'The coup turned Honduras into hell': President Manuel Zelaya on 10th anniversary of overthrow by US The Grayzone - YouTube- Published on Jul 1, 2019
The Grayzone's Anya Parampil sat down for an exclusive interview with Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, on the 10th anniversary of the US-backed right-wing military coup that overthrew him. We discussed the extreme violence, drug trafficking, economic depression, migration crisis, Juan Orlando Hernández (JOH), WikiLeaks, Venezuela, and more.
Honduras and the US: When Engagement Becomes Complicity
By Laura Carlsen - fpif.org - trinicenter.com : March 20, 2012 The crisis in human rights and governance in Honduras has become apparent to the world and is a fact of daily life within the country. In the two years since Lobo came to power in elections boycotted by the opposition, Honduras catapulted into the top spot in the world for per capita homicides — the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime's (UNODC) Global Homicide Survey found an official murder rate of 82 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2010.
Honduras: US Legitimises Coup
By Yohannan Chemarapally - pd.cpim.org - trinicenter.com : December 28, 2009 The Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez, had warned against trusting Washington on the issue of restoring democracy in Honduras from the very outset. Zelaya made the mistake of trusting Washington to be an honest broker and is now paying the price for his political naivety.
Brazil Conspired with U.S. to Overthrow Allende
By The National Security Archive - trinicenter.com : August 16, 2009 Declassified U.S. Documents Show Richard Nixon and Brazilian President Emilio Médici Discussed Coordinated Intervention in Chile, Cuba, and other Latin American nations "to prevent new Allendes and Castros"
Chávez: Ideas and militias — What a creation!
By Hugo Chávez Frías - laht.com : August 09, 2009 Too many crucial events have unfolded in the last months and the fate of the people in this continent has been put at risk. These events are not casual, they have been hatched for so long and far from here. / This is the same 200-year-old struggle: On this side, freedom, peace, sovereignty and dignity to forge our fate; on the other side, dependency, war, slavery, and the dark path of colonial period.
The Minimum Wage and the Coup in Honduras
By Robert Naiman - huffingtonpost.com : August 07, 2009 What is the minimum wage which a worker shall be paid for a day's labor? Supporters of the coup have tried to trick Americans into believing that President Zelaya was ousted by the Honduran military because he broke the law. But this is nonsense. A Honduran bishop told Catholic News Service, "Some say Manuel Zelaya threatened democracy by proposing a constitutional assembly. But the poor of Honduras know that Zelaya raised the minimum salary. That's what they understand. They know he defended the poor by sharing money with mayors and small towns. That's why they are out in the streets closing highways and protesting (to demand Zelaya's return)"
Honduras: Military Coup Engineered By Two US Companies?
By John Perkins - informationclearinghouse.info : August 07, 2009 I was told by a Panamanian bank vice president, "Every multinational knows that if Honduras raises its hourly rate, the rest of Latin America and the Caribbean will have to follow. Haiti and Honduras have always set the bottom line for minimum wages. The big companies are determined to stop what they call a 'leftist revolt' in this hemisphere. In throwing out Zelaya they are sending frightening messages to all the other presidents who are trying to raise the living standards of their people."
The Crisis in Honduras and the Bolivarian Dynamic
By Emile Schepers - politicalaffairs.net : August 03, 2009 The June 28 coup d'etat in the Central American nation of Honduras, in which left-leaning President Manuel Zelaya was overthrown by a right-wing military, political and judicial conspiracy backed by the most reactionary political networks in the United States, was aimed not only at Zelaya personally, but at a much larger international phenomenon which I will call the "Bolivarian dynamic."
On TV, Honduran Generals Explain Their Role in Coup
By Ginger Thompson - nytimes.com : August 04, 2009 The generals said that in ousting Mr. Zelaya, they did not act in the interests of any "oligarchy." Mr. Zelaya, they said, had become a threat to Honduran democracy, not only because he had disobeyed court orders, but also because he had allied Honduras with President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela. / As if taking a page from a cold war playbook, Gen. Miguel Ángel Garcia Padget said the military had disrupted Mr. Chávez's plans to spread socialism across the region. "Central America was not the objective of this communism disguised as democracy," he said. "This socialism, communism, Chávismo, we could call it, was headed to the heart of the United States."
'We Will Not be Brought to Our Knees'
Spiegel Interview With Manuel Zelaya - spiegel.de : August 01, 2009 In a SPIEGEL interview, ousted President Manuel Zelaya, 56, discusses the coup in his native Honduras, the lack of intervention from Washington, his political ties to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his hopes to unseat the regime by peaceful means.
Who's in charge of US foreign policy?
By Mark Weisbrot - guardian.co.uk : July 16, 2009 The coup in Honduras has exposed divisions between Barack Obama and his secretary of state, Hillary Clinton / The current stand-off in Honduras, in which the coup government headed by Roberto Micheletti is refusing to allow the return of elected president Manuel Zelaya, is raising questions about who is in charge of US foreign policy for the hemisphere.
Zelaya on Route to Honduras; US Pumping Up Military Bases in Colombia
By Eva Golinger - chavezcode.com - trinicenter.com : July 16, 2009 Honduran Foreign Minister (constitutional) Patricia Rodas has announced that President Manuel Zelaya is currently on route to Honduras to reunite with the people in resistance to the coup regime, now on its third week.
Hypocrisy: Micheletti's attempt to change the constitution in 1985
By RAJ - hondurascoup2009.blogspot.com: July 14, 2009 Who were the perpetrators of this travesty? twelve congressmembers were listed as supporters. Among them: Roberto Micheletti, today the leader of the authoritarian regime that seized power after a military coup. / The motion he signed to support in 1985 explicitly called for the suspension of the so-called "stone articles" of the constitution, including Article 374 prohibiting changes to presidential terms.
Honduras coup made in USA -- the evidence; Repression intensifies
By Eva Golinger - links.org.au : July 13, 2009 There's an old saying that the reason there has never been a coup in the United States is because there is no US embassy there. Below US involvement in the military coup against Honduras president, Manuel Zelaya, is outlined. It goes beyond the US embassy, all the way to the top of Obama's government.
American foreign policy duplicity & deception reaches new lows in Honduras
By Ajit Randeniya - lankaweb.com : July 12, 2009 In his three years of power, Zelaya typified this trend by taking on powerful vested interests in Honduras, the group of 10 families that controlled the entire Honduran economy. The Zelaya government maintained a 7% rate of economic growth, reduced poverty by 10%, sharply increased minimum wage, provided free school lunches, and lowered the cost of public transport, contradicting the capitalist prescription for developing countries. He had also become one of the fiercest critics of Washington in the region; the US would have liked a change! / The US found its opportunity in Zelaya's plan to, to hold an informal, nonbinding plebiscite on reforming the constitution, written in 1982 at the height of the brutal repression of leftists, to preserve the country for the most powerful families and interests.
Micheletti intentó cambiar la Constitución hondureña en 1985
By TeleSUR - telesurtv.net: July 10, 2009 (In Spanish) On Oct. 24, 1985 various congressmen lead by Roberto Micheletti himself tried to introduce legislation calling for a constitutional convention and called for the suspension of articles 373, 374 and 374 which forbid modifying clauses concerning reelection, changing the national borders and other issues...
Honduras: A soft coup in the times of soft power?
By Elíades Acosta Matos - progreso-weekly.com : July 08, 2009 Were it not for the power of the images from Telesur showing the beatings and military abuse that for the past several days have been a daily reality on the streets of Honduras; were it not for the unimpeachable testimony of the blood of young people that stained the streets around Tegucigalpa Airport when the people prepared to welcome their democratically elect president; were it not for the intransigence of the international organizations, from ALBA and the OAS to the United Nations General Assembly, which have refused to recognize the coup-plotters; were it not for the alternative media, especially the blog networks that have broken the circle of silence established complicitly by the big news agencies, any naive person might believe that what's happening in this Central American country is the nation's return to the democratic path, by velvet-gloved means and with the unanimous applause of the institutions and the citizenry.
In Russia, President Obama Explains His Support for Ousted President...
By Jake Tapper - abcnews.com : July 07, 2009 "America supports now the restoration of the democratically-elected President of Honduras, even though he has strongly opposed American policies," the president told graduate students at the commencement ceremony of Moscow's New Economic School. "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."
Meeting with Clinton Over; Costa Rican President Oscar Arias Will Lead "Negotiations" With Coup Govt in Honduras
By Eva Golinger - chavezcode.com : July 07, 2009 The main question here is why any negotiations at all are being conducted with a criminal, coup government that violently kidnapped and forced a democratically elected president into exile. The US government says it won't negotiate with terrorists, yet it will negotiate with criminals, repressors, human rights violators, kidnappers and coup leaders. And, its letting them roam freely through the halls of Congress today.
Venezuela: US Must Clarify its Position on Honduras
By Kiraz Janicke - Venezuelanalysis.com - trinicenter.com : July 07, 2009 Speaking on behalf of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) on Monday, former Venezuelan interior minister, Ramón Rodríguez Chacín called on United States president Barack Obama to clarify his government's position on the coup d'etat in Honduras, in which democratically elected president, Manuel Zelaya was ousted on June 28.
John Pilger on Honduras, Iran, Gaza, the Corporate Media, Obama's Wars and Resisting the American Empire
By Democracy now! - trinicenter.com : July 06, 2009 Award-winning investigative journalist and documentary filmmaker, John Pilger, joins us for a wide-ranging conversation on on Honduras, Iran, Gaza, the media, health care, and Obama's wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Pilger has written close to a dozen books and made over 50 documentaries on a range of subjects including struggles around the world for a more just and peaceful society and against Western military and economic intervention.
The Counter-Revolution Will Not be Tweeted
By George Ciccariello-Maher - Counterpunch.org - trinicenter.com : July 05, 2009 Comparison to the April 2002 coup against Chávez seems obvious to many.For Kiraz Janicke, for example, the move against Zelaya constitutes a "carbon copy" of the earlier coup, while Atilio Boron calls it a "repeat" of Chávez's brief ouster. Certainly, Zelaya is no Chávez, and as we will see, Obama is certainly no Bush, but especially in light of efforts on the liberal left to deny any similarity, it is worthwhile nevertheless laying out the striking parallels between the strategies adopted by the Honduran golpistas and their Venezuelan counterparts...
The Venezuelan Coup Revisited: Silencing the Evidence
By Gregory Wilpert - venezuelanalysis.com - trinicenter.com : July 02, 2009 Whatever one's opinion of Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez, one thing is certain: The coup attempt against him on April 11, 2002, together with the tumultuous events leading up to it, were a pivotal moment in the country's recent history.
USA's role in the Honduran coup -- and how we must fix it
By Mary Shaw - maryshawonline.com : July 02, 2009 "Most Americans have probably never heard of the SOA, which was cleverly renamed a few years ago to "Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC)", perhaps in an attempt to dodge the stigma surrounding the school's reputation. / "But changing the name doesn't change the fact that the school continues to use our tax dollars to train Latin American warlords and dictators in the art of torture and repression. The graduates then use their new skills to violate human rights in their home countries. Like we're seeing now in Honduras."
Familiar US Tactics in Honduras Coup
By Ayinde : June 29, 2009 Through the limited amount of coverage that was being given by the media it was not hard to discern the US government was up to their regime-changing agenda again.
A Century of Interventionism and Regime Change
By Anthony Gregory - lewrockwell.com : January 09, 2007 The overwhelming history of U.S. conduct in other countries rarely occurs to the average American. Aside from some obvious instances, such as the Vietnam War and the nearly universally approved U.S. intervention into World War II, the history of U.S. foreign policy does not get the attention and consideration it deserves.
The Military: Willing to Deal
By Victor Meza - nacla.org : January/February 1988 Late 1979 found Honduras trapped in a high tide of revolution. On one side, the euphoric and victorious Sandinistas launched an ambitious transformation of the social order; on the other, the perhaps overconfident Salvadorean guerrillas announced their final offensive. / After 16 years of almost uninterrupted military rule, Honduras was eager for a political opening. But that was not in the cards, as Washington was quick to grasp Honduras' strategic potential on the new Central American chessboard. Full article available as a PDF. Download here.
Smedley Butler was a Major General in the U.S. Marine Corps and, at the time of his death, the most decorated Marine in U.S. history. In his 1935 book, War Is a Racket, Butler presented an exposé and trenchant condemnation of the profit motive behind warfare. His views on the subject are well summarized in one of Butler's most widely quoted statements from a 1935 issue of the magazine, Common Sense: (thezeitgeistmovement.com)
I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.
—Smedley Butler, Common Sense, 1935.
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