Not surprisingly, the signed accord leading to a shared governance between President Zelaya and coupmonger Micheletti has failed, after a week. Both sides are claiming it is the other side's fault. The State Department is still pressing for a "unity" government until Zelaya's term runs out in January. While this strategy by State makes sense, nothing in Honduras or most of Central America makes sense: maybe it is time to be "loco."
Gracias, ObamaDoug
PO,F8GY!
WashPost reports today that an agreement between reps of Zelaya and Micheletti has been signed with the help of the US State Department:
Honduras' ousted president, government sign pact
By JUAN ZAMORANO The Associated Press Friday, October 30, 2009 7:19 AM
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras -- Representatives of ousted President Manuel Zelaya finally reached an agreement with the interim government that could help end the monthslong dispute over Honduras' June 28 coup, and possibly pave the way for Zelaya's reinstatement.
The Organization of American States announced the deal late Thursday but did not release a text of the accord, in which Zelaya appears to have agreed to throw his fate into the hands of a congress that has largely supported interim President Roberto Micheletti.
"We are optimistic because Hondurans can reach agreements that are fulfilled," Zelaya told Radio Globo, an opposition station. "This signifies my return to power in the coming days, and peace for Honduras."
The agreement, if it holds, could represent a much-needed foreign policy victory for the United States, which dispatched a senior team of diplomats to coax both sides back to the table.
Speaking to reporters in Islamabad, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called it "an historic agreement," noting "this is a big step forward for the inter-American system."
The agreement appears to soften Micheletti's previous stance that the Supreme Court - which has already rejected Zelaya's reinstatement - decide the issue. Instead, the high court would make a recommendation, but the final decision would apparently be left to a vote in Congress.
The agreement would create a power-sharing government and bind both sides to recognize the Nov. 29 presidential elections. The international community had threatened to not recognize the vote if Zelaya is not reinstated, but on Thursday, OAS Political Affairs Secretary Victor Rico told reporters that "the United States and the OAS will accompany Honduras in the elections" as a result of the accord.
Clinton said the elections would go forward and the U.S. will work with Honduras to ensure the election is legitimate.
The deal was greeted by all sides as a victory in the long-running dispute that has polarized the country and mired it in diplomatic isolation.
"Tonight I am pleased to announce that ... I authorized my negotiating team to sign a final accord that marks the beginning of the end to the political situation in the country," Micheletti said in a televised address.
The team of U.S. diplomats had worked over the last two days to coax both sides back to the table.
"This is a great moment for Honduras, and its people should be proud that Hondurans have achieved this accord," said Tom Shannon, U.S. assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere Affairs, who arrived with the U.S. delegation Wednesday.
Rico said "they (the negotiators) are the heroes of Honduran democracy ... and this is a great moment for Honduras." The OAS had tried for months to bring the two sides together.
Micheletti called the pact a "significant concession" on his part, and said that one point would require foreign powers to drop sanctions or aid cutoffs imposed after the coup, and send observers to the elections.
The Supreme Court has already rejected Zelaya's return, saying he was replaced as president on June 28 because he violated the Constitution by pressing for a vote on potential constitutional reforms. Zelaya's opponents accuse him of attempting to end a ban on presidential term limits - something the leftist leader denies.
Zelaya, who is holed up at the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa, the capital, has said Congress should make the decision on his reinsatement, even though he currently enjoys the support of only about a fifth of the legislators.
Zelaya was flown out of the country by soldiers on June 28, but slipped back in Sept. 21. It was unclear if he would be allowed to leave the Brazilian Embassy under the deal.
The interim government has vowed to arrest Zelaya if he leaves the diplomatic mission, and filed a complaint Thursday at the U.N.'s highest court accusing Brazil of meddling in Honduran affairs by giving Zelaya refuge. The International Court of Justice declined to comment on whether it would hear the case, and Brazil's Foreign Ministry said the government was evaluating the complaint.
Brazil supports Zelaya's fight to return to power and has not pressured him or his supporters to leave.
Earlier on Thursday, police fired tear gas to disperse a march of about 1,000 Zelaya supporters as they neared the hotel where the talks were taking place.
ObamaDoug Notes:
I sure hope so, but I'm also not holding my breath.
I've had swine flu and am only now getting out of alternatively a) freezing to death and b) too much clammy sweating to check CITA, but this crazy blog has to be the most interesting, well-rounded, human thing going! Gracias to all!
ObamaDoug
A WashPost article today--despite the rationality of the writer--just makes me zoom ahead with angry craziness and, I'll tell you what, I am getting over-tired by the craziness of American politics and current events. To be honest, I do not know how much longer I'm willing to commit to paying attention to idiocy, especially as I have a novel in mind. I commit to being involved in the way I have been until the signing of the Healthcare Reform Bill, but, frankly, my priorities, beyond an immense respect for Primo Prez, are moving elsewhere. Of course, I will work again for his re-election. Here's the article, from the WashPost:
Obama vs. the full PC press
By Kathleen Parker Wednesday, October 28, 2009
As if President Obama didn't have enough on his plate with health care and Afghanistan, he's now faced with the problem that can't be solved: Women.
Sorry, Mr. President, but we coulda toldja.
But no, Barack Obama courted the girls, promised them equality in all things, and now has excluded them from an all-male game of basketball.
Sorry, ladies, but we coulda toldja.
Not all women are upset, of course. Some on his estrogen-rich staff have shrugged off the faux-scandal about the now-infamous game and point to Obama's inclusion of women where it matters most.
Senior adviser Valerie Jarrett noted the several high-level female appointments, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Also, the administration boasts a 50-50 gender split among White House employees.
But a few women find the president's preference for guy company in his extracurricular life problematic. Basketball in this instance isn't only about shooting hoops; it's about access to the president. As the powder-room buzz goes, Obama may as well have tacked a sign over the clubhouse door: "No girls allowed."
Just as soon as I finish this yawn, I'm going to rustle up some righteous indignation. Here goes: How dare he!
On the other hand, how dare he otherwise? Basketball is a contact sport. Wouldn't we find a presidential body brush with a congresswoman at least equally problematic? How about the likelihood that few women in the White House or Congress could play well enough to make it fun for the president? Or should we have Obama play down for the girls? Should he simply not get to play ball as president?
Life is complicated . . . but not really. Obama likes to play basketball, and one can only amuse oneself alone with a ball and a hoop for so long. It is natural that he would summon a few guys to play with him. Must even a president's recreational time be politically correct?
Smack dab on center court is the elephant no one wants to acknowledge: that men and women are different; that sometimes even heterosexuals prefer same-sex company; and that, as a rule, women and men are unequal in matters physical. With rare exceptions, the gender-neutrality trope that drives much of the Democratic Party agenda is, was and ever shall be -- false.
Sad. Depressing. Frustrating. Maddening. Call it what you wish, but it is still true.
Obama's basketball game, thus, has become a convenient metaphor for an inconvenient truth. Generally speaking, guys prefer to play ball with other guys, just as women prefer to form book clubs with other women. That's not because women don't like men (and vice versa) but because when relaxing, women mostly want to drink wine together. And talk about men. I don't know what men do on the basketball court that is so compelling, but they apparently need it, and I don't.
That skittering sound you hear is the scurrying of a thousand stilettos as women scramble to blog their protest. Wait, wait, I feel another yawn coming on. Is there anything more exhausting than trying to explain the obvious?
None of what's true or obvious precludes rational approaches to fair practices or tweaks to make life more workable and pleasant. But, though we celebrate female athletes, absolute equality isn't likely until we alter the hormonal composition of the universe.
Or desirable?
Honest women will have to admit that they helped Obama become president not only because of the policies he promised but also because they rather fancied him. That famed jocularity he shares with men more than women may be cause for criticism in the Halls of Harrumph, but it's called nectar in the jungle. His guyness is his jump shot.
Not to suggest that men ever do or say anything right, but women peeved by the president's perceived masculine insularity might benefit from my father's advice when, as a young girl, I complained about life's unfairness. "Don't complain about the game," he said. "Learn the game and play it better." There's more than one way to score a point, in other words, and history has never suggested women are unclever.
If absolute parity of access to the president is essential to women's sense of well-being, perhaps they should create a bowling league of their own and invite the president to play. I hear he has a bowling alley in his house. And, if memory serves, women may expect to prevail.
kathleenparker@washpost.com
The fact--thank you Kathleen--that someone at WashPost needs to defend Primo Prez for choosing to play basketball with his guy friends who love to play basketball is so strange and crazy to me! The fact that Olympia Snowe's "Trigger Tactics" might eliminate the public option while seeming to support it, really demonstrates the power of women in this country in a far more important way than whether or not Barack Obama plays basketball with men! Yikes.
The rating of my personal blog has gone from 10 to 5 in two weeks, which perhaps is due to my increasingly leftist stance, but, oh, well, here is a report about a speech by Evo Morales of Bolivia on the state of Latin America today, before a meeting of ALBA, and I agree with almost all of it. It might be time for the State Department to get it, since, honestly, we really are practically in the same place, governmentally, as most of Latin America: it's just our minds that think we are not, and a ton more money: (from HONDURAS OYE)
>Morales: Social Movements Represent Change
Escrito por Ray
sábado, 17 de octubre de 2009
17 de octubre de 2009, 11:53Imagen de muestraCochabamba, Bolivia Oct 17 (Prensa Latina)
Bolivian president, Evo Morales affirmed that Latin American social movements represent the vanguard of the struggle for the liberation of the peoples. “That is why the right and empire counter attack with fury to promote the overthrowing of progressive governments in the region, “the president said during a speech in the First Summit of Social Movements of ALBA countries and leaders from about 40 countries that is being held in parallel to the 7th Forum of presidents and delegations of the integrated bloc.
Morales accompanied by his Ecuadorian counterpart, Rafael Correa pointed out that Latin American peoples have begun a deep process of economic, social and political transformation in defense of the rights of the Mother Earth (Pachamama) and all natural resources.
Referring to the proposal of a Trade Treaty of the Peoples that Bolivia presented against the US FCC he said that the pioneer of these struggles was the leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro.
During the 1st Summit of Social Movements with 700 delegates from Latina America, United States, Europe, Asia and Africa Morales said the continent is living historical transformations such as in his country where democracy in backed by the votes of the peoples conscience.
Referring to the coup in Honduras with chancellor Patricia Rodas Morales said it was an example of capitalist and imperialist attacks and called for the immediate restitution of the constitutionally elected president, Manuel Zelaya and explained that social movements are decisive in this struggle.
He also attacked Washington for installing military bases in Colombia that represent a serious threat to peace and democracy in the region.
Morales added that the Summit of Social Movements should be a mechanism to enrich public policies of the ALBA nations.
The Ecuadorian president, for his part, warned that social movements in Bolivia must be clear about the opposition, more so during elections, since they will use all in their power to attack the government headed by Morales.
“Imperialism is no fool, the press is corrupt, social groups and even religious groups continue working against. We must not confide nor think that change is irreversible; we are watchful. The bourgeois and oligarchic press are going to attack,” he noted.
I am a capitalist with leftist leanings, obviously, and am happy that leaders in Latin Americs are speaking about human justice issues for all their countrymen, not just their elites. When does "WE" in a political speech mean "all of us" and not just the people who own everything (as in the US, where 400 families own more then the 90% of the people underneath them economically? Really! What a crazy statistic, yet true!
Time to up taxes on the very wealthy again, as in pre-Reaganomics!
Time for the US to recognize that leftist governments in Latin America are NECESSARY to our well-being and security, as countries with 70-90% poverty-level populations are currently disasters waiting to happen (and those disasters will shoot right up to us, since we depend on the work of those peoples for much of our wealth!)
According to Just Foreign Policy, the coupmongers haven't stopped being dazed and confused, probably because they're still living in a 1950's haze and never took interpersonal communications while at The School of Americas:
"A negotiator for de facto Honduran leader Micheletti said no deal was reached between the two opposed sides Wednesday, contradicting other officials, CNN reports. Ninety percent of an agreement to end the country's ongoing political crisis has been reached, Micheletti negotiator Vilma Morales said at a news conference Wednesday, but some key points remained to be worked out."
I wish they and all of us would grow more quickly into the 21st century.
The WashPost had an interesting article today on the prospects for passing a healthcare bill now:
By Dan Balz With the Senate Finance Committee vote on Tuesday, the default position for health care has flipped. From the will-it-or-won't-it-pass drama of late summer, there is now a growing presumption among Democrats and a number of leading Republicans that Congress will approve some kind of bill by the end of the year.
The path to final passage is not simple. The fragile and disparate coalition of Democratic liberals and moderates (and perhaps a Republican or two) needed to pass the legislation will be stretched to the breaking point. There will be ample opportunities for the coalition to crack apart. Nothing is yet guaranteed, given the wide gulf that still exists over some key provisions in the bill.
But failure to pass a bill now would be more of a surprise than passage. All year, White House officials have argued that failure on health care is not an option, given the debacle that followed the collapse of health care legislation in 1994. Democrats have gotten that message and are now grinding forward toward a conclusion. White House officials believe President Obama is likely to get the signing ceremony he has long hoped for.
What then are the potential political implications for the president, his party and minority Republicans if the year ends with the president hosting a big signing ceremony to herald a new era for the American health care system? A big win for the Democrats? Despair among Republicans? Not surprisingly, Democrats and Republicans have sharply different expectations for what may happen.
Democrats assume substantial political benefits, both for getting the job done and for changes that they believe the public will see as improvements in the kind of health care coverage they have. They believe the passage of a health care bill will stand with other landmark achievements that have come under Democratic presidents, such as Social Security and Medicare.
Chris Kofinis, a Democratic strategist, predicts that, at a minimum, there will be a huge, short-term benefit for the president and his party. "Big social problems create big political and policy challenges, but also huge political payoffs," he said.
White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, who was in the Clinton White House when health care failed in 1994, long has argued that there is another potential benefit, which is that Democrats can prove that they are capable of governing and making Washington work.
Given control of the White House and their big majorities in the House and Senate, Democrats should be able to enact their agenda, but the public has come to expect gridlock rather than progress and this has contributed to anger at Washington. "I think that there will be a general sense of satisfaction that we got something done," White House senior adviser David Axelrod said.
Democrats also believe that Republicans' near-unanimous opposition to the bill will provide a double benefit. Not only will Democrats be seen as the responsible, governing party, they argue, but the GOP's image as a party on the sidelines, unwilling or incapable of contributing to a solution to one of the country's most long-standing problems, will be reinforced.
The president, after months of being second-guessed about his handling of the debate and questions about what he has accomplished, may see a boost in his own personal standing as well. White House officials have told Democrats for months that the more popular Obama is, the more their 2010 prospects will be enhanced -- and that a health care bill will be a major positive step toward that future.
All that assumes not only that a bill passes, but also that in its implementation, voters see changes that they like. Democrats believe that in the short term, that is likely to be true, because some of the first changes implemented are insurance reforms widely popular with the public. Provisions that may be more problematic in their impact do not take effect as quickly.
Republicans see the environment far differently. "The sugar high from a signing ceremony just might be as good as it gets for President Obama and Democrats," said Kevin Madden, a Republican strategist. "It could be all downhill from there."
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich believes Obama and the Democrats are heading for major problems if they add a health care bill, with all its complexities, on top of the cost of bailing out the economy. The Democrats have ignored warning signs from the public to go slower. Now, Gingrich argues, the health care bill could further harm the economy and strain health system to the breaking point.
"I think the odds are they'll pass something and I think it will be to the left of [the Finance Committee bill]," Gingrich said. "I think it's beyond trouble."
Republicans see voters potentially recoiling against legislation that would add another $800 billion or more to the federal budget. They discount Congressional Budget Office estimates that the Finance Committee bill won't blow a bigger hole in the deficit, and say the health care legislation will be cost the government hundreds of billions more in the years not covered by the 10-year window. They also argue that the final product will be more expensive, with fewer cost controls, than the Finance Committee bill.
"Even if the CBO blesses this bill, Obama and the Democrat-controlled Congress will own the explosion of spending and the federal deficit at the ballot box in 2010 and 2012," Madden argued.
Other Republicans sees the potential for the Democratic coalition to fracture further as the debate nears a conclusion. Liberal and labor union opposition to the Finance Committee bill could collide with the House Blue Dogs and Senate moderates. If, in the middle of these final negotiations, Democrats lose the Virginia and New Jersey governors' races next month, the party could emerge more deeply divided.
Republicans also believe that, in the final months of the legislative debate, there will be growing criticism of the bill, particularly from some of the industry stakeholders who have generally held their fire until now. That could divide the country further and make Americans more skeptical about the implications of a new health care system.
"I'm not sure you can ever resolve that debate or discussion," Axelrod said hours after the Finance Committee vote. "At this point, I think you have to enact it and implement it well. I think people are prepared for us to enact it. I think there are elements of it that will come on line quickly on which those who supported it will be able to campaign on next fall."
Neither side can be too confident in their assumptions. The Bush White House and Republicans anticipated major benefits from passage of a prescription drug benefit for senior citizens. Initial reaction was negative. Even when opinion turned more positive, other issues proved more powerful and politically costly in Bush's final years. The same could happen next year, especially if the unemployment is high.
The fact that opponents and proponents now think passage is more likely than impasse marks another important step in the battle over health care. But it is clear that the arguments will not cease with the possible enactment of a bill. The debate will shift to a new arena, but it will not subside for some time.
Gracias, Dan Balz. It is an important time in this debate and our work is not yet done, but this sounds a note of promise. We will have a healthcare reform bill to sign in December!
The world is holding its breath, while President Zelaya and the OAS have announced that the current coupmongering government of Honduras needs to reinstitute Zelaya as President of Honduras. All the blogs are holding their breath while the stupid coupmongerers tear gas the Brazillian Embassy and floodlight the place all night, tactics they probably learned in the School of the Americas. Things are extremely wierd in Tegucigalpa right now: the whole world is waiting while Micheletti is singing the same old tune. Let us see what happens. Hondurans are organizing, fomenting, and even Michie's cabinet is starting to make public statements about how Zelaya needs to be reinstituted. Hope so.
I am posting the following in its entirety because it is a firsthand account of the psychological terrorism now being inflicted on the Honduran peoples by their illegitimate, coupmongering military. This search raid on a Garifuna (sorry FIB) Hospital is exactly the kind of act the generals would have learned at the defunct School of Americas in Georgia when they were colonels: inflict terror to shut up dissent of the masses.
Reminds me of what the former President's administration inflicted on us. His advisors probably taught at the school. This activity (visible and shocking show of armed strength can terrorize without actually killing anyone) is right out of the Nazi Party's tactics in its rise to power in Germany in the 30s. The complete disregard for human rights and social justice is the worst form of totalitarianism.
Read this and weep for the Hondurans (from the Quixote Center News) (underlining is mine):
We write this in order to denounce that on October 7th at 6am three army patrols broke down the doors and stormed the first Garifuna hospital in Honduras, located on the Atlantic Coast.
Alexy Lanza of La Voz de los de Abajo interviewed Dr. Luther Castillo, a young Garifuna doctor and community organizer who is the founder and director of the hospital that is bears the name "For the Health of Our People" (Luaga Hatuadi Waduheno in the Garifuna language).
The hospital and clinic is dedicated to providing the most important health services to the indigenous communities isolated on the Atlantic Coast. After graduating from the Latin American School of Medicine in Cuba in 2005, Dr. Castillo returned to the coast of Honduras and led the construction of the first "Garifuna hospital" which now serves 20,000 people in the area. The hospital opened in December 2007 and Dr. Castillo was named "Honduran Doctor of the Year for 2007 by the International Rotary Clubs of Tegucigalpa. Since the military coup on June 28, 2009, Dr. Castillo and the hospital have been subject to many threats of closure and other attacks by the military. AL: Please tell me Dr. Luther what happened yesterday, on the morning of Wednesday October 7th? Dr. Castillo: I am extremely worried about the situation at the hospital. As you well know, the repression, intimidation, extra-judicial executions, the fabrication of criminal charges - the grave violations of human rights against the resistance movement against the coup have been worsening. Yesterday three carloads of army troops arrived, broke down the doors to the hospital and searched everything. AL: What time did this occur? Dr. Castillo: It was about 6 in the morning which is the time of shift change for the doctors. The doctor who has stayed all night goes to rest and between 6-7 am the other shift arrives. The army took advantage of this to enter the hospital. The most alarming thing is that they used the pretext of a raid in search of drugs; they said that they had received information that there were narcotraficantes at the hospital.AL: Narcotics traffic at the first hospital in service to the indigenous communities. What was that about? Dr. Castillo: Intimidation. They want to wipe us out, they want to shut us up. We have been strongly denouncing the coup d’etat and we are a part of this people in resistance that refuse to accept a military coup. After the coup they took away our standing as a hospital and reclassified us as a medical center. We had achieved the classification of hospital due to the recognition we received for the high quality and commitment of our work. President Zelaya, through our work, advocated for us and that was how we were established as a hospital. So what is happening now is that they want to intimidate us and destoy us, but we won’t give them that pleasure. AL: Why do you think they are doing this? Dr. Castillo: Look, what we think is that they want to use this fabrication to hurt the reputation and all of the work that we have been doing in favor of the people. We are worried that they will come again and confiscate the medical equipment that we have been able to obtain through donations from different organizations and people from around the world. So we are denouncing this, to alert everyone who knows our work.AL: Tell me, did they arrest anyone during the raid? What is the situation in the hospital now? Is it closed or open? Dr. Castillo: Fortunately they did not arrest anyone, but we are in constant fear that they might come back and takeover the hospital. It is not closed but continues open and we continue to do our work as doctors taking health to our people. This was a short interview with Dr. Luther Castillo on October 9th. The diagnosis we can make from these events is that it makes very obvious the plan of the coup government to fabricate criminal charges against the leaders of the popular organizations that are an essential part of the resistance movement against the military coup in Honduras. This is a common practice that different repressive, dictatorial and right wing governments in Latin America have practiced. - To intimidate, to silence, to repress, to fabricate charges so that later they can wipe out the resistance movement that has popular support. We call n the national and international community to join in denouncing any act of repression that arises from this incident. This has been an act of intimidation not only against the medical team of the hospital but against all of the communities that it serves. We ask that letters be sent to Congressional representatives and Senators expressing not only our concern and outrage but also demanding an end to the violations of human rights by the golpistas and demanding the return to constitutionality of Honduras. We demand that those guilty of all these crimes against the Honduran people related to the coup d’etat be punished.We Demand: The immediate return of President Jose Manuel Zelaya Rosales The return to constitutionality No to the illegal elections called by the de facto government. Respect for the popular vote - Yes to the national constituent assembly. Stop the violations of human rights. Honduras belongs to all the people and no just to the oligarchy -- we will struggle to the end!
Because solidarity is the tenderness of the people. WE ARE ALL HONDURAS!
It is particularly clear from this kind of intimidation (especially of the FIRST hospital to serve the dwindling Garifuna peoples, an INDIGENOUS group which had never been offered the benefits of Honduran culture before Zelaya) that the coupmongers have no intention of relinquishing power to a more legitimate governance. In the short and long-term, the military has gone to war with its own peoples.
How alarming! Honduras is a disaster waiting to happen which could blow all of Latin America (and the whole hemisphere) into division. This hemisphere is too connected and currently too economically feeble to countenance the existence of a rogue state committing terroristic atrocities on its own citizens to stifle dissent and centralize its power through fear.
I hope our Primo Prez and SOS Clinton still have a good screwdriver or two to tighten and turn the wretched Honduran screw. Turning and tightening needs to happen right now, I'd say, to prevent civil war in that poor country, which would be disastrous for us all on the toppling ladder of the Western Hemisphere.
Ay, Chihuahua! We need to pull together in solidarity for the Honduran Democracy, for human rights, for diplomacy over forceful manipulation, and for the dignity of this hemisphere's indigenous peoples! Honduras is a nexus for both divisive disaster and the hope of greater unity among north, central and southern Americans.
Please, Lord, we need a miraculous turning around down there!
The WashPost today has an excellent update on our Primo Prez's stance on Human Rights for GLBTs. I have heard so many people on the blogs bitching that our man has not fulfilled his campaign promises and I keep writing back, "How much did you accomplish in the last 8 months to change America?" He's just getting started, and he's doing it exactly the right way, by knowing his own values, by listening to others, and by knowing when the time is right to effect dramatic 21st century change. People who bitch about the time it takes to change a nation or a world of human beings are not involved in CHANGE; they're armchair-complainers who need to get off their butts, hit the streets, and knock on doors for Human Rights for All Americans! Here's the WashPost update:
As Pressure Grows, Obama Addresses Gay Rights Group He Promises to End 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'
By Michael D. Shear, Anne E. Kornblut and Ed O'Keefe Washington Post Staff Writers Sunday, October 11, 2009
President Obama, struggling to keep promises he made during last year's campaign, renewed his pledge to end the military's ban on openly gay service members as he appeared at a fundraising dinner for the nation's largest gay advocacy group on Saturday night.
"I will end 'don't ask, don't tell,' " Obama said at the Human Rights Campaign dinner. Recounting the ongoing effort to bring full civil rights to gays and lesbians, the president said: "I'm here with a simple message: I'm here with you in that fight."
Obama did not offer specifics on how he would advance the cause of allowing gays to serve openly in the military, or of same-sex marriage, two areas where his inaction as president have disappointed many gay supporters.
But on the eve of a major gay rights rally in Washington, an event aimed in part at pressuring Obama and Congress, the president was met with a standing ovation and resounding cheers. Obama acknowledged the frustration of some activists, portraying himself as a forceful ally in a lengthy fight. And while he said that gay rights are only one part of his agenda, which is loaded down with domestic and international challenges, he said that would not deter him.
"My commitment to you is unwavering, even as we wrestle with these enormous problems," Obama said. "Do not doubt the direction we are headed and the destination we will reach."
Just days after winning the presidency, Obama vowed that he would be "a fierce advocate for gay and lesbian Americans."
But nine months later, many in the community say he has done little to make good on that statement. They accuse the president of putting their agenda on the back burner -- behind Wall Street regulation, health care, climate change and a series of foreign-policy issues. And although his sweeping rhetoric is appreciated, many are concerned that he has so far offered little beyond the symbolic and the incremental.
Many gay rights activists are disappointed that Obama has not moved forward on two major issues: ending the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, under which gay soldiers can be discharged for their sexual orientation; and his failure to work toward ending the Defense of Marriage Act.
"As someone who supported Barack Obama early on during the primaries, and raised nearly $50,000 for him during the campaign, it gives me no pleasure to burst the pink champagne bubbles of hope," John Aravosis, a gay rights activist and popular blogger, wrote in the Huffington Post. "But President Obama's track record on keeping his gay promises has been fairly abominable."
Protesters gathered outside the Washington Convention Center before the event began, some demanding that Obama take greater action on gay rights, others carrying apocalyptic warnings about the fate of the country should he do so. "America is doomed," one sign read.
But inside the $250-a-plate black-tie event, some 3,000 guests from around the country were in a festive mood. Pop singer Lady Gaga and cast members from the Fox comedy "Glee" performed at the dinner. C-SPAN broadcast Obama's portion of the event live -- one sign of the interest surrounding his first address to a big gay rights gathering as president.
To date, Obama has delayed action on gays in the military, saying his generals are reviewing the issue. And although he has said he supports an eventual repeal of the marriage act, his Justice Department has defended the statute in court, saying it is the agency's responsibility to do so until Congress changes the law.
Taken together, those things have angered many gays and lesbians, who have been among Obama's most ardent supporters. Some, in sharp contrast to pro-Obama rallies during the campaign, have begun to stage protests to demand action by the administration.
Obama's top domestic policy aides insist that the president is committed to an equality agenda for gays and lesbians. They note that he has moved quickly on smaller issues that did not require congressional approval.
The president extended some benefits to the spouses of gay federal employees in June while voicing support for a House bill that grants them other rights. The State Department now allows married gay and lesbian couples to obtain passports with their married names. And the Census Bureau has agreed to release data on same-sex marriages.
But Obama is also clearly mindful of the politics of the combustible issue. Opposition remains strong in much of the country to extending rights to gays, especially where marriage is concerned.
House Democrats introduced a bill last month that would repeal the marriage act, but polls consistently show that opponents of legalizing same-sex marriage outnumber supporters. Twenty-nine states have banned same-sex marriage.
Aides have signaled that efforts to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act will have to take a back seat to other domestic priorities during the president's first term. That is an indication Obama wants to avoid the mistakes that Bill Clinton made when he attempted to allow gays to serve in the military during the first days of his presidency.
But Obama has also repeatedly dangled the promise of action in his own comments on the issues. At a White House gathering of gay and lesbian activists in the East Room in June, Obama confronted the disappointment directly but pleaded for more time to make good.
"I expect and hope to be judged not by words, not by promises I've made, but by the promises that my administration keeps," the president said to sustained applause. "We've been in office six months now. I suspect that by the time this administration is over, I think you guys will have pretty good feelings about the Obama administration."
The White House distributed tickets to gay families to attend the annual Easter Egg Roll this year, hosted a Gay Pride Month celebration and will hold a series of public forums to help develop a national HIV/AIDS strategy. And the administration is taking steps to end a policy that prohibits HIV-positive foreigners from entering the country.
Obama also awarded the Medal of Freedom posthumously to Harvey Milk, the San Francisco supervisor and gay activist. The president picked John Berry to serve as director of the Office of Personnel Management, making him the highest-ranking openly gay official in U.S. history.
One victory that appears near is the passage of hate-crimes legislation that would broaden the definition of federal hate crimes to include attacks based on gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. The House passed the legislation last week. Final action in the Senate is expected this week.
Similar bills languished for years under the weight of veto threats from President George W. Bush and Republican opposition in the Congress. But Obama has said he will eagerly sign the bill, which has become a centerpiece of the gay civil rights agenda.
Staff writers Ben Pershing and Jason Horowitz contributed to this report.
For the last 40 years, I spent most of my time effecting change in the classroom by turning students around, empowering them to empower themselves through education and human justice. This takes time, time, time. Our President knows this, and in his calm and deliberate, thoughtful and present way, Primo Prez, by his example and his actions and his words, is moving this country effectively, every day. Of course, many people hate change. I'd bet that doesn't stop the Obama Administration!
Michael Moore wrote a letter yesterday that, while congratulating our Primo Prez for the Nobel, also suggested it was time he earned it by getting us out of these devestating wars. Today, he thought twice, with the help of his wife, and wrote this:
Get Off Obama's Back ...second thoughts from Michael Moore
Saturday, October 10th, 2009
Friends,
Last night my wife asked me if I thought I was a little too hard on Obama in my letter yesterday congratulating him on his Nobel Prize. "No, I don't think so," I replied. I thought it was important to remind him he's now conducting the two wars he's inherited. "Yeah," she said, "but to tell him, 'Now earn it!'? Give the guy a break -- this is a great day for him and for all of us."
I went back and re-read what I had written. And I listened for far too long yesterday to the right wing hate machine who did what they could to crap all over Barack's big day. Did I -- and others on the left -- do the same?
We are weary, weary of war. The trillions that will have gone to these two wars have helped to bankrupt us as a nation -- financially and morally. To think of all the good we could have done with all that money! Two months of the War in Iraq would pay for all the wells that need to be dug in the Third World for drinking water! Obama is moving too slow for most of us -- but he needs to know we are with him and we stand beside him as he attempts to turn eight years of sheer madness around. Who could do that in nine months? Superman? Thor? Mitch McConnell?
Instead of waiting to see what the president is going to do, we all need to be pro-active and push the agenda that we want to see enacted. What keeps us from forming the same local groups we put together to get out the vote last November? C'mon! We're the majority now -- the majority by a significant margin! We call the shots -- and we need to tell this wimpy Congress to get busy and do what we say -- or else.
All I ask of those who voted for Obama is to not pile on him too quickly. Yes, make your voice heard (his phone number is 202-456-1414). But don't abandon the best hope we've had in our lifetime for change. And for God's sake, don't head to bummerville if he says or does something we don't like. Do you ever see Republicans behave that way? I mean, the Right had 20 years of Republican presidents and they still couldn't get prayer in the public schools, or outlaw abortion, or initiate a flat tax or put our Social Security into the stock market. They did a lot of damage, no doubt about that, but on the key issues that the Christian Right fought for, they came up nearly empty handed. No wonder they've been driven crazy lately. They'll never have it as good again as they've had it since Reagan took office.
But -- do you ever see them looking all gloomy and defeated? No! They keep on fighting! Every day. Our side? At the first sign of wavering, we just pack up our toys and go home.
So, at least for this weekend, let us celebrate what people elsewhere are celebrating -- that America now has a sane and smart man in the White House, a man who truly wants a world at peace for his two daughters.
Many, for the past couple days (yes, myself included), have grumbled, "What has he done to earn this prize?" How 'bout this:
The simple fact that he was elected was reason enough for him to be the recipient of this year's Nobel Peace Prize.
Because on that day the murderous actions of the Bush/Cheney years were totally and thoroughly rebuked. One man -- a man who opposed the War in Iraq from the beginning -- offered to end the insanity. The world has stood by in utter horror for the past eight years as they watched the descendants of Washington, Lincoln and Jefferson light the fuse of our own self-destruction. We flipped off the nations on this planet by abandoning Kyoto and then proceeded to melt eight more years worth of the polar ice caps. We invaded two nations that didn't attack us, failed to find the real terrorists and, in effect, ignited our own wave of terror. People all over the world wondered if we had gone mad.
And if all that wasn't enough, the outgoing Joker presided over the worst global financial collapse since the Great Depression.
So, yeah, at precisely 11:00pm ET on November 4, 2008, Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize. And the 66 million people who voted for him won it, too. By the time he took the stage at midnight ET in the Grant Park Historic Hippie Battlefield in downtown Chicago, billions of people around the globe were already breathing a huge sigh of relief. It was as if, in that instant, one man did bring the promise of peace to the world -- and most were ready to go wherever he wanted to go to achieve that end. Never before had the election of one man made every other nation feel like they had won, too. When you've got billions of people ready, willing and able to join a cause like this, well, a prize in Oslo is the least that you deserve.
One other thought. The Peace Prize historically has been given to those who have worked to throw off the yoke of racial discrimination and segregation (Martin Luther King, Jr., Desmond Tutu). I think the Nobel committee, in awarding Obama the prize, was also rewarding the fact that something profound had happened in a nation that was founded on racial genocide, built on racist slavery, and held back for a hundred-plus years by vestiges of hateful bigotry (which can still be found on display at teabagger rallies and daily talk radio). The fact that this one man could cause this seismic historical event to occur -- and to do so with such grace and humility, never succumbing to the bait, but still not backing down (yes, he asked to be sworn in as "Barack Hussein Obama"!) -- is more than reason enough he should be in Oslo to meet the King on December 10. Maybe he could take us along with him. 'Cause I also suspect the Nobel committee was tipping its hat to all of us -- we, the American people, had conquered some of our racism and did the truly unexpected. After seeing searing images of our black fellow citizens left to drown in New Orleans -- and poor whites seeing their own treated no better than the black man they had been raised to hate -- we had all seen enough. It was time for change.
Thank you, Barack Obama, for giving us the opportunity to redeem ourselves. Now for the tasks ahead. We need you to do all that you promised to do. We need it. The world needs it.
My prediction for the future? You become the first *two-time* winner of the Nobel Peace Prize! Yeah!
Fred (that's Norwegian for "Peace"), Michael Moore MMFlint@aol.com MichaelMoore.com
Gracias, Michael Moore
Fresh in from Just Foreign Policy, a clear picture of the smarminess of the coupmongers and their two-faced stance in Honduras:
"A recent poll in Honduras revealed that a large majority of Hondurans oppose the coup and coup leader Micheletti while favoring President Zelaya's restoration, writes Greg Grandin in the Nation. Those who carried out the coup have managed to achieve what they accuse Zelaya of trying to do: they have polarized society, delegitimized political institutions, bankrupted the treasury and empowered social movements. If the coup regime continues to allow Zelaya's return, the popular movement will demand a constitutional convention as the only solution to re-establish legitimacy. Even Costa Rican President Ocar Arias recently called the Honduran constitution the "worst in the entire world," an "invitation to coups." "This is something that will have to be resolved," he said, "and the best way to do this is, if we can't have a constitutional election, is to have certain reforms so this Honduran constitution ceases to be the worst in the entire world."
Hate to repeat myself, but the coup-inviting state of the Honduran Constitution is no accident; rather, it is "blowback" stemming from our US domination of this beleagured country in the past century, which built in the possibility of quick-change-of-government by "constitutional" coup to keep the Honduran government and Presidency under our control and the elite military we educated in charge. Now that we have an Administration seeking diplomacy over manipulation, I hope the Honduran peoples will not be further hurt by our former actions in Latin America.
How strange! I have, for sure, entered my Elizabethan Age, in Elizabeth CO (named after the sister-in-law of my ancester, John Evans (Governor of Colorado in the 1880's and founder of Evanston (Ill) and the University of Illinois)) and am still getting used to it, because I've been a Glewoodite for so many years. How many people do you know who have lived in one town for 36 years? feel like such an ancient, yet, I'm moving, to be closer to my grandkids and beloved daughter! Tell you what! It feels good, this oneness with changing, even in my old, unhealthy and poverty-stricken ancient age. Lordy, it is strange to live on half my usual income, but, surprisingly, I can, and am!
Choices!
So miserable about what is happening in the Senate with the public option ! So paid for, by the healthcare industry: so rotten, it makes me want to move to another place where public health is more valued than competition! What happened to the valuing of Human life, above all else, in this country? It's, unfortunately, way too much about money for me: I'm about to give up on all of this nutsy politics and live a happy, unconflicted life again, but I just can't leave my freind Primo Pres alone in what he's chosen to take on. What a great man this Mr. Obama is??!!!
It's time for SOS Clinton and/or Primo Prez to announce that, because the de facto coupmongering government of Honduras has willingly abrogated democratic and constitutional principles of common human justice and international collaboration, the current government of Honduras WILL BE DECLARED A "TERRORIST STATE."
HA!
It certainly is more currently-terrorist than Nicaragua, for Heaven's Sake.
Wouldn't that be a kick in the teeth?!!!!
I'M PRAYING.
OK. The current de facto coupmongers in charge of Honduras truly believed that the US Obama government would back their coup, as would many other pan-americana countries. So much for living in the 50's.
How inane!
They are so afraid of losing, they'd explode the Brazilian Embassy if they did not know that Brazil has the best Air Force in South America.
The revolution south of us can be peaceful, and will be, because NO-ONE in Central or South America wants anything to do with warfare, both the elites and the 80% campesinos. No-one. What needs to happen: the armed services in these southern countries need to realize that they are paid, government employees rather than 1980's School of the Americas graduates.I just can't believe those Honduran Generals could think that an Obaman Administration would countenance what 30 years of National Security Council agendas created in Honduras! It's totally pitiful there, now, even worse than Nicaragua, and the 10% elites there apparently are willing to die to protect their ability to abuse their fellow country men with their $2.00-for-a-day-of-work slave wages; until now, sadly, America has agreed that $2.00 a day is a benefit to the campesinos, as long as the elites ran things in our interests.Business as usual.Times, have, gracias a Dios, changed.Gracias, OD
Now, the coup leaders have really done it, taken away five basic liberties guaranteed by the Constitution to every citizen in the Honduran Democracy. And they claim to back the Constitution. They must be mad. I think the campesinos will rise up.
Here's Al Giordano's terrifying message, from inside Honduras:
Despite the best efforts of what I call "the Oligarch Diaspora" to flood the Internet with near identical messages that the Honduran coup "is not a coup" and that was a "constitutional succession" (cough, cough) dressed in the blue-and-white flag of Honduran democracy, the coup regime bared its fangs today. And like any vampire, it's coming out at nightfall.
The same Congress that, after the military had kidnapped, beaten and dumped President Manuel Zelaya in Costa Rica, had declared one of its own, Roberto Micheletti as the coup "president" today passed an emergency law stripping Hondurans of the following rights from the country's constitution:
1. The right to protest. 2. Freedom in one's home from unwarranted search, seizure and arrest. 3. Freedom of association. 4. Guarantees of rights of due process while under arrest. 5. Freedom of transit in the country.
Tomorrow morning's papers are already out across the ocean in Europe, and correspondent Pablo Ordaz of the Madrid daily El Pais has reported from Tegucigalpa about the Coup Congress' decree:
"Minute by minute, step by step, Honduras moves farther from its freedoms..."
Read the defenders of the coup and they are united by one powerful feeling: fear. They're afraid of the growing demonstrations in the streets, like the in the capital city this afternoon captured in the video above, where despite the brutal repressions against the people, each day the opposition crowds grow larger, more emboldened, and better organized. In the defiant but smiling faces of the Hondurans opposing the coup you can see the palpable difference between their passion and the lack of it from the passive bumps on a log that attended yesterday's pro coup rally.
The Congressional decree specified that only at night may those five freedoms be disappeared. And so tonight, a new reign of terror begins.
The coup defenders are afraid, they say, of Honduras becoming another another Cuba, or Venezuela, or Nicaragua, of losing their "freedoms" and their "democracy." But today, in one fell swoop their leaders erased those very freedoms, atop all the other ones they've already burned alive - freedom of the press, freedom to elect their own president, among them - and buried democracy with it.
For democracy is not possible unless a people has freedom to protest, freedom from unwarranted invasion of their homes, freedom of association, rights of due process under law, and freedom of travel in its own country.
That's over now, and will be as long as the coup regime remains in power.
The Oligarch Diaspora will not likely blink, comforting themselves with the Kool-Aid that this attack on civil rights and freedoms is not (well, not yet) aimed at them, but, rather, at "those people," the workers, the poor, the farmers, the indigenous, the rebel students and youth, their social organizations, organizer priests, defense attorneys, human rights observers and authentic journalists, the ones that want their democracy back so much that they risk life and limb now each time they say it.
The Oligarch Diaspora will continue spamming the Internet with their hysterical claims that the rest of the world "just doesn't understand," that the coup was "legal" (attorney Alberto Valiente Thorensen made mincemeat of that claim today), that they represent a majority (unsaid is that they are afraid to let that majority vote on a non-binding referendum, revealing that even they know they are not), that "Honduras wants the coup." But if the opposition were so small would the Coup Congress really have needed to enact the State of Siege and its repeal of those five basic freedoms?
But what they don't tell you is that they don't want those freedoms for all Hondurans, just for the ones with money and property and political power and privilege: themselves. The rest must be subordinated to them and controlled, by force if necessary.
And so today, Honduras said goodbye to the following articles of its Constitution:
Article 69: "A persons liberty is inviolable and can only be restricted or suspended temporarily through process of law." Article 71: "No person can be arrested nor kept incommunicado for more than 24 hours without being placed before a competent authority to be judged. Judicial detention during an investigation must not exceed six consecutive days from the moment that the same is ordered." Article 78: "Freedoms of association and meeting are always guaranteed when they are not contrary to public order and good customs. Article 79: "All persons have the right to meet with others, peacefully and without weapons, in public demonstration or transitory assembly, in relation to their common interests of any type, without necessity of notice or special permission." Article 81: "All persons have the right to circulate freely, leave, enter, and remain in national territory. No one can be obligated to change home or residence except in special cases and with those requirements that the Law establishes."
Article 71: "No person can be arrested nor kept incommunicado for more than 24 hours without being placed before a competent authority to be judged. Judicial detention during an investigation must not exceed six consecutive days from the moment that the same is ordered."
Article 78: "Freedoms of association and meeting are always guaranteed when they are not contrary to public order and good customs.
Article 79: "All persons have the right to meet with others, peacefully and without weapons, in public demonstration or transitory assembly, in relation to their common interests of any type, without necessity of notice or special permission."
Article 81: "All persons have the right to circulate freely, leave, enter, and remain in national territory. No one can be obligated to change home or residence except in special cases and with those requirements that the Law establishes."
The Oligarch Diaspora says that the democratically elected president was removed by force because he supposedly "violated the Constitution" by proposing a nonbinding referendum to ask all Hondurans if they wanted the chance to vote about whether they wanted to rewrite it through a Constitutional Convention. But the coup leaders the Oligarch Diaspora defends just rewrote that same constitution today without any formal process of consulting the people at all.
They claim they're fighting for their constitution, but they just ripped it apart.
Gone. All gone. Everything they claim to be defending is gone now, destroyed and in tatters at the hands of the very political class that claimed it was protecting them.
And now, with the Congress' invitation to enter the people's door, the vampires begin to come out... tonight.
If this Draconian action were not enough, just knowing what all those generals learned at the CIA School of the Americas in Ft. Benning GA about effective psychological terrorism of the masses makes me shudder with shame for our past mistakes: this is blowback from the 80's, which, apparently, the Honduran Conservatives never grew up from into the new millenium. How could they be acting like a 1950's junta in 2009? Time alone will knock them flat, but I fear for the Honduran campesinos, many of whom are probably related to my Nicaraguan family.
Hope the Brazilian effort to bring this before the UN Security Council is gaining steam!
I pray for the harmony of all Hondurans today.
New update: things are moving. Here's JFP's news brief:
2) Brazil wants an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting to discuss the situation at its embassy in Honduras, where President Zelaya has taken refuge, CNN reports. The Brazilian request for a Security Council meeting came after the Honduran government isolated the embassy by cutting water, power and phone lines to the building. Brazil's foreign minister Amorim called the action a "very serious" move that violated international law. 3) Brazilian President Lula, the first world leader to address the U.N. General Assembly, called for President Zelaya to be reinstated, Reuters reports. Lula added that international political will was needed to avoid similar coups in other countries. In reporting Brazil's request for an urgent meeting of the Security Council, Reuters notes that the General Assembly demanded "the immediate and unconditional restoration" of President Zelaya, but that General Assembly resolutions, unlike those of the Security Council, are not binding. 4) The U.S. is looking "positively" at Brazil's request for a Security Council session on Honduras, according to the transcript of the daily State Department press briefing.
Yes, I should hope to shout that SOS Clinton and Primo Prez would look positively on this stellar move, putting a potentially global problem into a more global context, rather than US being the policeman. Huzzah. Hope it happens. Civil War in Honduras destabilizes the whole Western Hemisphere, and, thus, the rest of the world. These Generals need to pack their bags full of money and move to Patagonia, counting their blessings. Please, do not offer them free rides to Miami--or their visas--if they leave. I know the San Jose Accords declare a general amnesty, but, good grief, these generals have stepped over the line of common decency. This kind of ruthless filth need not knock on our door. Spit-Patooie!
The Quixote Center just issued the following request:
Please email President Obama and Sec. of State Clinton and ask them to denounce the rampant violence and multiple violations of human rights by the Honduran military and police.
After three months in forced exile due a military coup d'état on June 28th that ousted him from power, President Zelaya returned to Honduras on Monday, September 21, 2009. He is camping out in the Brazilian embassy along with members of his cabinet. As thousands of people gathered in front of the embassy to welcome Zelaya back, the president of the coup government, Roberto Micheletti, threatened to cancel the embassy's immunity if Zelaya were not handed over to the de facto government. The power at the Brazilian embassy as well as at anti-coup media stations was cut, and the de facto government instated a curfew. Nevertheless, people remained in the streets around the Brazilian embassy. Police and military units are on the streets to enforce the curfew, which was extended twice yesterday, and will now run to 6pm tonight.
The Quixote Center delegation currently in Honduras spent Tuesday interviewing people injured and detained by the coup government during or subsequent to the violent attack on unarmed protesters in front of the Brazilian Embassy early yesterday morning. They split into two groups, visiting human rights offices, the hospital, and Chochi Sosa Stadium where many were detained. Nearly 50 of those being detained at the stadium who had been identified as being a part of the resistance showed clear signs of physical abuse. Some appeared to have broken arms and legs. Some police in the stadium were wearing ski masks, to conceal their identities. All of this abuse is happening because people are insisting on their right to be in the streets.
There have been multiple forms of resisting this imposition, with reports from dozens of neighborhoods and towns of people in the streets. Many of these actions are being repressed by the police, and reports continue coming in of more arrests and repression.
At this critical moment, when the dictator is desperate, we need to demand that our government respond immediately with more dramatic actions, in order to save lives and prevent more people from being beaten and abused. We know many of you have already been taking the actions we requested. It is imperative that you continue making your voices heard, so that our government keeps pressure on the coup leaders.
Please, Primo Prez and SOS Clinton, tell the coup leaders they will be blacklisted from US military aid for the next 50 years! These people are atrocious, and hardly stand for democracy and the rule of law. They need to pack their bags and leave, to avoid civil war in that poorest of countries! Ay, yi, yi! Peaceably now, but firmly: the coup leaders need to go.
The link will get you to a live blog posted by Al Giordano in Honduras. The following is an excerpt from today's live-posting:
By Al Giordano
The first to break the news in English was the Honduran Campesino blog:
Honduran president Manuel Zelaya is in Tegucigalpa… The United Nations is protecting Mel…
Honduran president Manuel Zelaya is in Tegucigalpa…
The United Nations is protecting Mel…
TeleSur confirms the report, as does Reuters:
"I am here in Tegucigalpa. I am here for the restoration of democracy, to call for dialogue." he told Honduras' Canal 36 television network.
As occurred during the first hours of the June 28 coup d'etat, the Internet signals of Channel 36 and Radio Globo are blocked, as is cell phone service in the capital (I've yet to confirm that there is any Internet or cell phone access in Tegucigalpa at all right now - it all appears to be jammed - but we do have reporter Belén Fernández reporting right this moment from that city and the information blockade will be broken soon enough.) We can take that extreme of censorship as additional confirmation that the President has indeed returned and the illegitimate coup regime is panicking.
Developing... We'll update here as we're able to report and confirm more...
Update: 12:08 p.m. Tegucigalpa (2:08 p.m. ET): TeleSur confirms that the President is in Tegucigalpa but adds that it cannot confirm reports that he is in the United Nations building there. It anticipates a press conference from Zelaya this afternoon...
12:24 p.m. Tegucigalpa (2:24 p.m. ET): One of our correspondents just got an email message from Tegucigalpa which reports that not all cell phone service is blocked.
12:28 p.m.: Via TeleSur: The Spaniard news agency EFE reports that the President is in the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa.
12:29 p.m.: The US State Department confirms that Zelaya is in Honduras (via AP).
12:39 p.m.: The web page of the coup regime's "president" leads with a loud denial: "Micheletti denies the presence of 'Mel' in the country." Meanwhile AFP reports that the Brazilian government has confirmed Zelaya's presence in its Embassy in Tegucigalpa, according to TeleSur.
12:47 p.m.: TeleSur is showing images of uniformed National Police members, with billy clubs, shields, helmets and guns, surrounding the zone near the Brazilian Embassy, apparently to close access to the area, blocking anti-coup demonstrators from entering or leaving. The network is also broadcasting live images, from Channel 36, of two helicopters circling over the Embassy.
12:51 p.m.: TeleSur reporter Adriana Sívori is now inside the Brazilian Embassy and confirms President Zelaya's physical presence there.
1:57 p.m.: We now have phone contact with Narco News correspondent Belén Fernández, who in Tegucigalpa this morning walked into the Radio Globo headquarters just as the news broke that Zelaya had returned. She's going to have one hell of a story for us later today.
2:04 p.m.: Connecting the dots... The return of Zelaya has all the markings of a very well coordinated operation by the Honduran civil resistance and the member countries of the Organization of American States (OAS). The choice of Brazil's embassy - the Latin American country with the largest Air Force - pretty much guarantees that the coup regime can't possibly think it can violate the sovereignty of that space. That the US State Department confirmed, this morning, that Zelaya is in Honduras while the coup regime denied it strongly suggests it had advance knowledge that this would happen today (if not active participation).
This is a textbook example of what we've referred to before as "dilemma actions." It puts the coup regime on the horns of a dilemma, in which it has no good options. It can leave Zelaya to put together his government again from the Brazilian embassy with the active support of so many sectors of Honduran civil society, or it can try to arrest the President, provoking a nonviolent insurrection from the people of the kind that has toppled many a regime throughout history. Minute by minute, hour by hour, and, soon, day by day, the coup regime is losing its grip. At some point it will have to choose either to unleash a terrible violent wave of state terrorism upon the country's own people - which will provoke all out insurrection in response (guaranteed by Article 3 of the Honduran Constitution) - or Micheletti and his Simian Council can start packing their bags and seeking asylum someplace like Panama. Meanwhile, the people are coming down from the hills to meet their elected president. This, kind readers, is immediate history.
2:24 p.m.: Some other consequences of today's breaking development: President Zelaya today erases any of the talk or speculation that he did not have the courage to put himself at risk in this struggle, which will also have an emboldening effect on every single individual among the hundreds of thousands in the civil resistance. The effect is causing all to think: If he's willing to risk all, then so am I.
This move also makes a laughing stock out of Micheletti and his security forces. Remember our reports about how airfields throughout the country were blocked by buses and other vehicles, so paranoid was the regime about Zelaya's potential return? That Zelaya slipped through the security net demonstrates that the coup regime does not have the control it claims to have. Micheletti - the usurper dictator - has also helped elevate his status as a national buffoon with his early claims today that Zelaya hadn't really returned. He accused the media that reported his return of lying and of "media terrorism." Well, now the same pro-coup newspapers that reported his tantrum have this photo, taken today, of President Zelaya and his cabinet members inside the Brazilian Embassy:
There you have it. Countdown to complete mental breakdown by Micheletti and his dwindling core of supporters (and, yes, that includes a grouplet of US expats that have been blogging constant disinformation from Honduras - their self-delusion and dishonesty to all is now crashing on the rocks of reality, too).
2:56 p.m.: Ivan Marovic - who as a young man played a major role in strategizing the civil resistance that toppled the Serbian dictator Milosevic, and who spent a few days in Honduras this summer at the invitation of the civil resistance - and I just had a chat online about our observations of what is happening and how it changes everything in Honduras.
With his permission, I'll share with you an excerpt:
me: So, let's put ourselves in Micheletti's shoes. What options does he have at this point? Ivan: It's a tough one. He can arrest Zelaya, but Zelaya said he's here to call for dialogue. That would be bad. Micheletti can enter a dialogue, but then he's screwed. me: Well, I don't think he can send troops into the Brazilian Embassy, which is sovereign territory. Brazil has the biggest air force in Latin America. Brazil is the coordinating nation of the UN security forces in Haiti... Ivan: This is important, because with Zelaya in the country, the momentum has shifted. Stalling doesn't work anymore. me: It's a textbook "dilemma action." Ivan: Yes. me: The regime can either leave him there to reassemble his government with broad popular support, or it can unleash a wave of violence and terror, which would provoke all out insurrection. Now that Zelaya has demonstrated he is willing to risk his own freedom and safety, that becomes contagious to hundreds of thousands that will decide to do the same. Ivan: Yes, this has a big symbolic value. That's why no regime is afraid of the government in exile. But in the country, that's a different thing.
me: So, let's put ourselves in Micheletti's shoes. What options does he have at this point?
Ivan: It's a tough one. He can arrest Zelaya, but Zelaya said he's here to call for dialogue. That would be bad. Micheletti can enter a dialogue, but then he's screwed.
me: Well, I don't think he can send troops into the Brazilian Embassy, which is sovereign territory. Brazil has the biggest air force in Latin America. Brazil is the coordinating nation of the UN security forces in Haiti...
Ivan: This is important, because with Zelaya in the country, the momentum has shifted. Stalling doesn't work anymore.
me: It's a textbook "dilemma action."
Ivan: Yes.
me: The regime can either leave him there to reassemble his government with broad popular support, or it can unleash a wave of violence and terror, which would provoke all out insurrection. Now that Zelaya has demonstrated he is willing to risk his own freedom and safety, that becomes contagious to hundreds of thousands that will decide to do the same.
Ivan: Yes, this has a big symbolic value. That's why no regime is afraid of the government in exile. But in the country, that's a different thing.
It's a game changer, folks.
3:05 p.m.: Here's transcript from today's US State Department briefing in Washington DC with spokesman Ian Kelly and reporters:
QUESTION: Do we know if President Zelaya has come home? And what does it signal? MR. KELLY: Well, you know, literally, as I was about to come down, I saw the news report and I was able to talk to my colleagues in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs. It does seem to be true that he has returned to Honduras. And the Embassy is still seeking details about what he hopes to achieve and what his next steps are. I think that at this point, really, all I can say is reiterate our almost daily call on both sides to exercise restraint and refrain from any kind of action that would have any possible outcome in violence, refrain from activities that would – could provoke violence. QUESTION: How did he come in, and where is he? What -- MR. KELLY: Don’t know. QUESTION: When did it happen? MR. KELLY: Like I say, the Embassy is trying to find out these details. But I do know that we have confirmed that he’s in Honduras. Where exactly he is, I don’t know. And we’re just trying to find out more details. QUESTION: Last time we tuned in, he was under threat of arrest if he came home. Is that still what’s in play right now? MR. KELLY: I’d have to refer you to the de facto regime in Tegucigalpa. Of course, we believe that he’s the democratic – democratically elected and constitutional leader of Honduras.
QUESTION: Do we know if President Zelaya has come home? And what does it signal?
MR. KELLY: Well, you know, literally, as I was about to come down, I saw the news report and I was able to talk to my colleagues in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs. It does seem to be true that he has returned to Honduras. And the Embassy is still seeking details about what he hopes to achieve and what his next steps are.
I think that at this point, really, all I can say is reiterate our almost daily call on both sides to exercise restraint and refrain from any kind of action that would have any possible outcome in violence, refrain from activities that would – could provoke violence.
QUESTION: How did he come in, and where is he? What --
MR. KELLY: Don’t know.
QUESTION: When did it happen?
MR. KELLY: Like I say, the Embassy is trying to find out these details. But I do know that we have confirmed that he’s in Honduras. Where exactly he is, I don’t know. And we’re just trying to find out more details.
QUESTION: Last time we tuned in, he was under threat of arrest if he came home. Is that still what’s in play right now?
MR. KELLY: I’d have to refer you to the de facto regime in Tegucigalpa. Of course, we believe that he’s the democratic – democratically elected and constitutional leader of Honduras.
I'll ask you, kind readers, the same question I asked Ivan Marovic, above: If you are coup "president" Roberto Micheletti, what is your next move? It's hard to predict, because he's not always a rational player on the field.
3:37 p.m.: The coup regime makes its first move, declaring a military curfew in effect from 4 p.m. to 7 a.m. What's not clear is whether it will be obeyed by the crowds converging around the Embassy, and what the regime's next move will be if the public disregards its curfew.
4:21 p.m.: The military curfew began 21 minutes ago, but a multitude of citizens continue to congregate in front of the Brazilian embassy, making and listening to speeches against the coup regime. In other words: What if they called a curfew and nobody stayed home?
4:31 p.m.: Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim says that he doubts very much that the Honduran coup regime would commit "a flagrant violation of International Law" by invading his country's embassy in Tegucigalpa.
4:56 p.m.: The regime is trying everything. Cell phone service is being screwed with again for the past hour. Channel 36 has gone off the air. Radio Globo's Internet site is down. Here is an alternate link to Radio Globo's live stream. Keep storming the gates of the information blockade.
5:06 p.m.: Radio Globo reports that a caravan of more than 2,000 vehicles filled with coup opponents is en route from the state of El Paraiso to the national capital. Also reports massive traffic jams in Tegucigalpa now, an hour after curfew took effect.
5:21 p.m.: Coup "president" Micheletti just spoke on a "cadena nacional" (in which all TV, radio and cable stations are required to broadcast his message). He confirmed that Zelaya is in the country, insisted that the June 28 coup was "legal," said Zelaya will have to face charges against him, insisted that the country is in complete calm (if so, then why the military curfew?), attacked the government of Brazil for protecting Zelaya in its Embassy, and told everyone that the National Police and the National Army are behind him. He ended with shouts of "Viva Honduras" to a small group of coup functionaries. He sounds frightened, but is digging in his heels.
Upon the termination of his broadcast, a woman on Radio Globo mocked him mercilessly, saying "no one owes obedience to an order by a de facto regime," and noted that the curfew was called just ten minutes before it took effect, leaving millions of Hondurans to have to get home from work but without enough time to do it. "Nobody is obeying the order," she said. "Nor should they."
5:30 p.m.: I'll be live on Flashpoints radio (available at the KPFA website), hosted by Dennis Bernstein, at the top of the hour (8 p.m. ET, 5 p.m. PT) to talk about the situation in Honduras. There will also be a report from Tim Russo - professor at the upcoming Narco News School of Authentic Journalism - who was in front of the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa today when President Zelaya appeared from the balcony to greet the crowd, and took audiotape of the moment.
5:42 p.m.: Leaders of the Liberal Party bloc that turned against the coup have now signed a public letter calling on party members "in all the popular barrios" of Tegucigalpa and throughout the country to converge on the Brazilian Embassy to protect President Zelaya. Radio Globo just read the letter live on the air.
5:50 p.m.: The coup regime has just cut electricity to entire neighborhoods surrounding the Brazilian Embassy and Channel 36 TV. How long do you think it will take the people to install a generator in each place? The same will happen when the regime cuts the water, the next likely step coming from that form of logic. And the people will usher in water trucks to refill the tanks. Hell, they'll bring it cup by cup if they have to! This is a losing gambit by the Micheletti regime because it does not have control of the street.
6:52 p.m.: As predicted in the previous update, the regime's attempt to cut electricity to the Brazilian Embassy is already an epic fail. Tim Russo just reported live on that Flashpoints radio show from inside the Embassy as the electric power went back on! A discussion about a half hour prior, on Radio Globo, included a call for generators and a pledge by the head of the electrical workers union to send technicians to set them up. A half hour later, there was light. An organized people can never be beat. That is the lesson of Honduras.
8:17 p.m.: The coup regime has just extended the military curfew until 6 p.m. tomorrow evening, which means nobody goes to work on Tuesday, not even during daylight hours, and all stores will be closed. (Schools were already out as the teachers unions called a national strike and for their members to come to the Brazilian embassy.) Meanwhile, the US State Department has recommended that US citizens avoid all non-essential travel to Honduras. It's as if there's a general strike without it even being called for!
The Associated Press reports that Zelaya's presence in Tegucigalpa has been confirmed by our State Department: The blog world is buzzing! Check this link to hit Borev, streaming live from Honduras. Here's the AP report!
By FREDDY CUEVAS (AP) – 19 hours ago
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — The U.S. State Department confirms that deposed President Manuel Zelaya has returned home to Honduras to reclaim his presidency.
State Department spokesman Ian Kelly says in Washington that U.S. officials have confirmed that Zelaya is in Honduras. But Kelly adds: "Where exactly he is, I don't know, and we're just trying to find out more details."
Officials of the interim government that ousted Zelaya earlier denied his claims that he had returned to Tegucigalpa. And a U.N. official denied that he was at the United Nations office he said he was speaking from in an interview with a local television station.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — Deposed President Manuel Zelaya told a local television station Monday that he has returned home to Honduras to reclaim his presidency, defying threats of arrest.
"I cannot give details, but I'm here," Zelaya told the local TV Channel 36. His voice, but not his image, were transmitted. He said he was at the United Nation's headquarters in his homeland.
But a spokeswoman at the United Nation's offices in Tegucigalpa told The Associated Press he wasn't in the offices.
"I have no idea where that story came from," said spokeswoman Ana Elsy Mendoza.
Interim government officials who have held power for three months also denied that Zelaya was in the country, calling the reports a lie.
Zelaya, who said he would hold a news conference Monday afternoon in Tegucigalpa, was forced out of the country at gunpoint on June 28. Interim leader Roberto Micheletti has repeatedly said a jail cell awaits Zelaya if he comes back.
Since then most international leaders have condemned Micheletti, terminating aid and demanding Zelaya's return. Micheletti has said he will step aside after presidential elections are held as scheduled in November.
Leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez also insisted on Monday that his ally Zelaya had indeed returned.
"President Manuel Zelaya, along with four companions, traveled for two days overland, crossing mountains and rivers, risking their lives. They have made it to Honduras," Chavez said.
And Elisabeth Sierra, a spokeswoman for the Honduran Embassy in Nicaragua, where Zelaya had been exiled, reiterated that the ousted president returned to his country Monday and was at U.N. offices in Tegucigalpa.
"He is in Honduras and calling the resistance to gather in front of the United Nations and protect the constitutional president of Honduras," she said.
If the current administration attempts to imprison Zelaya, protesters who have demonstrated against his ouster could turn violent, said Vicki Gass at the Washington Office on Latin America.
"There's a saying about Honduras that people can argue in the morning and have dinner in the evening, but I'm not sure this will happen in this case," said Gass. "It's been 86 days since the coup. Something had to break and this might be it."
Will wonders never cease?!!! SOS Clinton calls for peaceful reinstatement! I wonder why the WashPost did not report this? There's so much gossip surrounding this situation, it's hard to get to the truth. Local Honduran bloggers say Zelaya is there, at the Brazillian Embassy, now surrounded by his supporters.
