With little fanfare Zelaya has already left Honduras for the Dominican Republic where he will no doubt fade into oblivion. Meanwhile the US is quietly applauding the success of the coup leaders in waiting out the clock and carrying out presidential elections. Micheletti has been made a legislator for life and the military has been given amnesty. As the article below illustrates the US has obviously accepted the election as legitimate even though Zelaya was never restored and Micheletti never resigned! No doubt the US will soon restore full aid to the regime and full military co-operation. This is from this site.
The Puppet Master Pulls The Strings
If there was any doubt that the United States is orchestrating the political choreography going on in Honduras right now, it should be put to rest. Arturo Valenzuela, representing the United States at Porfirio Lobo Sosa's inauguration, told the press today that the United States has not made any decision about restoring aid to Honduras yet. "We haven't made any determinations yet," said Valenzuela. "The new president of Honduras has taken the country in the right direction," Valenzuela added after Lobo Sosa talked both about establishing a government of reconciliation, and establishing a truth commission in his first 100 days in office, both of which Valenzuela called "essential elements" to the restoration of democratic order in Honduras. "Things are moving pretty much in the right direction."
Showing posts with label Honduran presidential election. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Honduran presidential election. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Zelaya to exit Honduras?
The coup leaders have in effect achieved a great victory. It seems evident that the US will recognise the recent elections and Zelaya has been left out in the cold or at least sitting surrounded in the Brazilian embassy. No doubt Brazil would like to see him find a new home. At first it seemed as if Zelaya would go to Mexico but again it was all a trick to get Zelaya to recognise the legitimacy of the Micheletti regime and renounce any claim to be president. Of course Zelaya refused. This is from this site.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Roadblock
The chaos of information surrounding the trip Manuel Zelaya planned to take to Mexico has settled, and the story is now fairly clear. It is true that Mexico offered, and both Manuel Zelaya and the de facto government of Honduras initially accepted, that Zelaya would leave the Brazilian embassy with a safe conduct (solicited by Mexico, not Zelaya) and then reside in Mexico as an honored guest for some period of time.
Why it fell apart is instructive. It fell apart because Zelaya would not sign a declaration authored by the de facto government. Carlos Lopez Contreras, the de facto Foreign Minister, said
"There was an understanding that Zelaya would subscribe to a declaration...that he respected the Guaymuras pact, and respected in a like manner, the decision of the National Congress in the sense that it confirmed the end of his mandate."
They want Manuel Zelaya to recognize their authority and give up his claims to authority, to give them legitimacy. He shouldn't, and he won't. As he said last night,
"I could be here 10 years, I have my guitar."
Indeed, he played his guitar for those listening to Radio Globo last evening.
Why is this a roadblock? Porfirio Lobo was given homework by Oscar Arias and Ricardo Martinelli on Tuesday, which included getting Roberto Micheletti to step aside, since it will be fatal to Lobo's case for international recognition for Micheletti to be the one handing over power. Micheletti has more than once said he won't resign until and unless Zelaya also renounces as president. Stalemate.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Roadblock
The chaos of information surrounding the trip Manuel Zelaya planned to take to Mexico has settled, and the story is now fairly clear. It is true that Mexico offered, and both Manuel Zelaya and the de facto government of Honduras initially accepted, that Zelaya would leave the Brazilian embassy with a safe conduct (solicited by Mexico, not Zelaya) and then reside in Mexico as an honored guest for some period of time.
Why it fell apart is instructive. It fell apart because Zelaya would not sign a declaration authored by the de facto government. Carlos Lopez Contreras, the de facto Foreign Minister, said
"There was an understanding that Zelaya would subscribe to a declaration...that he respected the Guaymuras pact, and respected in a like manner, the decision of the National Congress in the sense that it confirmed the end of his mandate."
They want Manuel Zelaya to recognize their authority and give up his claims to authority, to give them legitimacy. He shouldn't, and he won't. As he said last night,
"I could be here 10 years, I have my guitar."
Indeed, he played his guitar for those listening to Radio Globo last evening.
Why is this a roadblock? Porfirio Lobo was given homework by Oscar Arias and Ricardo Martinelli on Tuesday, which included getting Roberto Micheletti to step aside, since it will be fatal to Lobo's case for international recognition for Micheletti to be the one handing over power. Micheletti has more than once said he won't resign until and unless Zelaya also renounces as president. Stalemate.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Blog report from Honduras
This is a report from someone in Honduras looking at events from the viewpoint of a supporter of the opposition to the coup. We will get quite different accounts from the mainstream media who have not been following events for the most part. Now the elections have been held with limited disruption and there will be vastly different claims about the turnout! However, the restrictions on campaigning and the law against recommending a boycott will not be mentioned nor the fact that not only the independent candidate for president withdrew but many others running for other positions. However, with the US accepting the results and some its allies, things will return to normal, and the repression of opposition groups can continue with continued lack of coverage by mainstream media. After all, it was not Ahmadinejad who was elected but a wealthy conservative rancher who will not betray his own class or the US investors in Honduras. Repression under those auspices is simply normal.
Honduras: everything is fine, haven't you heard?
posted by Tyler Shipley -It was a relatively quiet day in Tegucigalpa. Terror will do that.
Oh, there were people in the streets – protestors filled the square in front of the Congreso, for the 103rd consecutive day. Organizers in the Frente Popular de Resistencia met to determine what they would do about the pending pantomime elections. Leaders of the five main human rights groups in Honduras delivered an official denunciation of the coup elections to the Tribunal Supremo Electoral (TSE). The Movimiento de Mujares Visitacion Padilla, a feminist organization associated with the Resistance, amassed a crowd of many dozens of courageous women to demonstrate outside a police station where one of their leaders had been detained overnight.
Merlin Equiqure, one of the founders of a feminist movement that has been on the front lines of the coup resistance in spite of a powerfully patriarchal social structure, remains under arrest tonight without the possibility of bail - why? Because she was caught with a can of spray paint. The paint was used – as photo evidence has clearly demonstrated – to decorate placards and props for a piece of street theatre the group put together for the international day against violence against women. Her organization, in collaboration with the growing feminist movement in Honduras, has been tirelessly denouncing the fact that women have been particularly victimized under the coup regime – a pamphlet from a related organization wrote, “we are victims of sexual abuse, they beat our breasts, hips, buttocks and vulva; they put batons in our crotch, they threaten us with rape and other types of sexual aggression in a clear demonstration of contempt of this society towards the body and the integrity of women.” Merlin’s group, named after a famous woman who struggled for women’s rights in the 1920s, is made up of over 6000 predominantly young women – some of the women I spoke to this morning were teenagers - demonstrating courage I could never dream of exhibiting myself. In a piece of tragic absurdity that brought me to tears, one of their community leaders is now facing a trumped up prison sentence where she will likely face the very same sexualized violence that she has been so tirelessly fought to expose and denounce.
But women’s bodies are not only being used by the golpistas as objects for desecration and humiliation in prison cells; they are simultaneously being used to woo the smug gringos who have breezed into town to ‘supervise’ the farce elections this weekend. A cocktail party was held this evening at the Mayan Hotel for the representatives of NDI and IRI (elections-observation organizations linked to the Democratic and Republican parties in the US, respectively) and other observers cobbled together from the far-reaches of the Latin American Right (including Armando Calderon Sol, former president of El Salvador.) As they toasted to the great strides that Honduras was making towards a stronger democratic republic, they were entertained by 14- and 15-year old Mayan girls, dancing in sexualized traditional dresses, much to the delight of the overwhelmingly male ‘champions of democracy.’
I suppose it is possible that the American elections observers believe that this farce is a legitimate election. If the individual I spoke to two days ago was any indication, they clearly have very little knowledge of Honduran history; normally, at this point in an election campaign, there truly would be a ‘fiesta.’ Supporters of the two primary parties would be waving red or blue flags, encouraging people to support their candidate, and arguing in taxis over who was best suited to run the country. This year, the flag vendors walking from car-to-car are ignored. This afternoon, Pepe Lobo, the election frontrunner, held a rally in the Colonia Kennedy and paid people 200 lempiras each to attend. Even with the financial incentive, it was a feeble rally. Perhaps it is because, as a taxi driver explained to me this morning, “in July, they were paying people 500 lempiras to attend the white marches. Then they dropped it to 300 and now it is 200. I can make more driving my taxi.”
In front of the Congreso, the daily protests continue but they, too, are smaller than usual. For a movement that once pulled hundreds of thousands of people to its demonstrations - the protests in Tegucigalpa were the largest sustained demonstrations Central America has ever seen - the fact that only a few hundred are still in front of Micheletti’s new office is a sign that the repression is working. If our daily conversations in taxis and stores and street corners are any indication, there are very few people who support the coup outside of those closely connected to the oligarchy, but this is a resistance that is exhausted and unnerved. Leaders keep getting detained or disappeared. Military watch our every move from rooftops. Rumours of tanks mobilizing for the weekend charade are convincing the peaceful and unarmed resistance that the massive marches of the past months may not be viable in this moment.
On a personal note, I find myself increasingly conscious of a certain inevitability about the way things will play out here, in the short term. Barring some unanticipated violent insurrection, Sunday’s pantomime will likely play itself out quietly – the Frente has strongly encouraged people to stay home and stay safe - and one of the oligarchs will be crowned President, albeit with a very low voter turnout. While it is obvious to most people here that the elections are a mockery of democracy and that Honduras has essentially become a dictatorship, it is equally obvious that the United States will recognize the results of this sham as legitimate. On that note, it is truly impossible to adequately describe the level of disrespect and derision with which the NDI and IRI ‘elections observers’ have shown to the people of Honduras.
A small but illustrative example: I stood this afternoon with some of those gringo observers in suits as they walked with their military escort into the TSE building, laughing in mockery at the gathering of the five most prominent human rights organizations in Honduras, whose meeting with TSE officials was delayed by 3 hours in order to accommodate the schedules of the U.S. observers. The observers refused to give interviews, laughed about the value of local money (“how many of these damn things do I need to get a decent cup of coffee”) and ridiculed the Resistance for not understanding that “no matter how it plays on TV, sometimes the bad guy really is the bad guy.”
They were referring, of course, to Manuel Zelaya, holed up in the Brazilian embassy. The fact that they focus the Resistance on him is proof-positive of their profound misunderstanding of the situation. Zelaya is but a figurehead – one who was generally viewed with suspicion and doubt in his three and a half years in office before the coup – for a movement that has its roots in trade unions, women’s organizations, student activism, human rights advocacy, campesino groups, indigenous struggles and countless other grassroots social movements that have been built up over many decades and have come together in the wake of this assault on their already-flawed democratic system.
What neither the arrogant gringos nor the foolish golpistas recognize is that nothing is fine in Honduras. No matter how emphatically Barack Obama can say ‘yes,’ Hondurans have already said ‘no.’ No to sham elections. No to violence against women. No to police and military repression. No to unrelenting poverty. No to North American imperialism and local comprador oligarchs. No to an unfair and easily manipulated constitution. No a la reforma – si a la revolucion. I came to Honduras to experience what seemed like the climax of a story – I have discovered that it is only the beginning of what will likely be a long and hard struggle for true justice, peace and democracy.
>> Tyler Shipley's blog
Honduras: everything is fine, haven't you heard?
posted by Tyler Shipley -It was a relatively quiet day in Tegucigalpa. Terror will do that.
Oh, there were people in the streets – protestors filled the square in front of the Congreso, for the 103rd consecutive day. Organizers in the Frente Popular de Resistencia met to determine what they would do about the pending pantomime elections. Leaders of the five main human rights groups in Honduras delivered an official denunciation of the coup elections to the Tribunal Supremo Electoral (TSE). The Movimiento de Mujares Visitacion Padilla, a feminist organization associated with the Resistance, amassed a crowd of many dozens of courageous women to demonstrate outside a police station where one of their leaders had been detained overnight.
Merlin Equiqure, one of the founders of a feminist movement that has been on the front lines of the coup resistance in spite of a powerfully patriarchal social structure, remains under arrest tonight without the possibility of bail - why? Because she was caught with a can of spray paint. The paint was used – as photo evidence has clearly demonstrated – to decorate placards and props for a piece of street theatre the group put together for the international day against violence against women. Her organization, in collaboration with the growing feminist movement in Honduras, has been tirelessly denouncing the fact that women have been particularly victimized under the coup regime – a pamphlet from a related organization wrote, “we are victims of sexual abuse, they beat our breasts, hips, buttocks and vulva; they put batons in our crotch, they threaten us with rape and other types of sexual aggression in a clear demonstration of contempt of this society towards the body and the integrity of women.” Merlin’s group, named after a famous woman who struggled for women’s rights in the 1920s, is made up of over 6000 predominantly young women – some of the women I spoke to this morning were teenagers - demonstrating courage I could never dream of exhibiting myself. In a piece of tragic absurdity that brought me to tears, one of their community leaders is now facing a trumped up prison sentence where she will likely face the very same sexualized violence that she has been so tirelessly fought to expose and denounce.
But women’s bodies are not only being used by the golpistas as objects for desecration and humiliation in prison cells; they are simultaneously being used to woo the smug gringos who have breezed into town to ‘supervise’ the farce elections this weekend. A cocktail party was held this evening at the Mayan Hotel for the representatives of NDI and IRI (elections-observation organizations linked to the Democratic and Republican parties in the US, respectively) and other observers cobbled together from the far-reaches of the Latin American Right (including Armando Calderon Sol, former president of El Salvador.) As they toasted to the great strides that Honduras was making towards a stronger democratic republic, they were entertained by 14- and 15-year old Mayan girls, dancing in sexualized traditional dresses, much to the delight of the overwhelmingly male ‘champions of democracy.’
I suppose it is possible that the American elections observers believe that this farce is a legitimate election. If the individual I spoke to two days ago was any indication, they clearly have very little knowledge of Honduran history; normally, at this point in an election campaign, there truly would be a ‘fiesta.’ Supporters of the two primary parties would be waving red or blue flags, encouraging people to support their candidate, and arguing in taxis over who was best suited to run the country. This year, the flag vendors walking from car-to-car are ignored. This afternoon, Pepe Lobo, the election frontrunner, held a rally in the Colonia Kennedy and paid people 200 lempiras each to attend. Even with the financial incentive, it was a feeble rally. Perhaps it is because, as a taxi driver explained to me this morning, “in July, they were paying people 500 lempiras to attend the white marches. Then they dropped it to 300 and now it is 200. I can make more driving my taxi.”
In front of the Congreso, the daily protests continue but they, too, are smaller than usual. For a movement that once pulled hundreds of thousands of people to its demonstrations - the protests in Tegucigalpa were the largest sustained demonstrations Central America has ever seen - the fact that only a few hundred are still in front of Micheletti’s new office is a sign that the repression is working. If our daily conversations in taxis and stores and street corners are any indication, there are very few people who support the coup outside of those closely connected to the oligarchy, but this is a resistance that is exhausted and unnerved. Leaders keep getting detained or disappeared. Military watch our every move from rooftops. Rumours of tanks mobilizing for the weekend charade are convincing the peaceful and unarmed resistance that the massive marches of the past months may not be viable in this moment.
On a personal note, I find myself increasingly conscious of a certain inevitability about the way things will play out here, in the short term. Barring some unanticipated violent insurrection, Sunday’s pantomime will likely play itself out quietly – the Frente has strongly encouraged people to stay home and stay safe - and one of the oligarchs will be crowned President, albeit with a very low voter turnout. While it is obvious to most people here that the elections are a mockery of democracy and that Honduras has essentially become a dictatorship, it is equally obvious that the United States will recognize the results of this sham as legitimate. On that note, it is truly impossible to adequately describe the level of disrespect and derision with which the NDI and IRI ‘elections observers’ have shown to the people of Honduras.
A small but illustrative example: I stood this afternoon with some of those gringo observers in suits as they walked with their military escort into the TSE building, laughing in mockery at the gathering of the five most prominent human rights organizations in Honduras, whose meeting with TSE officials was delayed by 3 hours in order to accommodate the schedules of the U.S. observers. The observers refused to give interviews, laughed about the value of local money (“how many of these damn things do I need to get a decent cup of coffee”) and ridiculed the Resistance for not understanding that “no matter how it plays on TV, sometimes the bad guy really is the bad guy.”
They were referring, of course, to Manuel Zelaya, holed up in the Brazilian embassy. The fact that they focus the Resistance on him is proof-positive of their profound misunderstanding of the situation. Zelaya is but a figurehead – one who was generally viewed with suspicion and doubt in his three and a half years in office before the coup – for a movement that has its roots in trade unions, women’s organizations, student activism, human rights advocacy, campesino groups, indigenous struggles and countless other grassroots social movements that have been built up over many decades and have come together in the wake of this assault on their already-flawed democratic system.
What neither the arrogant gringos nor the foolish golpistas recognize is that nothing is fine in Honduras. No matter how emphatically Barack Obama can say ‘yes,’ Hondurans have already said ‘no.’ No to sham elections. No to violence against women. No to police and military repression. No to unrelenting poverty. No to North American imperialism and local comprador oligarchs. No to an unfair and easily manipulated constitution. No a la reforma – si a la revolucion. I came to Honduras to experience what seemed like the climax of a story – I have discovered that it is only the beginning of what will likely be a long and hard struggle for true justice, peace and democracy.
>> Tyler Shipley's blog
Monday, November 30, 2009
Obama Smart Power strategy legitmized Honduran coup
It is interesting that Costa Rica will recognise the elections a sure sign that Arias immediately gave in to US pressure after having been rebuffed and made to look like a fool by Micheletti and company. Micheletti has managed to outsmart the OAS. In the case of the US it appears the idea was that it should be outsmarted all along since its avowed policy of rejection of the coup was a facade for an actual policy of accomodating the coup government.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Obama's "Smart Power" Helps Legitimize "Smart Coup" In Honduras?
Henry Kissinger said in the seventies, "if we can't control Latin America, how can we dominate the world?" This imperial vision is more evident today than ever before. Obama's presence in the White House was erroneously viewed by many in the region as a sign of an end to US aggression in the world, and especially here, in Latin America. At least, many believed, Obama would downscale the growing tensions with its neighbors to the south. In fact, he himself, the new president of the United States, made allusion to such changes.
But now, the Obama administration's "Smart Power" strategy has been unmasked. The handshakes, smiles, gifts and promises of "no intervention" and "a new era" made by President Obama himself to leaders of Latin American nations last Spring at the Summit of the Americas meeting in Trinidad have unraveled and turned into cynical gestures of hypocrisy. When Obama came to power, Washington's reputation in the region was at an all-time low. The meager attempts to "change" the North-South relationship in the Americas have made things worse and reaffirmed that Kissinger's vision of control over this region is a state policy, irrespective of party affiliation or public discourse.But the Organization of American States (OAS) and Carter Center, hardly "leftist" entities, have condemned the electoral process as illegitimate and refused to send observers. So has the United Nations and the European Union, as well as UNASUR and ALBA.
Washington stands alone, with its right-wing puppet states in Colombia, Panamá, Perú, Costa Rica and Israel, as the only nations to have publicly indicated recognition of the electoral process in Honduras and the future regime. A high-level State Department official cynically declared to the Washington Post, "What are we going to do, sit for four years and just condemn the coup?" Well, Washington has sat for 50 years and refused to recognize the Cuban government. But that's because the Cuban government is not convenient for Washington. The Honduran dictatorship is.
What we are witnessing is the economic hit men of the West hard at work. This is a battle for the region. The West is trying to bring back, and or hold their grasp on what used to be
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Obama's "Smart Power" Helps Legitimize "Smart Coup" In Honduras?
Henry Kissinger said in the seventies, "if we can't control Latin America, how can we dominate the world?" This imperial vision is more evident today than ever before. Obama's presence in the White House was erroneously viewed by many in the region as a sign of an end to US aggression in the world, and especially here, in Latin America. At least, many believed, Obama would downscale the growing tensions with its neighbors to the south. In fact, he himself, the new president of the United States, made allusion to such changes.
But now, the Obama administration's "Smart Power" strategy has been unmasked. The handshakes, smiles, gifts and promises of "no intervention" and "a new era" made by President Obama himself to leaders of Latin American nations last Spring at the Summit of the Americas meeting in Trinidad have unraveled and turned into cynical gestures of hypocrisy. When Obama came to power, Washington's reputation in the region was at an all-time low. The meager attempts to "change" the North-South relationship in the Americas have made things worse and reaffirmed that Kissinger's vision of control over this region is a state policy, irrespective of party affiliation or public discourse.But the Organization of American States (OAS) and Carter Center, hardly "leftist" entities, have condemned the electoral process as illegitimate and refused to send observers. So has the United Nations and the European Union, as well as UNASUR and ALBA.
Washington stands alone, with its right-wing puppet states in Colombia, Panamá, Perú, Costa Rica and Israel, as the only nations to have publicly indicated recognition of the electoral process in Honduras and the future regime. A high-level State Department official cynically declared to the Washington Post, "What are we going to do, sit for four years and just condemn the coup?" Well, Washington has sat for 50 years and refused to recognize the Cuban government. But that's because the Cuban government is not convenient for Washington. The Honduran dictatorship is.
What we are witnessing is the economic hit men of the West hard at work. This is a battle for the region. The West is trying to bring back, and or hold their grasp on what used to be
The predictable US response to Honduran vote.
There will be inflated reports about turnout and no mention of the withdrawal of the independent candidate. No doubt the Honduran Congress will now be emboldened to not ratify the agreement that would return Zelaya to power. The agreement has long been dead anyway since the Zelaya side interpreted it as involving the Congress voting before the election to restore him and then a unity government would be formed. Micheletti delayed the vote until after the election and had no intention ever of reinstating Zelaya. The US went along with this circus. The US will be able to dragoon a few allies in Latin America to join in recognising the results and over time no doubt others will cave in as well but there will be a lasting rancorous relationship between the US and many Latin American countries at this diplomatic farce on the part of the US. This is from hondurascoup.
Monday, November 30, 2009
State's Rich Fantasy Life
The US State Department has weighed in on the election results in Honduras this morning, and indeed there are no surprises here.
Honduran Election
Ian Kelly
Department Spokesman
Washington, DC
November 29, 2009
We commend the Honduran people for peacefully exercising their democratic right to select their leaders in an electoral process that began over a year ago, well before the June 28 coup d'etat. Turnout appears to have exceeded that of the last presidential election. This shows that given the opportunity to express themselves, the Honduran people have viewed the election as an important part of the solution to the political crisis in their country.
Except that the turnout appears not to have exceeded the turnout in 2005, according to the TSE's own firm hired to make the statistical projections and do exit polling. They report a turnout of 47.6% versus the TSE's claim of a 61.3% turnout. Their report has a 2% confidence interval (accurate at 98% level) whereas the TSE's claim is just an assertion, with no numbers presented to back it up. Both sets of results were presented at the 10 pm TSE press conference, but notice who the State Department decided to listen to.
The Honduran people overwhelmingly expressed themselves. Forced democracy where they could not choose candidates who represented them was not the solution for them. It was status-quo or "no go" and they didn't go in droves, despite the State Department's blind eye. Anyone who thinks the election resolved anything in Honduras is naive.
We look forward to continuing to work with all Hondurans and encourage others in the Americas to follow the lead of the Honduran people in helping advance national reconciliation and the implementation of the Tegucigalpa-San Jose Accord. Significant work remains to be done to restore democratic and constitutional order in Honduras, but today the Honduran people took a necessary and important step forward.
One wonders what fantasy world the State Department lives in that the Tegucigalpa-San Jose Accord will ever be implemented. I hate to tell you, but its dead. The ink wasn't even dry on the signatures when Thomas Shannon publicly agreed to recognize the results of the elections no matter what, nailing its coffin shut. You've made half-hearted efforts to resurrected it, but you're not Merlin. Its not going to come back to life.
So what's the likely US policy going forward? We've now recognized the sham election where exit polling suggests that fewer than half of the electorate actually participated. If the Tegucigalpa-San Jose Accord is dead and buried, as I contend, then I can only see the State Department returning to its practical, unprincipled stand, exemplified by Lew Anselem's comments on the elections, and a swift return to the status quo, a complete white-wash and acceptance of a 21rst century coup by our government. What a sad bunch of politicians.
Posted by rns at 6:09 AM 0 comments Links to this post
Labels: elections, US State Department
Sunday, November 29, 2009
TSE announces 61.3% Participation; other estimates range lower
(Corrected at 8 AM EST) The Tribunal Supremo Electoral (TSE) headed by Saul Escobar, reported in national broadcast at 10:00 pm, that turnout was 61.3%. He also reported they had preliminary, unaudited, results, from about 8,600 polling places (out of 15,300), that they had counted 1.7 million votes for all offices so far.
However, these were unaudited results because the system they had set up to verify the numbers transmitted by cell phone, which appears to have been to make a digital recording of the call, failed, so they have not been able to check that the numbers digitized and entered into the vote counting computers matched the numbers called in by the various polling places.
The TSE is spinning this turnout as just what you would expect given the recent trends, which they said was in line with a 6% per election decline in each of the last several elections, even though this is a supposed increase.
Already, La Prensa reports in their Minute by Minute column a turnout of 61.3 % which would be an increase, not a decrease, from the previous election. This would lead one to expect approximately 2.8 million votes.
So, what does this mean in terms of legitimacy of the election and effectiveness of the call for boycott by the Frente de Resistencia? Even by the TSE's numbers, which are unaudited and preliminary, and don't match with press reports, that's a 38.7% abstention rate.
The TSE had hired a polling firm to do exit polling. They presented a report the TSE conference as well. They sampled 1000 polling places (of the 15300) and reported only a 47.6% participation rate (at a 98% confidence level). This report is more in line with what the Frente de Resistencia. The polling firm further reported they saw a 7% decline in voting over 2005. The results reported by the TSE are based on their sample precincts.
Thus we can expect a great deal of interpretation being projected into the void.
El Tiempo, in a story projecting Pepe Lobo as winner, reported that the TSE had counted 570,954 votes from 4159 polling places "selected strategically to have the tendency in all the country". This is a sample of 27.2% of the planned polling places. While it would not scale directly (since other polling places could have larger numbers of voters) it is curious to see 1/3 of the polls yield only 500,000 votes, and still have claims for 62% turnout, which would project 2.8 million votes overall.
This would be implied by the turnout estimate Bloomberg reports, citing TSE magistrate Danny Matamoros (although it is unclear when Matamoros made this statement, whether before the 10 PM announcement over radio that we report on here, or after). Matamoros is widely quoted as claiming long lines of voters led to the indelible ink running out, which makes him seem rather invested in portraying this as a huge electoral turnout. As in most elections, we are likely to need to wait sometime for official figures, and meanwhile, unofficial claims will likely be taken up and repeated as if they were established facts.
The next thing to watch for are reports of the differences between votes cast and valid votes, to detect any effect from deliberate null voting.
For now, if the TSE projection reported at 10 PM can be taken at face value, there was no massive turnout of Honduran voters yearning to use the ballot box to move beyond the coup. At best, there was a continuation of the long-established gradual discouragement of eligible voters about the worth of voting, which we have previously suggested is itself a kind of unorganized protest against elected government.
But it is also reasonable to propose that there was a measurable effect from the campaign to boycott the vote, whether we use Boz's numbers (and say that about 100,000 voters stayed home in protest) or suggest a different target number would have been reasonable in such a politicized election year.
That the results would favor Porfirio Lobo was never in question. The actual numbers are unvailable on the TSE website as of 8 am this morning, and the website for vitural observers that gave access to the cameras, is not broadcasting images of the count.
So much for the TSE's promise that they had a triple backup system that would prevent any delays in delivering the results
RNS and RAJ
Monday, November 30, 2009
State's Rich Fantasy Life
The US State Department has weighed in on the election results in Honduras this morning, and indeed there are no surprises here.
Honduran Election
Ian Kelly
Department Spokesman
Washington, DC
November 29, 2009
We commend the Honduran people for peacefully exercising their democratic right to select their leaders in an electoral process that began over a year ago, well before the June 28 coup d'etat. Turnout appears to have exceeded that of the last presidential election. This shows that given the opportunity to express themselves, the Honduran people have viewed the election as an important part of the solution to the political crisis in their country.
Except that the turnout appears not to have exceeded the turnout in 2005, according to the TSE's own firm hired to make the statistical projections and do exit polling. They report a turnout of 47.6% versus the TSE's claim of a 61.3% turnout. Their report has a 2% confidence interval (accurate at 98% level) whereas the TSE's claim is just an assertion, with no numbers presented to back it up. Both sets of results were presented at the 10 pm TSE press conference, but notice who the State Department decided to listen to.
The Honduran people overwhelmingly expressed themselves. Forced democracy where they could not choose candidates who represented them was not the solution for them. It was status-quo or "no go" and they didn't go in droves, despite the State Department's blind eye. Anyone who thinks the election resolved anything in Honduras is naive.
We look forward to continuing to work with all Hondurans and encourage others in the Americas to follow the lead of the Honduran people in helping advance national reconciliation and the implementation of the Tegucigalpa-San Jose Accord. Significant work remains to be done to restore democratic and constitutional order in Honduras, but today the Honduran people took a necessary and important step forward.
One wonders what fantasy world the State Department lives in that the Tegucigalpa-San Jose Accord will ever be implemented. I hate to tell you, but its dead. The ink wasn't even dry on the signatures when Thomas Shannon publicly agreed to recognize the results of the elections no matter what, nailing its coffin shut. You've made half-hearted efforts to resurrected it, but you're not Merlin. Its not going to come back to life.
So what's the likely US policy going forward? We've now recognized the sham election where exit polling suggests that fewer than half of the electorate actually participated. If the Tegucigalpa-San Jose Accord is dead and buried, as I contend, then I can only see the State Department returning to its practical, unprincipled stand, exemplified by Lew Anselem's comments on the elections, and a swift return to the status quo, a complete white-wash and acceptance of a 21rst century coup by our government. What a sad bunch of politicians.
Posted by rns at 6:09 AM 0 comments Links to this post
Labels: elections, US State Department
Sunday, November 29, 2009
TSE announces 61.3% Participation; other estimates range lower
(Corrected at 8 AM EST) The Tribunal Supremo Electoral (TSE) headed by Saul Escobar, reported in national broadcast at 10:00 pm, that turnout was 61.3%. He also reported they had preliminary, unaudited, results, from about 8,600 polling places (out of 15,300), that they had counted 1.7 million votes for all offices so far.
However, these were unaudited results because the system they had set up to verify the numbers transmitted by cell phone, which appears to have been to make a digital recording of the call, failed, so they have not been able to check that the numbers digitized and entered into the vote counting computers matched the numbers called in by the various polling places.
The TSE is spinning this turnout as just what you would expect given the recent trends, which they said was in line with a 6% per election decline in each of the last several elections, even though this is a supposed increase.
Already, La Prensa reports in their Minute by Minute column a turnout of 61.3 % which would be an increase, not a decrease, from the previous election. This would lead one to expect approximately 2.8 million votes.
So, what does this mean in terms of legitimacy of the election and effectiveness of the call for boycott by the Frente de Resistencia? Even by the TSE's numbers, which are unaudited and preliminary, and don't match with press reports, that's a 38.7% abstention rate.
The TSE had hired a polling firm to do exit polling. They presented a report the TSE conference as well. They sampled 1000 polling places (of the 15300) and reported only a 47.6% participation rate (at a 98% confidence level). This report is more in line with what the Frente de Resistencia. The polling firm further reported they saw a 7% decline in voting over 2005. The results reported by the TSE are based on their sample precincts.
Thus we can expect a great deal of interpretation being projected into the void.
El Tiempo, in a story projecting Pepe Lobo as winner, reported that the TSE had counted 570,954 votes from 4159 polling places "selected strategically to have the tendency in all the country". This is a sample of 27.2% of the planned polling places. While it would not scale directly (since other polling places could have larger numbers of voters) it is curious to see 1/3 of the polls yield only 500,000 votes, and still have claims for 62% turnout, which would project 2.8 million votes overall.
This would be implied by the turnout estimate Bloomberg reports, citing TSE magistrate Danny Matamoros (although it is unclear when Matamoros made this statement, whether before the 10 PM announcement over radio that we report on here, or after). Matamoros is widely quoted as claiming long lines of voters led to the indelible ink running out, which makes him seem rather invested in portraying this as a huge electoral turnout. As in most elections, we are likely to need to wait sometime for official figures, and meanwhile, unofficial claims will likely be taken up and repeated as if they were established facts.
The next thing to watch for are reports of the differences between votes cast and valid votes, to detect any effect from deliberate null voting.
For now, if the TSE projection reported at 10 PM can be taken at face value, there was no massive turnout of Honduran voters yearning to use the ballot box to move beyond the coup. At best, there was a continuation of the long-established gradual discouragement of eligible voters about the worth of voting, which we have previously suggested is itself a kind of unorganized protest against elected government.
But it is also reasonable to propose that there was a measurable effect from the campaign to boycott the vote, whether we use Boz's numbers (and say that about 100,000 voters stayed home in protest) or suggest a different target number would have been reasonable in such a politicized election year.
That the results would favor Porfirio Lobo was never in question. The actual numbers are unvailable on the TSE website as of 8 am this morning, and the website for vitural observers that gave access to the cameras, is not broadcasting images of the count.
So much for the TSE's promise that they had a triple backup system that would prevent any delays in delivering the results
RNS and RAJ
Monday, November 23, 2009
State Department and Human Rights in Honduras
This is typical of the evasive doubletalk coming out of the Obama administration on Honduras. It seems clear that the administration wants the whole issue out of the news and will quietly recognise the results of the election and pressure other countries to do likewise. The media conveniently has forgotten all about Honduras.
This is posted on the site hondurascoup.
State Department Discovers Human Rights Concerns
On November 13, State Department spokesperson Ian Kelly was asked for US reaction to the Human Rights conditions in Honduras since the coup. He professed total ignorance of the reports issued by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and even the IACHR. Here's the exchange from the October 13 daily press briefing:
QUESTION: A follow-up on Honduras. What does the U.S. think about the human rights situation there right now? There have been mass arrests, curfews, an emergency decree, and a ban on protests and media closures for three weeks during the presidential campaign. Does that undermine the electoral process, in the view of the U.S.?
MR. KELLY: Regarding the – well, first of all, our real priority here is to see this accord implemented step by step. We’ve only gotten through step one, and we need step two and step three to be implemented.
Regarding the – these reports, I’m actually not aware of these reports of any actions to – you say ban rallies and – no, I’m not just aware of those reports. I think that we would need to have more details about it for us to really comment on it.
Just to remind you, the Minister of Security issued an administrative rule on October 21 that prohibited all public gatherings, be they birthday parties or political rallies, without prior notification and permission of the National Police. Executive decree 124-2009, published on October 5, enjoined the military to monitor radio and television broadcasts and to denounce those of "general abhorrence" to CONATEL so that their broadcast licenses can be revoked.
Today the State Department suddenly expressed Human Rights concerns about the situation in Honduras since the coup, and claimed they've always had these concerns.
It all started with a question about a Human Rights Watch report on conditions in Cuba. Kelly replied that "human rights is at the center of our Cuban policy." He went on to elaborate that "So this is a real priority for the United States, and it will continue to be so." The questioner, seeking clarity asked, "Is that - human rights in the hemisphere?" to which Kelly replied, "Sure." Then the questioner reminded Kelly of his being asked about Human Rights in Honduras last week.
QUESTION: I believe last week, or maybe a little bit before then, you were asked about human rights abuses in Honduras, and reports from the same organization that Dave just mentioned as well as Amnesty International and local human rights groups who have catalogued 4,234 violations since the coup, including 21 murders, or executions as they call them.
There are growing calls from trade union movement here for the U.S. not to recognize the elections unless these things are corrected. Is this something of concern to you guys?
MR. KELLY: It is. It has been and remains a concern. There have been a number of human rights violations since the coup, and we have consistently called on the regime to respect the rights of individual citizens. And we’ve been particularly concerned about some of the moves against the media. And the U.S. Embassy in Tegucigalpa is closely monitoring the situation. It has reported back to us about a number of allegations of arbitrary arrests, disproportionate use of force, and, in particular, restrictions on freedom of expression. So yeah, we are concerned about it.
So somewhere between last week and this week, the State Department discovered to its surprise that Human Rights violations were going on in Honduras, that "it has and remains a concern."
However, in response to the question of what they're doing about it, if it's a concern, the reply was "we're monitoring very very closely." Makes you warm and fuzzy all over.
When asked if the media restrictions and human rights violations have any bearing on recognition of the elections, Kelly at first allowed as how "The lack of freedom of media, of course, is an important – would be an important indicator of this", the "this" being the freedom and transparency of the Honduran elections. He took it all back a few minutes later when he said "we’ll look at restrictions on the media, particularly restrictions of access to candidates in the campaign before the elections themselves."
Sure, one important thing is access by the candidates to media. So its good to hear that the US State Department cares about that.
But the bigger issue is more fundamental: restrictions on what the media can say, with the threat of losing their license hanging over them everyone freedom of speech.
This is posted on the site hondurascoup.
State Department Discovers Human Rights Concerns
On November 13, State Department spokesperson Ian Kelly was asked for US reaction to the Human Rights conditions in Honduras since the coup. He professed total ignorance of the reports issued by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and even the IACHR. Here's the exchange from the October 13 daily press briefing:
QUESTION: A follow-up on Honduras. What does the U.S. think about the human rights situation there right now? There have been mass arrests, curfews, an emergency decree, and a ban on protests and media closures for three weeks during the presidential campaign. Does that undermine the electoral process, in the view of the U.S.?
MR. KELLY: Regarding the – well, first of all, our real priority here is to see this accord implemented step by step. We’ve only gotten through step one, and we need step two and step three to be implemented.
Regarding the – these reports, I’m actually not aware of these reports of any actions to – you say ban rallies and – no, I’m not just aware of those reports. I think that we would need to have more details about it for us to really comment on it.
Just to remind you, the Minister of Security issued an administrative rule on October 21 that prohibited all public gatherings, be they birthday parties or political rallies, without prior notification and permission of the National Police. Executive decree 124-2009, published on October 5, enjoined the military to monitor radio and television broadcasts and to denounce those of "general abhorrence" to CONATEL so that their broadcast licenses can be revoked.
Today the State Department suddenly expressed Human Rights concerns about the situation in Honduras since the coup, and claimed they've always had these concerns.
It all started with a question about a Human Rights Watch report on conditions in Cuba. Kelly replied that "human rights is at the center of our Cuban policy." He went on to elaborate that "So this is a real priority for the United States, and it will continue to be so." The questioner, seeking clarity asked, "Is that - human rights in the hemisphere?" to which Kelly replied, "Sure." Then the questioner reminded Kelly of his being asked about Human Rights in Honduras last week.
QUESTION: I believe last week, or maybe a little bit before then, you were asked about human rights abuses in Honduras, and reports from the same organization that Dave just mentioned as well as Amnesty International and local human rights groups who have catalogued 4,234 violations since the coup, including 21 murders, or executions as they call them.
There are growing calls from trade union movement here for the U.S. not to recognize the elections unless these things are corrected. Is this something of concern to you guys?
MR. KELLY: It is. It has been and remains a concern. There have been a number of human rights violations since the coup, and we have consistently called on the regime to respect the rights of individual citizens. And we’ve been particularly concerned about some of the moves against the media. And the U.S. Embassy in Tegucigalpa is closely monitoring the situation. It has reported back to us about a number of allegations of arbitrary arrests, disproportionate use of force, and, in particular, restrictions on freedom of expression. So yeah, we are concerned about it.
So somewhere between last week and this week, the State Department discovered to its surprise that Human Rights violations were going on in Honduras, that "it has and remains a concern."
However, in response to the question of what they're doing about it, if it's a concern, the reply was "we're monitoring very very closely." Makes you warm and fuzzy all over.
When asked if the media restrictions and human rights violations have any bearing on recognition of the elections, Kelly at first allowed as how "The lack of freedom of media, of course, is an important – would be an important indicator of this", the "this" being the freedom and transparency of the Honduran elections. He took it all back a few minutes later when he said "we’ll look at restrictions on the media, particularly restrictions of access to candidates in the campaign before the elections themselves."
Sure, one important thing is access by the candidates to media. So its good to hear that the US State Department cares about that.
But the bigger issue is more fundamental: restrictions on what the media can say, with the threat of losing their license hanging over them everyone freedom of speech.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
AFL-CIO: Free elections not possible now in Honduras
Of course this release by the AFL-CIO will get little publicity unless Glenn Beck decides it shows the AFL-CIO is supporting Chavez and communism or something! The stance of the USA at present is to preserve a deafening silence as more pressing issues occupy the public consciousness. However, it seems that the US will recognise the electoral results whether Zelaya is reinstated or not and in spite of repression. In fact one can be put in jail for recommending that the election be boycotted. The indpendent candidate has already withdrawn and some groups are boycotting the vote.
Trumka: Free Elections Not Possible Now in Honduras
by James Parks, Nov 16, 2009
The continued repression of trade unionists by the regime set up in Honduras after a June 28 coup makes it impossible to hold free and fair elections, says AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka in a Nov. 13 letter to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Trumka points out that delegates to the AFL-CIO Convention in September passed a resolution calling on the U.S. government to suspend military aid to Honduras until President Manuel Zelaya, the democratically elected leader, is returned to office and human and trade union rights have been restored.
Click here to read the convention resolution on Honduras and here to read Trumka’s letter.
With an illegitimate government in power, scheduled elections later this month cannot be fair, free and open, Trumka says.
The violent and coercive repression of political opposition to the de facto coup regime, including trade unionists, has continued. At least 12 trade unionists have died in the violence since June 28. National and international human rights organizations report ongoing human rights violations committed by state security forces, including killings, severe beatings, sexual violence, the imprisonment and torture of activists, as well as the arrest and detention of President Zelaya’s supporters.
Trumka calls on Clinton and the U.S. government to oppose national elections in Honduras unless Zelaya is reinstated and to implement the recommendations in the AFL-CIO resolution.
Trumka: Free Elections Not Possible Now in Honduras
by James Parks, Nov 16, 2009
The continued repression of trade unionists by the regime set up in Honduras after a June 28 coup makes it impossible to hold free and fair elections, says AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka in a Nov. 13 letter to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Trumka points out that delegates to the AFL-CIO Convention in September passed a resolution calling on the U.S. government to suspend military aid to Honduras until President Manuel Zelaya, the democratically elected leader, is returned to office and human and trade union rights have been restored.
Click here to read the convention resolution on Honduras and here to read Trumka’s letter.
With an illegitimate government in power, scheduled elections later this month cannot be fair, free and open, Trumka says.
The violent and coercive repression of political opposition to the de facto coup regime, including trade unionists, has continued. At least 12 trade unionists have died in the violence since June 28. National and international human rights organizations report ongoing human rights violations committed by state security forces, including killings, severe beatings, sexual violence, the imprisonment and torture of activists, as well as the arrest and detention of President Zelaya’s supporters.
Trumka calls on Clinton and the U.S. government to oppose national elections in Honduras unless Zelaya is reinstated and to implement the recommendations in the AFL-CIO resolution.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
The Honduran elections are fraudulent.
Note that it would seem that in return for support of the coup by the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy the Micheletti regime has renewed a ban on a contraceptive pill. Unless some changes occur in the implementation of the agreement most countries will not recognise the upcoming elections. This article fails to note that it is against the law to recommend boycotting the elections! It seems that the media for the most part is ignoring the farce that is playing out in Honduras. After all the important issue is Sarah Palin's new book and her interviews here there and everywhere.
HONDURAS: “The Elections are Fraudulent” – (Green Left Weekly)
2009 November 15
.Honduras: ‘The elections are fraudulent’
Stuart Munckton
14 November 2009
“On November 29, we are not going to have time to vote”, Juan Barahona, a leader of the National Resistance Front Against the Coup on Honduras (FNRG) told the media in front of the Honduran Congress on November 12, Rightsaction.org said that day.
Barahona spoke on the 137th day of continued popular resistance to the June 28 military coup that overthrew the government of elected President Manuel Zelaya. Barahona was explaining the FNRG’s decision to continue with its call for a boycott of the November 29 general elections organised by the coup regime.
The FNRG, which has led the mass resistance, unites a wide range of social movements, trade unions and anti-coup political groups.
After daily mass protests and strikes since the coup severely affected the Central American nation’s economy, the coup regime led by dictator Roberto Micheletti finally signed an accord on October 30 intended to pave the way for Zelaya’s reinstatement.
Honduran business elites, who had backed the coup, are desperate for a resolution to the conflict. A November Center for Economic and Policy Research report indicated the severity of the crisis: “Jesus Canahuati, vice president of the nation’s chapter of the Business Council of Latin America, estimates that the curfew imposed by the de facto regime [to combat the mass resistance] cost the economy [US]$50 million per day …
“As recently as June, Consensus Economic had forecasted 0.7 percent growth for 2009; by late September this was lowered to negative 2.6 percent.”
However, despite its need to end the economic isolation imposed by other governments and international institutions, the coup regime remains terrified of the consequences of restoring Zelaya on the back of a powerful mass movement of the poor majority.
When the coup regime failed to meet the November 5 deadline to form a government of “national unity” headed by Zelaya, the FNRG and Zelaya declared the deal dead.
Rightsaction.org said: “Honduran people’s pro-democracy, anti-coup movement continues to take to the streets, this time in front of the National Congress to keep up the energy, discuss strategy and reconfirm their commitment to boycott the elections.”
On November 8, independent presidential candidate and well-respected resistance figure, Carlos H. Reyes, said he would pull out of the elections, Rightsaction.org said.
Zelaya and the FNRG have called on governments and international institutions, none of which have recognised Michelleti’s regime as legitimate, not to recognise the results of the November 29 elections and to continue pushing for Zelaya’s return.
However, on November 4, the US government’s chief negotiator in the conflict said Washington would recognise the vote, a November 12 Inter-Press Service article said. Unlike other governments in the region, the US has not broken all ties with the regime. US military ties and most economic aid remain intact.
Despite Washington’s formal condemnation of the coup, the FNRG has accused it of helping to organise Zelaya’s overthrow and of propping up Micheletti’s regime.
The FNRG has raised the fact that all Honduran military officers are trained by the US. It has also pointed out that when Zelaya was kidnapped by the military on June 28, the plane that exiled him to Costa Rica left from a US military base inside Honduras.
IPS said on November 5 that, in stark contrast to Washington’s stance, foreign ministers from the 24 Latin American and Caribbean nations that make up the Rio Group declared at a meeting in Jamaica they would not recognise the November 29 poll. They again called for Zelaya’s reinstatement.
Speaking outside Congress on November 12, Rightsaction.org said Bertha Caceres, a leader of Civic Counsel of Indigenous and Popular Organizations of Honduras (COPINH) and the FNRG, declared: “We remain firmly convinced that the struggle of the Honduran people is for the re-foundation of our country. We are going to construct a just and more humane country where they listen and where the people make the decisions …
“We have learned the last names of our enemies … It’s the oligarchy, they are our enemies, the transnationals, the gringos, that put in systems of domination, not just in Honduras, but the entire region.”
In a speech to a November 1 public meeting posted at Hondorusresists.blogspot.com, Caceres explained how Zelaya had upset the Honduran oligarchy and multinational corporate interests: “Zelaya said he won’t give out any mining concessions. So these men started condemning him.
“He rejected the acceptance speech the day that he took power sent to him by Carlos Flores Facusse [one of the richest businessmen in Honduras], already written. President Zelaya throws it aside.
“Carlos Flores Facusse is one of the men who decides the destiny of this country.”
She explained how Zelaya’s policy of regulating the oil and gas industry caused “Texaco, Esso and Shell [to] lose more than $200 million” in one year.
As well as increasing the minimum wage by 60%, Caceres said Zelaya also introduced an education bill that improved wages and conditions for teachers despite International Monetary Fund opposition.
Zelaya also advanced the rights of women against the opposition of the Catholic Church by abolishing a ban on the contraceptive pill — which the coup regime has since reinstated.
Zelaya had called for the closure of the US Palmerola military base. His government also joined the anti-imperialist political and trade bloc initiated by Cuba and Venezuela, the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas.
Caceres told the crowd: “Brothers and sisters we should never forget the names of the coup-makers, whether they are transnational corporations, businessmen, or congressmen who serve the corrupt hackneyed political class the Honduran people are tired of.”
On November 8, the general assembly of the FRNG, which meets weekly with large ongoing participation, celebrated the decision to boycott the elections, Rightsaction.org said.
“There is growing anticipation and tension, and speculation as to what will happen on election day. Strategies are being discussed and meetings are being organized in communities and neighbourhoods across the country.
“The coordinating body of the resistance movement is encouraging people to mobilize, boycott and protest on the election day. Community education and organizing continues …”
From: International News, Green Left Weekly issue #818 18 November 2009. “
HONDURAS: “The Elections are Fraudulent” – (Green Left Weekly)
2009 November 15
.Honduras: ‘The elections are fraudulent’
Stuart Munckton
14 November 2009
“On November 29, we are not going to have time to vote”, Juan Barahona, a leader of the National Resistance Front Against the Coup on Honduras (FNRG) told the media in front of the Honduran Congress on November 12, Rightsaction.org said that day.
Barahona spoke on the 137th day of continued popular resistance to the June 28 military coup that overthrew the government of elected President Manuel Zelaya. Barahona was explaining the FNRG’s decision to continue with its call for a boycott of the November 29 general elections organised by the coup regime.
The FNRG, which has led the mass resistance, unites a wide range of social movements, trade unions and anti-coup political groups.
After daily mass protests and strikes since the coup severely affected the Central American nation’s economy, the coup regime led by dictator Roberto Micheletti finally signed an accord on October 30 intended to pave the way for Zelaya’s reinstatement.
Honduran business elites, who had backed the coup, are desperate for a resolution to the conflict. A November Center for Economic and Policy Research report indicated the severity of the crisis: “Jesus Canahuati, vice president of the nation’s chapter of the Business Council of Latin America, estimates that the curfew imposed by the de facto regime [to combat the mass resistance] cost the economy [US]$50 million per day …
“As recently as June, Consensus Economic had forecasted 0.7 percent growth for 2009; by late September this was lowered to negative 2.6 percent.”
However, despite its need to end the economic isolation imposed by other governments and international institutions, the coup regime remains terrified of the consequences of restoring Zelaya on the back of a powerful mass movement of the poor majority.
When the coup regime failed to meet the November 5 deadline to form a government of “national unity” headed by Zelaya, the FNRG and Zelaya declared the deal dead.
Rightsaction.org said: “Honduran people’s pro-democracy, anti-coup movement continues to take to the streets, this time in front of the National Congress to keep up the energy, discuss strategy and reconfirm their commitment to boycott the elections.”
On November 8, independent presidential candidate and well-respected resistance figure, Carlos H. Reyes, said he would pull out of the elections, Rightsaction.org said.
Zelaya and the FNRG have called on governments and international institutions, none of which have recognised Michelleti’s regime as legitimate, not to recognise the results of the November 29 elections and to continue pushing for Zelaya’s return.
However, on November 4, the US government’s chief negotiator in the conflict said Washington would recognise the vote, a November 12 Inter-Press Service article said. Unlike other governments in the region, the US has not broken all ties with the regime. US military ties and most economic aid remain intact.
Despite Washington’s formal condemnation of the coup, the FNRG has accused it of helping to organise Zelaya’s overthrow and of propping up Micheletti’s regime.
The FNRG has raised the fact that all Honduran military officers are trained by the US. It has also pointed out that when Zelaya was kidnapped by the military on June 28, the plane that exiled him to Costa Rica left from a US military base inside Honduras.
IPS said on November 5 that, in stark contrast to Washington’s stance, foreign ministers from the 24 Latin American and Caribbean nations that make up the Rio Group declared at a meeting in Jamaica they would not recognise the November 29 poll. They again called for Zelaya’s reinstatement.
Speaking outside Congress on November 12, Rightsaction.org said Bertha Caceres, a leader of Civic Counsel of Indigenous and Popular Organizations of Honduras (COPINH) and the FNRG, declared: “We remain firmly convinced that the struggle of the Honduran people is for the re-foundation of our country. We are going to construct a just and more humane country where they listen and where the people make the decisions …
“We have learned the last names of our enemies … It’s the oligarchy, they are our enemies, the transnationals, the gringos, that put in systems of domination, not just in Honduras, but the entire region.”
In a speech to a November 1 public meeting posted at Hondorusresists.blogspot.com, Caceres explained how Zelaya had upset the Honduran oligarchy and multinational corporate interests: “Zelaya said he won’t give out any mining concessions. So these men started condemning him.
“He rejected the acceptance speech the day that he took power sent to him by Carlos Flores Facusse [one of the richest businessmen in Honduras], already written. President Zelaya throws it aside.
“Carlos Flores Facusse is one of the men who decides the destiny of this country.”
She explained how Zelaya’s policy of regulating the oil and gas industry caused “Texaco, Esso and Shell [to] lose more than $200 million” in one year.
As well as increasing the minimum wage by 60%, Caceres said Zelaya also introduced an education bill that improved wages and conditions for teachers despite International Monetary Fund opposition.
Zelaya also advanced the rights of women against the opposition of the Catholic Church by abolishing a ban on the contraceptive pill — which the coup regime has since reinstated.
Zelaya had called for the closure of the US Palmerola military base. His government also joined the anti-imperialist political and trade bloc initiated by Cuba and Venezuela, the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas.
Caceres told the crowd: “Brothers and sisters we should never forget the names of the coup-makers, whether they are transnational corporations, businessmen, or congressmen who serve the corrupt hackneyed political class the Honduran people are tired of.”
On November 8, the general assembly of the FRNG, which meets weekly with large ongoing participation, celebrated the decision to boycott the elections, Rightsaction.org said.
“There is growing anticipation and tension, and speculation as to what will happen on election day. Strategies are being discussed and meetings are being organized in communities and neighbourhoods across the country.
“The coordinating body of the resistance movement is encouraging people to mobilize, boycott and protest on the election day. Community education and organizing continues …”
From: International News, Green Left Weekly issue #818 18 November 2009. “
Friday, November 6, 2009
Anti-Coup Group in Honduras rejects presidential election.
As noted in a previous posting the whole agreement brokered by the US has turned into a farce. Micheletti did not have the agreement ratified by the Honduran congress. He has not even set a date for them to consider it. Instead he has gone ahead and formed a Unity government on his own without the participation of Zelaya since he has not been re-instated in any shape or form. The United States for its part says it will recognise the elections anyway because a deal was signed! This is a travesty! The whole presupposition of negotiations was that Zelaya would be re-instated. Of course the US itself always waffled on this although Obama said a number of times that the US considered Zelaya the legitimate president of Honduras!
The social unrest in Honduras is bound to continue. Actually some groups are happy enough that Micheletti continues since this will help power the resistance. The rejection of the upcoming elections makes sense for anyone with the least concern about conditions for a legitimate election. There are laws prohibiting demonstrations and rallies without proper authorisation by coup govt. authorities etc. etc. The article is from this site.
National Resistance Against the Coup d’Etat Announces Boycott of November 29 Honduras Elections
Coup Regime’s Noncompliance with the October 30 Accord Renders Last Week’s Agreement Moot
By Tamar Sharibi
Reporting from Tegucigalpa
November 6, 2009
TEGUCIGALPA, HONDURAS, NOVEMBER 6, 2009: Hundreds of people have congregated daily outside the Honduran National Congress to pressure its members (known as ‘Diputados,’ or Deputies) to finally reinstate President Manuel Zelaya. The new wave of hope came after the US State Department’s visit that many interpret as a tactic to guarantee the November 29 elections. While US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton proclaimed a “breakthrough in negotiations in Honduras,” things on the ground still seemed to be at a stalemate as of Thursday afternoon, November 5, the date that, according to the accord signed last week, should have brought – but didn’t bring – the end of the coup regime.
In response to the never-ending and not so genuine negotiations, the National Resistance Front Against the Coup d’Etat published this statement:
The National Resistance Front against the Coup d’Etat announces to the Honduran population and the international community:
Whereas:
1.That during 131 consecutive days of the struggle, we have pressured for a peaceful resolution to the political crisis that our country has lived resulting from the coup d’état perpetrated by the Honduran Oligarchy. In this period we have supported the initiatives that have been driven by various national and international sectors, maintaining three fundamental demands: a) the return of institutional order with the restitution of the legitimate president Manuel Zelaya Rosales, b) respect for our sovereign right to install a National Constituent Assembly that brings together the country and c) punishment for the violators of human rights.
2.That the call of the agreement Tegucigalpa-San Jose contains the priority element the return of constitutional order and literally states its purpose as “to bring back the title of the Executive Power to the state previous to the that of June 28 until the conclusion of the actual governing period, January 27, 2010”
3.That the National Congress, coauthor of the breaking of constitutional order on the June 28, is using delaying tactics, in not wanting to convene the complete assembly in order to repeal the decree that installed the de facto regime.
4.That the OEA and the government of the United States, who we consider accomplice of the military coup d’état, do not represent our interests in the definitive exit of the people involved in the coup d’état out of power.
So we resolve:
1.If today, Thursday, November 5, no later than midnight President Jose Manuel Zelaya Rosales is not reinstated to his position, the National Resistance Front against the Coup d’Etat will not recognize the electoral process and its results.
2.We alert all the organizations in the resistance on a national level so that in case President Zelaya is not reinstated in the established period to be ready to execute the actions of negating the farse elections.
3.We call on the international community to maintain the position that the de facto regime and the elections of November 29 are illegitimate.
We resist and we will be victorious!
Tegucigalpa, M.D.C. 5 of November 2009
Many resistance members have commented that the same Congress that invented the President’s resignation letter last June is now being trusted to clean up the mess.
US officials have given mixed signals about whether they will recognize the 29 elections regardless of whether President Zelaya is restored. On Wednesday, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly danced around reporters’ questions that sought more specificity:
QUESTION: It appears as though, as long as the congress agrees on something, you’re willing to accept it even it falls short of Zelaya being restored before the election.
MR. KELLY: I think what we’re saying is that we want the two parties to agree.
Despite last week’s US Delegation and the accord that resulted, police and military repression continue. On Thursday Oct 29, Day 124 of the resistance, a peaceful march organized by the resistance movement and the UD, the Democratic Unification Party, the only national political party to oppose the coup from the beginning, came under physical attack from coup security forces. The Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE, in its Spanish initials) had granted the UD party a permit to hold the march. Interestingly enough, the October 29 was also the first day that control over the military was transferred to the TSE purportedly to guarantee the ‘safety’ of the elections.
All the major news agencies were covering the official press conference being held at the American Embassy when the action broke out. The repression on this day was different because there was almost no warning on the attack. The march was making its way through a neighborhood called El Prado, passing by the main offices of TSE. As a few protestors ripped down election material, military trucks arrived and started beating anyone in sight.
After canisters of tear gas were shot into the crowd, people dispersed in all directions. Approximately 300 reassembled within the hour near the Marriot Hotel, two blocks away from the Presidential Palace. Once again, the military regrouped and attacked the crowd. Soldiers followed people into the bathrooms of local businesses to pull them out and either beat them or temporarily detain them.
Andres Pavón, director of CODEH, the Committee of Human Rights in Honduras, reported 12 people receiving medical attention with severe lesions. Since soldiers and police have arrested people from the public hospital in Tegucigalpa, Hospital Escuela, it is likely more people were in need of medical attention but too frightened to present themselves. Many people who are victims of last Thursday’s police repression prefered to take refuge in CPTRT, Center for the Prevention, Treatment and Rehabilitation for Victims of Torture and their Families.
So what conclusions can we draw from the US State Department visit? Considering the US Embassy’s media contacts list or following the mainstream media, one might be lead to believe that the State Department delegation truly was as historic as Secretary Clinton claimed it was. The walls of Tegucigalpa, though, shout a different message: “Solo el pueblo salva el pueblo,” (Only the people save the people). On the ground, most people never really trusted any of the diplomatic visits in the first place.
As of midnight last night, the National Resistance Front against the Coup d’Etat will begin its process of delegitimizing the electoral process. In a statement issued by President Zelaya, from the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa where he has taken refuge the past 46 days and nights, he said that the coup regime was plotting “a giant political-electoral fraud” through “constant violations of human rights, the cancellation of public liberties, the shutdown and confiscation of media like Channel 36 and Radio Globo, and the situation of having the President who was elected by the people surrounded by military soldiers in the diplomatic seat and the overall political persecution.” Zelaya added:
“We announce our total non-recognition of this electoral process and its results. Due to the above mentioned violations, elections under a dictatorship are a fraud to the people.”
The de facto government on the other hand, went about interpreting the Tegucigalpa/San Jose Accord as it pleased, supposedly naming its reconciliatory government while maintaining coup “president” Roberto Micheletti in power. The US will now have to answer to the international community – including the Organization of American States (OAS) – as the only government that says it might recognize the Nov 29 elections in Honduras.
The social unrest in Honduras is bound to continue. Actually some groups are happy enough that Micheletti continues since this will help power the resistance. The rejection of the upcoming elections makes sense for anyone with the least concern about conditions for a legitimate election. There are laws prohibiting demonstrations and rallies without proper authorisation by coup govt. authorities etc. etc. The article is from this site.
National Resistance Against the Coup d’Etat Announces Boycott of November 29 Honduras Elections
Coup Regime’s Noncompliance with the October 30 Accord Renders Last Week’s Agreement Moot
By Tamar Sharibi
Reporting from Tegucigalpa
November 6, 2009
TEGUCIGALPA, HONDURAS, NOVEMBER 6, 2009: Hundreds of people have congregated daily outside the Honduran National Congress to pressure its members (known as ‘Diputados,’ or Deputies) to finally reinstate President Manuel Zelaya. The new wave of hope came after the US State Department’s visit that many interpret as a tactic to guarantee the November 29 elections. While US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton proclaimed a “breakthrough in negotiations in Honduras,” things on the ground still seemed to be at a stalemate as of Thursday afternoon, November 5, the date that, according to the accord signed last week, should have brought – but didn’t bring – the end of the coup regime.
In response to the never-ending and not so genuine negotiations, the National Resistance Front Against the Coup d’Etat published this statement:
The National Resistance Front against the Coup d’Etat announces to the Honduran population and the international community:
Whereas:
1.That during 131 consecutive days of the struggle, we have pressured for a peaceful resolution to the political crisis that our country has lived resulting from the coup d’état perpetrated by the Honduran Oligarchy. In this period we have supported the initiatives that have been driven by various national and international sectors, maintaining three fundamental demands: a) the return of institutional order with the restitution of the legitimate president Manuel Zelaya Rosales, b) respect for our sovereign right to install a National Constituent Assembly that brings together the country and c) punishment for the violators of human rights.
2.That the call of the agreement Tegucigalpa-San Jose contains the priority element the return of constitutional order and literally states its purpose as “to bring back the title of the Executive Power to the state previous to the that of June 28 until the conclusion of the actual governing period, January 27, 2010”
3.That the National Congress, coauthor of the breaking of constitutional order on the June 28, is using delaying tactics, in not wanting to convene the complete assembly in order to repeal the decree that installed the de facto regime.
4.That the OEA and the government of the United States, who we consider accomplice of the military coup d’état, do not represent our interests in the definitive exit of the people involved in the coup d’état out of power.
So we resolve:
1.If today, Thursday, November 5, no later than midnight President Jose Manuel Zelaya Rosales is not reinstated to his position, the National Resistance Front against the Coup d’Etat will not recognize the electoral process and its results.
2.We alert all the organizations in the resistance on a national level so that in case President Zelaya is not reinstated in the established period to be ready to execute the actions of negating the farse elections.
3.We call on the international community to maintain the position that the de facto regime and the elections of November 29 are illegitimate.
We resist and we will be victorious!
Tegucigalpa, M.D.C. 5 of November 2009
Many resistance members have commented that the same Congress that invented the President’s resignation letter last June is now being trusted to clean up the mess.
US officials have given mixed signals about whether they will recognize the 29 elections regardless of whether President Zelaya is restored. On Wednesday, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly danced around reporters’ questions that sought more specificity:
QUESTION: It appears as though, as long as the congress agrees on something, you’re willing to accept it even it falls short of Zelaya being restored before the election.
MR. KELLY: I think what we’re saying is that we want the two parties to agree.
Despite last week’s US Delegation and the accord that resulted, police and military repression continue. On Thursday Oct 29, Day 124 of the resistance, a peaceful march organized by the resistance movement and the UD, the Democratic Unification Party, the only national political party to oppose the coup from the beginning, came under physical attack from coup security forces. The Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE, in its Spanish initials) had granted the UD party a permit to hold the march. Interestingly enough, the October 29 was also the first day that control over the military was transferred to the TSE purportedly to guarantee the ‘safety’ of the elections.
All the major news agencies were covering the official press conference being held at the American Embassy when the action broke out. The repression on this day was different because there was almost no warning on the attack. The march was making its way through a neighborhood called El Prado, passing by the main offices of TSE. As a few protestors ripped down election material, military trucks arrived and started beating anyone in sight.
After canisters of tear gas were shot into the crowd, people dispersed in all directions. Approximately 300 reassembled within the hour near the Marriot Hotel, two blocks away from the Presidential Palace. Once again, the military regrouped and attacked the crowd. Soldiers followed people into the bathrooms of local businesses to pull them out and either beat them or temporarily detain them.
Andres Pavón, director of CODEH, the Committee of Human Rights in Honduras, reported 12 people receiving medical attention with severe lesions. Since soldiers and police have arrested people from the public hospital in Tegucigalpa, Hospital Escuela, it is likely more people were in need of medical attention but too frightened to present themselves. Many people who are victims of last Thursday’s police repression prefered to take refuge in CPTRT, Center for the Prevention, Treatment and Rehabilitation for Victims of Torture and their Families.
So what conclusions can we draw from the US State Department visit? Considering the US Embassy’s media contacts list or following the mainstream media, one might be lead to believe that the State Department delegation truly was as historic as Secretary Clinton claimed it was. The walls of Tegucigalpa, though, shout a different message: “Solo el pueblo salva el pueblo,” (Only the people save the people). On the ground, most people never really trusted any of the diplomatic visits in the first place.
As of midnight last night, the National Resistance Front against the Coup d’Etat will begin its process of delegitimizing the electoral process. In a statement issued by President Zelaya, from the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa where he has taken refuge the past 46 days and nights, he said that the coup regime was plotting “a giant political-electoral fraud” through “constant violations of human rights, the cancellation of public liberties, the shutdown and confiscation of media like Channel 36 and Radio Globo, and the situation of having the President who was elected by the people surrounded by military soldiers in the diplomatic seat and the overall political persecution.” Zelaya added:
“We announce our total non-recognition of this electoral process and its results. Due to the above mentioned violations, elections under a dictatorship are a fraud to the people.”
The de facto government on the other hand, went about interpreting the Tegucigalpa/San Jose Accord as it pleased, supposedly naming its reconciliatory government while maintaining coup “president” Roberto Micheletti in power. The US will now have to answer to the international community – including the Organization of American States (OAS) – as the only government that says it might recognize the Nov 29 elections in Honduras.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Zelaya conditions talks to his reinstatement.
These negotiations have been a farce from the beginning. From the very start the premise was that the negotiations would set conditions for Zelaya's return to the presidency. Also from the start Micheletti and the coup govt. has made it clear that on no conditions would they agree to Zelaya's return. The negotiations were a complete waste of time. However, the negotiations did waste so much time that the presidential elections will soon take place in November. The coup government is banking on many in the international community simply giving up on Zelaya and recognising the results of the election. Micheletti et al may very well be correct and there are some signs that the elections may be recognised by the U.S.
This is from Presstv.
Zelaya conditions talks to his reinstatement
Ousted Honduran president Manuel Zelaya will return to talks only if his rivals agree to reinstate him first, his advisers say. The Organization of American States (OAS) on Wednesday called for a push to restart dialogue as a solution to the crisis appeared ever more distant, with both sides stuck on the issue of Zelaya's return to office before the elections next month. Stalled talks this week represent the latest setback since the June 28 military-backed coup, which took place following a dispute over Zelaya's plans to change the constitution. Critics saw the move as a bid to extend term limits. "Zelaya will return to dialogue if it is to sign his restitution," his adviser Rasel Tome told AFP. The de facto regime, led by Roberto Micheletti, wants to push ahead with the presidential polls set for November 29 to resolve the crisis, as Zelaya remains holed up in the Brazilian embassy. Zelaya's term expires in January. Meanwhile, in an increasingly polarized Honduras, Zelaya's supporters planned new protests, despite a continued clampdown after the lifting of curbs on civil liberties imposed by the de facto regime, union leader Juan Barahona told AFP on Thursday. Zelaya's ouster was backed by the country's courts, Congress and business leaders, and came after he swerved to the left and aligned himself with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
This is from Presstv.
Zelaya conditions talks to his reinstatement
Ousted Honduran president Manuel Zelaya will return to talks only if his rivals agree to reinstate him first, his advisers say. The Organization of American States (OAS) on Wednesday called for a push to restart dialogue as a solution to the crisis appeared ever more distant, with both sides stuck on the issue of Zelaya's return to office before the elections next month. Stalled talks this week represent the latest setback since the June 28 military-backed coup, which took place following a dispute over Zelaya's plans to change the constitution. Critics saw the move as a bid to extend term limits. "Zelaya will return to dialogue if it is to sign his restitution," his adviser Rasel Tome told AFP. The de facto regime, led by Roberto Micheletti, wants to push ahead with the presidential polls set for November 29 to resolve the crisis, as Zelaya remains holed up in the Brazilian embassy. Zelaya's term expires in January. Meanwhile, in an increasingly polarized Honduras, Zelaya's supporters planned new protests, despite a continued clampdown after the lifting of curbs on civil liberties imposed by the de facto regime, union leader Juan Barahona told AFP on Thursday. Zelaya's ouster was backed by the country's courts, Congress and business leaders, and came after he swerved to the left and aligned himself with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
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