6 months too late: Honduras takes steps to withdraw from ALBA

Honduras takes steps to withdraw from ALBA The decision was made Tuesday night by the Cabinet and the agreement was signed by President Roberto Micheletti WESTERN HEMISPHERE  The government of acting Honduras President Roberto Micheletti will file a motion at the Congress on Wednesday to take Honduras out of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA).  "On Wednesday, we will send the initiative to the Congress. The decision was made Tuesday night by the Cabinet and the agreement was signed by President Roberto Micheletti," said the Minister of the Presidency, Rafael Pineda, Efe reported.  He added that the Central American government made the decision to denounce the treaty of accession to the integration bloc headed by Venezuela because "some ALBA countries have not treated (Honduras) with respect."  Pineda stressed that the withdrawal from ALBA, a group that Honduras joined in August 25, 2008, under the administration of President Manuel Zelaya, who was ousted in June 28, 2009, does not change trade relations in areas such as the purchase of fuel through Petrocaribe.  He said that the Honduran Parliament will make the final decision. He highlighted that one of the reasons that lead to Honduras' withdrawal from ALBA is the "disrespectful treatment" of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. Pineda added that at one point Chávez threatened to invade the Central American country after the removal of Zelaya.  The minister of the de facto government said that in the past the member countries "rejected claims that the bloc had a political ingredient" associated with "socialism," but then, "time confirmed that the bloc did have such ingredient."  Translated by Gerardo Cárdenas http://english.eluniversal.com/2009/12/16/en_pol_esp_honduras-takes-steps_16A3200173.shtml HAHAHA 6 months of "dignity" too late to renounce to the whole cause of Zelaya's ouster, Senior Coup Officials. Wasn't Honduras' alliance to the ALBA one of the main reasons for the coup? Wasn't Zelaya's action of adhering Honduras to this pact what was so atrocious, indecent, antipatriotic, outrageous? Wasn't Honduras going to become a "Chávez's Colony" by adhering to the ALBA, therefore you saved it by oustering Zelaya?  Ahh, but now, during all these months it was quite convenient for you to not quit to ALBA, while you could use that money very well, huh? En Honduras no tenemos petrodólares pero tenemos huevos, right? (In Honduras we have no petrodollars, but we have balls, is what they say, but we had petrodollars all along). Poster in the city of San Pedro Sula courtesy of the fascist government. The only thing that is outrageous is the hypocrisy, corruption, shamelessness of this de facto government. Now everyone can see that their so-called "dignity" and "patriotism" is nothing else than a charade.  Here are some articles (because i am no amnesiac) that can reinforce what I just said:  Government will not return  millions of Petrocaribe

The rupture of relations with Venezuela does not imply the return of about 130 million U.S.  (about 2,500 million Lempiras) that generates ³ the energetic  agreement , known as Petrocaribe. ³ That convention allowed cash to Honduras to pay 40 per cent of total imports and the remainder in installments of 20 aà ± os with an interest rate of one © s annual percent, which allowed the country to accumulate ³ ammounts of money to use in different projects. The current Minister of Industry and Commerce, Benjamín Bogra n, ³ was  appointed to  managing them, said ³ to TIEMPO that the money deposited in the  Central Bank of Honduras (BCH) is committed to various infrastructure projects like roads and dams . He Ensured that while the new government wants nothing to do  with Venezuela's President Hugo Chà ¡vez, they will not give the money back. The country received this money under the agreement of the Bolivarian Alternative for Amà © ricas (ALBA). The fuel supply was ³ unilaterally suspended by the Venezuelan government DAYS AFTER © s the ousting of President Manuel Zelaya Rosales, 28 June g. The suspension of supply from Venezuela did not affect inventories in Honduras, because right now there are enough providers, said the provisional government. $ 100 million will be invested ALBA No housing The government will invest, or at least leave the foundations for it, a hundred million U.S. dollars from the Bolivarian Alternative for Amà © ricas (ALBA), boosted by Venezuela for the execution of housing projects ³ n in Tegucigalpa, San Pedro Sula and other sectors of the country.  ³This was  announced by the  Minister of Industry and Commerce, Benjamín Bográn,  after confirming that about 200 acres of land to execute the work were donated to the industrial capital of the country. The resources are those which were deposited at the Central Bank of Honduras (BCH) . The country fell into debt with the government of Hugo Chà time of the previous government, the official acknowledged ³.  In the capital investors are looking for some owners of large tracts of land to run affordable housing and long-term preferential term,with the private sector and other sectors viable alternatives so that people can access affordable housing, he said.  He clarifies that this government , whose fundamental goal is to have elections on 29 November to elect a new president of the country will make his transition.  Therefore, he explained ³, it is planning to leave at least the structures for the execution ³ n of the two projects in Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula.

CIUDAD MATEO Moreover, Bogra n said "we are not going to solve problems that date back over 20 aà ± os including the issue of CIUDAD MATEO (a big corruption project left by the Callejas government--note added by me), which can not be resolved in a day.  He acknowledged that this issue is very controversial, in which Not only will the central government participate unless he   listens to various sectors.  Inhabiting or not this is a residential complex ³ n decisions to be adopted at any given time, as thousands of the capital may be affected in one way or another, he concluded ³.  OSCAR HERNANDEZ  Photo: TIME What was first, the chicken or the egg? Left behind by the U.S., Honduras turns to Chavez Gustavo Palencia and Anahi Rama TEGUCIGALPA Tue Aug 26, 2008 12:12pm EDT < 1 / 3 > View Full Size TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - Honduras, a longtime ally of the United States in Central America, says a lack of international support to tackle chronic poverty has forced it to seek aid from Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Cuba On Monday, Honduras joined the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, or ALBA, an alliance of leftist leaders in Latin America headed by Chavez, a staunch U.S. foe. President Manuel Zelaya, a logging magnate seen as a moderate liberal, told Reuters that oil-rich Venezuela's offer to double international aid to the country, one of the poorest in Latin America, is unrivaled. "I have been looking for projects from the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, Europe and I have received very moderate offers ... that forces us to find other forms of financing like ALBA," Zelaya said in an interview at his presidential palace. Chavez, a self-styled socialist who wants to build up opposition to U.S. influence in Latin America by offering oil and cash to poor countries, pledged $400 million a year in aid to tiny Honduras. In a suit and cowboy boots, Zelaya spoke just hours after Chavez, flanked by other Latin American leftist leaders, told a cheering crowd of thousands on Monday that Honduras would have energy security "for the next 100 years." Honduras was a Cold War ally of the United States and allowed U.S.-backed "Contra" rebels from Nicaragua to operate from its soil in the 1980s. Honduras still hosts U.S. troops at one of its military bases. "Our decades-long relationship of dominance by the United States has not benefited all Hondurans," Zelaya said. "The war between communists and right-wingers is over, and if what we have now is not giving results, we have to turn to alternatives like ALBA," which also includes Cuba, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Dominica, he said. Honduran businessmen are against Zelaya's move, afraid it will hurt relations with the United States, the country's principal trading partner. Honduras is a member of a free trade pact between Central America and the United States, and sends the bulk of its coffee, bananas and manufactured goods exports to the U.S. market. (Editing by Kieran Murray) http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2634659620080826