Honduras to restore liberties after criticism

Source: Associated Press

updated

The coup-installed president of Honduras backed down Monday from an escalating standoff with protesters and suggested he would restore civil liberties and reopen dissident television and radio stations by the end of the week.

Riot police ringed supporters of ousted President Manuel Zelaya who gathered for a large-scale protest march, setting off a daylong standoff. The government of interim President Roberto Micheletti declared the march illegal, sent soldiers to silence dissident broadcasters, and suspended civil liberties for 45 days.

But in a sudden reversal, Micheletti said Monday afternoon that he wanted to "ask the Honduran people for forgiveness" for the measures and said he would lift them in accordance with demands from the same Congress that installed him after a June 28 coup. He said he would discuss lifting the measures with court officials "as soon as possible," adding: "By the end of this week we'll have this resolved."

He also repeated his pledge not to attack the Brazilian Embassy, where Zelaya has been holed up with 60 supporters since sneaking back into the country on Sept. 21. He even sent "a big hug" to Brazil's president, a day after giving him a 10-day ultimatum to expel Zelaya or move him to Brazil.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090928/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_honduras_coup

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Human Rights Watch: Honduras: Restore Press Freedom Immediately
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/09/28/honduras-restore-press-freedom-immediately

and did not take into account that it would not pass Congress. I saw a Honduran news report in which a Congress member said that the public could sue all the way to the Supreme Court if their constitutional rights were not upheld.

Even if totally unconstitutional, they accomplished their dirty deed, destroying opposition broadcasting.

as well as Globoradio, and pouring chemicals into the equipment, at one time, frying it all, or simply cutting their electricity, and surrounding their stations with soldiers.

They both have struggle valiently after each attack to get back on the air, but this doesn't look like something from which they will be able to bounce back, does it?

The golpistas have NO ONE fooled. They are bonifide monsters.

In this whole mess, their congress seems to be turning out to be the good guys.

The interim leader of Honduras, Roberto Micheletti, has said civil liberties could soon be restored in the country ... "If it's necessary, we'll revoke it," he said ... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8279816.stm

A week is a VERY LONG TIME to people being tortured and illegally detained, to families who don't know where their arrested members are located, to the thousands of political prisoners who would otherwise be organizing for freedom and democracy, to poor people and small business owners who can't move around freely, to children without food due to the gross, fascist mismanagement of the country, to people who can't get information due to the shutdown of the opposition media--including permanent destruction of broadcast equipment--and due to the installation of coupsters in all of officialdom, to people in mourning for their coup-murdered loved ones who can get no redress in the highly corrupted Honduran judicial system, to the beaten and raped who can't get medical care, and to everyone in the country suffering from this coup, whether by denial of human and civil rights or the disruption of ordinary life from numerous roadblocks and military checkpoints and the presence of troops and cops everywhere who have evidently been given a "free hand" to exert lawless brutality on the people of Honduras.

And this is what was going on BEFORE this 45-day edict suspending all Constitutional rights! What else do they have in mind for this week while dictator Micheletti decides whether or not Hondurans have any rights at all?

And this rat bastard is going to run an election?! Is he going to provide crutches and wheelchairs and ambulances to the voters?

Scum! SCUM!

:puke:

The very first week this scum bucket was in power, SOA Watch reported active death squads. And that was when they were *pretending* to be upholding the constitution.

many people would immediately leap to his defense, saying the crackdown was necessary to protect the people from CIA-backed anti-government forces seeking to establish american hegemony.

IFs are easy to come by!

you didn't finish that thought.

And there have been posts pointing out chavez cracking down on his people, and people have responded in exactly the way I described.

So not much of a radical prediction to claim people will act in the same way they have previously responded to identical situations.

Because it's utter bullshit. It has not happened and will not happen, even though Venezuela has been under attack by CIA-backed forces.

Chavez was overthrown for 48 hours. The brief-lived junta under Carmona attempted to dissolve the parliament, the supreme court, and all other organs of government. They showed that they were the dictators.

When Chavez was restored thanks to a huge popular uprising in his defense, he did not practice retribution against coup supporters. The Chavistas showed once again that they were democrats.

The Venezuelan government even allowed the TV network directly involved in planning and announcing the coup to continue broadcasting for five years, until their license ran out. (Can you imagine the US would have been as kind if NBC had participated in a coup against the elected civilian government?)

So in your apparent rage at Chavez you resort to fantasies about what his supporters "would say" if he did things that he has demonstrated repeatedly he will not do.

"Venezual"?)

The Chavez government has scrupulously adhered to the Venezuelan Constitution and the rule of law. The Venezuelan people have never ever in their entire history been more secure in their civil and human rights, than with the current administration--which is why they overwhelmingly approve of the Chavez government, repeatedly expressed in opinion polls of every kind (on-going approval ratings in the 60% range) and in free and fair elections--free and fair, and transparent, on their face (on the plain facts), and certified by every election monitoring group in the world.

Your comparison of the Chavez government to the brutal Junta in Honduras is mindbogglingly absurd. In Venezuela, it was THE RIGHTWINGERS WHO SUSPENDED THE CONSTITUTION AND ALL CIVIL RIGHTS, as the first act of their attempted coup!

just look up.

what dishonest poster you are... and doing so to defend a right winger...

that is at odds with what the U.S. rep said at the OAS today; that Zelaya's return had been "irresponsible and foolish."

---------------------------

Statement on Honduras


Ian Kelly
Department Spokesman
Washington, DC

September 28, 2009

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


The United States views with grave concern the decree issued by the de facto regime in Honduras suspending fundamental civil and political rights. In response to strong popular opposition, the regime has indicated that it is considering rescinding the decree. We call on the de facto regime to do so immediately.

The freedoms inherent in the suspended rights are inalienable and cannot be limited or restricted without seriously damaging the democratic aspirations of the Honduran people.


(Full statement (short))

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2009/sept/129704.htm

The Honduras dilemna has made fools of the State Department people. President Obama should move as far as humanly possible away from our shameful record with Latin America, and that can only happen with non-racist, non-classist, civilized men and women.

and get rid of the fundamentalists who place their moral code above the law.

We have helped produce these Narco states for years with are stupid drug policies.

Leading story today:

Honduran Coup Leaders Block Protest, Close Media Outlets
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/9/29/headlines


The Honduran coup regime has been forced to reverse a harsh crackdown on civil liberties amidst growing protests for the restoration of the ousted President Manuel Zelaya. On Monday, coup leaders said they would lift a decree banning unauthorized public meetings, allowing the government to shut down broadcasters and granting police the authority to make arrests without warrants. The reversal came after coup supporters in the Honduran congress voiced opposition. Hours before the reversal was announced, police blocked a march of several hundred Zelaya supporters in the capital Tegucigalpa. The military also shut down two media outlets that have criticized the coup regime. Carlos Lopez of Radio Globo described the military raid.

.............

Internal Pressure Forces Honduran Coup Regime to Reverse Civil Liberties Crackdown, But Repression Continues
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/9/29/internal_pressure_forces_honduran_coup_regime


The Honduran coup regime has been forced to reverse a harsh crackdown on civil liberties amidst growing protests for the restoration of the ousted President Manuel Zelaya. But Honduran forces still blocked a large protest march and shut down two media outlets that have criticized the coup regime. Meanwhile, a top US diplomat criticized the coup regime’s decision but then turned around to issue a harsh condemnation of ousted Zelaya. We go to Honduras to speak with Andrés Conteris from inside the embassy where Zelaya is hiding and speak to Luther Castillo, a Honduran doctor who is in Washington to speak with US lawmakers.

The coup regime in Honduras appears to be backing off its attempt to shut down protests and limit free speech amidst growing protests for the restoration of the ousted President Manuel Zelaya. ?On Sunday, the coup government of Roberto Micheletti announced a 45-day decree that imposed sweeping restrictions on civil liberties, including banning unauthorized public meetings, allowing the government to shut down broadcasters and giving police the authority to make arrests without warrants.

After congressional leaders warned they would not approve the decree, Micheletti gave a televised news conference Monday evening asking for “forgiveness from the Honduran people” and said he would lift the decree “as quickly as possible.” ?Earlier that day, masked police officers and soldiers shut down two media outlets that have criticized the coup regime. Government forces also cordoned off a street to prevent a march of several hundred supporters of ousted president Zelaya.

Zelaya has remained in the Brazilian embassy since defiantly returning to Honduras one week ago. The Micheletti government has now given Brazil a ten-day deadline to hand over Zelaya or face the embassy’s closure. The coup regime issued the threat as its soldiers continued to surround the embassy and limit the delivery of supplies. Brazil has rejected the ultimatum and says Zelaya will stay as long as he needs. Brazil’s representative to the Organization of American States, Ruy De Lima Casaes E Silva, warned of the severity of the crisis.

The coup regime on Monday refused entry to a delegation from the Organization of American States ..............

Honduras says OAS delegation can visit
12 minutes ago - http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/09/29/honduras.president/


TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (CNN) -- Honduras says a delegation from the Organization of American States can visit Friday, five days after a group of OAS representatives looking to help the country end its political turmoil was turned away.

The OAS officials were not allowed in although they had been invited, the Honduran government said in a statement late Monday, because they arrived too soon. The government of de facto President Roberto Micheletti was carrying on "conversations between the political actors, local business and religious leaders" and not ready for the visitors, the statement said.

The OAS held an emergency meeting Monday and issued its own statement saying the organization "deplored" Honduras' refusal to allow the diplomats into the country. .........

Honduran regime's crackdown on dissent condemned
By TYLER BRIDGES - McClatchy Newspapers - http://www.miamiherald.com/news/world/AP/story/1256582.html


TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras -- The de facto government of Honduras that took power three months ago found itself increasingly isolated Monday after suspending basic civil rights and closing down television and radio stations allied with ousted President Manuel Zelaya.

Governments ranging from the United States to Chile to France condemned the moves, as did the Organization of American States, Human Rights Watch and the leading candidate for president in Honduras.

"We are very concerned by the de facto regime's suspension of fundamental liberties," said Charles Luoma-Overstreet, a State Department spokesman in Washington. "We call on the de facto regime to lift the decree and take the necessary steps to initiate a meaningful negotiation with President Zelaya."

Interim President Roberto Micheletti's moves caught most observers by surprise .......

"Some radio stations and TV stations have been inciting violence," Micheletti said at a news conference Monday....

"The government is weak and nervous," said Rafael Alegria, a rural leader who's one of the organizers of the pro-Zelaya "National Resistance Front."

Alegria spoke Monday surrounded by supporters in front of the National Teachers University, a hotbed of the pro-Zelaya movement. Riot police, standing two deep on either end of the street, kept the 750 protesters bottled up. A police truck filled with dirty water kept its motor running in case it had to turn its nozzle on the protesters.

............

"Roberto Micheletti has effectively outlawed public criticism," Jose Miguel Vivanco, the Americas director at Human Rights Watch, added in a statement. "This kind of decree has been the norm for authoritarian rulers - from Chile's Pinochet to Cuba's Castros - who tolerate freedom of speech only when it favors the government."

..........

..... United States has also demanded that Micheletti roll back the emergency measures.

"The freedoms inherent in the suspended rights are inalienable and cannot be limited or restricted without seriously damaging the democratic rights of the Honduran people," State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said late on Monday.

But President Barack Obama's administration has resisted calls to push harder for Zelaya's return and a U.S. official said on Tuesday that the government is not talking about imposing new sanctions for now.

It has also railed against Zelaya over his role in the crisis, describing his return to Honduras without a negotiated settlement in place as "foolish."

........... http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/29/AR2009092901455.html

What is your opinion?

? COUP: Did Dictator Micheletti end legitimacy by suspending civil liberties?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6653905