Defying Coup Regime, Zelaya Attempts Return to Honduras - Death Squads Active

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Defying Coup Regime, Zelaya Attempts Return to Honduras
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/7/24/defying_coup_regime_zelaya_attempts_return


Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya is attempting a risky return home after last month’s military coup. The coup regime has threatened to arrest him if he sets foot in the country. We go to Honduras to speak with Latin America historian Greg Grandin. (includes rush transcript)

Guest:
Greg Grandin, professor of Latin American history at NYU and author of Empire’s Workshop: Latin America, the United States, and the Rise of the New Imperialism.

Related Links
* Full Democracy Now! coverage of Honduras Coup
http://www.democracynow.org/features/honduras_coup

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Honduras imposes daytime curfew for border
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jAkMGKIUDg_ngUiZboxQbYj5_DPwD99KVGL82

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Standoff Continues at Honduras Border
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/26/world/americas/26honduras.html

BLAKE SCHMIDT and GINGER THOMPSON
Published: July 25, 2009

LAS MANOS, Nicaragua — The ousted president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, made his second symbolic trip in two days to this remote post along the border with Honduras on Saturday, defying calls from foreign leaders to avoid any moves that might provoke violence in his politically polarized country.

Meanwhile, in the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa, the Honduran armed forces issued a communiqué indicating that they would not stand in the way of an agreement to return him to power.

The communiqué, posted on the Honduran Armed Forces Web site, endorsed the so-called San José Accord ............

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Exiled Honduran presidents sets up camp on border
By MORGAN LEE (AP) – 1 hour ago
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jAkMGKIUDg_ngUiZboxQbYj5_DPwD99LP8C01

LAS MANOS, Nicaragua — Deposed President Manuel Zelaya returned to the Honduran border on Saturday and announced he would set up camp there, despite foreign leaders urging him not to force a confrontation with the government that ousted him in last month's coup.

Zelaya arrived at a rural frontier crossing and immediately grabbed a megaphone, shouting to a crowd of 150 supporters and about as many journalists. He vowed to wait near the border and demanded his family be allowed to meet him.

"We are going to stand firm," Zelaya told the crowd, complaining that the interim government has not allowed him to reunite with his family, whom he hasn't seen since he was whisked at gunpoint from his home June 28 and forced into exile.

"Today we are going to set up camps here, with water and food. We are going to stay here this afternoon, tonight and tomorrow morning," he said.

Zelaya's wife, Xiomara Castro, told CNN by telephone that she was stopped at a roadblock on a highway leading to the border and that police and soldiers would not let her and others pass. .........

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1. US Continues to Train Honduran Soldiers at School of Americas

Despite Pledge to Cut Military Ties to Coup Regime, US Continues to Train Honduran Soldiers at School of Americas
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/7/21/despite_pledge_to_cut_military_ties


While the European Union cut off aid to the coup regime in Honduras, the United States continues the money flow, and while the US says it has cut military ties, the National Catholic Reporter reveals Honduran army officers are still receiving military training at the notorious School of the Americas in Fort Benning, Georgia. (includes rush transcript)

Guests:
James Hodge, co-author of Disturbing the Peace: The Story of Father Roy Bourgeois and the Movement to Close the School of the Americas.
Linda Cooper, co-author of Disturbing the Peace: The Story of Father Roy Bourgeois and the Movement to Close the School of the Americas.

AMY GOODMAN: We turn now to Honduras, where the coup regime is defying growing international pressure to restore ousted President Manuel Zelaya. On Monday, the European Union announced the suspension of over $92 million in aid. The move came one day after the regime rejected a proposal for Zelaya’s return but with new limits on his authority and under a power-sharing government. Presidential elections would also have been moved up to October. Zelaya accepted the entire plan, which was proposed by mediator Oscar Arias, the Costa Rican president, but the de facto coup government said it won’t accept Zelaya’s reinstatement under any condition. ..........

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2. Zelaya talks with Honduran Army officer at border line - Shots fired, tear gas

Zelaya talks with Honduran Army officer at border line
2009-07-25 10:10 BJT - http://english.cctv.com/20090725/101558.shtml


MANAGUA, July 24 (Xinhua) --....
Zelaya together with his Foreign Minister Patricia Rodas crossed the line and apparently he talked by phone with a high level officer from the Honduran Army ... supporters crossed the border with him and they were singing ... some 100 meters from the place, the soldiers impeded the transit to the place.

Before Zelaya crossed, soldiers and police fired warning gunshots into the air and hurled tear gas at the crowd, causing a certain degree of chaos on the scene.

The soldiers have set at least 18 military check point from Tegucigalpa to the border with Nicaragua.

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3. VIDEO Ousted Honduras Leader Briefly Returns Home

Ousted President Manuel Zelaya took a symbolic step into his homeland Friday, vowing to reclaim his post a month after soldiers flew him into exile. (July 25)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x342721

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4. Ousted Honduran President Sees U.S. Support Waning

Ousted Honduran President Sees U.S. Support Waning

By REUTERS - July 27, 2009 12:34 a.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2009/07/27/world/international-uk-honduras.html


OCOTAL, Nicaragua (Reuters) - Disheartened supporters of Manuel Zelaya trickled home from the Nicaraguan border on Sunday and the ousted Honduran president complained that U.S. condemnation of his removal from power was waning.

The United States, Latin American governments and the United Nations have demanded Zelaya be returned to power, but U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton criticized him as "reckless" when he took a few steps onto Honduran soil on Friday in a symbolic gesture in front of international media.

Zelaya hit back at Clinton for the second time in two days, complaining she had stopped using the term "coup" to describe his removal. ....

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5. Hillary and Obama Nix Change in Honduras By ROGER BURBACH

Hillary and Obama Nix Change in Honduras
By ROGER BURBACH - http://www.counterpunch.org/burbach07272009.html


The situation in Honduras and Central America is growing increasingly tumultuous with each passing day as deposed President Manuel Zelaya confronts the de facto regime of Roberto Micheletti with thousands of partisans mobilizing in the border areas. While Honduran army officers in Washington and the capital of Tegucigalpa issue statements indicating they may accept Zelaya’s return—if the civilian coup leaders concur--military and police units continue to fire on and even murder demonstrators. It is impossible to predict the outcome of this confrontation. But one thing is increasing clear--the growing conflict represents a failure of the Obama administration to reshape US policy towards Latin America in spite of its early rhetoric directed at the leaders of the region.

On June 29, the day after the coup, Barack Obama declared it “not legal” and said “we don’t want to go back to a dark past.” This was in keeping with his remarks at the Summit of the Americas in April when, in alluding to the US history of backing military regimes, he stated, “The United States will be willing to acknowledge past errors where those errors have been made.”

But US policy towards Honduras since the coup indicates that the Obama administration does not represent “change you can believe in.” Rather it is bent on imposing its will and propping up the status quo in Latin America, just as previous US administrations did.

Over the past decade a popular upsurge has swept Latin America comprised of indigenous movements, impoverished urban dwellers, peasants, environmentalists, feminists, and human rights advocates. They are demanding a more equitable distribution of the wealth of their countries and an end to political systems dominated by oligarchs, corrupt politicians and business interests allied with the United States. A string of New Left governments has emerged ....