US and the Coup: History Repeating and un-fu-cking-believable that some retards defend this shit, looking at the same story happening 1000 times

“Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.” - Teddy Roosevelt

Big Stick Policy US 'lukewarm' in backing Zelaya

"I have a dream.....no, wait, it is deja vu"

An old-fashioned coup in Honduras? - BBC

Obama and Honduras It's All About the Constitution, IT'S A CONSTITUTIONAL DICTATORSHIP!

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."

President Obama Wants Another $83 Billion for War: Whatever happened to bringing back the troops by March 31, 2009?

The Obama Administration is seeking more money for the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. The White House is asking congress for approximately $83.4 Billion to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through the end of September.

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/65006/Big-Stick-Policy

in American history, policy popularized and named by Theodore Roosevelt that asserted U.S. domination when such dominance was considered the moral imperative.

Roosevelt’s first noted public use of the phrase occurred when he advocated before Congress increasing naval preparation to support the nation’s diplomatic objectives. Earlier, in a letter to a friend, while he was still the governor of New York, Roosevelt cited his fondness for a West African proverb, “Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.” The phrase was also used later by Roosevelt to explain his relations with domestic political leaders and his approach to such issues as the regulation of monopolies and the demands of trade unions. The phrase came to be automatically associated with Roosevelt and was frequently used by the press, especially in cartoons, to refer particularly to his foreign policy; in Latin America and the Caribbean, he enacted the Big Stick Policy (in foreign policy, also known as the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine) to police the small debtor nations that had unstable governments

The psychopath is defined by an uninhibited gratification in criminal, sexual, or aggressive impulses and the inability to learn from past mistakes. Individuals with this disorder gain satisfaction through their antisocial behavior and lack remorse for their actions.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: HONDURAS, STILL WAITING FOR JUSTICE

Reaganomics:

-The Whiteness Project, Perspectives and Practices, and Prospects

-Whiteout: The CIA, Drugs and the Press (Paperback)

Who's Behind Honduras Destabilization?

All Roads Lead to McCain

July 15, 2009

By Nikolas Kozloff

Behind the recent pressure campaign against the Zelaya regime in Honduras lurks a shadowy world of right wing foundations, lobbying groups and anti-Chávez figures. This tangled web of Washington, D.C. interests includes the Arcadia Foundation, a mysterious figure named Robert Carmona Borjas and former State Department official Otto Reich.

What do all these organizations and characters have in common? In one way or another they are all tied back to Arizona Senator John McCain.

According to the Mexican newspaper La Jornada, it was Venezuelan lawyer Robert-Carmona Borjas who helped to draft some of the infamous anti-constitutional "Carmona decrees" after Hugo Chávez was overthrown in the April, 2002 military coup.

(now he did it apparently through Arcadia, look at the date of the video and all the corruption allegations against Zelaya, Carmona has been working this propaganda out for a year or more)

After Chávez was returned to power Carmona Borjas fled to the United States where he found his calling as a leading anti-Chávez figure and, more recently, as a fierce critic of the Zelaya regime in Honduras.

In 2004, Carmona-Borjas was listed as part time faculty at the Department of Romance Languages and Literature at George Washington University and as recently as November, 2008 set up a class entitled "Political Management in Latin America" offered through the Graduate School of Political Management. According to the GW Hatchet, the local student paper, the class had a roster of right wing, free-trade boosting speakers including Colombian President Álvaro Uribe, former U.S. ambassador to Venezuela Otto Reich, Leopoldo López, a Venezuelan politician, Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutiérrez and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla.

According to the Hatchet, the class sought to "analyze Latin American governments that have failed social policies, which have led to anti-system political movements." "Many Latin American countries have forged ties with re-emerging powers and countries in pursuit of nuclear capability," Carmona-Borjas said, "ties that can endanger the interests of the United States in the region

But it was not part time teaching in D.C. which distinguished Carmona Borjas as a political player. No, it was the Venezuelan's work as Vice President of the mysterious anti-corruption and watchdog outfit known as Arcadia Foundation which really set him apart. From his perch at Arcadia, Carmona-Borjas launched anti-corruption attacks against Honduras and the Zelaya regime. In particular he conducted a massive public relations campaign against Hondutel, the state telecommunications company in Honduras. In article after article published in the Central American media, Borjas-Carmona accused Hondutel of corruption.

The Right Wing Telecom Connection

Otto Reich in CNN talking about his stance on the Honduran Coup. I couldn't believe this wasn't FOX News :S

His arguments were so stupid, only a retard could buy them.. Before I refused to believe US had anything to do with the Coup, but now I saw this interview, I am quite sure, Mr. Reich had to do with it. A lot.

"Even the Cardinal said it was not a Coup" he said. Oh the Catholic Church, look at Micheletti selling lies with it too and his gypsy astrologist catholic chasing bad spirits away:

Who is Otto Reich?http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/17/world/us-cautioned-leader-of-plot-against-chavez.html?n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/People/C/Chavez,%20Hugo

Otto Reich and the International Republican Institute: http://www.counterpunch.org/kozloff07092009.html

His goals are not being a US Ambassador in Honduras but:

• Advise major and mid-size US corporations on government relations to support trade and investment goals in South and Central American countries and the Caribbean.

• Advise a Latin American energy resources corporation on political strategy to support investment plans in four South American countries.

http://ottoreich.com/news.htm

Otto Reich Dokument, Washington University:

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB40/04287.pdf

He said that "he did not orchestrate the Honduran Coup", nonetheless he had said before this happened,

"if president Zelaya wants to be an ally of our enemies, let him think about what might be the consequences of his actions and words." -OTTO REICH

THIS IS OTTO REICH'S SECOND COUP (FIRST ONE WAS IN VENEZUELA AND HE THEN TOO DENIED ALL CHARGES REGARDING HIM BEING INVOLVED ( :) ! ):

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/spanish/latin_america/newsid_3820000/3820175.stm

Reich: EE.UU. quiere a Chávez fuera (2002 report from BBC: US wants Chávez out)

Otto Reich, ex enviado especial del presidente George W. Bush para Latinoamérica, le dijo a la BBC que a la Casa Blanca le gustaría que el presidente de Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, fuera destituido. Quien fuera el jefe de la diplomacia de Estados Unidos para la región hasta mayo señaló que Washington desaprueba lo que considera un estilo poco democrático de liderazgo del mandatario venezolano. Como el presidente de EE.UU. ha dicho que no descansará hasta que Chávez caiga, le reitero mi reto; le apuesto a ver quién dura más, si él en la Casa Blanca o yo en Miraflores

Ahora que ya no estoy en el gobierno, le puedo decir que nos gustaría ver a Chávez fuera de la presidencia porque no es democrático y porque ha hecho mucho daño a los venezolanos Otto Reich

THE OTTO REICH FILES: PUBLIC DIPLOMACY AND COVERT PROPAGANDA: The DECLASSIFIED RECORD OF AMBASSADOR OTTO REICH (BY THE US NATIONAL SECURITY ARCHIVE)

http://www.rightsaction.org/Alerts/Honduran_coup_alert22_071009.html

http://www.mein-parteibuch.com/blog/2009/08/08/otto-reich-und-der-staatsstreich-in-honduras/

John Negroponte's history in Honduras as ambassador, now Hillary Clinton's adviser and Reich's 3 decade mate:

National Security Archive, Washington University:

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB151/

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E01E7DF133EF930A25757C0A9639C8B63

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/29/politics/29negroponte.html?_r=2&oref=slogin

NEGROPONTE SPEECHES

Negroponte Sworn In as Ambassador to Iraq

Powell, Negroponte speak hopefully of Iraq's future

June 23, 2004

http://iraq.usembassy.gov/iraq/amb_20040623.html

THE UN HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH ON NEGROPONTE IN HONDURAS:http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2005/04/10/lesson-honduras

Letter Sent to US Ambassador John Negroponte, President of UN Security Council

Letter also sent to members of Security Council

AUGUST 9, 2002

RELATED MATERIALS:

Rwanda: Deliver Justice for Victims of Both Sides

Justice or Therapy?

Rwanda: Elections May Speed Genocide Trials

H.E. Ambassador John Negroponte

President of the Security Council

United States Permanent Mission

to the United Nations

7019 UN Plaza

New York, NY 10017

Dear Ambassador Negroponte:

In 1994 soldiers of the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA) killed thousands of civilians, in the process committing war crimes and crimes against humanity. A U.N. Commission of Experts concluded that the RPA had "perpetrated serious breaches of international humanitarian law" and "crimes against humanity." The Security Council established the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda to prosecute not just the genocide that had devastated Rwanda but also "other systematic, widespread and flagrant violations of international humanitarian law" (Security Council Resolution 955, 1994), including those committed by members of the RPA.

http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2002/08/09/letter-sent-us-ambassador-john-negroponte-president-un-security-council

Contra Warrior Otto Reich Returns to the State Department

By John Patrick Leary

Another seminal figure from one of the most troubling episodes in the United States' recent history has been quietly restored to his old stomping grounds. Otto Reich, like Elliot Abrams and John Negroponte one of the officials most responsible for devising and administering the destructive "Reagan doctrine" in 1980s Central America, has been given a top job in the Bush administration. The former head of a pro-Contra government office, Reich was named Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere during the February Senate recess.

lliot Abrams, the conservative State Department official who during the 1980s regularly misled Congress and the public about the abuses of the U.S.-supported Salvadoran dictatorship, was later pardoned by the elder George Bush before standing trial for his role in the Iran-Contra affair. His son rewarded Abrams with a top White House job last year. In 1981, when the U.S. ambassador to Honduras complained about human rights abuses by the Honduran military regime (which the U.S. was supporting), Reagan promptly removed him and replaced him with yes-man Negroponte. He is now the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Lastly, there is the Cuban-born Reich, who was first nominated for his new position last March. During the Reagan administration, Reich led a murky interagency outfit called the Office of Public Diplomacy for Latin America and the Caribbean, an obfuscatory bit of official nomenclature which, like the German Democratic Republic or "military intelligence," is something of a paradox, as Reich's office was, in fact, neither public nor diplomatic.

The organization, which was declared illegal after a 1987 investigation by the U.S. Comptroller General, was charged with disseminating what it called "White Propaganda"-covert misinformation designed to influence public opinion in favor of Reagan's military campaign against Nicaragua's Sandinista government and other leftist groups in the region. (This is, of course, exactly the work currently handled by the Pentagon's Office of Strategic Influence, the subject of much recent controversy.)

For starters, Reich's office drafted pro-Reagan op-ed pieces that ran under fabricated bylines; White House statements supposedly written by American university professors and Nicaraguan Contras thus made their way into U.S. newspapers (Reich himself reportedly liked to refer to National Public Radio as "Moscow on the Potomac").

More mundanely, the office regularly planted stories designed to embarrass or contradict the Sandinista regime. After distributing one secret Nicaraguan government communication, a smug OPD official wrote his White House colleague Pat Buchanan in a memo: "Do not be surprised if this cable somehow hits the evening news." But manipulating the press was not the only trick up the OPD's sleeve; the Comptroller General's report also indicates that the office supplied "a great deal" of information to pro-Reagan lobbying groups and political organizations that favored the Contra war.

http://www.counterpunch.org/ottoreich1.html

Adios Otto: Send Out "The Clown"

Submitted June 16, 2004 - 7:05 pm by Al Giordano

From the Reuters report:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Otto Reich, who took a hard line against presidents Fidel Castro in Cuba and Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, resigned as a top adviser to President Bush on Latin America, officials said on Wednesday.

White House national security adviser Condoleezza Rice said in a statement that she accepted the resignation of Reich "with regret" and praised his "service to our country and his commitment to a brighter future for the western hemisphere."

Reich said last month he planned to quit for "personal and financial reasons" and that he may join Bush's re-election campaign. Rice's statement did not say what Reich's plans were, but an aide said he planned to return to the private sector...

In other words, after doing his time in government serving the interests of the wealthy oligarchs... it's payday for Otto (Washington's anti-"revolving door" laws being so weak that you could drive a coup d'etat through them).

Well, this will be interesting... Narco News will be watching closely to see what colonial financial interests reward Reich now for his "service" destabilizing democracy in Venezuela, Argentina, Brazil, and elsewhere.

One down, one to go: Still-At-Large is Otto's protegé in the State Department Roger Noriega.

But the nickname that President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela gave him after Reich supported the failed 2002 coup d'etat in Venezuela... "El Payaso, or "the clown," does not come off with his White House badge... it will follow Otto wherever his clown shoes take him.

• Reply

Otto Reich's Final Tantrum

Submitted June 19, 2004 - 11:24 am by Al Giordano

I'm surprised that this report from the BBC in Spanish hasn't been reported in the English-language media yet.

Ex-Bush administration Latin America fixer and extremist, who resigned this week seeking, he said, payday in the private sector, Otto Reich, told BBC on his way out the revolving door:

"Now that I am not in the administration I can say that we would like Chavez to go because he is not a democrat and because he has done much damage to the Venezuelan people."

To hear Washington's #1 coup-plotter whine about who is "a democrat" or not is pretty funny. Anyway, he reveals, with that statement, through his use of the word "we" the intentions of the Bush administration in Venezuela.

As humorist Randy Credico likes to say: "Hey, did you hear that Otto Reich has three older brothers? That's why they call him the Fourth Reich!"

Chiquita in Latin America: From Arbenz to Zelaya

Armando Valladares

The anti JOSÉ Manzaneda is one of the big business in Southern United States. One of the many characters of the so-called Cuban exiles in Miami, now leads a group whose primary investors' guarantee 'is its' prestige' among the far right linked to the U.S. Republican Party.Valladares police was the dictatorship of Batista. After the triumph of the Revolution, was imprisoned by the placement of explosives in cinemas and other facilities. In prison feigned a muscular disability, and a large media support, built a profile of "invalid prisoner poet." After 22 years in prison, and at the request of French President François Mitterrand, Fidel Castro agreed to release Valladares. . To test the complete farce Valladares, the Cuban government requested a medical report which identified the lack of injuries on the prisoner. Moreover, he recorded in his cell for days with hidden camera. The video, made public, showed that pretended to his paralysis, as did gymnastic exercises every night, to overcome the numbness produced by her own theater. Fidel also put a condition that Valladares board walk to the plane that would take him to Paris. Shortly afterwards, as U.S. citizen, Ronald Reagan appointed him U.S. ambassador to the Commission on Human Rights of the UN. He is currently the secretary general of the Human Rights Foundation, an organization which sponsors groups opposed to the leftist governments in Latin America.The life of Valladares is a paradigm of political and media farce built around the Cuban counterrevolution: a former police repression of a murderous dictatorship is first converted into a poet, then in the international representative of the U.S. Government, then by rights activist human and, finally, business speculator. Is the advantage of playing the game with the best cards: the money, the media and the favors of the great political power.

http://translate.google.de/translate?hl=de&ie=UTF-8&sl=es&tl=en&u=http://www.diagonalperiodico.net/cantabria/spip.php%3Farticle81

An article by this Armando Valladares ex Regan right hand regarding Honduras:

Obama's Kerenskyism, Honduras and the Chavist Abyss

Written by Armando Valladares

(Important: It is not only permitted, but it is rather requested for that this message is openly spread around, especially to Honduran and the whole world's media, in such a crucial moment when hours, minutes and even seconds may be decisive to prevent Honduras from falling down into the Chavist abyss, pushed not only by the Obama's Kerenskyism, but also by OAS's and the entire European Union's Kerenskyism, that has just reestablished the financial aid to communist Cuba and yet cut it off to anti-Chávez Honduras). Published by Accuracy in Media, July 30, 2009: http://www.aim.org/guest-column/obamas-kerenskyism-honduras-and-the-chavist-abyss/ You can write your valuable opinion in El Heraldo, de Honduras (in English, Spanish or Portuguese), about Valladares' article, clicking in the following link: http://www.elheraldo.hn/content/view/full/202643/#comentarios (EL HERALDO!!! LOL) http://www.australia.to/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13328:obamas-kerenskyism-honduras-and-the-chavist-abyss&catid=127:letters-to-the-editor&Itemid=196 Enjuiciado por una megaestafa en España, Valladares sueña ahora con… Honduras Agosto 12, 2009 de Por Jean-Guy Allard Armando Valladares, el rocambolesco “disidente” cubano [norte] americano que Reagan nombró de embajador en la ONU y que fue involucrado recientemente -como secretario general de la Human Rights Foundation- en un intento de magnicidio en Bolivia, acaba de abandonar esta falsa ONG bajo el pretexto de “consagrarse” a la “causa” de Honduras. El veterano “combatiente de la libertad” tiene un buen motivo para usar de cortina de humo al régimen golpista: está denunciado ante los tribunales españoles por una colosal estafa que pudiera provocar su encarcelación o su ruina, o ambas cosas.

Elvin Santos es un Beneficiario Clave del Continuo Financiamiento del Gobierno Estadounidense

Sábado 15 de Agosto de 2009 08:47

La Compañía del Nominado por el Partido Liberal disfruta un Contrato en Dólares Multimillonario, Documentos Gubernamentales lo Demuestran

Por Bill Conroy and Al Giordano,

Especial para The Narco News Bulletin

14 de agosto 2009

Una agencia de ayuda extranjera estadounidense financiada por contribuyentes, comandada por la Secretaria de Estado, Hillary Clinton, a principio de año firmó un contrato en dólares multimillonario con una compañía controlada por uno de lo líderes de la argolla del reciente golpe de estado en contra del democráticamente electo presidente de Honduras de acuerdo a documentos obtenidos por Narco News.

A pesar de las representaciones de lo contrario por el Departamento de Estado, que la agencia de ayuda extranjera, llamada la Cuenta del Desafío del Milenio (Millenium Challenge Corporation / MCC, en inglés), ha continuado canalizando dinero – alrededor de US$ 6.5 millones en Julio solamente – en Honduras desde el golpe, dinero que está yendo a los cofres de las compañías que contrata en Honduras.

Secretaria de Estado Hillary Clinton con Sr. Elvin Santos el candidato presidencial hondureño por el Partido Liberal en la próximas elecciones de Noviembre.

Una de esas compañías, como confirman propios documentos de MCC, esSantos y Compañía, cuyo director ejecutivo es el ex-vicepresidente de Honduras, el candidato presidencial hondureño por el Partido Liberal en la próximas elecciones de Noviembre y una figura clave en el golpe que sacó al Presidente hondureño, Manuel Zelaya, del poder a punta de pistola el 28 de Junio. En Febrero de este año, la agencia hermana del MCC en Honduras, una entidad controlada por el gobierno hondureño llamada Cuenta del Desafío del Milenio – Honduras, efectuó un contrato de mejoramiento vial de US$ 7.5 millones con Santos y Compañía como parte de un amplio paquete de US$215 millones por parte de la agencia estadounidense con plazo de 5 años.

Santos renunció a la vicepresidencia de honduras en Diciembre pasado al ganar la nominación por le Partido Liberal para las elecciones presidenciales de Noviembre 2009. En el amanecer del golpe el 28 de Junio, el gobierno golpista instaló al Presidente del Congreso, Roberto Micheletti, también del Partido Liberal, como presidente del régimen de facto. Santos, quien terminaría como el siguiente líder del régimen golpista si triunfara en las elecciones de Noviembre en Honduras, ha descrito los esfuerzos de Zelaya, previos al golpe, de explorar la posibilidad de enmendar la constitución de Honduras, con el consentimiento del votante, como un camino hacia la dictadura.

Posterior al golpe del 28 de Junio, Santos (quien como candidato presidencial tiene acceso a datos de encuestas de opinión pública de primera mano) ha intentado de alejarse de su reputación golpista. “Iré a todos los rincones del país a explicar que no he sido parte de los eventos del 28 de Junio,” Santos dijo al programa Frente a Frente de Canal 5 el 5 de Agosto. “El enorme error fue sacarlo (Zelaya) del país y dejarlo indefenso.”

Pero, el mismo día la semana pasada, Santos después fue a la Universidad Nacional y al ser abucheado y silbado por estudiantes, sus guardaespaldas privados sacaron sus pistolas – captado en video – para amedrentar a los jóvenes. Los estudiantes respondieron a sus provocaciones bloqueando una calle afuera del la universidad, y tropas de la Policía Nacional estaban cerca, listas y esperando con un violento ataque que incluyó el golpes a la rectora de la universidad que la dejaron en el suelo.

La compañía de Santos no la única beneficiándose de los contribuyentes norteamericanos financiado a través del MCC. Otros dos contratos grandes de construcción vial otorgados como parte de la ayuda compacta del MCC con Honduras fueron atrapados por compañías multinacionales – ambas han hecho su parte para avanzar la gran carretera del TLCAN (NAFTA en inglés) a través del corazón de América Latina.

Y eso que lo que la asistencia del MCC parece, principalmente, estar dirigida en Honduras proveyendo millones de dólares para el mejoramiento vial que ayude a incrementar la velocidad a la que son entregados los bienes producidos por maquilas a través del corazón de la nación hacia un puerto en la caribeña costa norte.

En el Horno

En Septiembre del año pasado, MCC-Honduras entregó un contrato de mejoramiento vial de US$48.4 millones a un consorcio formado por FCC Construction Central America SA, basada en Costa Rica (anteriormente conocida como M&S International Corp. CA). FCC se auto describe como pionera en la apertura de mercados internacionales con historial de éxito en Centro América.

Temprano este año, la FCC también retuvo a un bufete de abogados en el país,García & Bodan Honduras, para asesorarla en materia corporativa y de impuestos. Interesantemente, la FCC, como parte de sus aspiraciones globales, también está haciendo contratos de carretera en Nicaragua con centavos del MCC. (En realidad, estos sería tus centavos, sí eres un ciudadano americano, dado que es financiado por los contribuyentes).

Otro gran ganador del juego de financiamiento de la MCC en Honduras es la gigante italiana de la construcción, Astaldi, la cual aparece en los archivos contractuales como ganadora de dos contratos de mejoramiento vial con un valor total de alrededor de US$40 millones – ambos entraron en efecto en Julio de 2008.

De un reporte de Chiapas Indymedia de Septiembre de 2007:

En las próximas semanas, la costa atlántica hondureña otra vez figurará en el reality show de la televisión Italiana “La Isla de los Famosos”. Los participantes de este año incluirán a Astaldi, la segunda compañía de construcción más grande de Italia. Astaldi acaba de ganar un contrato del gobierno de Honduras para construir la infraestructura básica del mega centro turístico “Los Micos Beach & Resort Centre” a lo largo de la costa de la bahía de Tela, en la costa caribeña de Honduras. Los residentes locales Garífunas están categóricamente opuestos al proyecto, el cual tendría un impacto ambiental, social y económico devastador en sus tierras.

Entonces, aparece, junto con la compañía dirigida por el golpista Santos, MCC también pone su dinero en las manos de grandes actores multinacionales, como FCC y Astaldi, todos en los intereses del libre comercio – una carta de triunfo universal que parece ganarle a la democracia en la estrategia de juego de la MCC.

El proyecto de mejoramiento vial que la FCC esta atacando con financiamiento de la MCC en Honduras, por ejemplo, específicamente envuelve un trecho de camino que es usado por algunos 7,000 vehículos diariamente, del que una tercera parte es tráfico de carga. Discutiblemente, el completo esfuerzo de mejoramiento vial financiado por la MCC, incluyendo la parte de Astaldi y Santos, esta enfocado a sacarle el jugo a los carriles del comercio del libre mercado.

Por lo que bien puede ser una causa de interés de los líderes del golpe en honduras, muchos de ello oligarcas de la clase empresarial, van de la mano con la agenda del libre mercado de la MCC - con todo el consecuente negativo impacto en poblaciones pobres en términos de desplazamiento y degradación ambiental.

De ser así, ciertamente parece ser un negocio lucrativo. Una auditoria del programa de la MCC en honduras conducido por la Oficina del Inspector General para USAID y hecho público en Diciembre de 2008 revela que los US$126 millones reservados para trabajo vial – fuera del total de cinco años del MCC, US$215 millones del paquete de ayuda a Honduras – no estaba llenando las expectativas debido a costos inesperados asociados con el trabajo. Como resultado, el reporte de la oficina del inspector, el gobierno de Honduras aseguró un préstamo adicional por US$130 millones del Banco Centroamericano de Integración Económica para suplementar los fondos de la MCC para el trabajo de carreteras planeado.

Entonces, cuando el dinero prestado del banco es añadido al total del fondo común del MCC, el fajo entero en juego – y ahora bajo la vista del régimen golpista ilegal – es alrededor de US$345 millones. Hasta el día de hoy, solamente alrededor de US$80 millones de estos fondos del MCC han sido desembolsados en Honduras, incluyendo por lo menos US$6.5 millones en Julio solamente – después del golpe. Esto significa que todavía hay una gran cantidad de fondos todavía en camino que por necesidad estructural del MCC fluirá a través del gobierno hondureño primero, un gobierno administrado ahora por una empresa criminal bajo presión económica incrementándose debido al aislamiento y sanciones globales.

Más la MCC se ha pasado de la raya dibujada por la Organización de Estados Americanos (OEA) incluido las afirmaciones del Departamento de Estado Norteamericano que ha puesto toda ayuda financiera “en pausa” pendiente de revisión. Hay carreteras por construir, bienes por vender y presupuestos de compañías por cumplir – incluyendo, aparentemente, los presupuestos de compañías controladas por conspiradores del golpe como Santos.

Sara Stevenson, vocera del MCC, confirmó a Narco News esta semana que su agencia mantiene abierta la línea de fondos en Honduras. Y sí permanece abierta, de acuerdo con lo propios archivos de MCC-Honduras, otros US$135 millones serán desembolsados a lo largo de este año y 2010 para financiar los US$192 millones en contratos ya asignados – una cifra que se espera que crezca.

Stevenson dijo que Honduras se espera que este en la agenda de la próxima reunión de junta directiva para el 9 de Septiembre:

“...Mientras la junta directiva del MCC [presidida por la Secretaria de Estado, Hillary Clinton] esta preocupada por la situación [en Honduras] y está monitoreándola de cerca, estamos avanzando con proyectos en ejecución en el país,” Stevenson dice.

Contratos En Línea

Una lista de los contratos del MCC en Honduras a través de Junio de este año, vaya a este vínculo.

Sí los lectores tienen información adicional acerca de compañías que reciben ayuda norteamericana continúa, y las actividades políticas de sus dueños, tiren un centavo: narconews@gmail.com .

Tomado de: http://www.narconews.com/Issue59/articulo3766.htm

De Costa Rica:

Transnacional Millicom apoya represión en Honduras

As Expected:

Uribe expresó “simpatía” por Gobierno de Micheletti: Canciller (El Heraldo, Coup Support Media, even brags about it)

Honduras: Congelar los bienes y revocar las visas a violadores de los derechos humanos. En apoyo a la democracia y los derechos humanos en Honduras

Estimado Presidente Obama, Como usted sabrá, el 28 de junio del 2009, hubo un golpe de estado militar en Honduras.

El presidente democráticamente electo, Manuel Zelaya, fue secuestrado por soldados y enviado a Costa Rica en sus pijamas. En las horas subsiguientes, los medios a favor del presidente depuesto fueron censurados, manifestantes fueros reprimidos y miembros del gabinete presidencial fueron detenidos o tuvieron que esconderse. En verdad apreciamos que usted y su administración hayan condenado el golpe de estado y apoyado los esfuerzos de la Organización de Estados Americanos (OEA) y del presidente de Costa Rica, Oscar Arias, por resolver esta crisis. También creemos que las medidas concretas que su administración ha implementado en respuesta al golpe de estado- incluyendo la suspensión de $16.5 millones en ayuda militar - han enviado un fuerte mensaje al régimen de facto de Honduras. Sin embargo, nos preocupan cada vez más los reportes de las flagrantes violaciones de derechos humanos cometidas bajo el régimen de facto. Se ha reprimido violentamente a las protestas pacíficas y los militares le han disparado a los manifestantes, al menos una persona ha muerto y muchas han sido heridas. La prensa ha sido censurada, estaciones de TV y radio han sido cerradas, organizadores políticos han sido detenidos e intimidados, y los derechos civiles fundamentales han sido suspendidos. Estos abusos han sido documentados y condenados por la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos y organizaciones como Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, el Comité para Proteger a Periodistas, y Reporteros Sin Fronteras. El honorable Comité de Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos en Honduras (COFADEH) recientemente publicó un alarmante reporte documentando las agresiones, e inclusive muertes, que han resultado de la represión militar y policial, las detenciones arbitrarias de ciudadanos pacíficos, ataques contra los medios de prensa que han criticado el golpe de estado y otras graves violaciones a los derechos humanos. Por otra parte, el Miami Herald y otros medios de comunicación han reportado sobre la desaparición de la prensa por la clausura de medios y la intimidación de periodistas que han hablado en contra del golpe de estado. Pareciera que el régimen considera que el mantener un fuerte control sobre la prensa es un complemento necesario a la represión militar y policial para poder mantenerse en el poder. En las palabras de la directora del COFADEH, Bertha Oliva, “en los últimos días ha habido un descabellado número de repetidas atrocidades que pensamos habían quedado atrás en la década de los ochentas: la detención arbitraria, el asesinato y la violenta represión de manifestantes pacíficos, la censura de la prensa y la suspensión de los derechos constitucionales”. A pesar de que organizaciones de derechos humanos han expresado su inconformidad con estas violaciones, Oliva señala, “la represión de opositores sólo se ha incrementado en el país”. Esta situación, que se torna más y más alarmante, nos motiva a urgirle a que tomen acciones adicionales. En el pasado, como usted ha señalado, el gobierno estadounidense a veces se ha asociado con regimenes que no siguen nuestros propios principios, y esto es especialmente cierto en Honduras donde—según entrevistas a soldados y victimas realizadas por el Baltimore Sun y otros periódicos a soldados y víctimas—la CIA y otras agencias gubernamentales de los Estados Unidos estuvieron directamente involucradas en el entrenamiento de escuadrones de la muerte que llevaron a cabo ejecuciones extrajudiciales y torturas a principios de los ochentas. Precisamente bajo el contexto de esta desafortunada historia es que hoy las palabras del presidente de los Estados Unidos pueden tener un impacto profundo en Honduras. Además, durante el fin de semana del 18 y 19 de julio, el diálogo conducido por el presidente Arias pareció romperse. El presidente Zelaya aceptó todas las condiciones propuestas por el presidente costarricense, Oscar Arias, pero el régimen de facto, el cual siempre ha dejado en claro que rechazará cualquier compromiso que implique el regreso del Presidente Zelaya, rechazó las propuestas de Arias. Por ende, le urgimos que repudie públicamente el uso de la violencia y la represión contra los manifestantes pacíficos, el asesinato de organizadores políticos pacíficos, y toda forma de censura e intimidación dirigida a la prensa. Finalmente, le urgimos que se tomen mayores medidas en contra del gobierno de facto. El Departamento de Estado debe completamente reconocer que en Honduras hubo un golpe de estado y continuar con la suspensión de ayuda no-humanitaria, así como requiere la ley. Aún más importante, le pedimos que se le requiera al Departamento del Tesoro congelar las cuentas bancarias y los bienes de los individuos involucrados en el golpe de estado, y que se les niegue la entrada a los Estados Unidos. Creemos que estas medidas, las cuales no afectarían negativamente al pueblo de Honduras, pueden ser efectivas en la aplicación de presión para que el régimen de facto abandone su postura inflexible. Atentamente, Raúl Grijalva James McGovern Miembro del Congreso Miembro del Congreso José Serrano John Conyers Jr. Miembro del Congreso Miembro del Congreso Chaka Fattah Mike Honda Miembro del Congreso Miembro del Congreso Barbara Lee Jesse L. Jackson Jr. Miembro del Congreso Miembro del Congreso James L. Oberstar Dennis J. Kucinich Miembro del Congreso Miembro del Congreso William Delahunt Jan Schakowsky Miembro del Congreso Miembro del Congreso Donna M. Christensen Sheila Jackson Lee Miembro del Congreso Miembro del Congreso Sam Farr Linda Sánchez Miembro del Congreso Miembro del Congreso Del: Honorable Raul M. Grijalva Fecha: 7/24/2009 Congreso de Los Estados Unidos Washington, DC 20515 Pro-Coup Honduras Presidential Candidate Elvin Santos Is a Key Beneficiary of Continued US Government Funding The Liberal Party Nominee’s Construction Company Enjoys a Multi-Million Dollar Contract, Government Records Show By Bill Conroy and Al Giordano Special to The Narco News Bulletin August 14, 2009 A taxpayer funded US foreign aid agency, chaired by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, earlier this year inked a multi-million dollar contract with a company controlled by one of the ringleaders of the recent coup d’état against the democratically elected president of Honduras, according to documents obtained by Narco News. Despite representations to the contrary by the State Department, that foreign-aid agency, called the Millennium Challenge Corp., has continued to funnel money — some $6.5 million in July alone — into Honduras since the coup, money that is going into the coffers of the companies it contracts with in Honduras. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in June 2009 with Honduras Pro-Coup Presidential Candidate Elvin Santos, a Construction Contractor Who Receives $7.5 Million in USTaxpayer Dollars through the Millennium Challenge Corporation, on which Clinton Chairs the Board of Directors One of those companies, MCC’s own documents confirm, isSantos y Compañia, whose CEOis the former vice president of Honduras, the Honduran Liberal Party’s presidential candidate in the upcoming November elections and a key figure in the putsch that drove Honduran President Manuel Zelaya from power at gunpoint on June 28. In February of this year, MCC’s partner agency in Honduras, a Honduran government-controlled entity called MCA-Honduras, effected a $7.5 million road-improvement contract with Santos y Compañia as part of the U.S. agency’s broader five-year, $215 million aid package to Honduras. Santos stepped down as vice president of Honduras last December upon winning the Liberal Party nomination for president for the November 2009 elections. In the wake of the June 28 coup, the putsch government of Honduras installed the head of Congress, Roberto Micheletti, also of the Liberal Party, as the regime’s de facto president. Santos, who would end up the next leader of the coup regime if successful in Honduras’ November “election,” has described Zelaya’s pre-coup efforts to explore amending the Honduran constitution, with voter consent, as a path to dictatorship. Subsequent to the June 28 coup d’etat Santos – who, as a presidential candidate has access to top-shelf public opinion polling data – has attempted to backpedal from his golpistareputation. “I will go to all corners of the country to explain that I was in no way a part of the events of June 28,” Santos told Channel 5’s “Frente a Frente” program on August 5. “The huge mistake was taking him (Zelaya) out of the country and leaving him defenseless.” But on that same day last week, Santos then went to the national university and upon being booed and cat-called by students, his private bodyguards pulled out pistols – caught on video – to threaten the youths. Students responded to his provocation by blocking a street outside the university, and National Police troops were nearby, ready and waiting with a violent attack that included knocking the university’s rector to the pavement. Santos’ company is not alone in benefiting from U.S. taxpayer funding via MCC. Two other large road-construction contracts awarded as part of MCC’s aid compact with Honduras were snared by multi-national companies — both of which have done their part to advance the great NAFTA highway through the heart of Latin America. And that’s what the MCC assistance seems, in the main, to be directed at in Honduras — providing millions of dollars for highway improvements that will help speed the delivery of maquiladora-produced goods through the heart of the nation to a port on its northern Caribbean coast. In the Oven In September of last year, MCA-Honduras awarded a $48.4 million highway-improvement contract to a consortium formed by Costa Rica-based FCC Construction Central America SA(formerly known as M&S International Corp. CA). FCC describes itself as a pioneer in opening up international markets with a history of success in Central America. Earlier this year, FCC also retained a law firm in-country, Garcia & Bodan Honduras, to advise it on corporate and tax matters. Interestingly, FCC, as part of its global aspirations, also is doing contract roadwork in Nicaragua on MCC’s dime. (Actually, that would be on your dime, if you’re a U.S. citizen, given MCC is funded by taxpayers). Another big winner in the MCC funding game in Honduras is the Italian construction giantAstaldi, which shows up in the MCA-Honduras contracting records as having been awarded two highway-improvement contracts with a total value of some $40 million — both of which went into effect in July 2008. In 2007, Astaldi also landed a contract from the government of Honduras to complete the infrastructure work for a huge tourism project (a hotel, condos, retail and eventually a golf course) in Tela Bay on Honduras’ Caribbean coast. The indigenous Garifuna peoples who live in the area oppose the project, fearing it will wreak havoc on their lands and way of life. From a September 2007 report by Chiapas Indymedia: In the next few weeks the Atlantic Coast of Honduras will once again be featured in the Italian TV reality show “The Island of the Famous.” This year’s participants will include Astaldi, the second-largest Italian construction company. Astaldi has just won a contract from the government of Honduras to build the basic infrastructure of a mega-tourist resort “Los Micos Beach & Resort Centre” along the coast of Tela Bay, on the Caribbean coast of Honduras. The local Garífuna residents are adamantly opposed to the project, which will have a devastating environmental, social and economic impact on their lands. So it appears, along with the company run by golpista Santos, MCC also puts its money into some big multi-national players, such as FCC and Astaldi, all in the interest of free trade — a universal trump card that appears to trump even democracy in the MCC playbook. The highway-improvements project FCC is tackling with MCC funding in Honduras, for example, specifically involves a stretch of road that is used by some 7,000 vehicles daily, a third of which is truck traffic. Arguably, the entire MCC-funded highway-improvements effort in Honduras, including Astaldi and Santos’ parts, is aimed at juicing up the lanes of commerce for free trade. So this may well be a case where the interests of the Honduran coup leaders, many of them oligarchs of the business class, go hand in hand with the free-trade agenda of the MCC — with all the consequent negative impact on poor populations in terms of displacement and environmental degradation. If so, it certainly seems to be a lucrative business. An audit of MCC’s Honduras program conducted by the Office of Inspector General for USAID and made public in late December 2008 reveals that the $126 million reserved for road work — out of the MCC’s total five-year, $215 million Honduran aid package — was not quite cutting the mustard due to unexpected costs associated with the work. As a result, the OIG reports, the government of Honduras secured an additional $130 million loan from the Central American Bank of Economic Integration to supplement the MCC funding for the planned highway work. So, when the bank loan money is added to the total MCC kitty, the entire wad in play — and now under the watch of an illegal putsch regime — is some $345 million. To date, only about $80 million of those MCC funds have been disbursed in Honduras, including at least $6.5 million in July alone — post-coup. That means there is a big chunk of change still in the pipeline that by necessity of MCC’s structure will flow through the Honduran government first, a government now run by a criminal enterprise under increasing economic pressure due to worldwide isolation and sanctions. Yet MCC is so far crossing the picket line erected by the Organization of American States (OAS) including the US State Department’s claims that it has put all financial aid “on pause” pending review. There are roads to build, goods to sell and company budgets to meet — including, apparently, the budgets of company’s controlled by coup-plotters like Santos. MCC spokeswoman Sarah Stevenson confirmed to Narco News this week that her agency’sfunding pipeline remains open in Honduras. And if it stays open, according to MCA-Honduras’s own records, another $135 million will be disbursed over the course of this year and 2010 to fund the $192 million in contracts already awarded — a figure that is expected to grow. Stevenson said that Honduras is expected to be on the agenda at MCC’s next board meeting on Sept. 9,: “… While the MCC board [chaired by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton] is concerned with the situation [in Honduras] and is monitoring it closely, we are moving ahead with projects underway in the country,” Stevenson says. Contracts Online For a list of MCC contracts awarded in Honduras through June of this year, go to this link. If readers have additional information about the companies that are recipients of continued US aid, and the political activities of their owners, drop a dime: narconews@gmail.com. Lea Ud. el Artículo en Español Washington behind the Honduras coup: Here is the evidence Repression intensifies by Eva Golinger . Global Research, July 15, 2009 chavezcode.com - 2009-07-13 The US Department of State had prior knowledge of the coup. The Department of State and the US Congress funded and advised the actors and organisations in Honduras that participated in the coup. The Pentagon trained, schooled, commanded, funded and armed the Honduran armed forces that perpetrated the coup and that continue to repress the people of Honduras by force. The US military presence in Honduras, that occupies the Soto Cano (Palmerola) military base, authorised the coup d’etat through its tacit complicity and refusal to withdraw its support of the Honduran military involved in the coup. The US ambassador in Tegucigalpa, Hugo Llorens, coordinated the removal from power of President Manuel Zelaya, together with Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Shannon y John Negroponte, who presently works as an advisor to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. From the first day the coup occurred, Washington has referred to “both parties” involved and the necessity for “dialogue” to restore constitutional order, legitimising the coup leaders by regarding them as equal players instead of criminal violators of human rights and democratic principles. The Department of State has refused to legally classify the events in Honduras as a “coup d’etat”, nor has it suspended or frozen its economic aid or commerce to Honduras, and has taken no measures to effectively pressure the de facto regime. Washington manipulated the Organization of American States (OAS) in order to buy time, therefore allowing the coup regime to consolidate and weaken the possibility of President Zelaya’s immediate return to power, as part of a strategy still in place that simply seeks to legitimate the de facto regime and wear down the Honduran people that still resist the coup. Secretary of State Clinton and her spokesmen stopped speaking of President Zelaya’s return to power after they designated Costa Rica's president Oscar Arias as the “mediator” between the coup regime and the constitutional government; and now the State Department refers to the dictator that illegally took power during the coup, Roberto Micheletti, as the “interim caretaker president”. The strategy of “negotiating” with the coup regime was imposed by the Obama administration as a way of discrediting President Zelaya – blaming him for provoking the coup – and legitimising the coup leaders. Members of the US Congress – Democrats and Republicans – organised a visit of representatives from the coup regime in Honduras to Washington, receiving them with honors in different arenas in the US capital. Despite the fact that originally it was Republican Senator John McCain who coordinated the visit of the coup regime representatives to Washington through a lobby firm connected to his office, The Cormac Group, now, the illegal regime is being representated by top notch lobbyist and Clinton attorney Lanny Davis, who is using his pull and influence in Washington to achieve overall acceptance – cross party lines – of the coup regime in Honduras. Otto Reich and a Venezuelan named Robert Carmona-Borjas, known for his role as attorney for the dictator Pedro Carmona during the April 2002 coup d’etat in Venezuela, aided in preparing the groundwork for the coup against President Zelaya in Honduras. The team designated from Washington to design and help prepare the coup in Honduras also included a group of US ambassadors recently named in Central America, experts in destabilising efforts against the Cuban revolution, and Adolfo Franco, ex administrator for USAID’s Cuba “transition to democracy” program. No one doubts that the fingerprints of Washington are all over the coup d’etat against President Manuel Zelaya that began on June 28. Many analysts, writers, activists and even presidents, have denounced this role. Nevertheless, the majority coincide in excusing the Obama Administration from any responsibility in the Honduran coup, blaming instead the lingering remains of the Bush-Cheney era and the war hawks that still pace the halls of the White House. The evidence demonstrates that while it is certain that the usual suspects who perpetrate coups and destabilisation activities in Latin America are involved, ample proof exists confirming the direct role of the new administration in Washington in the Honduran coup. The Department of State The new form of diplomacy of the United States, known as “smart power”, has played a principal role before, during and after the coup in Honduras. During a press briefing on July 1, spokespeople for the Department of State admitted to having prior knowledge of the coup in Honduras, clarifying that US diplomats had been meeting with the groups and actors planning the coup to encourage a different “solution” to their discontent with President Zelaya.[i] The State Department also confirmed that two high level representatives from the Department, which included Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Thomas Shannon and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Craig Kelley, were in Honduras the week prior to the coup and maintained meetings with the civilian and military groups that later participated in the illegal overthrow of a democratically elected president. They state their mission was to “urge against” the coup, but evidently such verbal pressure was insufficient to discourage the actors involved in the coup, particularly considering the actions manifested by Washington contradicted those harsh words. On the day of the coup, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton published a statement regarding the situation in Honduras. Despite the fact that governments around the world were quickly condemning the actions as a coup d’etat, Clinton’s statement did not recognise the events in Honduras as a “coup d’etat” and also did not call for the return of President Zelaya to power. Curiously, Clinton’s statements from day one have referred to “all parties” of situation, legitimising the coup leaders and somehow placing blame – publicly – on President Mel Zelaya for provoking his own overthrow: “The action taken against Honduran President Mel Zelaya violates the precepts of the Inter-American Democratic Charter, and thus should be condemned by all. We call on all parties in Honduras to respect the constitutional order and the rule of law, to reaffirm their democratic vocation, and to commit themselves to resolve political disputes peacefully and through dialogue. Honduras must embrace the very principles of democracy we reaffirmed at the OAS meeting it hosted less than one month ago.”[ii] And ever since, despite different references to a “coup” having occurred in Honduras, the Department of State has refused to legally classify what took place as a coup d’etat. By doing so, the US government would be obligated to suspend economic, diplomatic and military aid to Honduras, which apparently they are unwilling to do, since such a measure would substantially affect US interests in the Central American nation and the region. On July 1, the spokesmen for the State Department explained their wavering on the coup question: “In regard to the coup itself, I think it would just – it would be best to say that this was a coordinated effort between the military and some civilian political actors. Obviously, the military was the entity that conducted the forcible removal of the president and has acted as the securer of public order during this process. But for the coup to become more than an insurrection or a rebellion, you have to have an effort to transfer power. And in that regard, the congress – the congress’s decision to swear in its president, Micheletti, as the president of Honduras indicates that the congress and key members of that congress played an important role in this coup.”[iii] This position of ambiguity, that condemns the events in Honduras as a violation of constitutional order but doesn’t go as far as classifying the situation as a coup d’etat and also doesn’t call for the reinstatement of President Zelaya to the presidency, was ratified again after the meeting held between Secretary of State Clinton and President Zelaya on July 7. Clinton made the following statement, “I just finished a productive meeting with President Zelaya. We discussed the events of the past nine days and the road ahead. I reiterated to him that the United States supports the restoration of the democratic constitutional order in Honduras. We continue to support regional efforts through the OAS to bring about a peaceful resolution that is consistent with the terms of the Inter-American Democratic Charter…We call upon all parties to refrain from acts of violence and to seek a peaceful, constitutional, and lasting solution to the serious divisions in Honduras through dialogue. To that end, we have been working with a number of our partners in the hemisphere to create a negotiation, a dialogue that could lead to a peaceful resolution of this situation.”[iv] Now it was clear, after this meeting, that Washington would no longer consider Zelaya’s return to the presidency as a necessary solution but rather would lobby for a “negotiation” with the coup regime, that in the end, favours US interests. Sources that were present at the Organisation of American States (OAS) meetings that took place after the coup affirm that the presence of a high-level US delegation intensified the pressure against other States to urge for a “negotiated” solution that didn’t necessarily imply the return to power of President Zelaya. This method of circumventing the main issue, manipulating the outcome and attempting to appear as though one position has been assumed when in reality, actions demonstrate the contrary, forms part of the new Obama doctrine of “smart power”, which purports to achieve imperialist objectives without demonising the government. “Smart Power” is “the capacity to combine ‘hard power’ with ‘soft power’ to achieve a victorious strategy. ‘Smart Power’ strategically uses diplomacy, persuasion, capacity building, military power and economic and political influence, in an effective way with a political and social legitimacy.” Essentially, it’s a mix of military force with all forms of diplomacy, with an emphasis in the use of “democracy promotion” as a principal tactic to strongy influence the destiny of societies, instead of a military invasion. [Note: Beware that “smart power” places an emphasis on the use of agencies like USAID and National Endowment for Democracy (NED) to do the ‘dirty work’ of silently penetrating and infiltrating civil society organisations in order to promote a US agenda. This explains Obama’s call for an additional $320 million in “democracy promotion” funds for the 2010 budget just for use in Latin America. This is substantially a higher sum than the quantity requested and used in Latin America for “democracy promotion” by the Bush administration in its 8 years of government combined.] The ambassador Journalist Jean-Guy Allard has revealed the origens of the current US ambassador in Honduras, Hugo Llorens[v]. Per Allard, Hugo Llorens, a Cuban national from birth who arrived in the United States as part of Operation Peter Pan, is “a specialist in terrorism… In 2002, George W. Bush’s White House strategically placed the astute Llorens as Director of Andean Affairs at the National Security Council in Washington, D.C., which converted him into the principle advisor to the President on Venezuela. The coup d’etat in 2002 against Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez occured during Llorens’ tenure, who was working together with Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Otto Reich, and the very controversial Elliot Abrams. In July 2008, Llorens was named Ambassador to Honduras.” On June 4, 2009, just weeks before the coup d’etat against President Zelaya, Ambassador Llorens declared to the Honduran press that “...One can’t violate the Constitution in order to create another Constitution, because if one doesn’t respect the Constitution, then we all live under the law of the jungle.”[vi] Those declarations were made in reference to the national opinion survey on the possibility of convening a constitutional convention during 2010, that would have taken place on June 28th if the coup d’etat against President Zelaya hadn’t occured. The commentaries made by Llorens evidence not only his position against the survey, but also his interference in the internal affairs of Honduras. But Llorens wasn’t alone in the region. After his nomination as US Ambassador in Honduras – position that he was assigned to due to the urgent necessity to neutralise the growing presence of leftist governments in the region and impede the regional potency of ALBA - several other US ambassadors were also named in neighboring nations, all experts in destabilising the Cuban revolution and executing psychological warfare. The diplomat Robert Blau arrived first to the US embassy in El Salvador, on July 2, 2008, named as second in command. In January 2009, Blau became the Charge d’Affairs at the Embassy. Before arriving to El Salvador, Blau was subdirector of Cuban affairs at the Department of State in Washington, after working for two years at the US Interests Section in Havana, Cuba, as a Political Counselor. His work with Cuban dissidents was so successful that Blau was honored with the Department of State James Clement Dunn Award for Excellence. Llorens and Blau were old friends, after working together as part of Otto Reich’s team in the State Department. Soon after, Stephen McFarland was named as US Ambassador in Guatemala, on August 5, 2008. McFarland, a graduate of the National War College in the US, similar to Hugo Llorens and Robert Blau, and also a former member of Combat Team Number 2 of the US Marines in Iraq, was the second in command at the US embassy in Venezuela during William Brownfield’s tenure. Brownfield is known for achieving a substantial increase in State Department funding and strategic support for the Venezuelan opposition. After Venezuela, McFarland was sent to the US Embassy in Paraguay to oversee the construction of the large US military base in that country that borders Bolivia. McFarland was also Director of Cuban Affairs at the State Department and his resumé claims he is an expert in “democratic transitions, human rights and security matters.” Ambassador Robert Callahan arrived to Managua, Nicaragua, also at the beginning of August. Callahan has worked at the US embassies in La Paz, Bolivia, and San José, Costa Rica, and was a distinguished professor at the National War College. In 2004, he was sent to Iraq as press attaché at the US Embassy in Baghdad. Upon his return, he established the press and propaganda office at the newly created Directorate of National Intelligence (DNI) in Washington, which today is the most powerful entity in the US intelligence community. Together, these ambassadors – experts in coup d’etats, destabilisation and propaganda – prepared the terrain for the coup against President Zelaya in Honduras. Funding the coup leaders Just one month before the coup against President Zelaya occured, a coalition of different organisations, business associations, political parties, high level members of the Catholic Church and private media outlets, was formed in opposition to Zelaya’s policies. The coalition was called the “Democratic Civil Union of Honduras”. It’s only objective was to oust President Zelaya from power in order to impede the future possibility of a constitutional convention to reform the constitution, which would allow the people a voice and a role in their political process. The “Democratic Civil Union of Honduras” is composed of organisations including the National Anticorruption Council, the Archbishop of Tegucigalpa, Honduran Council of Private Enterprise (COHEP), Council of University Deans, Workers' Federation of Honduras (CTH), National Convergence Forum, National Federation of Commerce and Industry of Honduras (FEDECAMARA), Association of Communication Media (AMC), the Group Peace & Democracy and the student group Generation for Change. The majority of these organisations have been the beneficiaries of the more than $50 million annually disbursed by USAID and the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) for “democracy promotion” in Honduras. In fact, a USAID report regarding its funding and work with COHEP, described how the “low profile maintained by USAID in this project helped ensure the credibility of COHEP as a Honduran organisation and not an arm of USAID.” Which basically means that COHEP is, actually, an arm of USAID. The spokespeople for the Democratic Civil Union of Honduras representing, according to them, “civil society”, declared to the Honduran press on June 23rd – five days before the coup took place against President Zelaya – that they “trust the armed forces will comply with their responsibility to defend the Constitution, the Law, peace and democracy.” When the coup took place on June 28th, they were the first to immediately claim that a coup had not occured, but rather “democracy had been saved” from the hands of President Zelaya, whose crime was to attempt to give voice and visibility to the people. Representing the biased middle and upperclasses, the Democratic Civil Union has qualified Zelaya’s supporters as “hoards”. The International Republican Institute (IRI), entity that receives funding from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), received more than $1.2 million in 2009 to work with political groups in Honduras. IRI’s work has been dedicated to supporting “think tanks” and “pressure groups” to influence political parties and “support initiatives to implement political positions during the campaigns in 2009.” This is a clear example of intervention in the internal politics of Honduras and evidence of NED and IRI funding to those groups involved in the coup. The Washington lobby Republican Senator John McCain, ex US presidential candidate, helped coordinate the visit of a coup regime delegation to Washington last week. McCain is well known for his opposition to governments in Venezuela, Bolivia and other countries in the region considered “anti-imperialist”. McCain also maintains very close ties to the Cuban exile community in Miami. McCain is also Chairman of the Board of the International Republican Institute (IRI) that has funded the coup participants in Honduras. McCain offered the services of a lobby firm in Washington, closely tied to him, the Cormac Group, that organised a press conference for the coup regime delegation at the National Press Club on June 7th. McCain also helped set up several meetings in Congress with the traditional Cuban-American representatives and those general “Chávez-haters”, such as Connie Mack, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Mel Martinez. But beyond the Republican connection to the Honduran coup regime, there is a even more damning link to the current Democrat administration in Washington. Lawyer Lanny Davis was hired by the Business Council of Latin America (CEAL) to lobby in favour of the coup regime and convince the powers in Washington to accept and recognise the de facto government in Honduras. Lanny Davis was special counsel to ex President Bill Clinton from 1996-1998 and he is a close friend and advisor to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Davis is organising a diplomatic offensive and public relations blitz in favour of the coup regime, including the strategic placement of advertisements in important US media that seek to legitimise the de facto Honduran government, and he is organising meetings and hearings with members of Congress, the State Department and the White House. CEAL represents the conservative business community in Latin America, including those that have promoted and participated in previous attempts to oust democratic governments via coup d’etats and/or other forms of sabotage. For example, the Venezuelan representative of CEAL is Marcel Granier, president of RCTV, the television station that heavily participated in the 2002 coup against President Chávez and that consistently has violated Venezuelan law in order to promote its political agenda. As part of this offensive, Lanny Davis arranged a special hearing before the House Foreign Relations Committee, attended by high level members of Congress and overseen by Democrat Elliot Engel (congressman from New York). Testimonies were given at the hearing by representatives of the coup regime from Honduras and others who have supported the coup – directly and indirectly – such as Michael Shifter from the InterAmerican Dialogue, Guillermo Pérez-Cadalso, ex Honduran foreign minister and supreme court judge, and the infamous Otto Reich, a Cuban-American well known for his role in the majority of destabilisation activities against leftist and progressive governments in Latin America throughout the eighties. Reich, who was named Special Advisor on Latin America to President George W. Bush, also played a key role in the 2002 coup against President Chávez. As a result of this hearing, the US Congress is currently trying to pass a resolution that recognises the coup regime in Honduras as a legitimate government. Another consequence of Lanny Davis’ lobbying efforts was the meeting arranged in the Council of the Americas Washington office on June 9th. This event included the participation of Jim Swigert, Director of Programs in Latin America and the Caribbean for the National Democratic Institute (NDI), entity that receives its funding from NED and USAID, Cris Arcos, former US ambassador to Honduras, and Adolfo Franco, ex USAID Administrator for Latin America and the Caribbean, and the director of the “transition to democracy” program for Cuba. These three characters are working as advisors to the Obama administration on the Honduran crisis. Franco, who was previously advisor on foreign policy to John McCain during his presidential campaign in 2008, has been accused of corruption for his mismanagement of USAID funds destined for the Cuba “democracy” program. Franco diverted a large quantity of these funds, totaling over $40 million, to groups such as the Committee for a Free Cuba and the Institute for Cuban Studies in Miami, without adhering to a transparent process of funds disbursement. Negroponte and Reich, again Many analysts and specialists on Latin American have speculated on the role of former ambassador to Honduras John Negroponte, who directed the paramilitary forces and death squads known as the “Contra” against leftist movements in Central America during the 1980s. Negroponte held various high level positions during the Bush administration, including US Ambassador to Iraq, US Ambassador to the United Nations, National Director of Intelligence and lastly, subsecretary of state, second only to Condoleezza Rice. After leaving the Department of State in January 2009, Negroponte entered the private sector, as is custom amongst former top government officials. He was offered a job as vice-president at the most influential and powerful consulting firm in Washington, McLarty Associates. Negroponte accepted the job. McLarty Associates was founded by Thomas “Mack” McLarty, former chief of staff for President Bill Clinton and also Clinton’s Special Envoy to Latin America. Since the end of the Clinton administration, McLarty has managed the most powerful strategic consulting firm in Washington, which until just last year, was called Kissinger-McLarty Associates due to the merging of Thomas McLarty and Henry Kissinger. This partnership clearly evidenced the bi-partisan unions that truly craft the most important policies in Washington. In his new role, John Negroponte presently works as advisor to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Remember, the current US ambassador to Honduras, Hugo Llorens, has worked closely under Negroponte’s domain during the majority of his career. So it would not be a far jump to consider that John Negroponte, expert in crushing leftist movements in Central America, has played a role in the current coup against President Zelaya in Honduras. Otto Reich has also been investing his energy during the last couple of years in a campaign against President Zelaya. The Honduran president actually threatened to sue Reich for defamation in April 2009, after Reich accused President Zelaya of stealing $100 million from the state-owned telecommunications company, Hondutel. These accustations were never backed by evidence, and the truth was revealed soon after that explained Reich’s interest in Hondutel. Through his consulting and lobbying firm, Otto Reich Associates, the Cuban-American was representing a multinational corporation that was pushing for the privatisation of Hondutel, a move that Zelaya opposed. With President Zelaya out of the picture now, Reich is able to pursue the multi-million dollar deal. Reich also co-founded an organisation in Washington named Arcadia Foundation[vii] together with a Venezuelan, Robert Carmona-Borjas, a lawyer specialised in military law who is linked to the April 2002 coup d’etat in Venezuela, per his own resumé. Robert Carmona-Borjas was in the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, together with the dictator Pedro Carmona, on the days of the coup, from April 11-12, 2002, and escaped, together with Carmona, when the palace was retaken by the presidential guard and constitutional order was restored. He later fled to the United States after he was brought up on charges for his role in the coup d’etat in Venezuela, and became a university professor at George Washington University in Washington, DC (nice to see the warm welcome coup leaders and violators of democracy receive in the United States). Since last year, Reich and Carmona-Borjas have been conducting a campaign against President Zelaya, accusing him of corruption and limiting private property rights. Through the Arcadia Foundation, they created a series of video clips that have been shown in different media, attempted to portray Zelaya as a corrupt president who violates the basic rights of the Honduran people.[viii] Carmona-Borjas has travelled frequently to Honduras during the last few months, and even held public meetings where the coup against Zelaya was discussed openly. At one encounter where Carmona-Borjas was present, Honduran Public Defender Ramón Custodia, who was involved in the coup d’etat, declared to the press that “coups are a possibility and can occur in any political environment”. After the coup took place, Robert Carmona-Borjas appeared at a rally in support of the de facto regime, on July 3, and received the honors and applause from the coup leaders who declared him “an important actor” that “helped make possible” the removal from power of President Zelaya and the installation of the dictator Roberto Micheletti as de facto president.[ix] Military power The United States maintains a large military presence in Honduras in the Soto Cano (Palmerola) base, located about 50 miles from the capital, Tegucigalpa, that has been actively operating since 1981, when it was heavily occupied by the US Ronald Reagan Administration and used for its operations in Central America. During the eighties, Soto Cano was used by Colonel Oliver North as a base of operations of the “Contra”, the paramilitary forces trained, armed and funded by the CIA, and charged with executing warfare against all leftist movements in Central America, with particular focus on the neighbouring Sandinista government in Nicaragua. From Soto Cano, the “Contra” launched terrorist attacks, psychological warfare (overseen by Otto Reich’s Office for Public Diplomacy), death squads and special covert missions that resulted in the assassination of tens of thousands of farmers and civilians, thousands of disappeared, tortured, wounded and terrorised all throughout the region. John Negroponte, US ambassador at the time in Honduras, together with Oliver North and Otto Reich, directed and oversaw these dirty operations. They later became involved in the Iran-Contra scandal once the US Congress cut the funding for the paramilitary groups and death squads used by the Reagan Administration to neutralise the leftist movements in the region, and the Negroponte-North-Reich team sold arms to Iran to continue funding their covert operations. The Soto Cano base houses the US Joint Task Force-Bravo military group, composed of members from the army, air force, joint security forces and the First Batallion Regiment 228 of the US Air Force. The current total presence of US forces on the base numbers approximately 600, and includes 18 combat planes, UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters and CH-47 Chinook helicopters, used for special warfare operations. The Honduran Aviation Academy is also located on the Soto Cano base. More than 650 Honduran and US citizens also live inside the base installations. The Honduran constitution does not legally permit the presence of foreign military in the country. A “handshake” agreement was made between Washington and Honduras authorising the “semi-permanent” important and strategic presence of hundreds – at times thousands – of US military personnel on the base. The agreement was made in 1954, in exchange for the multimillion dollar aid the US provides to the Honduran armed forces, which ranges from training programs, arms and military equipment and joint exercises and operations that take place on the ground in Honduras. The base was first employed by the US military and CIA to launch the coup d’etat against Jacobo Arbenz in Guatemala in 1954. Each year, Washington authorises hundreds of millions of dollars in military and economic aid to Honduras, which is the third-poorest country in the western hemisphere, after Haiti and Nicaragua. This “exchange” securing the US military presence in the Central American nation can be terminated at any time by the Honduran government, without much notice. On May 31, 2008, President Manuel Zelaya announced that Soto Cano (Palmerola) would be converted into an international civilian airport. The construction of the airport terminal would be financed with a fund from the Bolivarian Alliance of the Americas (ALBA – of which Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, Dominique, Honduras, Nicaragua, St. Vicents, Antigua and Barbados and Venezuela are members). This obviously was a huge threat to the future US military presence in Honduras. The two generals that have participated in key roles in the coup against President Zelaya are both graduates of the US School of the Americas, famous for training dictators, torturers and repressors in Latin America, and they maintain very close ties with the US military forces based in Honduras. The Commander of the Honduran Air Force General Luis Javier Prince Suazo studied in the famous School of the Americas in 1996. The Head of the Honduran High Military Command, General Romeo Vásquez, who was fired by President Zelaya on June 24, 2009, for disobeying the president’s orders, and later appeared as the principal actor in the military coup just days later, is also a graduate of the School of the Americas. These two high level military officers also maintain close contact with the Pentagon and the Southern Command. The US Ambassador in Honduras through September 2008, when Hugo Llorens was appointed to the position, Charles Ford, was transferred from Honduras to the Southern Command in Florida and charged with providing “strategic advising” to the Pentagon about Latin America, a position he holds today. The Honduran military are funded, trained, schooled and commanded by the US military. They have been indoctrinated with the anti-leftist, anti-socialist, pro-empire mentality since the beginning of the Cold War. The Generals and high level officers involved in the coup in Honduras have publicly stated that they were “obligated” to remove President Zelaya from power because of the “threat” he posed with his “leftist” ideology and alignment to socialist nations in the region such as Venezuela and Cuba. Per one Honduran colonel, “'We fought the subversive movements here and we were the only country that did not have a fratricidal war like the others…It would be difficult for us, with our training, to have a relationship with a leftist government. That's impossible. I personally would have retired, because my thinking, my principles, would not have allowed me to participate in that.''.[x] All of the above evidence – and certainly more to come in the future – proves the undeniable role of Washington in the coup d’etat aginst President Zelaya in Honduras. Global Research Articles by Eva Golinger ABOUT THE VENEZUELAN COUP IN 2002: THE GUARDIAN UK: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2002/apr/22/venezuela.duncancampbell LATIN AMERICA IS ABOUT TO BE THE NEW IRAK: THE US & MEDIA AND FRIENDS MANAGED TO MAKE EVERYTHING TO MAKE LOOK CHAVEZ LIKE A DICTATOR, ANOTHER SADDAM HUSSEIN, SO THAT WILL MAKE THE INVASION IN THE NAME OF "DEMOCRACY" JUSTIFIABLE. HEIL ALL ABOUT THE BIG STICK, Chavez says Obama "lost in space" on Latin America Sun Aug 16, 2009 5:50pm EDT * Calls on U.S. to close bases in Honduras, Cuba * Plans to buy Russian tanks to prepare for "attack" CARACAS, Aug 16 (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 America," Chavez said in a rambling weekly television and radio show. "President Obama is lost in the Andromeda Nebula, he has lost his bearings, he doesn't get it," he said. Chavez repeated an accusation that the United States had prior knowledge of the coup that deposed Honduran President Manuel Zelaya on June 28 and the military plane that flew Zelaya out of the country had used a U.S. base in Honduras. Despite Chavez's frequent tirades against U.S. imperialism, the United States remains the main client for Venezuelan oil, though the OPEC country is gradually increasing sales to other countries, especially China. Chavez, who expelled the U.S. ambassador to Venezuela at the end of the Bush administration but allowed him back when Obama took office, said he still believes Obama has good intentions. Obama has promised to improve U.S. relations with Latin America. U.S. officials say his administration will put more effort into ties with the region to counter Chavez's growing influence. The leftist Venezuelan leader is furious, however, at a U.S. security agreement with Colombia that will give the Pentagon access to seven Colombian military bases. Chavez has cut trade with his neighbor as a reprisal. The United States and Colombia say the deal is an expansion of an existing accord and will help fight drug traffickers and guerrillas involved in the Colombian cocaine trade. Chavez says a larger U.S. troop presence risks sparking war in the region. Venezuela is planning to beef up its army by buying tanks and other weapons from Russia, Chavez said, adding that his country needs to be prepared for an attack. Chavez claims the United States wants to control Venezuela's huge oil reserves as well as the Amazon region. "This is just the start of an imperial military expansion," Chavez said of the U.S.-Colombian security arrangement. Chavez asked Obama to withdraw U.S. forces from the Palmerola air base in Honduras (also known as Soto Cano) and from Guantanamo Bay which the U.S. Navy has used as a base in in Cuba for over a century. "Until when? Get with it, Obama. Get with it, brother," Chavez said. (Reporting by Patricia Rondon; Writing by Frank Jack Daniel; Editing by Anthony Boadle) © Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved