Honduras' attorney general escapes unharmed after gunmen open fire on his convoy

[Judi Lynn]

Honduras' attorney general escapes unharmed after gunmen open fire on his convoy
OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ
Associated Press Writer
8:23 p.m. EST, November 8, 2009

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — Gunmen ambushed a convoy carrying Honduras' top prosecutor, but neither he nor his bodyguards were harmed, police said Sunday.

Police spokesman Orlin Cerrato said Attorney General Luis Alberto Rubi was riding on a northern highway when assailants opened fire Saturday night. Cerrato said no one was hurt. One car was damaged.

He did not give a motive for the attack or say whether it was related to Honduras' four-month political crisis. But he speculated the attack could be an attempt to "provoke unease in the country."

After the June coup, it was Rubi who filed criminal charges against ousted President Manuel Zelaya.

More:
http://www.courant.com/news/nation-world/sns-ap-lt-honduras-violence,0,4617927.story

[Bacchus39]

1. part of that peaceful resistance I imagine

It would seem that the strategy is to say the elections won't be legitimate and make every effort that it appears that way.

[Peace Patriot]

2. Guess who called for a new U.S. agency to propagandize on the internet

--on "chat rooms, blogs, cellphones, social-networking Web sites," as one of "the smart ways to defeat tyrants like Chavez"?

-------------------------------

"With diplomatic, economic and communications institutions designed for a different era, the free world has too few tools to help prevent Venezuela's once vibrant democracy from receding into dictatorship. But such a tragedy is not preordained. In fact, we face a moment when swift decisions by the United States and like-thinking nations could dramatically help, supporting friends and allies with the courage to oppose an aspiring dictator with regional ambitions.

"The best place to start is with the prompt passage and signing of the Colombian free trade agreement, which has been languishing in Congress for months. Swift U.S. ratification of the pact would send an unequivocal message to the people of Colombia, the opposition in Venezuela and the wider region that they do not stand alone against Chávez. It would also provide concrete economic opportunities to the people of Colombia, helping to offset the restrictions being imposed by Venezuela -- and it would strengthen the U.S. economy in the bargain.

"The importance of the Venezuela-Colombia clash goes beyond turmoil in the U.S. back yard. The episode can help us understand what's at stake in a new age of globalization and information....

"Since the first years of the Cold War, 10 presidential administrations have operated within an institutional framework fashioned during the Truman administration....

"But with the passage of more than half a century, the end of the Cold War, the attacks of 9/11 and the rise of an Islamic extremist movement that hopes to use terrorism and weapons of mass destruction to alter the course of humankind, it has become obvious that the national security institutions of the industrial age urgently need to be adapted to meet the challenges of this century and the information age.

At home, the entrenched bureaucracies and diffuse legislative processes of the U.S. government make it hard to creatively, swiftly and proactively handle security threats. Turf-conscious subcommittees in Congress inhibit the country's ability to mobilize government agencies to tackle new challenges....

"The United States has also lost several tools that were central to winning the Cold War. Notably, U.S. institutions of public diplomacy and strategic communications -- both critical to the current struggle of ideas against Islamic radicalism -- no longer exist. Some believed that after the fall of the Soviet Union such mechanisms were no longer needed and could even threaten the free flow of information. But when the U.S. Information Agency became part of the State Department in 1999, the country lost what had been a valuable institution capable of communicating America's message to international audiences powerfully and repeatedly.

"Meanwhile, a new generation of foes has mastered the tools of the information age -- chat rooms, blogs, cellphones, social-networking Web sites -- and exploits them to spread propaganda, even while the U.S. government remains poorly organized and equipped to counter with the truth in a timely manner. The nation needs a 21st-century 'U.S. Agency for Global Communications' to inform, to educate and to compete in the struggle of ideas -- and to keep its enemies from capitalizing on the pervasive myths that stoke anti-Americanism."

---Donald Rumsfeld, Dec. 1, 2007, Washington Post
"The Smart Way to Defeat Tyrants Like Chavez"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/30/AR2007113001800.html

----------------------------------------

No such agency was ever created, as far as we know, but likely that didn't stop Rumsfeld. With at least a billion dollars gone missing in Iraq--likely the tip of the iceberg that was stolen from US taxpayers and is now being used, among other things, to propagandize us and everybody else--Rumsfeld would have the wherewithal to create an "Office of Special Plans"-in-exile, with many operatives and many different kinds of operations. With that kind of money, you could pay some gang to attack a Junta official in Honduras, and when the corpo-fascist 'news' publishes the story, have operatives to hand to promulgate it on "chat rooms, blogs, cellphones, social-networking Web sites" to make sure that the spin gets spun (that the leftist resistance in Honduras is violent) and push such messages, as Rumsfeld suggests,"repeatedly"--as with the psyops/disinformation campaign we have seen perpetrated against Chavez.

The context of such activity would be Rumsfeld's suggested "swift action" by the US in support of "friends and allies" with the "courage to oppose an aspiring dictator with regional ambitions." I take this to mean not just the narco-thugs running Colombia, and the Junta in Honduras, but also the "friends and allies" within Venezuela planning coups, assassinations and civil war. First you demonize leftist leaders and leftist movements, with intense psyops and disinformation, these days including the internet--as Rumsfeld says--then you profit from all that relentless, vile lying by means of war.

It's interesting, too, that Rumsfeld--a year after his resignation from the Pentagon--not only dismisses US democratic institutions (i.e., Congress, and the budget process) as passe (one wonders what he would replace them with), but also attacks the USAID being moved to the State Dept., and out of the hands of outright warmongers (the Pentagon and the CIA). It's laughable, in one sense. The USAID has never stopped being a tool of US corporate/war profiteer propaganda, and is the conduit for sending millions of dollars to rightwing groups in Latin America. But Rumsfeld is itching for more--for a combo of propaganda, torture, death squads and war in 'the right hands.' He sees his horror-filled program for Iraq written across the western hemisphere's southern half.

Is his chaos theory of war at work in Honduras? Is South America his new war game? I am afraid that we are played, once again, in terrible ways. And the only positive thing about it is that it indicates the American people still need to be propagandized, that is, we are still one of the great potential progressive forces on earth and must be subdued with intense psyops/disinformation, in order for more dreadful plans against the people of the world to be implemented.

[EFerrari]

3. Precisely so and the action at the moment is to spread

this "Chavez wants war with Colombia" bs. It distracts from Honduras which has proved much less tractable than the vultures expected it to be.

I think it would be worth it to follow the sales pitches at places like Brookings and AEI for a while because those venues seem to be the seedbeds for the media campaigns and it's right there in plain view on the net.

[Bacchus39]

9. Honduras isn't at the center of the universe. events happen outside of the Honduran context

Colombia and Venezuela events are mostly unrelated. with the possible exception being Chavez's paranoia that "they are coming for me now".

some of us can pay attention to more than one issue at the same time.

[Judi Lynn]

4. Glad you've reminded us of that strange, disturbed language in his editorial

which appeared with such bizarre, conspicuous timing to make most people even more suspicious of Rumsfeld than they had ever been when he was officially still at the Defense Department.

The right-wing scum has always been so incompatible with the human race, it has been their mission in life to neutralize leftists TOTALLY in order to be happy. They do NOT find diversity, democracy comfortable. Their life formula is only successful as long as they can live parasitically off the labor of the poor, they must always have a huge poor population in order to get cheap labor to do their work, and poor people to have to take horrendous, low paying occupations in order to survive, and to help their families, so many of them having no choice but to join militaries and fight their wars for them, and as we have seen fight the poor in their own countries in order to protect the wealthy and protect their corrupt and decadant way of life. They need helpless people they can use as pawns for their own benefit.

The only way they can divide and conquer is to deliberately confuse some of them by appealing in extreme ways to their emotions so they react defensively without thinking things through. They depend upon the power of persuasion through deceit. As in the Shock Doctrine, it's been learned people will become compliant if they can be forced to imagine they are in danger.

As for "Don," he sold out so long ago, he's a completely hollow, dead guy, and he wants to take as many with him as he can. All those Bush people are like monsters. They could all look perfectly at home in a scary movie.

What kind of man could feel hot to meet a man who BOILS HIS DISSIDENTS ALIVE?

http://news.bbc.co.uk.nyud.net:8090/olmedia/1600000/images/_1603098_011016uzbe150.jpg http://www.citizenorange.com.nyud.net:8090/orange/assets_c/2008/05/Karimov_Rumsfeld-thumb-250x282-thumb-200x225.jpg http://2004.press-service.uz.nyud.net:8090/images/priom2402.jpg

Pathetic clown doesn't realize or care that if he didn't have the power of the US government behind him, Islam Karimov
wouldn't think twice about boiling HIS ass, as well. As far as Karimov is concerned, he'd do to anyone whach t he did to
this woman's son.



We don't feel interested in speaking with a bunch of idiots. Why would we? Nothing there of value. It seems they can't stay away from us, however.

Thanks for the look at that December editorial. It's clearly an eye-opener. Rumsfeld should be proud of himself.

http://amyking.files.wordpress.com.nyud.net:8090/2008/04/donald-rumsfeld-unicycle.jpg http://www.pmcaregivers.com.nyud.net:8090/images/rumsfeld.jpg

[Downwinder]

6. I had my fill of him when he and Cheney were Nixon's

hatchet-men in OEO.

[Judi Lynn]

7. There have been so many right wing sociopaths in our government.

People like him should be weaving baskets in a home for the criminally insane, instead of planning more murders of people he imagines he doesn't like.

Without his social contacts he'd probably be a rotting away in prison somewhere.

[boppers]

12. "No such agency was ever created, as far as we know"???

Uh, no. Such agencies have been created, and constantly evolved, since the 50's, on all sides of conflict. Depending on the conflict, they're run from State, DoD, CIA, and a bunch of places you've never heard from (for a reason). What Rummy was talking about was a "master" group, an over-riding agency, to co-ordinate all the different efforts and keep messages consistent... something that Napalitano likely has in her portfolio.

[Judi Lynn]

5. Honduras: Stop Blocking Human Rights Inquiries

Honduras: Stop Blocking Human Rights Inquiries
Human Rights Watch
October 19, 2009

The international community should strongly back the efforts of prosecutors in the human rights unit of the Honduras Attorney General's office to investigate army and police abuses in Honduras and to overturn a decree by the de facto government that severely restricts freedoms of speech and assembly, Human Rights Watch said.

The organization also called on the international community to oppose any amnesty for human rights violations as part of the transition back to democratic rule. Deposed President Manuel Zelaya and the de facto government of Honduras are now engaged in negotiations about such a transition, and have announced that an agreement may be imminent.

Since the military ousted Zelaya on June 28, the small human rights unit of the Office of the Attorney General has begun investigations into numerous cases of killings, alleged excessive use of force by security officials, and illegal and arbitrary detentions. The unit has also filed motions objecting to a decree limiting freedoms of the press and assembly, which the de facto government has used to bar two media outlets from broadcasting. But the unit has met with resistance from their superiors in the Attorney General's Office as well as acts of obstruction, including direct threats, from members of the armed forces.

"If anyone questions the damage that the de facto government has done to Honduras's democratic institutions it's clearly illustrated by these cases," said José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch. "And by obstructing the investigations, the public security forces are thumbing their noses at the rule of law."

Human Rights Watch representatives visited Honduras this month and documented the serious obstacles human rights unit prosecutors have been facing in carrying out their investigations. In several cases the security forces have taken actions that have obstructed investigations.

On Sept. 30, two members of the human rights unit went to an army battalion headquarters as part of their investigation into the forced closing of two media outlets on Sept. 28. The army refused to let them enter or to do an inventory of the equipment army personnel had confiscated from the outlets. The prosecutors have raised the issue with their superiors in the Attorney General's Office, and are preparing a motion against the officers who barred their entry, but they have yet to obtain access to the battalion headquarters. On numerous occasions, security forces have denied the head of the human rights unit, Sandra Ponce, access to media outlets that they have occupied.

Army members involved in investigations have refused to comply with legally mandated time limits to respond to inquiries, telling prosecutors that they are too busy. Prosecutors from the human rights unit say police and military personnel verbally abuse them, including making direct threats such as, "I'm going to shoot you" during protest marches or while they are investigating alleged abuses following the marches.

In early July, during an investigation into the military shutdown of Radio Progreso, a radio station in Tegucigalpa that was occupied by the army on June 28, one army officer told a member of the human rights unit, "I wish I were in the Cold War, the days of Pinochet, the days when you could just disappear (someone)". The prosecutor interpreted this as a direct threat.

In some cases, prosecutors also have faced difficulties in conducting investigations due to decisions by their superiors in the Office of the Attorney General.

For example, prosecutors investigating the death of Isis Obed Murillo, a 19-year-old shot during demonstrations outside Tegucigalpa's airport on July 5, say their superiors have asked for a new round of ballistics tests, after the first tests demonstrated that the shots that killed Obed Murillo came from an area on the runway where army troops were stationed. Prosecutors had also found over 150 shell casings matching the type of ammunition that the army used that day. The unit's findings contradicted not only the army's claims but also those of the government's human rights ombudsman, Ramón Custodio, who said the army only used rubber bullets during the demonstration. In a July 8 news release, Human Rights Watch pointed out that even rubber bullets can have lethal force and should not have been used, but that in any case the visual evidence suggested that some of the soldiers were using live ammunition.

In the last month, Attorney General Luis Alfredo Rubí has requested that the human rights unit submit petitions for his review before it files them in court. This new procedure has resulted in the delay of at least one important case — a petition against the army for taking over the installations of the Canal 36 television station on June 28 — for over two weeks, as Rubí's office examines its merits.

Several other investigations continue at varying speeds, including investigations into security forces' alleged gang rape of a woman in San Pedro Sula during a protest march, as well as two deaths during demonstrations, a shooting death at a military roadblock, and the alleged extrajudicial execution of a pro-Zelaya demonstrator near the Nicaraguan border.

More:
http://www.worldpress.org/Americas/3439.cfm

http://www.aiamp.net.nyud.net:8090/sistema/UserFiles/Image/Cambio%20de%20mando.jpg http://www.hondudiario.com.nyud.net:8090/img/abogado_luis_alberto_rubi.jpg1.jpg http://www.radiomundial.com.ve.nyud.net:8090/yvke/files/img_noticia/t_rubi_170.jpg

Attorney General Luis Alberto Rubi

[rabs]

8. More facts about the "ambush"

Golpista newspaper La Prensa of SPS today published a story about the incident.

Will let DUers read the following and make up their mind about the "ambush."



Damage to the vehicle, but certainly not from "machinegun bursts."



Ballistics people use a laser to determine path of single bullet that hit the SUV.


-- Rubi and members of his family were enroute to a wedding in Comayagua, 70 clicks north of Tegus, on Saturday night. The three-vehicle convoy had left Rubi's finca (farm) a couple of miles from Comayagua.
-- Attackers fired "two bursts from machineguns" as the vehicles were crossing a small river.
-- Two bursts came from "AK-47s" and allegedly there were shots from a shotgun.
-- No one was hit; one bullet hit the lead car near the outside rearview mirror and lodged in the dashboard of the late-model Nissan.
-- Body guards returned fire although the attackers were not seen. The attackers fled toward a mountainous sector known as El Pampanario.
-- After the initial fright, the convoy continued on to a fast-food restaurant on the road to Comayagua to "regroup, take heart and analyze what had happened."
-- Rubi and his family continued the trip to the golf and hotel complex where the wedding had already taken place.
-- The family spent the night at the hotel at the recommendation of his security guards, and returned to the finca early Sunday.
-- Rubi said he could not pin the blame on anyone but that it had been a "cowardly act" and "premediated."
-- AND FINALLY, "The zone where the finca is located near Comayagua is frequented by hunters because deer are abundant in the area."

(SP) http://www.laprensahn.com/Ediciones/2009/11/09/Noticias/Atentan-contra-fiscal-general-en-emboscada

[Judi Lynn]

10. CNN's creepy racist Lou Dobbs claimed last week his house had been attacked

and shot by terrorists, but his local cops informed reporters that it's deer season there, too, and no bullet penetrated the exterior of Dobb's house, and they were going with the assumption what he believed were attempts to kill him were simply stray hunters' shots.

Of course Lou has reason to fear people hate him, since he has taken a hateful attitude toward the world, but that wasn't what happened.

This clown has served the interests only of his elitist brotherhood. He probably has a damned guilty conscience, as well.

Thanks for finding this new information, rabs. Very, very interesting.

[rabs]

11. Could not help but laugh at the "ambush," which is in same category as the attack on Dobbs

If the attackers were using AK-47s, they have to be the worst shots in the world.

Or maybe they were deer hunting with semi-automatic weapons?

Suspect that a single pellet from a shotgun may have hit the car, because a burst from a AK-47 would probably have left more than one impact.

Silly geese, those golpistas.

-----------------

Off topic but was just reading the Jornal do Brasil and there is a report that a full-length docu on the life of Lula da Silva is scheduled for release in January. :applause:

The name of the film is "Lula -- The Son of Brazil."

An Argentine film company is being formed to distribute the film in South America and internationally.

Should be an interesting film and hoping can watch it sometime next year.

-----------------------

Produtor de 'Lula' diz que convidará FHC para pré-estreia

Portal Terra

SÃO PAULO - O produtor do filme Lula - O Filho do Brasil, Luiz Carlos Barreto, disse que vai convidar o ex-presidente tucano Fernando Henrique Cardoso e o governador de São Paulo, José Serra (PSDB), para a pré-estreia do longa, que tem lançamento previsto para janeiro de 2010. "É claro que sim. E Fernando Henrique vai gostar muito, vai se lembrar daqueles memoráveis momentos da juventude, dos grandes comícios do ABC. Ele está nessa história também", disse Barreto. A informação é da coluna de Mônica Bergamo desta segunda-feira, no jornal Folha de S. Paulo.

Segundo a colunista, o filme sobre a vida do presidente Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva tentará carreira internacional. Barreto teria se reunido na Argentina com Eduardo Constantini Jr., que está montando uma empresa para comercializar o longa pela América do Sul. "O Lula é mais popular lá do que aqui", disse Barreto. Em março, a produção sairá com 100 cópias na Argentina.



09:32 - 09/11/2009