Honduran Government Defies Obama’s Demands To Reinstate Would-Be Marxist Dictator
TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - The Honduran interim government defied international pressure on Wednesday and vowed there was “no chance at all” of ousted President Manuel Zelaya returning to office.
World leaders from President Barack Obama to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez have told the new rulers of the Central American country to restore Zelaya, a leftist who was toppled by the army on Sunday and sent into exile after a dispute over presidential term limits.
The Organization of American States gave Honduras an ultimatum early on Wednesday to allow Zelaya back into office by this weekend or face suspension.
But the interim government’s response indicated there was little immediate hope of a negotiated solution to the crisis in Honduras, an impoverished coffee and textile producer.
Enrique Ortez, interim foreign minister, said Zelaya would be arrested if he came home, and said the interim authorities were sure that Zelaya had been removed in a legal process.
“We are not negotiating national sovereignty or the presidency,” he told Reuters in an interview. “There is no chance at all,” of Zelaya coming back to power.[nN01401959]
The crisis in Honduras has spiraled into the worst political turmoil in Central America since the U.S. invasion of Panama in 1989, posing a test both for regional diplomacy and for Obama’s ability to improve the United States’ battered standing in Latin America.
In further signs of isolation of the interim government, the Inter-American Development Bank said it was pausing all new loans to Honduras until democracy is restored, while Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said Europe will not talk to the new rulers if they attempt to get in touch.
“(The interim government) is going to try, but it’s better they don’t try, because they will not get an answer from us and moreover the instruction that embassies from European Union countries have is to not attend any event, make contact, have any communication with the provisional authorities, that that is our position,” he told Spanish state radio.
But a spokesman for the Swedish government said EU states had not reached a common position on what diplomats would do.
The United States will wait until at least July 6 to decide whether to cut off aid to Honduras, a senior Obama administration official said.
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Zelaya, who took office in 2006 and had been due to leave power in 2010, was forced out over his push to extend presidential mandates beyond a single term.
He had become a divisive figure in Honduras, a coffee, textile and banana-exporter of 7 million people, especially after he allied himself with Chavez, a firebrand socialist who has sought to build regional leftist solidarity as a counter to U.S. influence.
Public support for Zelaya, a wealthy businessman, had dropped as low as 30 percent in recent months, with many Hondurans uncomfortable over his tilt to the left in a country with a longtime conservative, pro-Washington position.
But protesters have taken to the streets to demand his return and they clashed earlier this week with security forces firing tear gas near the presidential palace in the capital, Tegucigalpa. Zelaya called for more demonstrations.
“Stay firm. Don’t abandon the streets until we have earned victory,” he told a Honduran radio station from Panama. He said the coup leaders would go on trial when he got back unless they quickly handed over power to him.
Zelaya gave up a plan to return home on Thursday, accompanied by a group of foreign leaders, to serve out his term. He said he now did not expect to return before the weekend, which a senior Obama administration official called a wise move that gives the OAS the chance to find a solution.
Although there was no announced OAS mission to Honduras, diplomatic sources in Washington said that OAS chief Insulza would seek channels of communication with the interim government through respected figures not involved in the coup, such as church leaders.
Asked about the chances of achieving a political solution, one diplomat in Washington said, “It’s really going to depend on whether this regime is willing to compromise, whether it wants to risk becoming a pariah in the region, whether it wants to face the possibility of sanctions.”
STRESS TEST OF U.S. DIPLOMACY
The crisis in Honduras erupted as the country struggles with a sharp decline in remittances from Hondurans living in the United States and in vital textile exports. Thousands of jobs have already been lost due to the slowdown in exports.
But coffee producers told Reuters exports had not been affected even after protesters blocked major highways in the interior of the country.
The Honduran coup has quickly become a “stress test” for the U.S. government’s commitment to defending democracy in Latin America.
“Unfortunately, Zelaya is an awkward poster child for democracy in Latin America, given his tenuous respect for the rule of law in recent weeks,” said Dan Erikson, of the Inter-American Dialogue.
Zelaya’s bid to organize a referendum on whether presidents should be able to run again was the final straw for the army. The supreme court had declared his plebiscite invalid.
The Pentagon said on Wednesday the U.S. military had postponed activities with its Honduran counterpart while the Obama administration reviewed the situation in Honduras.
The U.S. military has a task force of about 600 troops at a base northwest of the capital in Honduras, which was a U.S. ally in the 1980s when Washington helped Central American governments fight Marxist rebels.
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In Honduras, THEIR Congress & THEIR Supreme Court enforced the provision regarding term limits in THEIR Constitution, WHAT IS THE PROBLEM? DEMOCRACY WAS PRESERVED!!!!!
I don’t get it the Obamessiah hums & haws about Kids being slaughtered in the streets of Teheran for democracy’s sake before he says something, but he cannot control himself to comment on the pederast MJ’s demise, nor on the the non-”coup” in Honduras.
This is all telling considering within days of him being sworn in Congressman José E. Serrano of the 16th District of New York proposed this travesty:
“HJ 5 IH 111th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. J. RES. 5
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to repeal the twenty-second article of amendment, thereby removing the limitation on the number of terms an individual may serve as President.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 6, 2009
Mr. SERRANO introduced the following joint resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
——————————————————————————-
JOINT RESOLUTION
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to repeal the twenty-second article of amendment, thereby removing the limitation on the number of terms an individual may serve as President.
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House concurring therein), That the following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years after the date of its submission for ratification:
`Article–
`The twenty-second article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.’.
Call him & ask why would he want to repeal term limits on the Presidency of the United States? Me Thinks he would love to usurp the Constitution of this nation, although I have not heard any comments from his office in regards to Honduras standing up for their Constitution, but given that he praises the Castros of Cuban fame, I am sure he is not enamored with the rule of law in Honduras at this moment in time.
WASHINGTON OFFICE
2227 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-3216
(202) 225-4361
Fax: (202) 225-6001
BRONX OFFICE
788 Southern Blvd.
Bronx, New York 10455
(718) 620-0084
Fax: (718) 620-0658
you have to look at this page
http://www.end22.com/Serrano
talking about contributions for Obama’s THIRD term!!!!
I want to throw up!!! Please NO!!!!
I guess that stuff about not interfering in the internal matters of other nations is all Bullshit.
China, go ahead and slaughter students, North Korea, go ahead and starve the population, Iran, go ahead and stone women to death, but how dare Hondurus dare legally foil the attempt of a Marxist to be El Presidente for life.
Well, looks like every leftist, Statist, Marxist POS is aligned against little Honduras.
Used to be the USA would stand with a small nation fighting to maintain its democracy.
Maybe Israel or Canada will stand up for them.
Welcome to Planet FuckingUpsideDown.
Obamao is proven the poseur that he is. Why should we go against Honduras? They are NOT an enemy country and they very likely WILL NOT BE since this asshole buddy of Chavez was ousted.
Chavez is next (I hope)
Bammy is worried the same thing might happen to him woke up in the middle of the night by Marines who put him on a plane for Kenya.
Billy
Wow. I just got wood from that last sentence.
Me thinks we have a bit bigger military presence than 600 soldiers. Wouldn’t it be a shame if Obama used this military to enforce the return of the Chavez clone using the OAS and UN resolutions as justification.
i would be super pissed if i had to go in and put that little commie back in power.
Obama is a hard left fascist whose true colors have been revealed in Honduras. Obama is a liar and will do anything to get elected, to remake this country into a state controlled socialist welfare state and to support his left leaning buddies around the world. His natural allies in SA are Hugo Chavez, Castro and Noriega, what a surprise.
And his natural allies in the US are Pelosi, Reid, Boxer, Frank, Waxman and the like. All the bat-shit-crazy ones.
Meanwhile, here in BizarrObamerica, NO corporation or individual with resources is challenging the Thug-in-Chief in any court.
Can’t say I blame anyone for not challenging obamalama in court anymore, all the legit cases asking for the birth certificate have been rejected..the legal system is clearly not going to hear any questions/challenges to the all mighty and benevolent bringer of hope and change
Colonel Obama ios seeing the future and he doesn’t like it … The Chavez model has been found out.
You want more about The Colonel Obama Show, watch the frontline video “The Hugo Chavez Show” and open your eyes.
Does anyone here think O will send the US military to Honduras? Good time for the military to disobey orders.
I remember when Clinton/Yugoslavia bombing when he was on the side of muslims and fought the Serbs; also the phony Kosovo war of sovereignty. Does our military really know the truth of what was really going on there?
Obama stated before the election that he was going to stop any funding to Columbia fighting the war on drugs.
Shit Barry, your plans aren’t quite going according the plan, are they?