Int'l press to escort ousted Honduran president back home

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Xinhua

Int'l press to escort ousted Honduran president back home
2009-07-24 08:00 BJT

MANAGUA, July 23 (Xinhua) -- A vehicle caravan of reporters, cameramen and photographers from the international press will accompany ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya to return to Honduras on Thursday.

Zelaya planned to set off at around 3 p.m. local time (2100 GMT) from Managua, a source with Honduran embassy in Nicaragua told Xinhua.

From a long list of reporters who applied for entourage membership, it is not given who were the chosen ones.

Zelaya said on Wednesday night that at midday Thursday he would travel to Esteli and Ocotal, Nicaraguan region bordering Honduras. He said on Friday he would enter Honduran territory, hopefully to be welcomed not only by his family.

Meanwhile, reporters from local media reported on Thursday that the Honduran migratory authorities are closed for service.



Read more: http://english.cctv.com/20090724/100871.shtml

[fascisthunter]

1. wow... here's hoping things go smoothly

[IDFbunny]

2. Hope things go well too.

[timeforpeace]

3. Good, there will be plenty of documentation that he was taken into custody peacefully.

Unless he gets violent.

[lexanman]

6. Hopefully

he goes in and dissolves an illegitimate pupped SOA government and returns it to the people.

[EFerrari]

9. Tell your buds in Miami, it's not on.

:)

[bitchkitty]

4. Excellent

He'll have the global media on hand to document anything and everything, and it will also prevent any "unforeseen accidents."

[Peace Patriot]

5. Zelaya's got some smart advisors...

...but he's dealing with dumb foes. Hard to say what they will do. If they suddenly get smart, they will welcome him with open arms, 'Prodigal Son' style, wait out the few months of his term with no prosecution of him or other such bullshit, fix the November election (in which he cant' run) just in case some leftist might be able to put together a campaign under martial law and with the media shut down, and thus rule forever, as they wish.

And why didn't they do this to begin with? Why did they oust a president with only six months left on his term? I mean, how often can he raise the minimum, or provide things like school lunches? Interesting, huh? They have power, not legitimacy. They have money--lots and lots of money, including millions of US tax dollars funneled to their rightwing groups from John McCain's "International Republican Institute" (USAID) and other funds--but not smarts. One result of their coup is that their claim--the claim of this rich oligarchy--to represent the people of Honduras has been exposed as bogus--irrespective of the coup. There they were, with control of all the levers of government, all the wealth, all the land, with most Hondurans having nothing--the majority being among the poorest people in the western hemisphere--and that could have gone on forever, most likely, given Honduras' status as a US "free trade" and military client state, if they had only waited out Zelaya's term, maybe pretended a little reform, and then...business as usual. Now they are exposed before the whole world as the rich, dumb assholes that they are--a corrupt elite that deserves to be ousted across the board, from the presidency, the legislature, the courts and most especially from the electoral council if they control that (which I presume they do). Nothing that they do from this point on will have credibility or legitimacy. They might as well all retire to their second homes in Miami.

But this makes me worried about Zelaya, and those accompanying him on this epic journey--even with the international press there in force. He's going unarmed and in peace, with the whole world on his side, the whole world now knowing who he is--where before he was the unknown president of a backward country--and the coupsters must be feeling quite desperate at this point. Zelaya is clearly not afraid of arrest. He knows that their case against him is bollux. If they pursue it, they will be further exposed as liars and frauds. If harm comes to him, they lose, big time. Maybe having all that money, and John McCain, and John Negroponte, and Otto Reich, and Lanny Davis, and Rumsfeld moles in the Pentagon, and who knows who else, backing them gives them confidence in their belligerent course. But what is most striking about them is how dumb they are. They remind me of the rich elite in Venezuela, and also the white separatists in Bolivia, who will never understand how the Bushwhacks have used them, and prodded and funded them to commit actions that were not in their interest.

So-o-o, I don't know what they will do. I can't predict it. Can't make a guess. I just fear that, given their advisers, it will be very dumb, and people could get hurt. The motives of their backers are the worst they could be, up to and including Oil War II-South America. They used Honduras once in their wars on Latin America. They likely intend to do so again, and meanwhile to embarrass and entrap President Obama, to sabotage his stated policy of peace, respect and cooperation in Latin America. If they did NOT have such backers, I would feel more sanguine that something could be worked out, peacefully, to restore democracy in Honduras.

[peacetalksforall]

7. I am picturing the people whose names you include - meeting Zelaya at the border

and announcing that they are the new, real Hondurian government and he can't come back, but they offer him 100 million from the U.S. taxpayers to go into exile. John McCain, John Negroponte, Otto Reich, Lanny Davis, CIA Cuban Americans, some Uribe Colombians, some drug and gun runners and more. Yep, greeting at the border with a deal. Taking care of the pharmas, telecommunication, the Southern Command or whatever they call it.

Is Sec. Clinton back from Asia?

[Peace Patriot]

8. You know, I was thinking about Zelaya and how he could have had a comfortable

exile in any number of countries, and could have written pamphlets against the coup from a distance, and not bothered to go back to Honduras at risk of his life and liberty. That he chose the path of Simon Bolivar--the path of serving the people, and putting himself on the line for the future of Honduras--is very, very impressive. Honduras will never be the same because of his decision to go back--whatever happens in the immediate future. Honduras will be reformed, as he wished. The people themselves will reform it, as they are doing in Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala. He has galvanized the forces of change, by not retreating. And he could well have made a different choice. It would have been very understandable if he had chosen exile.

Chavez faced a similar choice, during the 2002 coup in Venezuela. His kidnappers tried to force him to sign a letter of resignation. (In fact, RCTV, on behalf of the coup, lied to the public that he had resigned--one of the reasons the Chavez government pulled their license. By this and other deeds, they actively supported the coup.) Chavez did not sign--though his life had been threatened. He could have resigned, thinking maybe that they would spare him and let him go into exile. But he refused. He thus ripped the mask of legitimacy from them. He also managed to get the word out that he had not resigned--and this was the motivating force for tens of thousands of Venezuelans who poured into the streets and surrounded Miraflores Palace demanding his return. The news was spread by word-of-mouth--"Chavez did not resign!" It was also very important to the military who changed sides. Chavez was the legitimate president, and was asserting that point, even under threat. The military had to decide whether or not to support the Constitution and the rule of law. and Chavez's courage helped them make that decision.

This was THE turning point in the recent history of South America that has resulted in the extraordinary success of the leftist democracy movement throughout South America and into Central America. And it may be that Zelaya's similar decision--not to yield, not to give up his presidency, and to return--will be THE moment of the final solidification of that movement, making it a rock solid advance in human progress that cannot be overturned.

The military in Honduras is rather a different matter than the military in Venezuela. But the Honduran military will not be able to play its typical role in the face of a courageous president and a popular uprising. The Honduran coupsters are much more isolated than the Venezuelan coupsters were. Honduras is now surrounded by countries with leftist governments, including its three immediate neighbors in Central America and most of South America. And, unless Negroponte & cabal intend, at this moment, to start their oil war--which I cannot rule out--the Honduran coup cannot survive. The Venezuelan coup had the Bushwhacks in the White House, and no great democracy movement bursting out all around them--and still they failed. The Honduran coupsters have far less advantage. I certainly hope that the coup and its backers here have made a fatal mistake, in precipitously ousting Zelaya, in this overwhelmingly democratic context in Latin America. They've turned a moderate leftist who had little time left in office to pursue modest reform into a blazing revolutionary hero. And he has chosen to be a hero.

[Vidar]

10. Viva Zelaya!

[No Elephants]

11. Moments like this, I have some respect for the media again. I would love to know

who applied and who made it. This is like the role the media played in the civil rights movement of the 1950's and 1960's in the South, shining some sun on Jim Crow, the marches, the sit-ins, etc.

You know, before the Republicans bought out the media and Anna Nicole Smith's life became worth wrap around coverage, while the war in Iraq was not even a footnote on nightly news. Unless, of course, there was a photo op.

[David__77]

12. I hope the Honduran people are prepared to defend themselves if needed.

If the armed forces attack people, I hope they can successfully defend themselves. It would be best if the army protects President Zelaya and the people.