US lawmakers to meet interim Honduras leader
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — A U.S. senator and three congressmen plan to meet Friday with Honduras' interim leader in defiance of official Washington policy barring contact with the architects of the military coup that ousted the nation's president.South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint intends to meet with interim President Roberto Micheletti as well as members of the Central American nation's Supreme Court, election officials and business and civic leaders during the fact-finding trip, said Wesley Denton, a spokesman for the senator.
The visit comes as President Barack Obama's administration seeks to isolate the interim government and use other forms of pressure — including suspending aid and canceling the visas of some members of the country's wealthy elite — in hopes of returning ousted President Manuel Zelaya to serve the remaining months of his term.
DeMint, one of a number of U.S. conservatives who have defended Zelaya's ouster on June 28 in Central America's first coup in more than a decade, supports the interim government plan to hold elections Nov. 29.
"The best solution to the crisis in Honduras is free and fair democratic elections that allow the Honduran people to decide their own future," DeMint said in a statement e-mailed to The Associated Press.
The international community has made it clear that the vote will not be recognized unless Zelaya is reinstated.
Zelaya was ousted after he ignored Supreme Court orders to halt efforts to revamp the constitution. His opponents argue that he intended to extend his time in power — a charge that Zelaya denies. He has been holed-up in the Brazilian Embassy with dozens of supporters since sneaking back into the country on Sept. 21.
A Republican conservative, DeMint has called Zelaya "a Chavez-style dictator" in reference to Venezuelan leftist President Hugo Chavez, an outspoken critic of the United States.
Along with DeMint, the congressional delegation includes Republicans Aaron Schock and Peter Roskam of Illinois, and Doug Lamborn of Colorado.
Their visit is one of a number of diplomatic efforts under way as a grinding standoff continues for control of one of the poorest countries in the hemisphere, with heavily armed troops preventing Zelaya's supporters from approaching the embassy and opposition media outlets forced off the air under an emergency decree that limits civil liberties including freedom of the press and assembly.
Micheletti has vowed to arrest Zelaya, but a Brazilian delegation visiting Thursday said it received assurances from the Supreme Court that the embassy would not be attacked.
Micheletti, who issued the decree amid pro-Zelaya street protests, said he would study calls to repeal it but gave no deadline.
On Monday, Micheletti said he would accept calls from Congress to rescind the measure and resolve the issue by week's end.
Brazilian officials have expressed concern about the status and safety of the embassy after the security forces fired tear gas and used loudspeakers in an apparent attempt to harass Zelaya and the supporters.
"This has created a complex situation," said Congressman Ivan Valente, one of the visiting Brazilian delegates. He said they "hope to contribute to a lowering of tensions."
Also Thursday, the 47-nation U.N. Human Rights Council unanimously endorsed a proposal by Latin American countries calling for an immediate end to human rights violations since the putsch.
The Geneva-based council, of which the United States is a member, also called for the restoration of Zelaya's government.
The coup-installed government has shrugged off international condemnation, but is coming under increasing pressure from political, civic and business leaders who had supported Zelaya's ouster and now back plans to return him to power with limited authority.
Jim DeMint's Coup?
Thursday, Oct 01 2009, 5:00PM
A movie on the Honduras coup may not be the big draw that the Tom Hanks film, Charlie Wilson's War, was -- but one has to wonder whether we are seeing a remake in which a lone Member of Congress, this time a US Senator from South Carolina, drags the country into the internal affairs of another small nation.Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) has announced that he is heading down to Honduras to encourage those who helped fund and supported the coup against Honduran President Manuel Zelaya to resist American pressure to return Zelaya to office.
The US Department of State has begun to revoke the visas of wealthy supporters of the military coup.
In other words, Jim DeMint is acting on behalf of, in cahoots with, and against the foreign policy of the United States of America in encouraging post-coup Honduran government officials defy the United States. He is encouraging a political leadership which has no legitimacy and which not recognized by other democracies in the region -- while the ousted President makes cell phone UN General Assembly statements from a couch-bed in the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa.
A US Senator alone does not make the America's foreign policy, and working against the policies of the United States in collaboration with foreign officials. . .well. . .there are words that come to mind to describe this behavior, but I want to be civil towards the Senator.
But let me be less blunt. Should we require Senator DeMint to register with the Foreign Agents Registration office at the Department of Justice?
-- Steve Clemons
Update: DeMint GROUNDED by Senator John Kerry and President Obama. . .
DeMint Statement on Kerry & Obama Administration Blocking Fact-Finding Trip to Honduras WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina), member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and chairman of the Senate Steering Committee, made the following statement after Foreign Relations Chairman John Kerry (D-Massachusetts) and President Obama's State Department blocked Senator DeMint's planned fact-finding trip to Honduras at the last minute.This is not fiction. Tough to believe I know.
"These bullying tactics by the Obama administration and Senator Kerry must stop, and we must be allowed to get to the truth in Honduras. Not a single U.S. Senator has traveled to Honduras to learn the facts on the ground. And the Obama administration won't allow Honduran officials or even businessmen to come to the U.S., either. While this administration has failed to act decisively in Afghanistan, it is has no problem cracking down on a democratic ally and one of the poorest nations in Latin America."
"Meanwhile, a thorough report from the Congressional Research Service directly contradicts President Obama's snap decision about the legality of then-President Zelaya's removal from office in June. Now, President Obama and Democrats' blind support for this would-be dictator and friend of Hugo Chavez will prevent members of Congress from learning the truth first hand."
-- Steve Clemons
Honduras Update: Micheletti Spirals Downward as the U.S. Fails to Fully Condemn the De Facto Regime and Insists on Mincing Around with the Appointees who Don’t Wear its Colors
by COHA Research Associates Stephanie Brault and Michaela D'AmbrosioToo Late to Ask for Forgiveness
Micheletti is now seeking forgiveness from Hondurans, though it may be too little, too late for this to strike home. The decree limiting democratic rights in the country came as no surprise considering the increasingly radical nature of the undemocratic initiatives that his regime has been increasingly prone to take. As Micheletti digs a deeper hole for himself, he has stripped the de facto regime of any ounce of legitimacy that it may have had in the eyes of the international community, and demonstrably, with fellow Hondurans. Micheletti’s case has not been helped by the country’s declining standard of living, as its economy shrinks by as much as $40 million dollars a day and economic boycotts take effect. Micheletti believes he can hold on to the country until the November elections can take place. This way, he will be able to get rid of Zelaya by antiseptic means. However, international condemnation and drastically reduced political backing has left Micheletti’s regime dry and beached. Moreover, the suspensions of civil liberties as well as the regimes refusal to engage in diplomatic negotiations, further exemplify the preposterous claim that Micheletti is the legitimate ruler of his country.
Zelaya Holed Up In the Embassy
While Micheletti is rapidly losing both international and domestic support, Zelaya remains far from regaining office. However, the longer it takes for him to return, the longer it allows for Micheletti to sanction human rights abuses, which have become an increasing problem throughout Honduras over the past three months. The hundreds of soldiers and riot police surrounding the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa, where Zelaya has been seeking refuge since his return to the country on September 21, are emblematic of the “war footing” taken by the Honduran security forces, which has resulted in repeated clashes with protesters. Security forces have used tear gas, rubber bullets, and other chemicals to disperse the crowds. Evidence also suggests that Honduran soldiers have fired into unarmed groups of protesters.
These unnecessarily violent actions taken by soldiers and riot police are repressive and illegal, proving that the interim government is far from willing to allow democratic procedures to freely function within the country. Amnesty International along with other human rights organizations have condemned the widespread human rights abuses committed by the Micheletti administration and have called upon the international community to take more public action.
The interim government’s neglect for democratic discussion and its counter-productive pacification efforts are further exemplified by the recent ultimatum given to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva by Honduran authorities: ten days to either grant Zelaya asylum outside of Honduras, or hand him over to Micheletti to be arrested and face trial, a threat that Lula angrily brushed off. While Micheletti assures the public that he will not forcefully remove Zelaya from the embassy, his threat to Lula would be extremely damaging for the country because it would force the Brazilian embassy to close, thereby ending diplomatic ties between the two countries. Such a course of action clearly showcases Micheletti’s plunge into the dangerous unknown in his attempt to cling to power. Zelaya’s presence in the country has caused Micheletti to further isolate himself from the international community and pursue increasingly authoritarian measures, such as his recent raid on the independent media.
U.S. Repeats its Hallmark Policy of Refusing to Take a Definitive Stance
While Micheletti’s support continues to ebb, it may seem like only a matter of time before President Zelaya is reinstated. Meanwhile Washington continues to blunder around, failing to decisively clarify its position on the continuing crisis and its diplomacy seems to be anything but sure footed. In a statement on September 28, acting U.S. chief representative to the Organization of American States, Lewis Amselem, a hard-line Foreign Service officer who served in Latin America throughout the Cold War, called Zelaya’s return to Honduras “irresponsible and foolish,” stating “the president should stop acting as though he was starring in an old movie.” One could respond to Amselem that he should stop acting as if he is a member of the intelligence branch. Words such as Amselem’s, which contradicted the official State Department’s position that the forthcoming election to replace Zelaya could be compromised if it was held under the de facto regime, could give hope to the coup regime that at the end of the day the U.S. will support its illegal command and have beclouded U.S.-policy. This was reinforced by the hesitancy of the Obama administration to take a definite stance on the coup since the day Zelaya was ousted from office.
With the U.S. using Amselem to send mixed messages to the de facto regime, Zelaya’s return may not be all that imminent, and the illegal abuses of power and human rights will continue under Micheletti. One can also expect Amselem, who previously served in Bolivia, Panama, U.S. Southern Command, Guyana, and Guatemala, to continue to espouse a Bush-Reagan-Clinton policy towards Latin America. Thankfully, he is to be shortly replaced by an Obama Administration nominee, Carmen Lomellin, another Career Foreign Service Officer who has had a more open background with Latin American issues. One can only hope that Ms. Lomellin will take a more definitive and hard-line stance against the Micheletti regime.
The Obama administration must once and for all, immediately and explicitly, deny all economic and military support to Honduras in an effort to force Micheletti out of power. The Honduran coup has now lasted for over three months, largely due to the hesitation and failure of the U.S. to act. As a result, deaths, injuries, and disappearances are beginning to be recorded in Honduras. In the tradition of Secretary of State Clinton accusing Zelaya of being “reckless” for briefly showing up in Nicaragua, Amselem’s use of the word “irresponsible” to describe Zelaya’s slipping into the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa, follows the same.
In order to avoid further tarnishing relations with Latin America, Obama needs to take a decisive position and act accordingly. Coup d’états must not be allowed to stand as a legitimate portal to transferring power, or else the role of democracy in the electoral process, will have been compromised if not extinguished.
Despite Micheletti’s claim that he took office under a constitutional transfer of power, this was not an accurate analysis of what took place. What occurred was that Zelaya was thrown out of Honduras with a gun to his head. Due to the past damage inflicted on all of the Central American nations over the decades, Washington must take this opportunity to uncompromisingly promote the proper definition of democracy by demanding the return of Zelaya to office.
http://www.coha.org/honduras-update-micheletti-spirals-downwarde-u-s-fails-to-fully-condemn-the-de-facto-regime-and-insists-on-mincing-around-with-the-appointees-who-don%E2%80%99t-wear-its-colors/
U.S. should condemn Honduras coup regimeLate last month the State Department finally revoked diplomatic visas for four of those responsible for Honduras's June 28 coup.
But just last week the same State Department sent a letter to the Senate that incredibly names President Zelaya, not the coup plotters, as responsible for his own ouster. The U.S. response to the coup should not be a matter of supporting or rejecting the prior actions of Manuel Zelaya; it's a matter of supporting or rejecting a flagrant usurpation of Hondurans' right to exercise their democratic will.The coup regime seems to have as much regard for human rights as it does for democracy. One week after the coup, the military fired 160 rounds of live ammo into a nonviolent crowd, killing a teenager. Since then, the coup regime has overseen nine politically-motivated murders, countless military attacks on peaceful protesters, the arbitrary arrest of over 1,300 people and the systematic military occupation and shutdown of most independent media outlets.This dangerous and illegitimate coup regime merits clear, consistent condemnation from the U.S., not the schizophrenic response seen thus far.
— Jim Schaefer, Otis
Honduras Coup Regime Suspends Constitutional Rights, Closes Media, Threatens Brazil: Will Obama Admin Break Its Silence?
Center for Economic and Policy Research
Washington, D.C. - The Honduran de facto regime suspended constitutional guarantees to civil liberties, including freedom of assembly and freedom of the press, for 45 days on the eve of mass protests planned to mark the three-month anniversary since the coup d'etat against President Manuel Zelaya took place. The regime has also shut down Radio Globo, a prominent independent media outlet that has covered anti-coup activities and that reportedly has a journalist inside the Brazilian embassy where Zelaya is staying, and TV station Channel 36.
"After 90 days and not one word from the Obama administration on the abuses in Honduras, it looks an awful lot like a tacit endorsement of the repression by the U.S. government," said Mark Weisbrot, Co-Director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research.
"Certainly the de facto regime must have gotten the idea that they have a blank check from the Obama administration for any crimes that they commit. That's one reason they're doing this."
The suspension of civil liberties would last at least until just a few weeks before the scheduled November 29 elections, and is likely to further call into question the elections' legitimacy.
The regime also issued an ultimatum to Brazil over the weekend, warning the Brazilian government that it has 10 days to decide what to do about Zelaya, and a regime spokesperson warned that since Brazil broke off diplomatic relations with the coup government, it could remove the flag and shield from the Brazilian embassy, making it a "private office." Brazilian President Lula da Silva rejected the threats, saying that his government "doesn't accept ultimatums from coup-plotters."
In the three months since President Manuel Zelaya was overthrown, the coup regime has committed numerous human right abuses, including thousands of arrests and detentions, beatings, and the closing down of independent media. This has been documented, reported, and denounced by major human rights organizations throughout the world: Amnesty International, the Center for Justice and International Law, Human Rights Watch, the Inter American Commission on Human Rights and others. Some opponents of the regime have also been killed, tortured, and raped, and Honduran human rights groups have accused the government of responsibility for these crimes.
The Obama administration has not commented on any of these crimes or human rights violations.
Also, on Friday, the UN Security Council passed a resolution that "condemned acts of intimidation against the Brazilian Embassy and called upon the de facto government of Honduras to cease harassing the Brazilian Embassy 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," according to U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice.
This was in response to the Honduran regime's violations of international law in its attacks on the Brazilian embassy with tear gas and other chemicals, cutting off food, water, and electricity, and other abuses.
The U.S. government has not criticized the de facto regime for its violations of international law with respect to the Brazilian embassy.
The Center for Economic and Policy Research is an independent, nonpartisan think tank that was established to promote democratic debate on the most important economic and social issues that affect people's lives.
Your Tax Dollars At Work "Promoting" Democracy
The Unión Civica Democratica, a pro-coup organization that describes itself as made up of over 40 organizations supporting the ouster of president Manuel Zelaya announced today that it supports PCM-M-016-2009, the decree that suspends the constitutional rights of Honduran citizens for 45 days. Its spokesperson, Luz Ernestina Mejia specifically approved of the closing of Radio Globo and Channel 36. "We are against the repeated crimes of these journalists."
One of its member groups, the Generation for Change. Generacion Por Cambio describes (also found here) itself as "a politically independent organization of young adults" with "the primary objective of defending the Honduras Constitution and the rule of law against the administration of Manuel Zelaya Roslales and his Executive Branch of Government."
Generacion Por Cambio is a recipient of USAID funding for the development of democracy in Honduras. Gee, we spent money supporting a group that just came out in favor of the suspension of constitutional guarantees? Guess that was money well spent.
One of its member groups, the Generation for Change. Generacion Por Cambio describes (also found here) itself as "a politically independent organization of young adults" with "the primary objective of defending the Honduras Constitution and the rule of law against the administration of Manuel Zelaya Roslales and his Executive Branch of Government."
Generacion Por Cambio is a recipient of USAID funding for the development of democracy in Honduras. Gee, we spent money supporting a group that just came out in favor of the suspension of constitutional guarantees? Guess that was money well spent.
No comments:
Post a Comment