El Salvador to recognize Honduras' new government

Source: Associated Press

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador -- Salvadoran President Mauricio Funes says he will re-establish ties with neighboring Honduras when president-elect Porfirio Lobo is sworn into office.

Funes says "we will start the process of normalizing relations" following Lobo's inauguration on Wednesday. Funes was elected on the ticket of the leftist FMLN party formed by former Salvadoran rebels.

The term of ousted President Manuel Zelaya ends on Wednesday.

Some Latin American nations do not recognize Lobo's victory in November elections, because the vote was held under the interim government that replaced Zelaya.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/AP/story/1446034.html

May 1, 2001: Gary Condit meets with Dick Cheney at 12:00 noon. One of Gary Condit's mistresses, Chandra Levy, disappears in the early afternoon hours.

May 3, 2001: Condit, leader of the "Blue Dog" Democrat coalition, votes in favor of Bush/Cheney's first tax cut for the rich, in a highly controversial and close vote, in which only ten Democrats, Condit in the lead, break ranks to vote in favor of this awful measure.

Chandra Levy's disappearance prompted my interest in Condit's politics. He was a California rep. I thought that the "Blue Dogs" had gone the way of Bull Connor and George Wallace--Dixiecrats, bigots, Southern "ol' boys." Condit helped reconstruct this rightwing faction, which has now grown large enough to block all progressive legislation in Congress, and to further the interests of global corporate predators and war profiteers.

There were many irregularities in the investigation of Chandra Levy's disappearance. Among them was the failure of any investigative agency and of the entire corpo-fascist press corps to ask any questions of Cheney or his staff about that May 1 Cheney-Condit meeting--not even to verify that it took place (--it had been listed on Condit's schedule for that day, which Condit had released in June). This failure was reported in Newsweek two months later (late July/Early August), in which Cheney aides are quoted as saying that no one inquired about that meeting. There, in a news magazine, three months after Levy's disappearance, was the first confirmation that the meeting in fact took place. The aides averred that it was a short, routine political meeting (about 20 minutes) with two aides present.

"Blue Dogs," in my view, are the sleazy darlings of the Bushwhacks--the vacuous, amoral errand boys of the "military-industrial complex"--the poofy-haired poodles of the super-rich--the manicured mannequins of the destruction of our democracy, the theft of all our wealth, the lawless murder of a hundred thousand innocent people in Iraq, the torture of thousands of prisoners and the ripping up of our Constitution. I therefore find this painting of a "Blue Dog"--innocent in itself, as a work of art, by a Louisiana painter, inadvertent symbol of the original Louisiana "Blue Dog" ol' boys)--offensive as an avatar at DU. The "Blue Dogs" are the enemies of the American people. In my opinion, most, if not all, of the them were (s)elected by Diebold and ES&S--two far rightwing e-voting corporations which now control our election system with 'TRADE SECRET' programming code--to fool the voters into believing that they were voting for change.

Every time I see this avatar, I think: Gary Condit. And I think of the ugly, naked, brutal power of Dick Cheney that reigned in Washington DC in spring 2001, as if a huge, devilish tornado had swooped in--so powerful that no one--not the FBI, not the DC police, not a single reporter of the corpo-fascist 'news' establishment--dared to ask him a single question about that meeting, on the day of Chandra Levy's disappearance, during her very disappearance hours--not even to ask if the meeting took place.

I just wanted you to be aware of this, Freddie Stubbs, that your avatar speaks to me of the most profound corruption that has ever engulfed our nation's capitol, and our nation.

El Salvador, though they just elected their first leftist government since the horrors of the Reagan era in Central America, cannot do otherwise than to bend to the will of John "death squad" Negroponte, Otto Reich, Jim DeMint, John McCain and the other Bushwhack powers who are still calling the shots in Washington DC. That is the tragedy of this news story. Those reigning powers will overthrow El Salvador's democracy, as they just did to Honduras, if Mauricio Funes, El Salvador's new president, does not bend over. He also recently made the decision--at their behest--not to join the ALBA trade group, organized by Venezuela and Cuba, with Nicaragua, Ecuador and other small countries as members, and which has many advantages for small countries, in barter trade and collective economic/political clout. If he does not follow Bushwhack orders, the rightwing death squads will start beheading, shooting and torturing leftists in El Salvador, as they are now doing in Honduras. Thus, these rancid powers are attempting to break the back of the new leftist independence movement in Latin America, starting with the weakest, most vulnerable countries.

To me, it is just more of the same. We vote, and nothing changes.

And those who betrayed us--those who destroyed the party of the "New Deal," the party that won WW II and ended Nazi tyranny, the party of labor rights and civil rights, the party of the progressive tax, the party of hope for the poor, the "Big Tent" party, the party that best represented the interests and views of the American people--have a name, "Blue Dogs."

I'm sure it will be the fond possession of some billionaire dude who benefited from Condit's fervent work on tax cuts for the rich.

:puke:

Like Picasso, or Monet. I'd say they're popular too.

if he doesn't do the bidding of the northern military industrial anti-democratic sociopaths. El Salvador, unfortunately, was dealt a ferociously evil experience during our lifetimes, it's a traumatized country, as everyone knows.

http://www.icomm.ca/carecen/page61.html

The U.N. Truth Commission on the El Mozote Massacre

Editor's Note: In 1992 a U.N.- sanctioned Truth commission investigated the 1981 massacre at El Mozote in the Morazan Department of El Salvador. Below are excepts from its report.

Summary of the Case
On 10 December 1981, in the village of El Mozote in the Department of Morazan, units of the Atlacatl Battalion detained, without resistance, all the men, women and children who were in the place. The following day, 11 December, after spending the night locked in their homes, they were deliberately and systematically executed in groups. First, the men were tortured and executed, then the women were executed and, lastly, the children, in the place where they had been locked up. …

These events occurred in the course of an anti-guerrilla action known as "Operacion Rescate" in which, in addition to the Atlacatl Battalion, units from the Third Infantry Brigade and the San Francisco Gotera Commando Training Centre took part.

In the course of "Operacion Rescate", massacres of civilians also occurred in the following places: 11 December, more than 20 people in La Joya canton; 12 December, some 30 people in the village of Rancheria; the same day, by units of the Atlacatl Battalion, the inhabitants of the village of los Toriles; and 13 December, the inhabitants of the village of Jocote Amarillo and Cerro Pando canton. More than 500 identified victims perished at El Mozote and in the other villages. Many other victims have not been identified.

We have accounts of these massacres provided by eyewitnesses and by other witnesses who later saw the bodies, which were left unburied. In the case of El Mozote, the accounts were fully corroborated by the 1992 exhumation of the remains.

Despite public complaints of a massacre and the ease with which they could have been verified, the Salvadoran authorities did not order an investigation and consistently denied that the massacre had taken place.

The Minister of Defence and the Chief of the Armed Forces Joint Staff have deneid to the Commission on the Truth that they have any information that would make it possible to identify the units and officers who participated in "Operacion Rescate". They say that there are no records for the period.

The President of the Supreme Court has interfered in a biased and political way in the judicial proceedings of the massacre instituted in 1990.

DESCRIPTION OF THE FACTS

Village of El Mozote

On the Afternoon of 10 December 1981, units of the Atlacal Rapid Deployment Infantry Battalion (BIRI) arrived in the village of El Mozote, Department of Morazan, after a clash with the guerrillas in the vicinity.

The village consisted of about 20 houses situated on open ground around a square. Facing onto the square was a church and behind it a small building known as "the convent", used by the priest to change into his vestments when he came to the village to celebrate mass. Not far from the village was a school, the Grupo Escolar.

When the soldiers arrived in the village they found, in addition to the residents, other peasants who were refugees from the surrounding area. They ordered everyone out of the houses and into the square; they made them lie face down, searched them and asked them about the guerrillas. They then ordered them to lock themselves in their houses until the next day, warning that anyone coming out would be shot. The soldiers remained in the village during the night.

Early next morning, 11 December, the soldiers reassembled the entire population in the square. They separated the men from the women and children and locked everyone up in different groups in the church, the convent and various houses.

During the morning, they proceeded to interrogate, torture and execute the men in various locations. Around noon, they began taking the women in groups, separating them from their children and machine-gunning them. Finally, they killed the children. A group of children who had been locked in the convent were machine-gunned through the windows. After exterminating the entire population, the soldiers set fire to the buildings.

The soldiers remained in El Mozote that night. The next day, they went through the village of Los Toriles, situate 2 kilometres away. Some of the inhabitants managed to escape. The others, men women and children, were taken from their homes, lined up and machine-gunned.

The victims at El Mozote were left unburied. During the weeks that followed the bodies were seen by many people who passed by there. …

Background

...The Atlacatl Battalion was a "Rapid Deployment Infantry Battalion" or "BIRI", that is, a unit specially trained for "counter-insurgency" warfare. It was the first unit of its kind in the armed forces and had completed its training under the supervision of United States military advisors, at the beginning of that year, 1981.

~~~~~
http://www.icomm.ca/carecen/page81.html

Atlacatl Battlion Army of El Salvador

Atlacatl Battalion: A rapid-response unit created, under U.S. pressure, for counter-insurgency warfare. In a contemporary account, Americas Watch said that "Created, trained and equipped by the United States, the Atlacatl...is an elite grouping within the Armed Forces" The Atlacatl was the showpiece unit of the U.S.-inspired reorganization of the Salvadoran military during the early 1980s. Commanded by the dashing Col. Domingo Monterrosa, Atlacatl was the headline grabbing unit of the army.

Atlacatl carried out some of the most notorious massacres of the civil war, including the worst massacre in modern Latin American history at El Mozote. Atlacatl also carried out the November 1989 massacre of six Jesuits at the University of Central America. According to a 1991 Americas Watch report, the Altacatl Battalion "remains perhaps the most appalling violator of human rights in El Salvador."

http://newsmine.org/content.php?ol=coldwar-imperialism/salvador/el-mozote-massacre.txt

http://syllable.rice.edu.nyud.net:8090/LangEx_06_07/WIKI/images/c/c2/Meiselas_photo1982.jpg

El Saladoran people carry the remains of their loved ones
to a reburial site after the El Mozote massacre by the
SOA-trained death squad, the Atlacatl Battlion Army.

http://www.perc.ca.nyud.net:8090/PEN/1994-05/images/johne.jpg http://www.deconstructionist.com.nyud.net:8090/images/mozote.jpg http://images.indiebound.com.nyud.net:8090/258/755/9780679755258.jpg

As lovers of "fine art," people who love the Blue Dog "masterpiece" should be wild about these artists'
renderings which address the El Mozote Massacre in El Salvador by the US-trained Altacatl Battalion death squad.

http://www2.soros.org.nyud.net:8090/resources/events/mw7/lingergasiglia/9.jpg http://www.theglobalreport.org.nyud.net:8090/issues/100/salvador%201.GIF

~~~~~
Denial: Media and the El Mozote Massacre
by Jennifer Johne

Until 1981, El Mozote was a small hamlet nestled in the mountains of El Salvador. Then in December of that year, the entire town was completely destroyed. Close to 1,000 innocent people were murdered by the Salvadoran military. Two people survived: a woman, Rufina Amaya, and an eight-year-old boy, Wilson Guevara.

Right at this time, the U.S. government was debating the issue of aid to El Salvador. Despite proof from journalist Raymond Bonner that the massacre had taken place, the entire incident was covered up and denied.

More:
http://www.perc.ca/PEN/1994-05/s-johne.html

He was down there, sniffing blood in Honduras, and in the region, before the coup.

The coup and El Salvador's reaction to it are that rat's spawn. You can already smell the corpses in the mass graves.

are up to. :eyes: