunday, themes that have the potential to finally ease the deepening political crisis that has divided and isolated Honduras and vexed Washington and other regional powers: Key backers of the coup that ousted President Manuel Zelaya three months ago have begun to temper their support for the de facto government they helped to install. And some even mention a concession until now taboo. They might agree to allow Zelaya to be reinstated and finish his term due to expire in January.

US ambassador to Honduras Hugo Llorens meets with businessmen Llorens said the settlement of San Jose is the way to solve the crisis with the polarization of Honduran society 29.09.09 - Updated: 29.09.09 01:12 pm - Writing: diario@elheraldo.hn Tegucigalpa, Honduras . The U.S. ambassador, Hugo Llorens, is meeting right now with the country's business leaders to discuss avenues to resolve the political crisis Honduras after June 28 in the country. The president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Cortes (CCIC), Luis Larach, and the president of the Honduran Council of Private Enterprise (COHEP), Amilcar Bulnes, are two of...

CORAL GABLES, Fla. — Costa Rica's President Oscar Arias on Tuesday commended the interim president of Honduras for saying he will reverse an emergency decree suspending civil liberties in his country. But he warned that the results of the Nov. 29 presidential election in Honduras would not be internationally recognized if it is held while interim President Robert Micheletti's government is in charge. Arias said Micheletti's government "has not moved an inch" in negotiations to return ousted President Manuel Zelaya with limited authority. snip Also to blame was the Honduran constitution, he said. He called it "the worst in the...

His wife may be the official ambassador for the U.S., but Bill Clinton sure does get a lot of requests about his opinion on foreign affairs. Clinton is expected to take the stage around 4 p.m. at the Americas Conference, being held at the Biltmore in Coral Gables and he won't be talking about his good times in the Oval Office. The former president is expected to address the recent political upheavel in Honduras, which has become the dominating theme at the conference. Outside of the hotel, about 50 protesters chanting "Elections yes, Zelaya no" greeted guests and speakers. They...

BRASILIA - Brazil's government is facing growing criticism at home over its handling of the Honduran crisis as senior lawmakers accuse it of allowing the ousted president to use its embassy as a political platform...Government and opposition legislators in Brazil's Congress have urged President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to stop Zelaya from using the embassy as a political theater. "Zelaya's political activities are unacceptable. They weaken Brazil's position and international image," Eduardo Azeredo, head of the Senate foreign relations committee, told Reuters.... Amorim said Brazil had not acted irresponsibly. The Lula government received Zelaya's request for refuge only 30...

Honduras' ousted president addressed the United Nations General Assembly by cellular phone late Monday from the Brazilian embassy in his country where he is holed up, calling on the world body to guarantee his personal safety and turn back the "dictatorship" that has taken power. "Those who still harbored any doubt that a dictatorship has been installed here can lay those doubts to rest," Manuel Zelaya said via a telephone brought to the General Assembly podium by his foreign minister, Patricia Rodas. "This is a fascist dictatorship that has repressed the Honduran people." Zelaya sought refuge at the Brazilian Embassy...

Today, Honduran President -- if you can still call him that -- Manuel Zelaya, continues to hide out inside the Brazilian embassy to Honduras, where he and his wife have sheltered since Sept. 21. Since being overthrown and ejected from the country by his own troops, Zelaya has been trying to win international support for his return to power. Makes sense...but he should probably scratch Israel off the list of governments to get on the blower with... Carlos Alberto Montaner, in Firmas Press, points out that Honduras actually gains by having Zelaya trapped in the Brazilian Embassy: "True, Zelaya is...

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras – The coup-installed president of Honduras backed down Monday from an escalating standoff with protesters and suggested he would restore civil liberties and reopen dissident television and radio stations by the end of the week. Riot police ringed supporters of ousted President Manuel Zelaya who gathered for a large-scale protest march, setting off a daylong standoff. The government of interim President Roberto Micheletti declared the march illegal, sent soldiers to silence dissident broadcasters, and suspended civil liberties for 45 days. But in a sudden reversal, Micheletti said Monday afternoon that he wanted to "ask the Honduran people for...

QUESTION: On Honduras – Honduras, do you have anything new on Honduras, this OAS delegation that tried to go into Honduras and were sent back at the airport? MR. CROWLEY: Well, obviously, we strongly supported the four OAS officials going to Tegucigalpa to engage authorities there. And we obviously – it’s regrettable that three of them were turned away. I think it’s time for the de facto regime to put down the shovel. With every action, they keep on making the hole deeper. It’s time for the de facto regime to move in a more constructive direction. So far, they...

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...

The Law Library of the Congress of the United States has issued an opinion on the removal of Manuel Zelaya as president of Honduras. The conclusion: Zelaya’s removal was legal but his deportation from the country was not. Here is the summary: The Supreme Court of Honduras has constitutional and statutory authority to hear cases against the President of the Republic and many other high officers of the State, to adjudicate and enforce judgments, and to request the assistance of the public forces to enforce its rulings. The Constitution no longer authorizes impeachment, but gives Congress the power to disapprove...

Let us suppose that Manuel Zelaya, the ousted former president of Honduras, is a intelligent man with a good understanding of how politics works. Then the question is: what is his game? Because he started all this. He was removed from office three months ago in circumstances of doubtful legality. Both the Supreme Court and the Congress had demanded his removal for "repeated violations of the constitution and the law," but the way it was done - woken up by soldiers and hustled out of the country by plane - smelled more like an old-fashioned military coup. A member of...

The interim government of Honduras has attempted to ignore Manuel Zelaya as much as possible while he sits in the Brazilian embassy, which was a smart idea. Unfortunately, Roberto Micheletti ran out of patience last night and suspended civil liberties, which will give new impetus to Zelaya’s supporters and further isolate Honduras:

The U.S. demand that Mr. Zelaya be returned to power before a vote is destructive. At a luncheon reception for Brazilian President Lula da Silva earlier this year, a Brazilian official explained to me that the reason Brazil does not raise its voice for human rights in the dictatorship of Cuba is that it does not wish to intervene in the island's domestic affairs. Apparently the policy of nonintervention does not apply to democratic Honduras. -- The Obama administration's position on the Honduran election is embarrassing. Can anyone imagine that if Fidel Castro declared tomorrow that he would hold free...

"Brazil will not comply with an ultimatum from a government of coup mongers," Lula told reporters at a summit in Venezuela, adding that international law ensures the sovereignty of its embassy in Tegucigalpa. ---- Brazil had said Zelaya can stay as long as necessary, but the ultimatum presses Brazil to decide whether to give the deposed leader political asylum or send him out of the embassy to be detained by Honduran authorities.

Honduras' de facto government gives Brazil 10 days to decide his status Honduras says embassy being used "to instigate violence and insurrection" President Jose Manuel Zelaya was ousted in military-backed coup in June TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (CNN) -- Honduras is accusing Brazil's government of instigating an insurrection within its borders, and gave the Brazilian Embassy 10 days to decide the status of ousted Honduran President Jose Manuel Zelaya, who has taken refuge there. --- "No country is able to tolerate that a foreign embassy is used as a command base to generate violence and break tranquility like Mr. Zelaya has been...

It is fascinating how so many government cannot abide the idea of constitutional limits on the power of the state. Clearly the US and Brazilian governments are beside themselves that many in Honduras seem unwilling to allow their country to go the way of Venezuela. If I was the government of Honduras I would simply give the government of Brazil 48 hours to get their embassy the hell out of Honduras permanently, and when they do... solve the 'issue' of Hugo Chavez wannabe Jose Manuel Zelaya the way they should have initially... with a 9 mm wide object moving at...

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras – Honduras' interim government on Sunday expelled personnel from the Organization of American States looking to set up a mediation effort and gave Brazil a 10-day ultimatum to decide what to do with ousted President Manuel Zelaya, who is holed up in the Brazilian Embassy. OAS Special Adviser John Biehl told reporters in the capital, Tegucigalpa, that he and four other members of an advance team — including two Americans, a Canadian and a Colombian — were stopped by authorities after landing at Tegucigalpa's airport Sunday. Biehl, who is Chilean, said he was later told he could stay,...

Today local radio America has spread a version that states that the US embassy in Tegucigalpa would host the paralell govt. of Manuel Zelaya. The version says that the ambassador Hugo Llorenz has ready 6 limousines ready to transport the members of Zelaya's cabinet to the embassy. Some of his top officials are wanted by honduran justice.

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...

A report from the US Library of Congress legal branch released this week concluded that the ousting of elected Honduran president Manuel Zelaya was “legal and constitutional”. The report from the Congressional Research Service, CRS, an office from the Library of Congress which provides legal analysis and support for policies to members of both houses of the Legislative branch established however, that the expulsion of Mr. Zelaya from Costa Rica was “illegal”.

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...

Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, who has taken refuge in Brazil's Embassy in Tegucigalpa, has accused the interim government of using toxic gas to poison those inside the embassy. A doctor was seen treating people at the embassy Friday. Mr. Zelaya charged that gas caused breathing difficulties and bleeding. The caretaker government of Roberto Micheletti denied sending toxic gas into the embassy.