UN decries harassment of Brazil's Honduran embassy
UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. Security Council is condemning "acts of intimidation" against the Brazilian embassy in Honduras, where the ousted Honduran president is holed up.The council issued a statement after a briefing and closed-door consultations Friday that "called upon the de facto government of Honduras to cease harassing the Brazilian Embassy."
The statement focused on security of the embassy and said nothing about restoring the ousted president to power.
Soldiers flew President Manuel Zelaya into exile in his pajamas in June. But he sneaked back to Honduras on Monday and has been huddling in the Brazilian diplomatic mission.
Brazil asked the Security Council to discuss the situation of its embassy in an emergency meeting.
Honduras' new government initially cut power and water to the embassy, but eventually restored service.
AMBASSADOR RICE: IN GERMANY, IT CAN BE CATEGORIZED AS A CRIME TO MAKE NAZI AND FASCIST TERRORISM LOOK HARMLESS, LIKE INSTEAD OF CALLING SOMETHING BY WHAT IT IS: TERRORISM; YOU CALL IT "INTIMIDATION". OF COURSE WE ALL
UN USA - Remarks by Ambassador Susan E. Rice, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, on Honduras and Iran, at the Security Council Stakeout
Susan E. RiceU.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations
U.S. Mission to the United Nations
New York, NY
September 25, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Ambassador Rice: Good afternoon everybody. Speaking as president of the Council I want to make a statement on behalf of the Council as follows: Members of the Council heard from the Foreign Minister of Brazil today. Council members stressed the importance of respecting International Law through preserving the inviolability of the Embassy of Brazil in Tegucigalpa, and other protections afforded it by the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations, and ensuring the safety of individuals on its premises. They condemned acts of intimidation against the Brazilian Embassy (HOW ABOUT PRESIDENT ZELAYA AND THE HUMAN LIVES THAT ACOMPANY HIM, MRS. RICE??????) and called upon the de facto government of Honduras to cease harassing the Brazilian Embassy (AND PRESIDENT ZELAYA AND THE 70 HUMAN BEINGS WITH HIM?)and to provide all necessary utilities and services including water, electricity, food and continuity of communications. Respect and protection of the inviolability of diplomatic premises is a universally accepted principle of international relations.
The members of the Council call on all parties to remain calm and to avoid actions that escalate the situation or place individuals at risk of harm.
The members of the Council voiced support for the regional mediation efforts facilitated by the OAS, including those by President Arias, to reach a peaceful solution.
I’d like to take questions on Honduras first, if there are any, and then we can move to other topics.
Reporter: Is the Security Council willing to go and (inaudible) take any actions (inaudible)?
Ambassador Rice: No, I think this constitutes the response of the Security Council to the information provided it today.
Reporter: Did you and the Foreign Minister of Brazil talk after the meeting? What did you talk about?
Ambassador Rice: We had a private conversation; I am not prepared to share it.
Reporter: This is the right place to bring this type of discussion? I mean this subject was being discussed by the OAS and now it is at the Security Council?
Ambassador Rice: The issue of the Embassy of Brazil in Tegucigalpa was the subject that the Security Council discussed, not the larger, not primarily the larger situation.
Reporter: Not the larger political?
Ambassador Rice: Not primarily, no.
Reporter: Is it true that the United States was not happy that this subject was brought to the Security Council?
Ambassador Rice: No, we are the president of the Council and we acted in accordance with the wishes of the Council.
Reporter: Will you have another meeting about this issue?
Ambassador Rice: No, I don’t anticipate another meeting at this time on this issue.
Reporter: Is there anything else that the Security Council can do besides condemning the situation?
Ambassador Rice: This was the case brought by the government of Brazil of the circumstance of its Embassy in Tegucigalpa that was discussed. I have shared the Council’s reaction to that. And the Council looks to the regional mediation to continue its work on the larger political question of Honduras.
Reporter: Was it unanimous, your statement?
Ambassador Rice: This is a consensus statement.
Reporter: On Iran: Will there be immediate action by Security Council in light of the new revelations; will there be any immediate Security Council meetings on Iran on this?
Ambassador Rice: As the President said in Pittsburgh today, we look with a sense of urgency to the meeting that is scheduled on October 1st among the P5+1 and Iran. This is a very crucial opportunity for Iran to come clean and create a greater degree of confidence to declare non military intentions and to provide full transparency. That will be a crucial next step, and as the leaders said today it is Iran’s obligation to fulfill its international obligations under Security Council resolutions as well as its commitment to the IAEA. So we will wait to see what they produce on October 1st.
Reporter: How long has the United States known about this facility?
Ambassador Rice: The United States has been tracking this situation for some time and indeed our confidence in the nature of this facility has strengthened over recent months. And we have made this information available accordingly.
Reporter: Any action will be taken before the end of December?
Ambassador Rice: As I just said we will see what the Iranians bring with them on Oct 1st and consider our actions subsequently.
Reporter: When you say that you made that information available, can you say who did you make this information available to – the IAEA?
Ambassador Rice: I am going to let the responsible authorities in Washington deal with the details of that.
Reporter: (inaudible) …anything from China now after this revelation?
Ambassador Rice: I am not going to speak for the government of China.
Reporter: Have you talked to them?
Ambassador Rice: We continue to talk to all of our partners in the P5+1; they issued an important and strong statement following the ministerial meeting this week. And we will continue to work in close coordination with them and the other partners in the P5+1.
Reporter: Do you think this will create a new dynamic in the P5+1?
Ambassador Rice: Obviously this is a very important set of information; I think we are all taking it very seriously. And as I said it increases the urgency with which we approach the very important meeting next week.
Thank you all very much.
Military Gases Brazilian Embassy
Telesur reports the miltary began throwing some kind of gas grenades into the Brazillian embassy this morning and blocking the admission of food and water. They've also cut the electricity again, and are blocking cell phone service from inside the embassy at this time.
Symptoms of the gas include bleeding from the nose, vomitting, diarhea, fainting, headaches.
Manuel Zelaya told the AFP that he had asked the Red Cross to visit, and has called on the UN to send a toxicologist to help determine the nature of the gas. He speculated that it was a gas the military use to get people to come out of buildings. He said they have evidence to present to the UN about the source and nature of the gas. Radio Globo is currently transmitting a press conference in which he is showing the press his evidence of the devices that deliver the gas.
About 25-30 people in the Brazilian embassy are affected.
All of this is a violation of the Vienna Convention but the law doesn't matter to facists like Micheletti.
In the meantime, the UN Security Council called on the de facto government to cease its relentless pursuit of the Brazilian Embassy and to resume the supply of services and access to the Brazilian embassy. They specified that the electricity, water, food, and access to continuous communications be restored.
Symptoms of the gas include bleeding from the nose, vomitting, diarhea, fainting, headaches.
Manuel Zelaya told the AFP that he had asked the Red Cross to visit, and has called on the UN to send a toxicologist to help determine the nature of the gas. He speculated that it was a gas the military use to get people to come out of buildings. He said they have evidence to present to the UN about the source and nature of the gas. Radio Globo is currently transmitting a press conference in which he is showing the press his evidence of the devices that deliver the gas.
About 25-30 people in the Brazilian embassy are affected.
All of this is a violation of the Vienna Convention but the law doesn't matter to facists like Micheletti.
In the meantime, the UN Security Council called on the de facto government to cease its relentless pursuit of the Brazilian Embassy and to resume the supply of services and access to the Brazilian embassy. They specified that the electricity, water, food, and access to continuous communications be restored.
- According to a doctor interviewed on Radio Globo, he was able to get a sample of the gas and analyze it in a lab. He claimed it was HCN, Hydrogean Cyanide gas. See this for a description of wha this gas can do: http://www.ihr.org/books/leuchter/toxic.html I spoke to my source who is at work only a couple of blocks from the Brazilian Embassy. She reports that some are trying to cover up the attack by saying that the folks in the Embassy are simply reacting to an exposure to house-cleaning chemicals and that the overcrowded conditions in the Embassy made everyone more sensitive.
- Vos has a piece saying that ammonia and hydrogen cyanide were found in the residue. Ammonia is used as pepper spray. HCN is used to kill people.
No indication of whether the HCN was there in more than trace quantities or whether they did assays for conventional agents such as CN and CS.
URGENTE! Fotografias enviadas desde la Embajada de BRASIL en Honduras.
Hostigamiento, represion y violación a derechos humanos de parte de militares. Se niegan a aceptar sobre estos aparatos. La Primera Dama de Honduras ha salido para denunciar esto he inmediatamente policias y militares procedieron a esconder equipos. Hay videos y fotografías. - They won't let Andrés Pavón from the Honduran Human Rights Council nor doctors to assist this situation inside the embassy of Brazil.
Sonic Warfare Erupts in Pittsburgh, Honduras
According to the Guardian, LRAD is being used in two ways: as a megaphone to order protesters to disperse, and, when they disobey, as an “ear-splitting siren” to drive them away. This has happened repeatedly, with the crowd assembling again a few streets away. It’s one of a number of controversial tactics being employed in the city; check out this video of a seeming “snatch-and-grab” arrest in the middle of a demonstration.
The sonic weaponry appears to be having a much greater effect thousands of miles from Pittsburgh, in Honduras.
A siege situation has developed in the capital Tegucigalpa, where ousted President Manuel Zelaya is holed up in the Brazilian Embassy. The security forces can’t launch an assault, but they are stepping up the pressure with sound blasters and psychological warfare tactics.
Forced into exile in a coup three months ago, Zelaya sneaked back into the country on Monday. He gave speeches to crowds of supporters from an embassy balcony, calling for a peaceful solution to the current crisis. Recognizing the risk of a popular response, the coup leaders sent in security forces to clear the area using tear gas and water cannon. According to the Guardian, twenty people were injured and at least 170 detained following the disturbance; the BBC say that at least one person died.
The embassy is now surrounded. Water, electricity and telephone lines have been cut off. Embassy staff were permitted to leave, but access is now restricted. According to the BBC the embassy occupants have no soap, towels or fresh clothes and are surviving on biscuits. These are fairly routine methods of making the subjects of a siege feel isolated and uncomfortable, but an added dimension has been added by the use of noise.
According to Reuters, a truck-mounted speaker was used “to blast the embassy with harsh sounds.” The Guardian describes the speakers as being used to generate “high-pitched noise.” The Miami Herald cites witness reports that “soldiers used a device that looked like a large satellite dish to emit a loud shrill noise.”
The device seems to have spooked Zelaya; in the Herald report, he claims that he is under attack by some sort of radiation weapon. This reminds me of someone I talked to who once told some protesters that the LRAD sonic blaster emitted radiation that would shrivel their testicles. He was impressed at how fast they got out of the way.
The Herald quotes a police spokesman as saying that no such device is in use: “The only elements surrounding that embassy are police and military, and they have no such apparatus.”
The use of speakers in siege situation harks back to the situation in Panama in 1989 when President Noriega took refuge in the Vatican Embassy. U.S. forces blasted him with heavy rock music (which was eventually turned off after a complaint by the Pope). The idea is to cause sleep deprivation and increase the target’s stress levels.
The FBI used the same tactic at the Waco siege in 1993, but with a wider variety of sounds including the squeal of rabbits being killed. It was even proposed that they should use a Russian technique known as “acoustic psycho-correction,” a form of subliminal messaging in which commands are hidden in white noise or other sound to influence the target’s unconscious. However. The FBI was skeptical , and was concerned that the device might have unpredictable effects.
Speakers are also used to subject detainees to constant music in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay. The endless loop of Barney the Dinosaur received a lot of publicity, but interrogators also use Eminem, AC/DC and Bruce Springsteen. One theory has it that the music used contains hidden messages as a form of acoustic psycho-correction. Another is that the music itself is a form of “no touch torture.”
The political situation in Honduras remains in limbo. The interim government that forced Zelaya out has not won international recognition. The World Bank has suspended financial aid and EU countries have withdrawn their ambassadors. But equally there is little international pressure for the interim government to stand down. Zelaya has called in president Obama to apply sanctions, as Honduras relies on the U.S. for 75% of its trade, but there is no sign of this happening.
Meanwhile, Zelaya is talking to the interim government , but they insist that this is not about returning him to power. They’re probably hoping that if the siege continues long enough, and they keep the psychological pressure up on Zelaya, he will eventually cave in.
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