Senator's son in Honduras

A son of Sen. Sam Brownback didn’t expect he would be watching a coup unfold when he signed up for an educational exchange program this summer in Honduras.

Andy Brownback, 21, a Kansas State University student who is interested in international development economics, is attending Panamerican School of Agriculture at Zamorano through an exchange program between the school and K-State. Zamorano is about 19 miles west of Tegucigalpa, the capital city where most of the unrest is taking place.

In an e-mail Monday to The Topeka Capital-Journal, Brownback said he had been in contact with his parents and planned to stay at the school for now. A spokesman for Sam Brownback said the senator chose to not comment and allow his son to speak about his experiences.

“My parents have been pretty calm about all of this,” Andy Brownback said. “They are certainly worried about the situation but, like myself, have confidence in Zamorano and their security. At this point we are planning on me staying here unless things start to spiral out of control. We are not worried for my safety here at the school but rather for my ability to leave when I need to if the country becomes unstable.” Brownback said activity on the campus was unaffected, although students weren’t allowed to leave.

“Classes remain as normal, and student life has not been affected,” he said. “The grocery store was closed yesterday to prevent panic-buying of food. I spoke with one of my professors today and he said that Tegucigalpa wasn’t exactly calm but it was not alarming by any means.”

Honduras President Manuel Zelaya was arrested in his pajamas Sunday morning by soldiers who stormed his residence and flew him into exile, according to Associated Press reports.

Roberto Micheletti, appointed president by Honduras’ Congress, said Zelaya was legally removed for violating Honduras’ constitution, allegedly to extend his rule. The Honduran constitution limits presidents to a single, four-year term and forbids any modification of that limit.

Brownback said he was monitoring news reports before Sunday’s coup because he was afraid the escalating unrest would postpone a trip he had planned.

“I was told that my trip to the Caribbean would be canceled until further notice because of the unrest so I was watching the situation, desperately hoping that it would resolve itself peacefully,” he said. “Unfortunately, I awoke Sunday to several hundred Google news articles on the military deposition of the president. People don’t have TVs in their dorm rooms, so I get all of my news from the Internet.”

http://www.cjonline.com/news/state/2009-06-29/senators_son_in_honduras

I posted this because it's interesting how politicians always have more going than we know about. Like Gov Sandford's emails.. "I'm going to China etc etc etc." They sure travel a lot. Maybe we should reform that. They're taking way to many vacations to nice places under the guise of "free trade".