US State Department Issues Honduras Travel Advisory & Reality
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I wish it was December 26th. For me it would be a giant stride!
Zelaya Returns to Honduran Border, Sets Up Camp - The Americas - FOXNews.com
More news. Looks like Connie Mack is in country and belives that this is not a coup, Maybe he can do his fact finding and complete a peaceful end to this crisis. May cooler heads prevail and bring peace to a struggling nation and people.
More news. Looks like Connie Mack is in country and belives that this is not a coup, Maybe he can do his fact finding and complete a peaceful end to this crisis. May cooler heads prevail and bring peace to a struggling nation and people.
agilulfo
Contributor
New York Times
Military in Honduras Backs Plan on Zelaya
WASHINGTON — The Honduran armed forces issued a communiqué on Saturday indicating that they would not stand in the way of an agreement to return Manuel Zelaya, the country’s ousted president, to power.
Military in Honduras Backs Plan on Zelaya
WASHINGTON — The Honduran armed forces issued a communiqué on Saturday indicating that they would not stand in the way of an agreement to return Manuel Zelaya, the country’s ousted president, to power.
As if this is news?
I guess things are slow if this is the best link you can paste
The Military has never said they would stand in the way of Mels return because they were never in power as this was not a military coup. They will continue to do what the government tells them to do and IF and agreement is reached of course they will abide by it yet Micheletti and the rest of the Government refuse to allow Mel back as Mel say's he will not give into any type of constraints and will still hold his referendum once he is back
agilulfo
Contributor
Well, I am here in Nicarauga trying to get into Honduras via executive bus (TransNica, TicaBus, and King Quality) and there are roadblocks on all major highways. There is NO border crossing allowed from Teguscigalpa southwards, and all air traffic into San Pedro Sula must continue onwards and private vehicles only are being allowed to leave the airport on back roads...major roads are blocked to executive busses.
I received this information from 2 different travel agents here in Nnicaragua, I sat in their offices while they were on the phone AND on live chats, trying to do what they can for me (sigh).
The word on the street HERE is that Ortega (Nica) and Chavez (Venezuela) along with Morales (Bolivia) are really pushing to get Zelaya back into Honduras because they want him (and the nation) to join ALAS (Socialist Association of Nations, made up of Cuba, Venez, Bolivia, Nica, Ecuador, Cuba, and maybe, Honduras). It is my understanding that the Hondurans like Zelaya but they don't like his preferences towards Socialism. The military is caught in the middle, as is the US--the US doesn't want to see things here in CentAmer tipping so far to the left--yet, given our history in CentAmer, we can't just barge in and change things as we have in the past.
For those of you flying direct from the US into SPS (or better yet, Roatan) then I AM ENVIOUS. I have had to alter my plans to go to the Corn Islands and I still have no way out of Central America, as my TACA departure is from San Pedro Sula and TACA will not allow me to change it--though I cannot get there!
I received this information from 2 different travel agents here in Nnicaragua, I sat in their offices while they were on the phone AND on live chats, trying to do what they can for me (sigh).
The word on the street HERE is that Ortega (Nica) and Chavez (Venezuela) along with Morales (Bolivia) are really pushing to get Zelaya back into Honduras because they want him (and the nation) to join ALAS (Socialist Association of Nations, made up of Cuba, Venez, Bolivia, Nica, Ecuador, Cuba, and maybe, Honduras). It is my understanding that the Hondurans like Zelaya but they don't like his preferences towards Socialism. The military is caught in the middle, as is the US--the US doesn't want to see things here in CentAmer tipping so far to the left--yet, given our history in CentAmer, we can't just barge in and change things as we have in the past.
For those of you flying direct from the US into SPS (or better yet, Roatan) then I AM ENVIOUS. I have had to alter my plans to go to the Corn Islands and I still have no way out of Central America, as my TACA departure is from San Pedro Sula and TACA will not allow me to change it--though I cannot get there!
Found this in the El Heraldo online. Sounds like things are normal on the Bay Islands. Translated it means that there is no longer a curfew on the Bay Islands.
05:14 pm
Por seguridad. Para el resto del país la restricción es a partir del la 1:00 hasta las 4:30 am del martes. For safety. For the rest of the country, the restriction is from 1:00 until 4:30 am Tuesday. Para Islas de la Bahía y los Cayos Cochinos el toque de queda se ha suspendido. For Bay Islands and Cayos Cochinos curfew has been suspended.
I thought that Zelaya was to meet with Sec of State today. But according to the El Heraldo he is not going to afterall. I guess he said that if the US wanted to talk to him they could send someone down there to talk to him.
I also read that a memeber of the Honduran government (can't remember the name) said they are willing to accept that funds will be witheld for the next 5 months until elections can be held.
05:14 pm
Por seguridad. Para el resto del país la restricción es a partir del la 1:00 hasta las 4:30 am del martes. For safety. For the rest of the country, the restriction is from 1:00 until 4:30 am Tuesday. Para Islas de la Bahía y los Cayos Cochinos el toque de queda se ha suspendido. For Bay Islands and Cayos Cochinos curfew has been suspended.
I thought that Zelaya was to meet with Sec of State today. But according to the El Heraldo he is not going to afterall. I guess he said that if the US wanted to talk to him they could send someone down there to talk to him.
I also read that a memeber of the Honduran government (can't remember the name) said they are willing to accept that funds will be witheld for the next 5 months until elections can be held.
agilulfo
Contributor
Associated Press
US revokes visas of 4 Honduran officials
By MORGAN LEE and JUAN CARLOS LLORCA
OCOTAL, Nicaragua — The U.S. government said Tuesday it has revoked the diplomatic visas of four Honduran officials, stepping up pressure on coup-installed leaders who insist they can resist international demands to restore the ousted president.
The U.S. State Department did not name the four, but a Honduran official said they included the Supreme Court magistrate who ordered the arrest of ousted President Manuel Zelaya and the president of Honduras' Congress.
The State Department is also reviewing the visas of all officials serving under interim President Roberto Micheletti, department spokesman Ian Kelly said.
Micheletti's Deputy Foreign Minister Marta Lorena Alvarado said Supreme Court Justice Tomas Arita and Congressional President Jose Alfredo Saavedro were among those whose visas removed.
Arita signed the order for Zelaya's arrest several days before soldiers whisked him out of the country on June 28.
Alvarado insisted the decision would not have major consequences for Micheletti's government, which has rejected international demands to restore Zelaya despite the suspension of millions of dollars in U.S. and European development aid and the threat of further sanctions.
"It's part of the international community's incomprehension of what is happening in Honduras," Alvarado told The Associated Press. "It's not definitive and it will not have major consequences for the future of Honduras."
Zelaya, who earlier complained that international efforts to restore him were flagging, said the decision was "correct" and urged even tougher measures.
"We should keep insisting that the United States pressure the coup leaders more to give a clear demonstration of repudiation of the coup," Zelaya said from the Nicaraguan town of Ocotal, where he has parked his government-in-exile near the Honduran border, accompanied by hundreds of supporters.
The U.S. decision came on the one-month anniversary of the coup and at a time when international mediation efforts to reinstate Zelaya are deadlocked. The Honduran Supreme Court and Congress have spent a week mulling over a U.S.-backed agreement that would restore Zelaya and give amnesty to the coup leaders.
Kelly said the U.S. Embassy "is urging the Honduran Congress to send a strong signal of support" for the compromise proposed by mediator Oscar Arias, the Costa Rican president. Micheletti has repeatedly rejected any agreement that would return Zelaya, though he has promised to abide by any decision Congress and the Supreme Court make.
Former Honduran Ambassador Roberto Flores told The Associated Press on Monday that his credentials also have been removed. He was appointed by Zelaya but recognized the Micheletti government after the coup.
Flores, who is still in the United States, said he believed Zelaya's ouster was legal because the Supreme Court had ordered his arrest and Congress voted to remove him from office. However, the soldiers flew Zelaya out of the country instead of turning him over for prosecution, in a move that even Honduran military lawyers have said was illegal but necessary.
Zelaya has received support from nearly all foreign governments, which have condemned the coup and isolated the Micheletti government diplomatically.
Four clothing companies who manufacture products in Honduran factories — Nike, Inc., Adidas AG, Gap Inc. and Knights Apparel — released a letter addressed to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton calling for the "restoration of democracy in Honduras."
The companies said they were "very concerned about the continuation of violence if this "dispute is not resolved immediately." In an e-mail sent to AP, Nike spokeswoman Kate Myers said the company had "no intention of canceling orders with contract factories in Honduras."
In an interview with The Associated Press on Monday, Foreign Minister Carlos Lopez clearly bet the interim government could outlast Zelaya until presidential elections scheduled for November. He said Zelaya, whose constitutionally mandated single term ends Jan. 27, might start to lose relevance as campaigning begins.
"There will be a totally different context and once the campaigns begin, the obsession with Mr. Zelaya will start fading," Lopez said.
He expressed a perhaps optimistic view that other nations will recognize the results of the election, scheduled for Nov. 29. Some nations have said they might not recognize a vote held under what they consider an illegitimate government that has cracked down on pro-Zelaya media.
"Of course it will be recognized. There is no sense in talking about it not being recognized," Lopez said.
Honduras' interim leaders have vowed to arrest Zelaya on four charges of violating the constitution if he sets foot in his homeland.
The charges stem from Zelaya ignoring a Supreme Court order and trying to hold a referendum asking Hondurans if they wanted a special assembly to rewrite the constitution. Many people felt he wanted to end the constitutional ban on anyone serving more than one term as president. Zelaya, a wealthy rancher who adopted a left-leaning populist agenda, denied it.
Juan Ramon Cruz, a 45-year-old school teacher who walked for 12 hours through the Honduran mountains to avoid military roadblocks on his way to Ocotal, vowed to stick out the protest, but hoped foreign governments would increase the pressure for a quick solution.
"He is the only president who has given to the poor. This is the crime that Manuel Zelaya has committed," Cruz said.
Juan Carlos Llorca reported from Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Associated Press writer Desmond Butler contributed to this report from Washington.
US revokes visas of 4 Honduran officials
By MORGAN LEE and JUAN CARLOS LLORCA
OCOTAL, Nicaragua — The U.S. government said Tuesday it has revoked the diplomatic visas of four Honduran officials, stepping up pressure on coup-installed leaders who insist they can resist international demands to restore the ousted president.
The U.S. State Department did not name the four, but a Honduran official said they included the Supreme Court magistrate who ordered the arrest of ousted President Manuel Zelaya and the president of Honduras' Congress.
The State Department is also reviewing the visas of all officials serving under interim President Roberto Micheletti, department spokesman Ian Kelly said.
Micheletti's Deputy Foreign Minister Marta Lorena Alvarado said Supreme Court Justice Tomas Arita and Congressional President Jose Alfredo Saavedro were among those whose visas removed.
Arita signed the order for Zelaya's arrest several days before soldiers whisked him out of the country on June 28.
Alvarado insisted the decision would not have major consequences for Micheletti's government, which has rejected international demands to restore Zelaya despite the suspension of millions of dollars in U.S. and European development aid and the threat of further sanctions.
"It's part of the international community's incomprehension of what is happening in Honduras," Alvarado told The Associated Press. "It's not definitive and it will not have major consequences for the future of Honduras."
Zelaya, who earlier complained that international efforts to restore him were flagging, said the decision was "correct" and urged even tougher measures.
"We should keep insisting that the United States pressure the coup leaders more to give a clear demonstration of repudiation of the coup," Zelaya said from the Nicaraguan town of Ocotal, where he has parked his government-in-exile near the Honduran border, accompanied by hundreds of supporters.
The U.S. decision came on the one-month anniversary of the coup and at a time when international mediation efforts to reinstate Zelaya are deadlocked. The Honduran Supreme Court and Congress have spent a week mulling over a U.S.-backed agreement that would restore Zelaya and give amnesty to the coup leaders.
Kelly said the U.S. Embassy "is urging the Honduran Congress to send a strong signal of support" for the compromise proposed by mediator Oscar Arias, the Costa Rican president. Micheletti has repeatedly rejected any agreement that would return Zelaya, though he has promised to abide by any decision Congress and the Supreme Court make.
Former Honduran Ambassador Roberto Flores told The Associated Press on Monday that his credentials also have been removed. He was appointed by Zelaya but recognized the Micheletti government after the coup.
Flores, who is still in the United States, said he believed Zelaya's ouster was legal because the Supreme Court had ordered his arrest and Congress voted to remove him from office. However, the soldiers flew Zelaya out of the country instead of turning him over for prosecution, in a move that even Honduran military lawyers have said was illegal but necessary.
Zelaya has received support from nearly all foreign governments, which have condemned the coup and isolated the Micheletti government diplomatically.
Four clothing companies who manufacture products in Honduran factories — Nike, Inc., Adidas AG, Gap Inc. and Knights Apparel — released a letter addressed to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton calling for the "restoration of democracy in Honduras."
The companies said they were "very concerned about the continuation of violence if this "dispute is not resolved immediately." In an e-mail sent to AP, Nike spokeswoman Kate Myers said the company had "no intention of canceling orders with contract factories in Honduras."
In an interview with The Associated Press on Monday, Foreign Minister Carlos Lopez clearly bet the interim government could outlast Zelaya until presidential elections scheduled for November. He said Zelaya, whose constitutionally mandated single term ends Jan. 27, might start to lose relevance as campaigning begins.
"There will be a totally different context and once the campaigns begin, the obsession with Mr. Zelaya will start fading," Lopez said.
He expressed a perhaps optimistic view that other nations will recognize the results of the election, scheduled for Nov. 29. Some nations have said they might not recognize a vote held under what they consider an illegitimate government that has cracked down on pro-Zelaya media.
"Of course it will be recognized. There is no sense in talking about it not being recognized," Lopez said.
Honduras' interim leaders have vowed to arrest Zelaya on four charges of violating the constitution if he sets foot in his homeland.
The charges stem from Zelaya ignoring a Supreme Court order and trying to hold a referendum asking Hondurans if they wanted a special assembly to rewrite the constitution. Many people felt he wanted to end the constitutional ban on anyone serving more than one term as president. Zelaya, a wealthy rancher who adopted a left-leaning populist agenda, denied it.
Juan Ramon Cruz, a 45-year-old school teacher who walked for 12 hours through the Honduran mountains to avoid military roadblocks on his way to Ocotal, vowed to stick out the protest, but hoped foreign governments would increase the pressure for a quick solution.
"He is the only president who has given to the poor. This is the crime that Manuel Zelaya has committed," Cruz said.
Juan Carlos Llorca reported from Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Associated Press writer Desmond Butler contributed to this report from Washington.
AquaExplorer
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So....if the HONDURAN Constitution allowed the Supreme to do what he did, why does the US, and others, continuously attempt to force THEIR version of "democracy" and a Constitution down the throats of Hondurans?
I think the world is punch-drunk on their version of democracy and cannot handle any variation from the singular version that says the "vote" rules all and even if the Constitution of a particular democracy allows for an action to be taken, if the military is even remotely involved it is "illegal" and a coup, even when it is not.
I think the world is punch-drunk on their version of democracy and cannot handle any variation from the singular version that says the "vote" rules all and even if the Constitution of a particular democracy allows for an action to be taken, if the military is even remotely involved it is "illegal" and a coup, even when it is not.
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