Angry White Kid

Obama, Honduras and Hamas

In Russia on Tuesday, Obama stated that he supports the reinstatement of Manuel Zelaya, the overthrown president of Honduras, based on the following rationale:

America supports now the restoration of the democratically-elected President of Honduras, even though he has strongly opposed American policies...We do so not because we agree with him. We do so because we respect the universal principle that people should choose their own leaders, whether they are leaders we agree with or not.

Then why does Obama not respect the right of the Palestinians to choose their own leaders when they elected Hamas? (This of course is a policy critique and does not delve into the matter of whether leaders are necessary to begin with.)

The Obama administration's stance on the coup in Honduras has been disgraceful. Today, Clinton even refused to call for Zelaya's reinstatement:

While Secretary Clinton reiterated the United States' condemnation of Mr. Zelaya's ouster, she stopped short of calling for his reinstatement, a departure from statements by President Obama earlier Tuesday and from the position taken by much of the international community.

When asked whether the United States viewed Mr. Zelaya's return as central to the restoration of democratic order, she said that she did not want to "prejudge" the talks before they began.

I have been traveling but hope to translate more documents on Honduras in the coming days. In the meantime, I suggest NarcoNews.com, HablaHonduras.com, and Tlaxcala.es.

National Front Against the Coup D’état: Communique 2

National Front Against the Coup D’état
Communiqué Number 2

The popular movement, through its different organized manifestations, reports to the rest of the Honduran people that we remain in the struggle at the national level, in resistance against the coup d’état perpetrated by the ultra-right oligarchy and we communicate the following:

1. We reaffirm that what happened on June 28, 2009, against the government of President José Manuel Zelaya Rosales, is a coup d’état and a violation of the Constitution of the Republic and a breaking of the State of Law.
2. Orders have been given to repress the peaceful resistance mobilizations and all people who are not in agreement with the coup d’état.
3. Those leading the repression are soldiers, former soldiers of the national army, the national police and Battalion 316, a saddening reminder for Honduras of the times of the cold war, for the assassinations and disappearances committed in the service of the oligarchy.
4. To the Honduran people, we ask you to remain in resistance and to continue the peaceful demonstrations in the major cities, highways, and municipalities of the country.
5. The coup d’état has been rejected internationally and in a U.N. resolution; they have refused to recognize the farce that installed Roberto Micheletti as president.
6. We condemn the violation of the freedom of expression.  There are closed television and radio stations, and journalists who are imprisoned, persecuted or with arrest warrants.
7. We make public the knowledge that the Public Ministry is preparing legal injunctions that are dated before the coup occurred against citizen President Zelaya Rosales and his cabinet in order to justify their actions.
8. To make the population aware that at the meeting in Central Park on June 30, organized by the coupists, the employees of fast food restaurants, maquiladoras, and private security companies were obligated to participate in the event.
9. We invite the Honduran people to continue demonstrating in all forms possible against the coup d’état and for the re-establishment of constitutional order with the return of President José Manuel Zelaya Rosales.

Tegucigalpa M.D.C. June 30, 2009
National Front Against the Coup D’état

[Spanish original]
Translated by Scott Campbell

The test for Obama: The Pentagon is behind the coup d’etat in Honduras - with or without the approval of the White House?

By Eva Golinger
June 29, 2009
[Spanish original]
Translated by Scott Campbell

When President Manual Zelaya of Honduras was brutally kidnapped from the presidential residence in Tegucigalpa in the early morning hours of Sunday, June 28, the president of the United States, Barack Obama, was enjoying the peace and tranquility of the countryside at Camp David, the vacation residence for the U.S. head of state.  While President Zelaya was beaten by Honduran soldiers and forced into an airplane without knowing its destination, President Obama ate breakfast amidst the relaxing calls of birds in the Maryland forest.  And while the coup developed in Honduras yesterday, producing multiple human rights violations: the kidnapping and violence against the Foreign Minister of Honduras, Patricia Rodas; the brutality against and kidnapping of the Cuban and Venezuelan ambassadors in Honduras; and the illegal seizure of power by an illegitimate de facto government, President Obama was making a very, very difficult decision about the church that he and his family would attend over the coming years.

Today’s headline, “Obama chooses the same church at Camp David that George Bush went to,” is more prominent in the U.S. media than this headline that also minimizes and manipulates the truth, “Chávez and allies back the overthrown president of Honduras.”  It’s obvious, the choosing of the church which the Obama family will spend all their Sundays during the next four years is much more important than a coup d’état in a Central American country.  Now one can understand as well why yesterday the statements from the White House about the coup in Honduras, made only by spokespersons and not directly by the president, were so ambiguous and measured.  Obama not only was retired in the countryside with his family, but was also making high priority decisions about their future Sunday locale.  He didn’t have time to worry himself with matters far from his personal sphere.  Coup? What coup?  Obama was deciding about his own life and death, because according to a report in Time magazine, “in spite of Obama wanting to attend a congregation in Washington, later, after trying out various churches, he decided that it ‘was uncomfortable’ to be in a public place where ‘the people’ gathered around to see him.”  So, because of this, he urgently had to go to Camp David to isolate himself from his people.

The point is that President Obama, in spite of being the actual Commander-in-Chief of the United States Armed Forces and the president of the empire, is not directly in control of the entire imperial machinery.  Sources close to Washington have confirmed that the Pentagon, through the military mission (military group) of the United States in Honduras, has been working with the military coupists involved in the coup d’état against President Zelaya.  The South Command carries out nearly 55 operations annually with the Honduran armed forces.  The military mission in the U.S. embassy in Tegucigalpa finances the armed forces of Honduras with approximately two million dollars every year, and that does not include the millions of dollars that Washington provides through other cooperation programs with Honduras, and the large investment in the U.S. military base in Soto Cano, Honduras.

Yesterday, members of the coupist congress in Honduras announced that they were in meetings the previous week with the U.S. ambassador in Tegucigalpa, Hugo Llorens.  As well, one Honduran congressman stated that the ambassador wanted them to let the poll scheduled for last Sunday about future referendum for the calling of a Constituent Assembly to happen, because “later on we will be able to resolve the problem of constitutional reform, don’t worry.” But, according to the congressman, they didn’t want to wait until November and allow Zelaya, together with the people, “to make decisions about the future of the country.”

It’s true that the U.S. government has joined the forceful declaration by the Organization of American States condemning the coup d’état and demanding the immediate return of President Zelaya to power.  But up to now, the spokespersons in Washington who have been speaking about the situation in Honduras have said that they are still not considering suspending economic and military aid to Honduras if the coupists refuse to observe the Inter-American Democratic Charter and democratic principles.  Will it be a coup like that of Haiti in 2004, when they kidnapped President Aristide and brought him to exile in Africa before the world was aware of the brutal violation of democracy that was occurring in the Caribbean country?  It was a U.S. plane that carried off Aristide, escorted by U.S. soldiers.  And then, the U.S. government, together with the OAS, condemned the break up of democratic order.  But instead of working for the return of Aristide to his legitimate position as president of Haiti, it supported a “transition period” during the following year.  As well, it sent U.N. troops to Haiti to “guarantee peace and order” in the country.  They are still there today.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) finances so-called “civil society” groups in Honduras with more than $50 million a year.  The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the State Department also channel millions of dollars and strategic assistance to the principal political parties and political organizations in Honduras through the International Republican Institute, the National Democratic Institute, and other agencies in Washington.  Groups like Peace and Democracy, who yesterday openly backed the coup d’état in Honduras, receive part of this money originating from the self-labeled “promoters of democracy.”  Just as was the case in Venezuela, during the coup in April 2002, the U.S government financed those groups involved in the coup, and they continued financing them in spite of knowing of their plans for a coup.  Perhaps there will be no smoking gun or direct evidence which proves the hand of Washington in the coup, but it is enough to demonstrate its complicity.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden once stated that President Obama will be subjected to an international test during his first year in office.  Washington’s condemnation of the coup d’état in Honduras has to be much stronger than a simple signature at the end of an OAS declaration.  If it doesn’t signal that it will suspend financial support to the coupist government in Honduras if it remains in power, the “change” that President Obama guaranteed with reference to the relationship between his administration and Latin America will become more like blackmail.

Honduras: The futility of the coup

Honduras: The futility of the coup
By Atilio Borón
June 28, 2009
[Spanish original]
Translated by Scott Campbell

History is repeating itself and will very likely end in the same way.  The coup d’état in Honduras is a re-issue of that which was carried out in April 2002 in Venezuela and that which was aborted in the face of an explosive reaction from several regional governments in Bolivia last year.

A president violently kidnapped in the early morning by masked soldiers, following to the letter what is outlined for death squads in the Operations Manual of the CIA and the School of the Americas; a fake resignation letter released with the goal of fooling and demobilizing the population and which was immediately retransmitted to the entire world by CNN without confirming the veracity of the report beforehand; the reaction of the people who, aware of the operation, take to the streets bare-chested to stop the tanks and army vehicles and to demand the return of Zelaya to the presidency; the cutting of electricity to impede the functioning of the radio and television and to sow confusion and despondency.

As in Venezuela, while not quite jailing Hugo Chávez the coupists installed a new president: Pedro Francisco Carmona, who was popularly rebaptized as “the short-lived one.”  The one fulfilling this role in Honduras is the president of the unicameral congress of that country, Roberto Micheletti, who was sworn in this Sunday as the provisional leader and for who only a miracle will keep him from facing the same fate as his Venezuelan predecessor.

What happened in Honduras made manifest the resistance of traditional power structures to any attempt to deepen democratic life.  It was enough for President Zelaya to decide to call for a popular referendum - supported with the signatures of more than 400,000 citizens - about convoking in the future a Constitutional Assembly for the different regulating state institutions to mobilize to stop it, belying their supposed democratic character: the Congress ordered the dismissal of the president and a judgment of the Supreme Court validated the coup.  It was none other than this court which issued the order for the kidnapping and expulsion from the country of President Zelaya, embracing as it had done all week the seditious conduct of the armed forces.

Zelaya has not resigned nor has he requested political asylum in Costa Rica.  He was kidnapped and expatriated and the people have gone into the streets to defend their government.  The statements that succeeded in getting out of Honduras are clear in that sense, especially that of the world leader of Vía Campesina, Rafael Alegría.

The governments of the region have repudiated putchism and this same sentiment moved Barack Obama to say that Zelaya “is the only president of Honduras that I recognize and I want to make that very clear.”  The OAS has expressed itself in the same terms and in Argentina President Cristina Fernández stated that, “we are going to push for a meeting of Unasur, even though Honduras is not a part of that body, and we are going to demand to the OAS the respect for the institutionality and reappointment of Zelaya, as well as guarantees for his life, his physical integrity and that of his family, because this is fundamental, because it is an action involving democracy and all people.”

The brutality of the entire operation bears the indelible mark of the CIA and the School of the Americas: from the kidnapping of the president, sent in his pajamas to Costa Rica, and the unheard-of kidnapping and beating of three ambassadors of friendly countries: Nicaragua, Cuba and Venezuela, who had been close to the residency of the Honduran Minister of Foreign Relations, Patricia Rodas, to express their countries’ solidarity, to the ostentatious display of force by the soldiers in the principal cities in the country with the clear aim of terrorizing the population.

In the late afternoon they imposed a curfew and there is strict censoring of the press, yet there has been no statement from the Inter-American Press Society (always attentive regarding the situation of the media in Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador) condemning this assault on the freedom of the press.

It’s not too much to remember that the Honduran armed forces were completely restructured and “re-educated” during the ‘80s when the U.S. ambassador in Honduras was none other than John Negroponte, whose “diplomatic” career brought him to cover destinations as different as Vietnam, Honduras, Mexico, Iraq and later, to become the head of the intelligence super-agency as the Director of National Intelligence.

From Tegucigalpa he personally monitored the terrorist operations carried out against the Sandinista government and promoted the creation of a death squad better know as Battalion 316, which kidnapped, tortured and murdered hundreds of people inside of Honduras while in his reports to Washington denied that there were human rights violations in the country.

At the time, U.S. Senator John Kerry showed that the State Department had paid $800,000 to four air cargo companies belonging to Colombian narcotraffickers to transport weapons to groups that Negroponte organized and backed in Honduras. The pilots testified under oath, confirming Kerry’s statements.

The U.S. media reported that Negroponte was linked to drugs and arms trafficking between 1981 and 1985 with the goal of arming death squads, but this did not slow down his career.  These armed forces are the ones who today deposed Zelaya.  But the correlation of forces on the internal and international level is so unfavorable that the defeat of the coupists is only a question of (very little) time.

Atilio Borón is an Argentinean author and sociologist.

Photo by rbreve.

Honduran coup faltering? And how could the U.S. not know?

More news from and about Honduras.

Two Military Battalions Turn Against Honduras Coup Regime
by Al Giordano

Community Radio “Es Lo de Menos” was the first to report that the Fourth Infantry Battalion has rebelled from the military coup regime in Honduras. The radio station adds that “it seems” (“al parecer,” in the original Spanish) that the Tenth Infantry Battalion has also broken from the coup.

Rafael Alegria, leader of Via Campesina, the country’s largest social organization, one that has successfully blockaded the nation’s highways before to force government concessions, tells Alba TV:

“The popular resistance is rising up throughout the country. All the highways in the country are blockaded…. The Fourth Infantry Battallion… is no longer following the orders of Roberto Micheletti.”

Angel Alvarado of Honduras’ Popular Union Bloc tells Radio Mundial:

"Two infantry battalions of the Honduran Army have risen up against the illegitimate government of Roberto Micheletti in Honduras. They are the Fourth Infantry Battalion in the city of Tela and the Tenth Infantry Battalion in La Ceiba (the second largest city in Honduras), both located in the state of Atlántida."

Honduras: Is it Written?
By Jos Steinsleger

"Throughout the top and to the right," Zelaya began to distance himself from the beautiful people.  And he made the great mistake of asking himself why, if in the tourism brochures, Honduras is compared to Switzerland, the per capita income of a Honduran is $2,793 a year while for a Swiss it is $53,352.Zelaya reached the obvious conclusion: seven million Swiss, seven million Hondurans.  Honduras isn't Switzerland.  What if we were to make a socially integrated republic, in tune with the great Latin American integration projects underway?

A Few Thoughts on the Coup in Honduras
By Jeremy Scahill

While the US has issued heavily-qualified statements critical of the coup—in the aftermath of the events in Honduras—the US could have flexed its tremendous economic muscle before the coup and told the military coup plotters to stand down. The US ties to the Honduran military and political establishment run far too deep for all of this to have gone down without at least tacit support or the turning of a blind eye by some US political or military official(s).

And for those who read Spanish, a great source of information is HablaHonduras. They are reporting that one worker from the telecommunications company Hondutel was hit and killed by a military vehicle as the army forcefully took over the company.  Video of that incident is below.

Coup in Honduras

This morning the leftist president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, was kidnapped at gunpoint and flown out of the country to Costa Rica by the Honduran army.  Electricity has been cut in the capital and media outlets have been shut down.  The operation was carried out by General Romeo Vasquez, a graduate from the School of the Americas.  Below are some photos and articles I've found useful regarding the situation.

Obama's first coup d'etat
by Eva Golinger

The text message that beeped on my cell phone this morning read “Alert, Zelaya has been kidnapped, coup d’etat underway in Honduras, spread the word.” It’s a rude awakening for a Sunday morning, especially for the millions of Hondurans that were preparing to exercise their sacred right to vote today for the first time on a consultative referendum concerning the future convening of a constitutional assembly to reform the constitution. Supposedly at the center of the controversary is today’s scheduled referendum, which is not a binding vote but merely an opinion poll to determine whether or not a majority of Hondurans desire to eventually enter into a process to modify their constitution.

Resistance and Repression in Honduras
by Kristin Bricker

However, it is clear that Hondurans are resisting. People are taking the streets in Honduras despite incredibly hostile conditions created by the military. Radio Es Lo De Menos reports that their colleagues on the ground have been fired at by snipers who are positioned in rooftops around the city.  They stress that the gunfire at this point has only been in the form of "warning shots" and no one has been reported injured from gunfire.

Declarations from Via Campesina and Honduran grassroots organization
Translated by Laura Carlsen

We tell everyone that the Honduran people are carrying out large demonstrations, actions in their communities, in the municipalities; there are occupations of bridges, and a protest in front of the presidential residence, among others.

From the lands of Lempira, Morazán and Visitación Padilla, we call on the Honduran people in general to demonstrate in defense of their rights and of real and direct democracy for the people, to the fascists we say that they will NOT silence us, that this cowardly act will turn back on them, with great force.

We state that we do not recognize any "substitute" and WE WILL STRUGGLE FOR OUR PEOPLE, FOR OUR RIGHT TO DREAM OF A COUNTRY WITH JUSTICE, EQUITY, LIBERTY AND LIFE.

In Oaxaca, Ulises Ruiz orders the assassination of a leader of CODEP

June 8, 2009
By CODEP
Translated by Scott Campbell
[Spanish original]

For several weeks, from the highest levels of the government of [Oaxaca governor] Ulises Ruiz Ortiz, a state-wide campaign of defamation, harassment and persecution has been orchestrated and unleashed against the Committee in Defense of the Rights of the People (CODEP-APPO), a campaign that brings as one of its first consequences the assassination of Sergio Martínez Vásquez, member of the State Council of CODEP.  It is important to mention that this calculated murder was preceded by the police surveillance and tracking of our offices and of veiled and open threats against different members of CODEP.

Comrade Sergio worked as a taxi driver and according to initial reports, yesterday, June 7, he made a trip to the Pino Suarez agency in the district of Juxtlahuaca, Oaxaca, was assassinated last night with high-powered weapons, and his body was found today, June 8, around seven in the morning.  The way in which it was done and due to some information gathered everything points to the fact that the material actors of this assassination were paramilitary groups that Ulises Ruiz has operating in the region.

It is clear that the campaign against CODEP, orchestrated by the government and carried out by different individuals and groups in the state, is trying to destroy one of the oldest and most important organizations in the state (this year we turn 28), made up of indigenous Mixtec, Triqui, Zapotec and Mazatec communities, now that we have been denouncing groups that in brazen or hidden ways have acted on behalf of state or federal government interests, dividing movements, taking control of them, or completely surrendering them in exchange for group or personal benefits and cushy positions.  It is a situation that has intensified as a result of CODEP’s work against the mines in the Ocotlán Valley communities, work which has extended to other regions in the state and has linked up with other ecological struggles on a national level.

As part of the aggressions against CODEP it is pertinent to mention that during the removal of the blockade of the mine in San José del Progreso, Ocotlán, after almost beating to death comrade Agustín Ríos, when the effects of the beating began to appear, the government issued arrest warrants for this comrade and several other comrades, including those who were not in the state, such as Professor Jaquelina López Almazán, which is evidence of URO’s discretionary and perverse application of the law.

As a result of the assassination of comrade Sergio Martínez Vásquez, and the attacks and assaults that aim to isolate and destroy CODEP, we call for the broadest solidarity from individuals and organizations, nationally and internationally, to participate and call widespread attention to the denunciations and information about the activities we will be carrying out.

AS A RESULT OF THE ABOVE, WE DEMAND:

1. AN IMMEDIATE EXPLANATION REGRADING THE MURDER OF COMRADE SERGIO MARTINEZ VASQUEZ.
2. AN END TO THE AGGRESSION AND HARASSMENT UNLEASHED AGAINST CODEP.
3. THE JAILING OF ULISES RUIZ ORTIZ FOR CRIMES COMMITTED AGAINST THE PEOPLE OF OAXACA.

• WE HOLD THE GOVERNMENT OF ULISES RUIZ ORTIZ RESPONSIBLE FOR ANYTHING THAT MAY HAPPEN TO MEMBERS OF CODEP.
• WE REPUDIATE THE DEFAMATION, HARASSMENT AND AGGRESSIONS AGAINST CODEP

THREE YEARS SINCE THE ATTEMPTED DISPLACEMENT,

FOR OUR DEAD, DISAPPEARED, AND POLITICAL PRISONERS,

NEVER FORGIVE, NEVER FORGET!

COMMITTEE IN DEFENSE OF THE RIGHTS OF THE PEOPLE - POPULAR ASSEMBLY OF THE PEOPLE OF OAXACA

COMITÉ DE DEFENSA DE LOS DERECHOS DEL PUEBLO-ASAMBLEA POPULAR DE LOS PUEBLOS DE OAXACA

CODEP-APPO

YOU CAN CONTACT US AT: codep_cnpp_oax@yahoo.com.mx

Actions against military rape in Chiapas

From the Comité pro-Reparaciones para las Hermanas González de Chiapas:

On June 4th, 1994, in the town of Altamirano, Chiapas, three indigenous Tzeltal sisters, one of whom was a minor, were detained by members of the Mexican military, and were tortured and raped by the soldiers.  Before they were released their lives were threatened with death in order to prevent them from reporting the crime.

The Comité pro-Reparaciones para las Hermanas González de Chiapas, el Centro de Derechos de la Mujer de Chiapas, el Colectivo de Mujeres de San Cristóbal de las Casas, la Comisión Mexicana para la Defensa y Promoción de los Derechos Humanos, and el Centro para la Justicia y el Derecho Internaciónal invite you to join a campaign to pressure the Mexican government to grant reparations to the Celia, Beatriz, and Ana González.

After fifteen years of injustice, the sisters and their mother, a witness to the attacks, completed key depositions on May 21, 2009.  This progress will only be realized, however, through political pressure by organizations since the Mexican military actively resists acknowledging the crimes of its soldiers.  

As an organization or individual who struggles against violence against women of color, militarization of indigenous territories, and state violence against indigenous communities, we, in consultation with the survivors themselves (consulted on May 18) urge you to participate in this campaign.

There are two ways to participate in the campaign:

1.  If you belong to an organization, we urge you to send a fax in the name of your organization to the three government agencies most closely related to the case as well as the Inter-American Commission, who is in charge of seeing that Mexico follows its recommendations for justice and reparations. 

We have prepared a letter in a Word document for each agency.  Please download each letter, insert the name of your organization and sign at the bottom.  You may also want to modify the letter in some way.  The letters include the fax numbers for each agency.  Follow these links for the letters: Letter one, letter two, letter three.  If you are interested in sending a fax but do not have a way to do so please contact us at comite@hermanasgonzalez.org.  We hope to be able to facilitate sending a fax on your behalf.

2.  If you wish to participate as an individual, we encourage you to either send a fax as indicated above, or sign a petition we have prepared, including your organization in the "comments" section. The petition is growing every day.  Please pass this information on to your friends.

We hope that you are able to join us in this cause.

In struggle against state violence against indigenous women,

Comité Pro-Reparación de las Hermanas González de Chiapas, the Chiapas Women’s Rights Center, Colectivo de Mujeres de San Cristóbal, Comisión Mexicana para la Defensa y Promoción de los Derechos Humanos, Centro para la Justicia y el Derecho Internacional

Obama gets a settlement

Obama's efforts to scold Israel into stopping its illegal settlements in the West Bank seems to be yielding fruit.  In the opposite direction of course.  Maan News reports that:

Israeli settlers established a new illegal West Bank outpost on Thursday, dedicating it partly to US President Barack Obama.

The settlers, calling themselves the "Land of Israel Loyalists," named the outpost Oz Yehonatan, near Binyamin, but were calling part of it the "Obama Hut," according to the Israeli news agency Ynet.

And according to a report from Israel's Arutz Sheva news agency, the outpost was named "in recognition of the president’s actions, which have led to a dramatic increase in the number of outposts being built throughout Judea and Samaria [the West Bank]."

Given Obama's speech yesterday where he merely called for current settlement construction to stop - saying nothing about the almost 500,000 Israeli colonists already living in the West Bank and East Jerusalem* - this is the type of progress we can expect from Barack "More of the Same" Obama.  Which itself is all that can be expected.

* Or apartheid, or the nakba, or Jim Crow laws inside Israel, or Israel's nuclear weapons, or international law, or the massacre in Gaza, or the continuing murders of non-violent anti-wall protesters etc., etc., etc.

YouTubin' it with boysetsfire, Phil Ochs, and Ashes

While writing papers at the end of this last semester, my way of procrastinating was embarking on a YouTube improvement project.  And by that I mean posting videos I want to see up there. 

Here's a sampling on the chance you like them, too.  First, my favorite band, boysetsfire, which I love even though they plugged the CPUSA in some of their liner notes. Second is Phil Ochs playing The Highwayman on an old poetry show.  Finally, my favorite emo band, Ashes.  No video for those, just the music.  Enjoy.