Coup In Honduras
It appears there has been a coup in Honduras and a new president has been sworn in. The details are still a bit sketchy, but the old president was exiled by the military to Costa Rica this morning. The news reports say that the president resigned, but (former?) President Manuel Zelaya denies this. There were early reports of demonstrations, but things seem to be calm right now.
The administration has condemned the coup, despite the ties of the previous government with Venezuela.
By Sunday night, officials in Washington said they had spoken with Mr. Zelaya and were working for his return to power in Honduras, despite relations with Mr. Zelaya that had recently turned colder because of the inclusion of Honduras in the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, or ALBA, a leftist political alliance led by Venezuela.
If anyone has any information about what’s happening in Honduras, post it in this thread.
Tags: Honduras
It almost looks like the various elements of Honduran government and society are removing a President who has refused to be bound by a ruling of the nation’s Supreme Court.
Too bad Hube isn’t around — this is an area he knows something about — but he is in Costa Rica.
Then I wonder what Hube thinks about hosting Zelaya in Costa Rica. Get him on the phone RWR!
I’m sure he is much more interested in teh family celebration for his darling daughter.
The President was lawless and fired the Army chief for not violating the Supreme Court ruling. Even his ally the President of Congress called for his removal. I think this is an internal matter. We don’t have human rights abuses here.
Quinceaneras and coups–a perfect Central American vacacion.
Honduran TV seems to be showing Man U v. Arsenal right now. Must not be anything going on???
http://www.justin.tv/rvalladares
I went there last year. The government is run along the lines of the Roman Empire tax collection system: those who promised the most money to the government got the job of collecting. This was done in Honduras with the water, sewer, roads, electric, etc. Those who had the ‘bid’ of running these services charged the populace what they could, fixed nothing, kicked enough money ‘upstairs’ to keep their bid, and put the rest in their pockets.
It is a system akin to how the Delaware Insurance Department is run.
One of the most obvious scams of ‘collecting’ then kicking up while skimming as much as possible was the sales tax on every thing. It was amazing how pedantic everyone was about putting on the 6%, whether for sale of a can of soda, or groceries, or furnitiure, or any thing else. It was explainted to me that the local honcho took a very dim view of any one who failed to collect the sales tax and pass it on to him, so he could keep a few points and pass the rest on to the central government.
It looked like a spiral of a return to the stone age, where nothing needed to run the country was fixed. A few people take what little there is, and retire to Costa Rica.
Here’s another link for information about the coup.
Good riddance.
If only Venezuela could be so lucky.
Um. Why are we cheering an undemocratic action? What our conservative friends are doing in this thread is like cheering Ahmadinijad in Iran for stealing an election, if only they had agreed with Ahmadinijad. Here, they disagree with Zeleya, and thus they are glad to see him undemocratically removed!
What Zeleya did was undemocratic, yes, but you children have heard the old axiom that two wrongs do not make a right? Zeleya should have been impeached by the Congress and the Court or by whatever process the Constitution of Honduras proscribes. A Coup is undemocratic and tyrannical.
And the conservative support of it in this thread is VERY revealing.
The coup is being led by a graduate of the School of the Americas (SOA); that’s why we need to shut down the SOA. Up-to-date info at http://www.soaw.org
The US administration should be concerned. They should be worried that their violations of our constitution will cause their rightful overthrow.
Farsider, I have reported your email and ISP to the Secret Service. Enjoy their visit.
Gee, and here I thought such things were considered patriotic dissent during the last eight years.
Oh, yeah, that’s right — Hope’N’Change happened, and so now dissent is treason.
A coup in June….such a nice side attraction for visitors. And whether you agree w/ coups or not, this is by far one of the poorest nations on the planet…which in translation to those of you who sit in ivory towers, and want to quote international laws, and operations, mean it presents a rippled opportunity for lil’ muchachos and muchachas to pick up weapons of machine gun status and become cowboys and rogues for a few pesos whether they know all about what happened or not….and the justification, or lack of justification thereof. Zelaya may not have been popular, but coup control lends much to be desired also. This sets their government back YEARS, and any increased aid by outside NGOs, and interested parties will surely be re-evaluated to their nation’s detriment.
RWR… calling for a violent overthrow of the US Government is not patriotic dissent, it is treason.
Dissent all you want, and say that you hope Obama is impeached or is voted out next time. But saying the government should be overthrown crosses the line.
DD,
I agree with you, BUT:
This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or exercise their revolutionary right to overthrow it.
Lincoln didn’t.
There is no revolutionary right to violently overthrow the federal government.
I didn’t say there was, just that Obama’s idol thought there was.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/12/23/national/w070157S23.DTL&feed=rss.news
Again, to be clear as day: I agree with you DD.
Gotcha. The link you provided mentions nothing about Lincoln and the revolutionary right, but even if Lincoln did talk about it and was in favor of it, he was obviously wrong.
The link was to show that Obama idolizes Lincoln, here the link for the quote:
Full Quote:
This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing Government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it. I cannot be ignorant of the fact that many worthy and patriotic citizens are desirous of having the national Constitution amended. While I make no recommendation of amendments, I fully recognize the rightful authority of the people over the whole subject to be exercised in either of the modes prescribed in the instrument itself; and I should, under existing circumstances, favor rather than oppose a fair opportunity being afforded the people to act upon it.
Source: Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address: http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/speeches/1inaug.htm
So you would certainly declare as unfit for any office a politician who launched his political career in the home of a guy who not only advocated the violent overthrow of the government, but who also engaged in a bombing campaign to that end,.
You know, Barack Obama who is still swell pals with Bill Ayers and his terrorist spouse.
Republican, you gotta love their logic. One power grab justifies another. Two wrongs make a right (or at least, a right wing mentality).
If you order the Mike Protack Chatbot within the next five minutes, we’ll throw in the RWR chatbot ABSOLUTELY FREE! The RWR chatbot provides several more recorded non-sequiturs – why think when you can just repeat?
RWR,
while I did not vote for Barack Obama, he is my President. I see him as I see myself often: flawed. But he has my 100% support and trust. He also has my critical eye. There is no reason to even remotely consider an overthrow, he is doing a fine job in a tough spot. This isn;t about cutting him slack, he is actually intellectually curious and engaged, much more than his predecessor. I do not always agree with his policy conclusions but at least he is giving noticeable effort to do right by the USA.
You should really rethink what patriotism means before you post again.
I don’t advocate overthrowing him — but I heard plenty of lefties suggesting extra-constitutional means to get rid of George W. Bush during the last 8 years (when they weren’t expressing solidarity with our nation’s terrorist enemies).
During the Bush Administration, you called it “the highest form of patriotism”. Under the Obama Regime, you call law enforcement.
Bull! But feel free to keep making things up.
No point in impeachment, democratic presidents don’t leave office when impeached.
Farsider,
That would make sense, given that impeachment != removal from office. Both of the Presidents who were impeached have ALSO been acquitted. If you ever read the US Constitution, you might have known that impeachment itself does not remove an official from office.
RWR, we also let Bush break the law first. we didn’t make up bull crap to pretend to get upset about. It’s ok man, you lost. in the words of john stewart “it’s supposed to taste like a shit sandwich”
Thanks Ben, it is just hard to keep up as to when the constitution matters and when it doesn’t. Seems to have something to do with whether it is for or agains the dems, now that I can recognize the pattern, I think I can understand the mindset.
There was a coup that was the topic of a film called Valkyrie. The target had initially reached his position through democratic means. Too bad it failed.
Things went better with Allende and M. Mossadegh. The latter was working with some Mad Mullah to destroy the oil industry.
Ann Coulter defends McCarthy. Small-town mimic Downs defends murderous extralegal CIA coups in Chile and Iran.
Wow, Art Downs, Augusto Pinochet fan. I’m speechless.
Well, John Stewart would know all about shit — which pretty well describes the bulk of his “comedic” work.
And most of Obama’s policies.
You people must be kidding. Our country is strong because of the dissent on both sides. The wrong and the right. Eventually one side will be right, and in power. To see statements like Obama is my president but he has my support and a critical eye. Is embarrassing in the extreme. Good job. Where is that critical eye focused? Must be on his intellectual curiosity or his engaging charm, because he is undoubtedly one of the worst pubic servants to come along in many a year. Let them eat cake sounds from Michelle’s voice as she sups on expensive food in her designer (tastelessly expensive) clothes. Don’t ask others to work harder, or sacrifice more while you hyprocritcially spend the “peoples” money. Crtitictal eye, my eye!!
speaking of critical eye. that last guy can’t spell worth a darn.