Sunday, November 29, 2009

Honduras votes for new president

"But Zelaya, who is unable to vote and still inside the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa where he has been for the past 10 weeks, has been urging supporters to boycott the vote, saying that it will only legitimise the coup."
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23 comments:

  1. MaracatuNovember 29, 2009 at 2:46 PM

    This isn't news.  It happens all over Latin America and EVEN (heaven forbid!) in Puerto Rico.

    Evidence has surfaced that state employees were forced to attend the closing campaign ceremony of Elvin Santos, the ex-Vice President under Zelaya. In the letter, addressed to all department heads of the office of Civil Service, general director Marco Tulio Flores wrote, “I instruct all employees that are fulfilling their duties, without any exception, to attend the closing campaign of the Liberal Party that will take place Sunday November 22 at 9:30am. In a booth at the entrance to the coliseum Xiomara Orellana will take attendance of all personnel of this institution.”

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  2. MaracatuNovember 29, 2009 at 3:37 PM

    Resistance claims over two thirds electorate abstained.

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  3. MaracatuNovember 29, 2009 at 3:55 PM

    ``(Pepe) Lobo was more conservative and was trailing,'' said Peter Hakim, president of Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington, D.C., research center. ``Then the coup happens, Santos seemed opposed to finding a compromise solution with Zelaya, and that made Pepe the favorite.''

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  4. ananNovember 29, 2009 at 6:17 PM

    Would love to touch base with you offline. Some friends of mine are sending me articles about Honduras that I am not reading. This whole situation is confusing.

    The owner of one of my favority Taqeurias (who is Honduran) said that Zelaya did this because he loves to put his face on camara and might be hoping for an entertainment carrier after he left office (since term limits meant he couldn't run again.)

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  5. MaracatuNovember 30, 2009 at 5:20 AM

    The Tribunal Supremo Electoral (TSE) headed by Saul Escobar, reported in national broadcast at 10:00 pm, that turnout was 48.6%. He also reported they had preliminary, unaudited, results, from about 8,600 polling places (out of 15,300), that they had counted 1.7 million votes for all offices so far.

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  6. MaracatuNovember 30, 2009 at 11:30 AM

    Disambiguation about the turnout.

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  7. MaracatuNovember 30, 2009 at 11:32 AM

    Anan,
    I'm a consultant. 
    :-$
    For that I would have to charge you.

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  8. ananNovember 30, 2009 at 2:53 PM

    Awwe! No fair. :'(
    One of my friend's friend's blog writes:
    http://hotair.com/archives/2009/11/30/honduras-elects-conservative-rancher-as-new-president/

    Any thoughts Mara?

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  9. MaracatuNovember 30, 2009 at 4:17 PM

    Elsewhere, [in Uruguay]...
    José “Pepe” Mujica of the governing Broad Front (FA) won Sunday’s runoff election against former President Luis Alberto Calle of the National Party. With 97 percent of the votes in, the country’s electoral court showed Mujica pulling in 53 percent against 43 percent for Lacalle. During campaigns, Lacalle suggested Mujica would take Uruguay down a left-leaning road modeled on the path of Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez.
    [...]
    Mujica, a former agriculture minister, was a member of the Tupamaro guerilla group and imprisoned during the military regimes that governed during the 1970s and 1980s. He used his victory speech to heal rifts with other candidates and called for reconciliation. When he takes office in March, the new president will have the backing of Congress, where the FA and the Progressive Encounter command a majority. The coalition secured 50 seats in the lower house and nine senatorial seats during the October election.

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  10. cruelnastyandabsurdNovember 30, 2009 at 5:16 PM

    Castro's fifty year record is still safe as Zelaya is eliminated early in Latin America's Dictator for Life Sweepstakes.

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  11. vzaNovember 30, 2009 at 5:46 PM

    Others said Zelaya supporters tried to prevent them from voting. Enrique Zelaya, a 54-year-old doctor who works for the United Nations, said he was among people in a group of 25 cars Sunday that was stopped at the border between El Salvador and Honduras by men who said they were trying to enforce Mr. Zelaya's boycott of the election. After five hours, the cars were allowed to pass, he said.

    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125952888258868607.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLETopStories

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  12. vzaNovember 30, 2009 at 5:49 PM

    The media has taken up the Honduran cause and are now, even CNN, transmitting an anti-Zelaya message. Why am I not happy with that? Because I don’t trust them anymore. I want the truth. I want justice. Of course I support the election, and our new president-elect Porfirio Lobo. Of course I want everyone to recognize Honduras again and the crisis to end. But I want the truth!

    http://pensieve.aeortiz.com/

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  13. MaracatuNovember 30, 2009 at 6:24 PM

    I like to look at the original sin, so to speak:

         TEGUCIGALPA --  The military officers who rushed deposed Honduran President Manuel Zelaya out of the country Sunday committed a crime but will be exonerated for saving the country from mob violence, the army's top lawyer said.      In an interview with The Miami Herald and El Salvador's elfaro.net, army attorney Col. Herberth Bayardo Inestroza acknowledged that top military brass made the call to forcibly remove Zelaya -- and they circumvented laws when they did it.      It was the first time any participant in Sunday's overthrow admitted committing an offense and the first time a Honduran authority revealed who made the decision that has been denounced worldwide.      ''We know there was a crime there,'' said Inestroza, the top legal advisor for the Honduran armed forces. ``In the moment that we took him out of the country, in the way that he was taken out, there is a crime. Because of the circumstances of the moment this crime occurred, there is going to be a justification and cause for acquittal that will protect us.''

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  14. MaracatuNovember 30, 2009 at 6:30 PM

    The Interamerican System should be reconstructed as a guarantee against all dictatorships (of the left and the right).  Honduras, unfortunately put the system precisely on its deathbed:

        The Supreme Court of Justice, the National Congress, and other Honduran actors have a different reading than that of the international community as a whole as to the legitimacy of the coup d’état, as they believe that the acts of June 28, 2009, were carried out with strict adherence to the Constitution. The Commission considers that even when there may be differences of opinion on this matter, the obligation to guarantee the rights of persons does not change, since this is incumbent at all times on all those who hold public power, regardless of any interpretation that may be made of the events of June 28, 2009.

        The OAS General Assembly’s decision does not suspend the obligations Honduras acquired when it ratified the American Convention on Human Rights in 1977 and other inter-American human rights instruments, based on which the IACHR continues to observe the state of human rights in the country. In addition, in its July 4 resolution the OAS General Assembly specifically reaffirmed "that the Republic of Honduras must continue to fulfill its obligations as a member of the Organization, in particular with regard to human rights." Moreover, Article 21 of the Inter-American Democratic Charter establishes that, in the case of a suspension from participation in the OAS, "The suspended member state shall continue to fulfill its obligations to the Organization, in particular its human rights obligations."

            (continued...)

     

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  15. MaracatuNovember 30, 2009 at 6:32 PM

    continuation...

       Considering the interrelationship between democracy, the rule of law, and the observance of human rights, the IACHR considers that the coup d’état carried out through the removal of the constitutional President has an immediate impact on the observance of the rule of law and of human rights in Honduras. The Commission was able to verify during its visit that the interruption of the constitutional order brought about by the coup d’état has been accompanied by a strong military presence in various spheres of civilian life; the suspension of guarantees through the implementation of a curfew that does not meet the standards of the inter-American system; and the ineffectiveness of judicial remedies to safeguard people’s fundamental rights.

        Along these lines, the Commission received information about the strong military presence in schools and at the National University, and the Army’s shutdown and occupation of television and radio channels during the coup d’état.

        It is also of concern to the Commission that the Army has actively participated, along with the National Police, in controlling demonstrations. While under exceptional circumstances the armed forces may be called on to participate in controlling demonstrations, this exercise must be limited to the maximum extent, because the armed forces lack the necessary training to control internal disturbances. According to information received from the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of the Interior, and the military high command, the military forces participate under the command of the police forces, under a constitutional provision that allows such an arrangement. However, as the Inter-American Commission and Court have indicated, the use of force on the part of State security forces must be of an exceptional nature, and must be planned and limited proportionally by the authorities. It is also worth noting that the bodies of the inter-American human rights system have established previously that the States must limit to the maximum extent the use of the armed forces to control internal disturbances, since the training they receive is designed to destroy the enemy and not to protect and control civilians, which is the type of training police agencies typically receive.

    (continued...)

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  16. MaracatuNovember 30, 2009 at 6:33 PM

    continuation...

        The suspension of guarantees is provided for in Article 27 of the Convention as an exceptional mechanism for suspending the enjoyment and exercise of rights "in time of war, public danger, or other emergency that threatens the independence or security of a State Party." However, for a suspension of guarantees to be legitimate, it must meet a series of requirements established in the Convention. The first of these requirements is that the suspension of guarantees be adopted by a government that exercises public power legitimately, within the context of a democratic society. Also, as the Inter-American Court has stated, "The suspension of guarantees lacks all legitimacy whenever it is resorted to for the purpose of undermining the democratic system. That system establishes limits that may not be transgressed, thus ensuring that certain fundamental human rights remain permanently protected."

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  17. MaracatuNovember 30, 2009 at 6:46 PM

    Welcome back, Mike in Texas.  I thought you had married GWB's eldest daughter and faded into the woodwork!

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  18. vNovember 30, 2009 at 8:01 PM

    The USA just put their stamp of approval on this piece of shit,  is anyone surprised? 

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  19. vNovember 30, 2009 at 8:03 PM

    Bullshit

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  20. thankgodimatheistNovember 30, 2009 at 8:09 PM

    <span style="cursor: pointer;">cruel nasty and absurd</span><span></span>
    ----------
    And honest about it.

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  21. thankgodimatheistNovember 30, 2009 at 8:16 PM

    Cruelnastyandabsurd is fleming lite, but with enough shit to brand him unpalatable still.

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  22. cruelnastyandabsurdNovember 30, 2009 at 9:40 PM

    Dear TGIA,
                    So nice to see the old crowd. MIT,BushtheLiberator .and Princess Pokeyhanus are doing fine, and the baby is safely re-deployed to keep the American imperial boot on the necks of our rather peaceful colony ,South Korea.
                I have a little joke on me, that I can't share with my right-wing jingo friends.But,You might enjoy a cruel laugh at my foolishness.I was,of course, disgusted by Omania, and horrified by Obama's domestic agenda,but I admit to sipping just a little bit of the Obama Koolaide.
    Might the Majic Negro be the One to bring some measure of justice to Palistine ? Silly me ! You may snicker if you wish,just don't tell anyone my secret.

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  23. thankgodimatheistDecember 1, 2009 at 2:29 AM

    <span>and the baby is safely re-deployed to keep the American imperial boot on the necks of our rather peaceful colony ,South Korea. </span>
    ---------
    What brand of crap is this? Apart from being senseless, I mean..

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