The Role of the International Republican Institute (IRI) in the Honduran Coup
By Eva Golinger - chavezcode.com - trinicenter.com : July 06, 2009
The International Republican Institute (IRI), considered the international branch of the U.S. Republican Party, and one of the four "core groups" of the congressionally created and funded National Endowment for Democracy (NED), apparently knew of the coup d'etat in Honduras against President Zelaya well in advance.
President Zelaya in Nicaragua, Heading to Washington Tomorrow
By Eva Golinger - chavezcode.com : July 06, 2009
President Zelaya arrived back in Nicaragua today. He is expected to fly to Washington tomorrow and meet with the Organization of American States (OAS) again, as well as participate in a meeting with "high level" State Department officials.
Ousted Honduran president expected in Washington
By Matthew Lee, Associated Press - breitbart.com : July 06, 2009 U.S. officials say Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton plans to meet ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya this week.
Hondurans Pour into the Streets Demanding Zelaya's Return
By Medea Benjamin - commondreams.org : July 06, 2009 The day started out full of joy, as thousands of Hondurans converged in front of the National Institute of Pedagogy, intent on marching about three miles to the airport to greet the plane that was supposed to bring deposed President Zelaya back to Honduras.
Honduran Coup to Venezuelan Coup
By Nikolas Kozloff - counterpunch.org : July 06, 2009 Same Old Globalizers and Torture School Grads
Honduras: It's Not About Zelaya
By David L. Wilson - upsidedownworld.org : July 06, 2009 But was this coup really about a leftist strongman?
"What Zelaya has done has just been little reforms," Rafael Alegría, the leader of the local branch of the international group Vía Campesina ("Campesino Way"), explained to the Mexican daily La Jornada on June 29. "He isn't a socialist or a revolutionary, but these reforms, which didn't harm the oligarchy at all, have been enough for them to attack him furiously."
The local elite and the U.S. media insist that the nonbinding referendum Zelaya wanted to hold on June 28 was a power grab. In reality Hondurans would simply have been asked whether they wanted to vote in the November general elections on a constituent assembly to rewrite the 1982 Constitution. If this actually came about, the new Constitution might well allow presidential reelection, but it's not easy to see how any constituent assembly could finish its work in time to keep Zelaya in office after his term expires on January 27, 2010.
There's very little truth to anything you've read about the coup in American newspapers.
President Manuel Zelaya is no radical. He approved a big minimum wage increase, which was desperately needed in a country where so many workers are poor, but he otherwise has been a very cautious, ineffectual reformer. The intensity of the reaction against him by the Honduran elite – as seen in the coup – reflects the feudal mentality of the traditional economic and political leadership, not Zelaya's politics.
Zelaya was not seeking to stay in power by unconstitutional means; even if his political reforms had succeeded, he would have been out of power within the year. The only side guilty of unconstitutional action is the coup plotters.
Based on his response to events in Honduras, Barack Obama may as well be Ronald Reagan or George Bush when it comes to coups in Latin America. The Obama administration initially managed to muster "concern" about the coup, and has been acting in a cowardly fashion ever since. The only reason it has moved at all was that it was forced by the united front by Latin governments of left and right. If Zelaya is returned to power, it won't be because of anything Obama did.
The American media does not believe in democracy, as seen in the routine portrayal of a moral equivalence between the elected government and the coup plotters. The Washington Post is the worst of the pack. For its editorial page, "democracy" is strictly utilitarian; it's OK when our side wins; otherwise, we will justify vote-rigging or military action by the other side, even while pretending we support constitutional order.
Honduras coup leaders shut main airport
By Rory Carroll - guardian.co.uk : July 06, 2009 Coup leaders in Honduras shut the country's main airport today to block President Manuel Zelaya making another attempted return a day after military vehicles prevented his jet from landing. The interim government, increasingly isolated and beleaguered, banned all flights for 24 hours to try to keep the exiled leader out and to dampen fresh protests by his supporters.
Honduran clashes turn deadly Mariana Sanchez reports - Al Jazeera : July 05, 2009
The Honduran military has thwarted an attempt by Manuel Zelaya, the ousted president, to fly back to the country, as clashes between his supporters and security forces turned deadly. A young boy has become the first to die in the wake of the coup after security forces opened fire on tens of thousands of Zelaya supporters who had gathered in anticipation of his return. Al Jazeera's Mariana Sanchez reports from Honduran capital Tegucigalpa.
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