Free Republic

21st Century SocialismThe attempt to destroy democracy in Latin America.  The Obama administration started out on the wrong foot in world affairs. It used techniques better suited for domestic political campaigns — popularity contests — in its foreign policy. In our own hemisphere, the result was confusion for our allies and our enemies alike. The overriding objective of U.S. policy — in Latin America and elsewhere — should be to advance U.S. national interests, not to curry favor with foreign leaders. If we can be liked while advancing our interests, so much the better. But when we try to befriend...

As the cliche goes, there are no coincidences in politics. Obama fundraiser group Code Pink just happened to have arrived in Cairo last week for the group’s ninth visit there in two years as part of its campaign to undermine the Mubarak government and help Hamas, the terrorist group that controls Gaza. Code Pink and the media are trying to portray the leftist group's 'sudden' appearance in Cairo Wednesday as an act of courageous support for a democratic revolution. Nothing could be further from the truth.Code Pink protests the Mubarak government in Tahrir Square, Cairo, Egypt. February 2, 2011. Code...

This week saw a showdown between the man whose most significant achievement before 2008 was that he very nearly got the asbestos removed from the Altgeld Gardens tenements in Chicago and the third-longest-ruling head of Egypt since the Pharaoh Ramses, whose reign lasted 67 years. The Egyptian, an 82-year-old with terminal cancer, easily bested the community organizer, the man elected by people who quite clearly confused the last presidential election with an American idol contest. While many who elected the American president probably do not yet realize it, it is lucky for them that he lost the showdown, for had...

Unbelievable. The Obama Administration knew that Manuel Zelaya was an anti-democratic anti-Semitic pig whose goal was to become ruler for life like his buddy Hugo Chavez. But, Team Obama decided to support him for the greater good of Latin American relations. Barack Obama even cut off aid to Honduras in order to appease tyrant Hugo Chavez.

"The last year and a half of the [President Manuel] Zelaya Administration will be, in my view, extraordinarily difficult for our bilateral relationship. His pursuit of immunity from the numerous activities of organized crime carried out in his administration will cause him to threaten the rule of law and institutional stability." —Charles Ford, U.S. ambassador to Honduras, May 15, 2008 Lots of hypotheses have been floated to explain why the Obama administration went to such extremes last year to try to force Honduras to reinstate deposed president Manuel Zelaya. Now the release of two WikiLeaked cables from the U.S. embassy...

OAS Commission recommends eliminating lawsuits against Zelaya The report on the situation in Honduras was delivered to the Permanent Council yesterday by the OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza. The High Level Commission of the Organization of American States (OAS) in its report on the situation of Honduras, the government of Porfirio Lobo Sosa remove legal proceedings instituted against former President Manuel Zelaya. "The Commission considers it appropriate to end lawsuits over the de facto regime against former President Zelaya and his associates, under the laws of Honduras," said the document prepared by the OAS Permanent Representatives of Argentina, Bahamas,...

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Former Honduran President Manuel Zelaya accused the United States of being behind the 2009 coup that ousted him, in a letter released Monday on the first anniversary of his ouster. Zelaya, who now lives in the Dominican Republic, has given conflicting accounts on what role the United States allegedly played in the coup, in which Honduran soldiers hustled him out of the country on June 28, 2009.<> He has alternately praised the policy of the U.S. government on the issue, and criticized Washington for not pressing harder for his reinstatement. But Monday's letter said flatly: "What we...

The image of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wielding what resembled an oversized mallet while leading a mob of congressmen across Capitol Hill on the day of the health-care vote is the stuff of nightmares. It is also instructive. As a metaphor for how the Democrats view their power, the Pelosi hammer-pose could not be more perfect. Just ask Honduras. Last year, the U.S. tried to force the reinstatement of deposed president Manuel Zelaya. When that failed and Team Obama was looking like the Keystone Cops, it sent a delegation to Tegucigalpa to negotiate a compromise. Participants in those talks say...

Honduras' anti-corruption prosecutor is pressing for more charges against former President Manuel Zelaya, who was overthrown in a coup last year. Leonardo Orellana told reporters Wednesday he has asked a criminal court to charge Zelaya for allegedly diverting $1.5 million in government welfare funds to his campaign for a referendum on reforming the constitution. Soldiers escorted the left-leaning president out of Honduras at gunpoint after he defied a Supreme Court order to drop plans for the vote. Critics say he was trying to extend his rule by lifting a ban on presidential re-election, as his ally Hugo Chavez has done...

One can easily understand and even empathize with Manuel Zelaya for being angry, resentful, and vengeful toward interim president Roberto Micheletti, Gen. Romeo Vásquez Velásquez, the Supreme Court, the Congress, Cardinal Óscar Rodríguez, and business leaders in Honduras, given that they all either played a role in his overthrow or failed to support his efforts to return to power. It's much harder to make a good case, however, for why Mr. Zelaya would have overly hard feelings toward President-elect Porfirio Lobo. After all, it was Mr. Lobo who signed the agreement with Dominican President Leonel Fernández to grant safe passage...

MEXICO CITY — The deposed former Honduran president, Manuel Zelaya, packed his guitar and flew into exile Wednesday as the country inaugurated a new president, who promised to try to repair the rifts left by months of political turmoil. After a good-bye lunch with his mother, Mr. Zelaya, his wife and his daughter left their refuge in the Brazilian Embassy and headed for the airport. They were accompanied by the new president, Porfirio Lobo, along with President Leonel Fernandez of the Dominican Republic, who last week invited Mr. Zelaya to the Dominican capital. The usually voluble Mr. Zelaya said little...

Roberto Micheletti, interrim President of Honduras, steps down today to allow for the peaceful transition of power to the newly elected president of the tiny nation, Porfirio Lobo Sosa. You may recall that Micheletti was appointed after former President Zelaya attempted to overturn the country’s election process (with the assistance of President Obama’s favorite thug, Hugo Chavez of Venezuela) and was promptly, unceremoniously, and constitutionally removed from office... And where is the United States while all this is happening in a tiny democracy well within our sphere of influence? Why isn’t Joe Biden one of the dignitaries congratulating Micheletti for...

A Supreme Court judge cleared Honduras' military commanders Tuesday in the coup that toppled Manuel Zelaya, and hours later lawmakers approved amnesty for the ousted leader and all those involved in his removal. The two measures — combined with Wednesday's inauguration of a new president, conservative rancher Porfirio Lobo — appeared to spell the last chapter in the bitter political dispute that led to Honduras' international isolation. Supreme Court President Jorge Rivera ruled the country's top generals did not abuse their power in ordering soldiers to escort Zelaya out of the country at gunpoint June 28. "Prosecutors failed to prove...

Permanent dismissal for honduran military commanders board. "Justice has been done," were the first reactions of the armed forces spokesman, Colonel Ramiro Archaga. 26.01.10 - Updated: 26.01.10 12:12 pm - Writing: redaccion@elheraldo.hn Current Rating: Votes: 0 0 comment Print Send Tegucigalpa, Honduras . The Supreme Court (CSJ), delivered today a definitive dismissal in favor of the junta of commanders of the Armed Forces of Honduras. They are Romeo Vasquez Velasquez, head of the Joint Chiefs; Cervantes Venancio, deputy chief, Javier Prince, commander of the Air Force, Miguel Angel Padgeth, commander of the Army and Juan Pablo Rodriguez, commander of the...

Ousted President Manuel Zelaya confirmed he will leave Honduras and travel to the Dominican Republic next week when a new president is sworn into office. Zelaya told Radio Globo on Saturday he will leave Honduras as a private citizen, thanks to an accord signed by President-elect Porfirio Lobo and Dominican President Leonel Fernandez. "On the 27th of January, I will leave as a common citizen... after having completed my presidential mandate," Zelaya said. Zelaya was ousted in a June 2009 coup during his effort to change the constitution that the Supreme Court had ruled illegal. He still faces treason and...

Honduran industrials honor Micheletti Adolfo Faccusé recalled the hard times he lived in the U.S. when the visa was revoked to defend democracy in Honduras Tegucigalpa, Honduras . The National Association of Industrialists (ANDI) in a special event today conducted a private ceremony to honor the President, Roberto Michelleti. In the house of Andi president, Adolfo Facussé, attended by the president and his wife Michelleti Siomara, and the junta of commanders of the Armed Forces, led by General Romeo Vasquez Velasquez. 
 
 The president said Michelletti Andi is a patriot and the first hero of Honduras in the XXI...

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Honduras' coup-installed government says ousted leader Manuel Zelaya is free to leave the country, but there's a catch: Zelaya can't go as president, and he says he won't go as anything else. And so he remained holed up Thursday in the Brazilian Embassy, where he has been staying since he slipped back into the country three months ago. If he sets foot outside the building, the leaders who ousted him have vowed to arrest him on charges of treason and abuse of power. They appeared to be softening their stance on Wednesday when they initially responded positively...

Honduras' interim government says it has authorized ousted President Manuel Zelaya to leave the country and go to Mexico. Foreign Ministry spokesman Milton Mateo says the safe-conduct pass was signed and would be delivered to the Brazilian Embassy, where Zelaya has been holed up since sneaking back into the country Sept. 21. Mateo said Wednesday night that the Mexican government has sent an airplane to pick up Zelaya and his family. Another official of the interim government's Foreign Ministry said Mexico requested that Zelaya be given safe conduct to leave. A Mexican government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, says...

Gunmen in Honduras have shot dead the head of the country's anti-drug trafficking operations.Police said retired Gen Julian Aristides Gonzalez was travelling in a car in the capital, Tegucigalpa, when attackers on a motorcycle opened fire. Honduras is a major route for drugs smuggled from South to North America. The nation, mired in political crisis since President Manuel Zelaya was ousted in June, also has one of the highest murder rates in the region. Gen Aristides, director general of the national office for combating drug trafficking, was travelling by car through Tegucigalpa when two attackers on a motorcycle opened fire,...

Andres Oppenheimer of the Miami Herald wrote an intriguing piece recently on the splash effect of the coup, or crisis, or whatever term least offends someone of Honduras’ new leadership and recent election, and how the major powers in Latin America have tried unsuccessfully to remedy the situation. Oppenheimer argues that the US, Brazil and the OAS have all succeeded in failure in their own unique ways. Failure for the three comes as follows. For Brazil, its “hypocrisy” of recognizing Iran’s and Cuba’s undemocratic leadership, while criticizing Honduras’ recent elections. For the US, the “flip-flopping” that comes with a constant...