Honduras Coup - Day 203 - January 16, 2010

• Honduras: Death squads escalate killings
  By Raul Connolly - greenleft.org.au : January 16, 2010
  The revival of death squads in Honduras has resulted in a significant increase in the abduction, rape, torture and murder of opponents of the regime that overthrew elected President Manuel Zelaya last June.
  
  
• Honduras: Protest against ALBA withdrawal
  By Lisa Macdonald - greenleft.org.au : January 16, 2010
  On January 7, hundreds of Hondurans risked violent repression by the police and military to protest outside the national parliament building against the coup regime’s decision to withdraw the country from the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA).
  
  
• A Coup in Honduras ... So Twentieth Century!
  By Saul Landau and Nelson P. Valdes - counterpunch.org : January 16, 2010
  For US magical realists, a coup becomes a coup after Washington defines it as such. On March 10, 1952 Cuban General Fulgencio Batista grabbed power and sought to legitimize his coup by holding fake elections. Magically, the coup makers won; Washington recognized Batista.
  In 1964, Brazil’s military removed President João Goulart and covered naked crime with electoral fig leaves, as if coups came with routine republicanism.
  In 2009, few imagined military goons taking orders from a corrupt supreme court, kidnapping a President and exiling him to Costa Rica. Fewer imagined Costa Rican President Oscar Arias cooperating with kidnappers, and instead of charging them with major felonies, allowed them free return in their military plane. More 21st Century Magical Realism surfaced when Arias evolved from collaborator to mediator – with US and OAS blessing.
  
  
• Honduras: whither amnesty?
  By ww4report.com : January 16, 2010
  The Chinese news agency Xinhua, citing "local media," reports Jan. 16 that the Honduran congress approved a decree to grant amnesty to de facto president Roberto Micheletti and others involved in last June's military coup that ousted President Manuel Zelaya. However, actual local media (Radio Progreso, Jan. 15; El Heraldo, Tegucigalpa, Jan. 12) report that the National Congress voted Jan. 12 to put the issue off until a new congress convenes after president-elect Porfirio Lobo Sosa takes power later this month.
  An amnesty bill was introduced by president-elect Lobo earlier this month, and debated before being shelved. Lobo, now a National Party legislator, The head of the National Party bloc in Congress, plugged the bill as part of a national reconciliation process. Rodolfo Irias Navas, defended the bill, stating during the debate, "Amnesty will undoubtedly benefit all... I reject that amnesty is impunity." He asserted that the bill "clearly defines what crimes are covered." These include treason, terrorism, sedition and corruption—presumably covering the military's June 28 arrest and summary deportation of Zelaya. (Honduras News, Jan. 11)
  
  
• Ousted Honduran leader to announce plans on January 27
  By focus-fen.net : January 16, 2010
  Ousted Honduran president, Manuel Zelaya, will announce his future plans on January 27, his official spokesman Rasel Tome said on Sunday, RIA Novosti reported. "President Zelaya will announce his decision to stay in Honduras to seek political asylum abroad on January 27. He is convinced that until this day he remains the acting head of state," he said.
  
  
• Arias Won't Mix Words With Micheletti
  By insidecostarica.com : January 16, 2010
  Costa Rican president, Oscar Arias, has decided to stay out of the war of words with Honduras de facto president, Roberto Micheletti, who said that Arias does not have the moral right to judge the situation in Honduras after Arias publicly said he would be attending the transfer of powers ceremony in that country. Arias, earlier this week, said that he would not attend the swearing in of Porfirio Lobo, who was elected president, if he is to receive the presidential sash from Micheletti.
  
  

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