KC women are convinced coup in Honduras was military

Posted on Sun, Aug. 23, 2009 10:57 PM
KC women are convinced coup in Honduras was military
MARY SANCHEZ COMMENTARY

The bullet holes in the president’s back door belie the docile version of the Honduran coup, the story many have latched to through snippets of news.

Was Manuel Zelaya removed from office because he attempted a power grab, bent on reworking the constitution to allow for more than a single four-year presidential term? Or was his removal — as two Kansas Citians now firmly believe — a military coup in response to reforms that would help the poor of the Central American country?

The U.S. has been tepid in its response to the late June coup and subsequent protests. Barack Obama has termed the coup “illegal” but not military. A military coup would trigger cutting off of U.S. aid, except for humanitarian purposes.

Judy Ancel and Alice Kitchen traveled along the best example of how those U.S. dollars are being spent — a nearly completed major road between San Pedro Sula and the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa that they saw on an eight-day trip. It was a journey that garnered them remarkable access, like having Honduran first lady Xiomara Castro de Zelaya show them her home — and the bullet holes. The first lady says her husband was grabbed in the night, forcibly removed. Ancel says that was the backlash to Zelaya bringing reforms such as raising the minimum wage and making primary school feasible for more people by eliminating fees.

The other version insists the Honduran Supreme Court ruled against Zelaya, forcing his exile.

Ancel, a longtime labor rights leader, was shocked at some of the places she found herself in. Not only did she visit with the first lady, but also with U.S. Ambassador Hugo Llorens, labor leaders and human rights workers. This was her first trip to Honduras. Global Exchange, a San Francisco-based human rights organization, arranged it, but Ancel and Kitchen, a social worker, paid their own costs.

Honduras’ greatest public relations’ problems come in the form of Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez and the U.S. public’s general lack of knowledge about the nation. That makes it difficult for many in the U.S. to build a sound opinion. Mention Chavez’s support for Zelaya and the Honduran is tainted by the image of the bellicose but often oversimplified Chavez.

Unfortunately, unrest in Honduras doesn’t receive the media coverage other nations benefit from receiving.

So for now, the calls to action that Ancel and Kitchen are advocating include one that is especially sound. They want more video cameras sent to Honduras to record police tear gas attacks they witnessed on protesters as well as other violations of human rights, but mostly to record the views of Hondurans caught in the struggle for their country’s future.

http://www.kansascity.com/115/story/1400774.html

Investigators condemn deaths & disappearances in Honduras
August 24, 2009
Monday

http://www.brunei-online.com.nyud.net:8090/bb/mon/24pic39.jpg

Supporters of toppled President Zelaya march
carrying mock coffins in Tegucigalpa. AFP

TEGUCIGALPA (AFP) - The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has condemned the death of four people killed in demonstrations following the June 28 coup that ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya.
IACHR representatives visited Honduras this week to investigate allegations that the de facto government that seized power after the bloodless, military-backed coup had committed assorted human rights violations.

In a report released late Friday, the group said it had information that could implicate "state agents" in four deaths and confirm that Roberto Micheletti's interim government had committed rights abuses.

At least two people had disappeared, including one "last seen at a demonstration on July 12" and another who "was taken from his home on July 26," said IACHR, an autonomous organ of the Organization of American States.

IACHR called for an "in-depth enquiry" into the four deaths, the first of which occurred on July 5 at the Tegucigalpa airport, where Zelaya made a first scuttled attempt to return home and be welcomed by throngs of supporters.

Isis Obed Murillo, 19, "was hit in the head with a bullet" during a standoff between Zelaya's supporters and security officials, who prevented the cowboy-hatted deposed president from returning to Honduras, the report said.

Two others were also shot in the head during demonstrations, and one man was found dead on July 25 near the border with Nicaragua, where Zelaya supporters had gathered and the leftist leader made a second, brief attempt to cross over into Honduras. The man had been arrested a day earlier and "his body bore signs of torture," according to the report.

More:
http://www.brunei-online.com/bb/mon/aug24w29.htm

reporter, Mary Sanchez. She takes real pains to stick to the objective middle, on a controversial subject, questions everything and accepts no bullshit propaganda and stereotyping.

This is the beginning of wisdom and understanding. This is what people in a democracy NEED--writers who have no ax to grind, no pre-programmed corpo/fascist agenda in their heads, seeking out interesting stories--especially (so badly needed) of ordinary Americans and what they are thinking and doing with regard to major issues--and reporting on it in a way that leaves the reader free to form his/her own opinion of events.

It is so refreshing! Lord, we are subjected to such putrid, spun, corpo/fascist BS most of the time! It's amazing to read something that isn't.

And three cheers to Judy Ancel and Alice Kitchen as well, for taking the Global Exchange tour to Honduras, and seeking out the truth for themselves.

I wanted the article to be much longer. And I would like to have had much more of Ancel's and Kitchen's perceptions--why they went, what they saw and heard, what all President Zelaya's wife told them, their view of Chavez and Venezuela (as opposed to this dance down the middle that the reporter tries to do), etc.

But I guess I shouldn't argue with this little "gift from heaven"--a REAL reporter! Wow! Someone whose mind is not imprisoned. Someone who is open to considering new and different views of things. Someone who hasn't sold her soul to the devil.

New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, there is not a writer in your entire Latin American bureau who can hold a candle to Mary Sanchez! SHE is a REPORTER, and you are...WHAT? What are you? Intellectual slimebags! Scum! A disgrace to your profession!